Rent to Own Homes in Washington
Buying vs. Rent to Own Homes
To buy a house, you (1) look at the homes available for purchase, (2) pick the house you want, (3) pay the seller the cost of the home and (4) you get the house. That’s the basic gist of the traditional home buying process.
All the steps of the traditional home buying process are present in the rent to own process. The difference is that renting to own has an additional step between Step 2 and Step 3. Step 2.5 is to rent the home for a maximum of three years until you are ready to continue to Step 3.
During Step 2.5, you’re working on improving your credit score, building a steady job history and saving up a down payment so that you can qualify for financing. Once you have financing, you can move on to Step 3.
Rent to own is a good way to prepare for buying a property. Once you do buy, you won’t have to spend money on rent any longer. So, the sooner you can buy, the better.
Rent to Own Realtors
When it comes to contracts, there are usually plenty of loopholes. You don’t want to be blindsided because your counterpart in a rent to own deal knows them better than you do.
A realtor might be the logical person to ask for help with a real estate deal, but instead, you should consult with a lawyer to ensure that your lease-option contract benefits you just as much as it benefits the other party.
Realtors likely will not want to help you with a lease-option because they don’t make a lot of money off of them – at least, they don’t make a lot of money until the end of the lease, and that isn’t a guarantee.
Regardless, a lawyer will have more accurate information about your contracts anyway.
About Our Listings
Whether you’re interested in purchasing a condo or a townhouse, or if you’ve been touring apartments and houses, rent to own can be a good option for buyers – often with no credit check.
Just because the seller isn’t checking your credit score doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry about it. You’ll need to have a credit score high enough to qualify for financing if you want to succeed in a rent to buy deal.
In rent to own by owner programs, sellers want to make a profit off of their properties. They will earn rent money from you whether you successfully buy the house or not. So, they don’t really worry about whether you have the credit score to buy it at the end of the lease.
Lease to purchase deals from a company are often less successful than from an owner because companies tend to snatch up cheap foreclosed homes and lease-option them on an “as is” basis.
Owners who are eager to sell their property may ask you to sign a lease-purchase agreement, which is very different from a lease-option because instead of having the option to buy the property before the end of the lease, you legally have to buy it. That can be difficult if you start the deal with bad credit and cannot bring it up high enough to qualify for a mortgage.
Looking for rent to own listings near me? Start your search on the Rent to Own Labs database.
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