Getting Creative with Lease Option Purchase

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, Shout Outs, Uncategorized

When the going gets tough, the tough get creative.  That’s the case in real estate, anyway.  This crazy housing market has dipped to match statistics as low as that of a decade ago.  The frustrated sellers cannot sell because of all the competition they have from the super cheap bank foreclosures. The poor folks who’ve lost their houses need some place to live but cannot buy anything due to credit damage.  How frustrating for everyone!  At some point, though, someone had an interesting idea and it seems to be taking off.  Why not lease to own?

Lease to own is a great option for the recently displaced folks who can afford a monthly payment but cannot get financing.  The buyer’s only other option is to rent.  The problem with renting, though, is that your money is not being invested anywhere.  It’s just being given away month after month.  Also, you can never really feel settled because the owner of the house could decide he no longer wants to be a landlord and sell it.  Or, as is happening a lot lately, something even worse has been happening… some land lords have stopped paying the rent on their rental property, unbeknownst to the renter until it’s time for eviction.  Wow!  What a shock that would be.  In the case of lease to own, a house is found that meets the “buyer’s” needs and terms are negotiated with regards to monthly payment, length of lease, down payment, etc.   The contract can be written up in such a way to also include the purchase of the house, at a future date, estimated by the lender.

Sellers are coming to embrace the lease to own idea as well because it is something they can offer buyers that the foreclosure banks cannot.  Sellers are having such a difficult time getting their houses sold that, although not their top choice, the lease to own is a solution to their problem.  Especially in the case of the sellers who have already moved on to a new location due to job change or some other life change.  What a relief not to carry the burden of two house payments alone anymore.

The real estate market is constantly changing.  It was only months ago that the lease to own option was an only occasionally used tool and there were many real estate agents that didn’t know how to use it.  Now, many local multiple listing boards have made a special lease filed on their forms so they can be included in customer searches.  The lease to own option is in such great demand and provides a solution for many buyers and sellers. If you’re struggling somewhere in the housing market, it might benefit you go give it a second thought.