When you are ready to purchase a home but you area unable to get conventional financing, Rent To Own can be a good stepping stone to move from renting a home to being an home owner. It offers many advantages over the traditional methods of purchasing a home.

It allows you more time to fix any credit bumps that you may have, extend bank qualification for how long you have been at your job, as well as save any additional down payment amounts that may be required from your lender when you do purchase.  A Main advantage is that it allows you to move right in to the home.

With a Rent To Own, we would agree on a monthly payment amount and the purchase price of the home in advance.  In addition, to show your commitment to purchase, you put money down up-front to purchase the Option to Buy, known as “option consideration.”  This amount locks in the purchase price during the term and gives you the exclusive legal right to purchase the property during that time period.  You are not required to purchase. If you exercise the option to purchase the home during your option period, the option consideration is applied toward the purchase price via down payment, pre-paids, closing cost, or how your lender determines.  So when you purchase the home during your purchase option period, your option consideration applies towards your purchase.

If for any reason you do not purchase the home during your option period or if you default under any terms of the attached lease, the Option to Purchase will be void and all monies (including Option Consideration and Rent Credit) will be retained by seller as liquidated damages and not as a penalty.  Therefore, you want to be certain before you move forward with e Rent To Own that you have the ability to purchase during the Option Period and that you will default under any standard lease terms during that time, including no late payments.

If you do not exercise your rent to own option and buy the house during the term provided, the consideration amount is NOT refundable. This compensates the investor/owner for keeping the property off the market during the term and for locking in a purchase price, regardless of whether home values increase.

Rent credit. If you decide to purchase, an agreed-upon portion of your monthly rent is applied to either the purchase price, down payment, or appropriated by your lender. The amount is typically $100 per month.  This allows your rent money to be working for you, instead of being thrown away. And you would profit from any appreciation during the term.

We do require income verification, credit check and references.  You just provide us a credit recent credit report that shows your credit and credit score.  If you don’t have access to this, we can pull this for you for credit and processing fee.  In addition, when you decide to exercise your option to purchase, we can refer several local lenders that you can call and see who is the best fit and terms for your loan.

A FEW COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: Why should I pay option consideration when I can just rent by paying a security deposit and get it back when I move?
A: If you are only looking to continue to rent, then this option may not be a good fit.  When you rent, your rent money is not working for you; it just disappears month after month. The option consideration allows you to move toward home ownership while still keeping your payments affordable.
Q: What if I decide I don’t want to buy the property?
A: You are not required to exercise the purchase option; however, the option consideration is NOT REFUNDABLE should you decide not to buy for any reason.
Q: What if I need more time before buying at the end of the term?
A: In certain cases, it might be possible to renew the lease for another term. This would require payment of additional option consideration, and could require that the purchase price be renegotiated.
Q: What about utilities, property taxes and homeowner’s insurance?
A: All utilities are the responsibility of the tenant/buyer. Until you purchase, all taxes are paid by the seller. In addition, we will maintain insurance on the structure and grounds, however we do require that you purchase renter’s insurance to protect your contents.
Q: What about maintenance?
A: The tenant/buyer is generally responsible for maintrenance  and repairs.