The joy of lease option in todays world. To those of you who don't like, or don't understand the power of lease option, then here is a short story.
Over 18 months ago I got a call on a sign. The property was a large double wide with about 3/4 acre and a beautiful huge deck. The mobile had been a model home for a development, and was very unique in how it was built...Well this couple were in love with this home, the location, the landscaping...everything.
So I get them started. We work with a friendly mortgage broker, who comes back with bad news. We have an issue with them when they lived in the west coast of Fl..The problem is, they never did live there..But her daughter did....
You got it, Identity theft. From your kids....Long story short, she won't press charges, and they take money out of savings to clear up the names. During this time, the Daughter is arrested on drug charges and is put in jail. My customers, who have been happy empty nester's for about 4 years now and saving for a house, are now in a dilemma. They of course step up and take the two children, aged 7 and 12.
They now need a bigger place, I still can't help them in traditional Real Estate until the credit is cleared. So they answer an ad and do a lease option for a very old 4 bedroom house and put down 8000. of their savings for the option. I figure I have lost the deal, and just let it go.
Two months later, the wife is calling me. The sheriffs department has just given them 45 days notice to move...the house is in Foreclosure....their landlord is a scammer!!!!
I begin to study foreclosure, lease options, and all this non traditional Real Estate.. I find a listing of MINE that is running behind three months, and who is getting ready to just walk away from the house..I ask if they would help out a nice couple who was in a jam, and they agreed. The home is about 10 years old and in super shape. Its 3 bed, 2 bath, with a 1/2 acre fenced in back yard...They have enough money left to catch up the mortgage and be one payment ahead, and the deal is made. Everything was done very legally, I would not let them get screwed again!!
One thing I have not mentioned is the wife , now full time mother to her grandkids, is on the liver transplant list. She has never had a home of her own. This is the first time she felt like she was in her own house, and is finally happy. Her husband is very supportive, and is of course troubled by the extra burden of raising their grandchildren as she slips away a bit more every month. Last week I was back in the home with them, and it appears we will finally be able to get them FHA financing with the First Time Home Buyers Assistance program.
She is smiling and tears are flowing. She and her husband are thanking me for making it possible to get a home set up for her family. She acknowledges that she will not make it without a transplant, its just a matter of months now at best. But her dream of being in a nice house is realized, and she and her grand kids gave me a Homemade Valentine for Sticking with them all this time. The husband, a proud, yet humble man who has worked hard all his life has to turn his head so that no one will catch him crying too.
Its an emotional scene, and I am proud to have been a part of helping this family finally get their house. The lease option idea made it possible for it all to happen, and done properly, may help someone you know too.
Thanks to Todd Clark (of AR Fame) for the neat graphic and some ideas months ago on Lease Options
