nothing to do with E

[lovemyladybug]

okay i know this is probably an odd topic for cwe , but here goes , does anybody know anything about rent to own ( a house ) in the US ( i say that becuase i dont know if it's different in other countries ) ?? Im asking because my husband was told from a co-worker about a home that he will soon be offering rent to own and he knew we were sick of renting so he thought of us and asked if we were interested ... WE are sooooo very sick of renting , throwing away our money every month , paying too much ( in our area buying is cheaper than renting ) not being able to make changes to the home to suit us , having to wait around on the landlord for repairs to be made , etc ... but were unable to buy a home traditionally , i wont bore you with details but after him being laid off for 11 months , having very little income ( unemployment ) me not being able to work and not getting disability and having very expensive medical costs with no insurance ... our credit was hit hard , were on the road to recovery now but it may be several years before we qualify for a traditional mortgage again , wow im really rambling here sorry back to it , what should we know about rent to own ?

[Endless]

I know nothing about rent to own. Isn't that when some of the rent goes towards a down payment?

Lucky day. I am coming at it with a complete and blank beginner's mind, with lots of questions.

I'd get EVERYTHING regarding the terms of your agreement in writing. I'd ask a real estate lawyer for advice, too. Your local tenants union may also be able to help, as well as a real estate agent. Same with local escrow companies who are nice and willing to talk to you for free.


Books on the topic. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...nt+to+own+home

[car05161967]

okay i know this is probably an odd topic for cwe , but here goes , does anybody know anything about rent to own ( a house ) in the US ( i say that because I don't know if it's different in other countries ) ?? Im asking because my husband was told from a co-worker about a home that he will soon be offering rent to own and he knew we were sick of renting so he thought of us and asked if we were interested ... WE are sooooo very sick of renting, throwing away our money every month, paying too much (in our area buying is cheaper than renting ) not being able to make changes to the home to suit us, having to wait around on the landlord for repairs to be made, etc ... but were unable to buy a home traditionally, I wont bore you with details but after him being laid off for 11 months , having very little income ( unemployment ) me not being able to work and not getting disability and having very expensive medical costs with no insurance ... our credit was hit hard , were on the road to recovery now but it may be several years before we qualify for a traditional mortgage again , wow im really rambling here sorry back to it , what should we know about rent to own ?

Be careful what you are getting yourself into. While I agree about renting, you didn't say what kind of home it was i.e. SFH, Condo, Timeshare, duplex

Here is a website on Rent-To-Own:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-to-own

[lovemyladybug]

Be careful what you are getting yourself into. While I agree about renting, you didn't say what kind of home it was i.e. SFH, Condo, Timeshare, duplex

Here is a website on Rent-To-Own:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-to-own

it's a single family home , a brick ranch , thanks for the link , have you done rent to own yourself ? or just heard bad things about it ?

[lovemyladybug]

I know nothing about rent to own. Isn't that when some of the rent goes towards a down payment?

Lucky day. I am coming at it with a complete and blank beginner's mind, with lots of questions.

I'd get EVERYTHING regarding the terms of your agreement in writing. I'd ask a real estate lawyer for advice, too. Your local tenants union may also be able to help, as well as a real estate agent. Same with local escrow companies who are nice and willing to talk to you for free.


Books on the topic. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...nt+to+own+home

hey sorry i didnt see this till now , with rent to own ( to the best of my understanding of course ) it's basically like buying a home only instead of buying through a mortgage company you buy through an individual , you make a down payment then pay "rent" for a certain amount of time and then you own the home , once i read the link maybe i'll know more , but we will definitely speak to a lawyer i just wanted to get as much info as possible to see if it's something we'd even consider before we waste our time/funds getting a lawyers help

[car05161967]

it's a single family home , a brick ranch , thanks for the link , have you done rent to own yourself ? or just heard bad things about it ?

I have never done a rent-to-own. Check the place out thoroughly before you enter into any agreement. By doing a pre-agreement signing walk-through.

[CarrieH]

I'm not real familiar with RTO contracts, but I will recommend that you make 110% sure that the person you are dealing with is the rightful owner of the property. I'm sure with you knowing the person perhaps this isn't a big deal and it's probably legit. One of the newer scams happening is a scam artist will find an empty bank owned home and present it to someone as a RTO. Of course they demand a down payment and once they get that money the victim eventually learns that the bank owns the house and the scam artist is long gone. Usually a Property Tax Search will verify proper ownership. You also might want to verify that there is no liens on the property.

Best of luck to you, I hope things get a lot better in the years to come for your family!

[Blue Cat]

I agree, check it out carefully first with a real estate lawyer or agent (depending on which state you're in). A friend of mine did that and it worked out very well. I don't remember the details (eg did any of the rent go to toward the mortgage or how that worked) but at some point it did switch to "mortgage payments" instead of "rent". And figure in the other costs you will be taking on - taxes, insurance etc which you don't have completely when renting. Good luck.