With the relative difficulty of getting some houses sold these days, there are quite a few sellers and buyers who think that a lease/purchase or lease with option to purchase might just be the ticket to at least getting a little money for the seller right now and help the buyer who can’t currently get a loan still move into a home. For some, that may be true. However, this is not something to be viewed as a simple solution. In fact, there are so many variables in such an agreement, that the North Carolina Association of Realtors does not have a form that covers that, and you can’t just use a purchase offer and a lease agreement and staple them together. In fact, you need to use a real estate attorney to create the agreement. It would be best to consult the attorney first before you’ve agreed to anything so that you fully understand the variable details and pitfalls. That way you can negotiate knowledgeably and in a way that allows you to direct your attorney in the agreed details as they write the lease/purchase agreement. Yes, it will cost you a few dollars, but it’s better than going to court if things go bad down the road.
By the way, nationally 92% of these agreements never result in a sale of the property, so go into it with reasonable expectations.
