rent to own - Posted by ST

import · February 21, 2003, 12:49pm

Posted by Mark on February 21, 2003 at 15:19:04:

Sorry, I am in Va.Beach, VA

import · February 21, 2003, 12:49pm

Posted by ST on February 21, 2003 at 13:49:54:

Would I look or sound stupid if I call up some landlords and ask them straight out if they would be interested in selling their property to me through a lease purchase? My husband and I want to get into a home, and we can’t do it the conventional way right now. Rent to own scenarios are rare around here. I would have to find them.

import · February 22, 2003, 8:13am

Re: rent to own - Posted by eric-fl

Posted by eric-fl on February 22, 2003 at 09:13:43:

Brent is correct in his statement below. What you basically want to do is call them up, ask a little about the property just like any other renter, establish a little rapport. Then, in your best “aw, shucks” mode, ask them something like “say, let me ask you something. If I wanted to lease the property for longer than a year, like maybe we set something up where I automatically renew after 12 months, is that something you might be interested in?” (Wait for ‘yes’ answer, this should take about 1.2 seconds.)“Okay then, let me also ask, would you be interested in selling it to me after renting it for a few years? We’re looking for something to buy, eventually.” (Wait for ‘yes’ answer, should take about .8 seconds). “Okay then, well if that sounds good to you, do you think maybe we could come to some sort of an agreement on the price, and lock that in, so that I can know exactly what kind of money I’ve got to get saved up, in order to qualify for a mortgage down the road?”

If they’ve said yes to the first two questions, they should also say yes here. You now have successfully negotiated a lease/option, in principle. Now all that remains is to come to an agreement on the numbers, and fill out the paperwork. Notice how you never once said the words “lease/option”, or any other flashy creative sounding things. You’ll want to shy away from this on purpose. Most landlords renting single-family houses are “reluctant landlords”, meaning they wound up renting the house out because of a lack of better alternatives. And now here you come along, and you’re offering one. You may run across some professional landlords as well, who know exactly what a lease/option is, and may not be interested. And if they are, you better hang on to your wallet, because then you’re probably dealing with someone who you can be sure will structure the deal in THEIR best interests, not yours. You’ll probably be able to tell the difference very quickly. And I’d be surprised if you made even 10 calls without getting at least one or two non-professional landlords who say “yes” to the questions above. Go ahead and try it. 10 calls. Shouldn’t take more than an hour or two of your time, and nothing else. If you don’t get at least one or two “yes” answers, then come back here for some fine tuning.

import · February 21, 2003, 2:13pm

Re: rent to own - Posted by Brent_IL

Posted by Brent_IL on February 21, 2003 at 15:13:32:

You will get better results if you don’t use the term lease/purchase. Try volunteering information first, e.g., “My husband and I are looking for a nice three bedroom home for our family. We would like to lease for a brief time to save enough for a 20% down payment and then buy the property. Is this something that you would be interested in talking about”?

If they are not going for the deal, it doesn’t matter how wonderful the house is, or where it is located.

import · February 21, 2003, 1:10pm

Re: rent to own - Posted by GL - ON

Posted by GL - ON on February 21, 2003 at 14:10:01:

And what if you do? You might think you will die but you won’t LOL. So what have you got to lose?

When you call about a rental, discuss the house a little first and if it suits you ask if they would consider selling it sometime in the future. If they indicate they would, that is all you need at this point. You can work out the details after you see the place.

If you are halfway sensible nobody is going to bite your head off and if they do who cares? There are a million more houses where that one came from.

I guarantee if you call 2 or 3 ads, nothing bad will happen and you will wonder what all the fuss was about.

import · February 22, 2003, 5:02pm

Re: rent to own - Posted by Bryan-SactoCA

Posted by Bryan-SactoCA on February 22, 2003 at 18:02:33:

Get Conti and Finkel’s free book on their website, I believe it’s resultsnow.com. The book is so complete, it even has scripts to follow and tells you how to say them. Then follow the house for rent ads in your local paper for 2-3 weeks, use highlighters to tell one week ads from those that have been running two or three weeks. Then after three weeks, make calls.

import · February 21, 2003, 2:51pm

Re: rent to own - Posted by bob

Posted by bob on February 21, 2003 at 15:51:18:

Tell them you are looking for a house that you would like to buy eventually… I sold a hosue that why once & it was wunderful!!! The tenant/buyers took care of the house as if it was their own…

It’s a win-win!!!

import · February 21, 2003, 1:20pm

Re: rent to own - Posted by Mark

Posted by Mark on February 21, 2003 at 14:20:46:

I would love someone to offer to rent to own one of my properties right now!

import · February 24, 2003, 7:49am

Re: rent to own - Posted by Patrick-NY

Posted by Patrick-NY on February 24, 2003 at 08:49:55:

Bryan-

I have read Conti&Finkel’s book about 3 times now and I’m going to begin making phone calls today.

Have you personally used the scripts in the book and what success have you had??

Thanks much for your response.

Patrick-NY

import · February 21, 2003, 1:27pm

Re: rent to own - Posted by GL - ON

Posted by GL - ON on February 21, 2003 at 14:27:50:

There you go. ST meet Mark. If both of you are in the same city we might have a deal right here.

I bet lots of landlords feel the same way. If they could get a tenant right away, and then sell the house with no fuss and no expense then why not?

import · February 24, 2003, 11:24am

Re: rent to own - Posted by Bryan-SactoCA

Posted by Bryan-SactoCA on February 24, 2003 at 12:24:44:

I just started making calls last night out of ads aged 2-3 weeks. Out of 12 ads:

6 were property management companies that didn’t mention in the ad that they were

3 were answering machines of actual people who I should call back (1 was connected to a cell phone, I’ll have to call her back during the day)

1 was a tenant marketing the property he was living in for the landlord since the tenant had broken the lease (too weird, didn’t pursue it)

1 had just gotten out of the shower and told me to call her back

and 1 was a landlord who listened to the whole thing. I decided he wasn’t motivated enough because his answers had lots of “mights” and “maybes”. He might do a two year lease, he might sell but he wouldn’t commit to it, etc.

I found that the easiest way to get rid of the pit of fear in your stomach about making phone calls ( we all have it at first) is to actually make the calls. Nothing else works. You have to just pick up the phone and call.