Looking To Buy A House (Rent To Own) (Phoenix, Tempe: balloon payment, sales)

[tboy34]

I moved here from New Jersey In August of 2010. So far, I've had a good experience here. My partner (who has lived here off and on for over 20 years) are thinking about buying a house. We are currently living in the Little Cottonwoods Apartments in Tempe. I'm wondering where would be a great place to think about buying other than Tempe. Not too sure about parts of Phoenix as most of it has gone really ghetto. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[observer53]

"Most" of Phoenix has gone really "ghetto"? Now there is exaggeration. There are plenty of nice neighborhoods in Phoenix as well as the other suburbs. Finding a situation where you can "rent to own" as your title says, if that's what you need to do, may affect your options, as I have no idea how to go about finding a house for which the owner is willing to do that. "Rent to own" is different than "buying a house".

[tboy34]

Your not telling me anything I don't know about buying or renting to own. Phoenix is ghetto and I'm sorry I moved here. I'm only here to keep a job in this terrible state. That is my opinion and I'm entitled to that.

[S. Chris Webb]

I agree with Observer 53. Phoenix has some extremely nice, even very upscale, neighborhoods, and if you think those are "ghetto", and think this entire state is "terrible," I wouldn't know what other "great places" besides Tempe to recommend for you. But then again, you say that so far, you've had a really good experience here, so am a bit confused.

As far as renting to own, why not search the online classified such as craigslist.org for that term? You can use Google street view to take a virtual tours around the neighborhoods. I'd recommend having an attorney look over the sales agreement to make sure you aren't getting into a shifty deal. Keep in mind that with renting to own you will usually pay a premium price for the home, and most will require a hefty deposit and/or downpayment.

[oldtrader]

Problem finding a rent to own property.

This is popular when sales are slow, and prices are steady or declining. When people are looking at a potential rising in price, and sales are on the increase, they are not popular.

At the present time the only reasons anyone would take a rent to own are:

1: You are willing to set a purchase price considerably above the current market value, to cover any price increases that may happen.


2: You set the market price, as the appraised value at the time the purchase is exercised.

In either case, a wise owner is going to require a fairly substantial payment up front as a deposit towards the purchase.

In today's market, there is no advantage to the seller to make a rent-to-buy contract on a home, especially for homes at the average home sales price for the area or below that figure.

[tboy34]

I know abut the money issue. Yet right now I can't afford a down payment to buy a house. I'm just not interested in paying more rent when I can buy something for much less a month in mortgage.

[SubconsciousMe]

In Phoenix, I would recommend Melrose, Medlock, Willo, Bridle Path, Arcadia and Biltmore areas.

Perhaps the problem is that your budget does not meet the buying power of the upscale neighborhoods in Phoenix? Which is totally fine but lumping all of Phoenix as "ghetto" is a vast and unfair stereotype. I can walk to multi-million dollar homes and I'm in Central Phoenix.

And yes, I've lived everywhere from Scarsdale, NY to Newark, NJ, to Brooklyn, NY to Chicago, IL and Atlanta, GA and more.

You are welcome to ask for advice on neighborhoods but saying we are a "terrible" state leaves a rather stale taste in my mouth and I am much less likely to help you.

After all, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Good luck!

[observer53]

Originally Posted by tboy34

Your not telling me anything I don't know about buying or renting to own. Phoenix is ghetto and I'm sorry I moved here. I'm only here to keep a job in this terrible state. That is my opinion and I'm entitled to that.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion, though many will disagree with you --- but if you are sorry you moved to this "terrible state", (what happened to "so far I've had a good experience here" ??) why buy a house and tie you (or your partner) down to a place you don't want to be?

[ibarrio]

Rent to own is not the same as buying a home. You will not pay a good interest rate, you will pay more than market price for the home, you payment will be higher or the same as rent, all repairs are your responsiblity, HOA is your responsibility but you are not considered the owner by the HOA, and you will have a balloon payment when the rent to own is up...maybe 5 to 10 years. I highly doubt someone will carry a 30 year note. In most cases rent to own is a scam to get you to pay higher than market rent.

oh, and you still need a down payment to get into a rent to own.

[khuntrevor]

Owner financing is different than rent to own.