Rent to Own FAQs

How does our Lease Option Program Work?

First, we'll ask you to complete our self evaluation questions below to evaluate if: "Rent to Own is right for me--right now? This evaluation will help you determine if you are ready to buy a Rent to Own home.  Below are the items your need to consider and/or actions you'll need to take before your truly ready to start shopping for a lease option home if you need help during the process don't hesitate to call we are happy to answer any questions or help point you in the right direction of who to speak with.

• Do you have a reasonable option fee saved ?  Typically  3.5% -7% of the purchase price is what you'll need to move in get the home under contract and move in.  The final number will depend on home and what the seller will accept.  Example: if you are looking at homes in the$100,000 - $150,000 range you can expect option fees approximately between $3,500 - $10,000 (keep in mind your option fee is applied to the purchase price when you buy the home and the more you put down the smaller your loan amount will be.).
  
  
•  How's your score?  Although perfect credit is not required by any means, it is important to know what your score is today to guage realistically how long it can take to improved your score in order to qualify for a loan during your lease? Rent to Own buyers generally need  a minimum of 620 or higher in order to qualify for  most FHA financing programs.  Other rent to own buyers are looking to push their scores even more to 750 or above so they can obtain the best rates possible before they buy. Most of our lease option buyers who work with our credit coach partners are plesantly suprised to see major credit score jumps as much as 30-60 points in a matter of a few months.  Understanding how the credit bureaus work and knowing how to improve your score is crucial to your success. Once you have your credit game plan in place and begin to follow it, you will be able to qualify faster and lock in today's great interest rates sooner than you ever thought possible!  Not sure what your score is? No problem you can use any service you'd like to get your score, but we've have found Citi Identity Monitor to be the best low cost site to get your credit report and accurate tri merge credit score, (just like mortgage brokers use) for just one dollar.  Make sure you cancel within 30 days if you don't wish to utilize their monthly monitoring service.
  
  
•  Are you shopping in the right price point for your future home?  Ok now that you have your credit score, have you checked with a mortgage professional to see if you will be able to afford the monthly payments upon reaching a credit score that will qualify you to buy?  For Example: If you wanted to keep your payments around $1350-$1500 a month you should look at homes with a purchase price of around $250,000 or less, as you would not want to lease option a home selling for much more, since your mortgage payment includes principle, interest, taxes and insurance (aka: PITI) could be much higher when you purchase. The price point you should be shopping in is based on several individual factors, your debt to income ratio; how much you plan to put down and the monthly payment amount your comfortable with.  We always recommend each of our 'future buyers' speak with one of our mortgage partners as they will be able to let you know what price range you should be focusing on.
  
  
• Do you know how long it will take to qaulify for a loan?  After you have had and opprotunity to speak with our mortgage and/or credit coach partners, you should have a pretty good idea of how long you'll need before you can get financing.   We'll need this information upfront in order to negotiate an appropriate lease term length and most rent to own sellers want to know you have your game plan in place to complete a successful sale in the future. Once you decide a Rent to Own agreement is right for you and you've complete the nessesary steps, call us to set up an appointment  to view any of the homes from our inventory of properties, Once you've found a Rent to Own home you wish to make an offer on, you will work with one of our Lease Option Specalist Agents to present a Lease Purchase offer to the seller. When your offer is accepted, you will then Lease your new home for a period of time, while you work towards obtaining loan approval. During your lease term, we recommend you continue to work with a credit coach until you have reached your desired credit score.  Once you've hit your target number we encourage you to speak to one of our trusted mortgage professional to start shopping for a loan.  After you have loan approval you may purchase the home anytime within the agreed upon lease period.