# lease to own from sellers perspective?



## Pugnacious (May 17, 2012)

Has anyone done this? Are there any concerns one should have as opposed to renting? Seems like the only disadvantage would be if property values climbed a lot over the lease period. How much per month is normal to apply to the down payment. Say out of a 1600 per month lease. If it makes a difference, we live 1500 miles from the house we would be leasing. We haven't had a "good" offer to sell the house. We aren't upside down in it but have little equity. How much would the realtor expect to get paid on a lease to own? Should she get a portion of the down payment or just get her commission when the house finally sells? She is a friend and we don't want to take advantage of her but I'd like to know what is normal.


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## larryfoster (May 15, 2009)

I've done a few in the past.
There is no one specific way. You can negotiate with your buyer.
What I did was lease with an option to buy.
There were 2 documents; a lease document and an option document for a fixed period.
Depending on whether the rental will be more or less than fair rent for the area would determine whether I gave anything.
If I gave anything, I would have it paid on a separate check from the rent check and would tie it into promptness of payment each month

As far as the realtor, it would be a stretch to say they "sold" the house.
However, since you are so far away, I wouldn't alienate her. I think you said she's a friend.

I wouldn't let someone have my property with less than 3 % option deposit (down payment) unless it needs repairs.

It's hard to do everything in a forum post


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## larryfoster (May 15, 2009)

I didn't answer your question on how much to pay the realtor.
In this case,I would probably offer $500
Is the contract up?


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## Pugnacious (May 17, 2012)

Sorry. Lease with option to buy is what I was talking about. The rent price is fair for the area and I don't think i want to add any to the down payment off of it. She is a friend. Not just an acquaintance. The contract is not up. It has 4 more months. She HAS been showing the house to potential renters for us and frequently checking on the house. But we've only been gone 3 weeks.

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## Pugnacious (May 17, 2012)

Should the down payment be kept in an escrow? Obviously it applies to the house. How late/how many times can they be late before they lose their down payment? If they were to be late enough to forfeit their down payment, should that be an automatic eviction or should they ride out their lease? Obviously someone needing to do this setup has bad credit for a reason. No reason to assume they will be punctual with their payments. 

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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

larryfoster said:


> Depending on whether the rental will be more or less than fair rent for the area would determine whether I gave anything.


 That is the way lenders look at it. If the buyer needs financing, the appraiser will determine the norm for the area and the difference can be credited to the down payment.


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