If you are considering buying a home, but you are temporarily having trouble qualifying for a mortgage or not sure if the time is right for you to buy, you may want to consider the  "Rent to Own" option.

General Features & Benefits of a Rent to Own Home:

The Lease - Purchase contract is the quickest, easiest and least expensive way to buy, sell and invest in real estate. It replaces the typical adversarial relationship that usually exists between buyers and sellers with a win-win method of transferring real estate ownership. Specifically (if you're the buyer), you will have minimum cash out of pocket, credit problems are okay, faster equity growth, increased buying power and peace of mind.


Tenant/Buyer Features
If you are in the market to buy a home, you are probably aware of the advantages home ownership provides (tax shelter, appreciation, security, etc). If you are actively seeking homes for sale on a Lease - Purchase agreement, you are either

1. A very smart renter.
2. A very smart real estate investor.
3. Not ready to make a commitment.
4. Cannot yet purchase a home through conventional means.
5. Any combination of the aforementioned.

The Lease - Purchase contract provides you with many benefits, but perhaps the most powerful one is the rate at which you accumulate equity. The buying power of a Lease - Purchase contract can quickly and easily land you a home that you could only dream of buying the conventional way.

Here are some features and benefits for the tenant/buyer:

• Opportunity to own your dream home: You have the ability to own your own home as you build up equity and fix any potential credit problems.
• Profit from appreciation: The purchase price is set in the option agreement, giving you the opportunity to make equity gains in the midst of growing real estate markets.  Average appreciation rate for Alaska Real Estate over the last 20 years has been 5.6%/year.  Alaska in the last 30 years has been more stable than many of the other 50 states.
• Prepare for Home Ownership: Take your time and learn how to properly care for a house as you move towards your goal of home ownership
• Maintain your flexibility: Rent to Own gives you the flexibility to walk away from the property at the end of your lease term, should you decide you don't want to make the purchase.
• Option money is credited towards purchase: When you sign a Lease - Purchase contract, you will pay the seller an option payment. This money is your vested interest in the home and will be fully (100%) credited to you when you buy the home.
• Minimum cash out of pocket: When you purchase a home the conventional way, you usually must pay between 5% and 30% down plus closing costs and prepaid fees at closing. When you buy with a Lease - Purchase, you only pay first month's rent and an option payment.
• Increased buying power: When you buy a Lease - Purchase home, you purchase your option and put down the first month's rent. Compare that to a typical bank or lender who requires 5-30% down plus closing costs and prepaids.
• Credit problems are okay: Qualification restrictions are minimized. You will be approved at the sole discretion of the landlord/seller.
• No taxes, less liability: Since you do not own the home (yet), you will not have to pay property taxes and your liability exposure will be dramatically reduced.
• Quick move-in time: You can typically take possession of the home in a week or less. (Standard real estate deals normally take a month or more just to close after an offer has been accepted.
• Maximum financial leverage: You are spending very little to control a potentially expensive, and very profitable, piece of real estate.
• Time: Before you actually buy the home, you will have time to repair your credit, find the best interest rates, investigate the home and research the neighborhood and/or schools.
• Upfront timing: The timing for moving into a Rent to Own home can be much shorter than purchasing a home should you choose to exercise your option.
• Privacy: Your name will not be on the deed or in the public records until you exercise your option to buy.
• Peace of mind: You will have a more invested control of the home and can maintain or improve it.
• Stability: You can not be evicted for arbetrary reasons.
• No rent increase for the term of the option.

Contact us if you would like to learn more about the "Rent to Own" process and whether it might be right for you.