Leasing Options In Renton Washington

This weekend a good friend of mine asked my opinion on whether or not I thought Lease Options (sometimes referred to as lease-to -own or rent-to-own) were a good idea, and of course the answer is, depends. The question was dove tailed with another call where I actually recommended a lease option route to a buyer client of mine.

The first recommendation when it comes to lease options is to get a professional involved. I would recommend an experienced agent and a real estate attorney as these agreements can be complicated and possibly a tax professional.

The second comment, look at the reason why you are looking at a lease option. Typically, there is some reason that a buyer needs time before actually taking title to a home. It could be that the buyer is repairing their credit, waiting for an inheritance or some other type of lump sum of cash or perhaps rearranging debt by refinancing existing mortgages into lower rates before taking a new mortgage debt on.

Here are just a few advantages to a lease option or lease to own can include all of the following:

•1. Negotiate today's price if you feel that prices will rise before your purchase

•2. Buy time to take care of other obligations

•3. Avoid moving twice while waiting for the sale of your current home

And now for a few disadvantages to a lease option,

•1. Smaller selection of homes to choose from

•2. These terms typically allow the seller a higher purchase price or sell a property with red flags (see earlier blog on red flag checklist)

•3. You might lose out on today's really great interest rates

•4. You will typically pay for the option up front and that money is non-refundable if you don't exercise your option.

To illustrate item number 2 on the disadvantage list, today out of 639 homes available for sale through the NWMLS in Renton, only 6 are offering a lease purchase option and of those 6 the average days on market is 269 days versus average days on market of 127 for all the available homes in Renton.

In today's market, it's hard to argue for a lease option to most buyers. There are too many advantages for buyers who choose to make a purchase. The low low interest rates being offered see https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/rates/ the first time buyer tax credit http://www.johnlscott.com/information-johnlscott-1.aspx and the huge selection of inventory to choose from, see http://janaschmidt.com/ . Please do be careful not to procrastinate, like any good sale, the best choices go first. And the real estate market is no exception.

Thanks,
Jana