Monday’s agreement by city officials and representatives of Honolulu Affordable Housing Partners LLC to continue negotiations on a $142 million sale of the lease interest in 12 city affordable complexes was contingent on the city’s willingness to discuss the possibility of “seller financing” to help the buyers.

City officials on Wednesday said they are considering the possibility of allowing the group to hold off paying on a portion of the sale price to the city, and emphasized they are not looking at lending the buyer any money, or allowing the partners to leverage the city’s credit to gain financing.

“We are considering deferring some portion of the lease payments to provide time for the buyer to secure all of their required financing,” Caldwell spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said.

How long the buyer would benefit from deferred payments is part of the negotiations, said city Community Services Director Pam Witty-Oakland.

The city gave similar help to two nonprofit organizations when they, separately, purchased bulk parcels in Ewa Villages after pledging to provide affordable housing on the lots in the early 2000s, Witty-Oakland said.

“We carried the mortgage on a portion of the sales price for a limited amount of time,” she said.