Rent to own?? (Roanoke: lease, credit check, houses)

[marilynnp]

Hi

Looking at Craigslist under houses for rent in the Roanoke area, I have seen many adds for rent to own. I was wondering if anyone out their has actually rented a home then ended up purchasing it? If so how was the process, Or do you think this is a scam?

Thanks

Marilynn

[headnsouth]

Originally Posted by marilynnp

Or do you think this is a scam?

Definitely scam. As far as I can tell, houses in Roanoke are selling, so there's no need for owners to offer lease-options to tenant/buyers.

[Blue Moon Athena]

How does a rent-to-own scam work?

[mccamp]

Headnsouth,

Where are houses selling in Roanoke? We're looking to purchase another home for investment purposes and we're seeing houses sit on the market for months and months. (Unless, they're priced right and are move-in ready. Those are still selling, but there aren't that many.)

We've come across a couple rent-to-own homes in the area. In both cases, these sellers wanted to sell, but didn't have any qualified buyers. Rent to own appeals to some folks if the seller owns the property outright and the buyer has a okay, but not great, credit and needs help with a down payment.

Usually, the houses are on the MLS listings, too.

I'm sure other folks have come across scams. I'm eager to hear what others think.

[Teebyrd86]

Scams are everywhere but in most cases "rent to own" ads are real. From what I understand a "rent to own" agreement allows you to put a portion of your rent into an "account" which in turn will be part of your down payment when your lease is up (this one was two years) this is when you are the owner not a tenant. At least this is how the one worked that I was looking at. I think "rent to own" is a great way to help both parties involved. Your not throwing all of your money away on rent and the owner is able to get income from their property especially in cases where they have no choice but to move and cant wait and sit for a buyer. Many "rent to own" programs are different and may not work like this though.

[headnsouth]

Houses in my neighborhood are going up on the market and showing "sold" signs shortly thereafter. Strictly anecdotal, as I live and work in a smallish area of Roanoke city & don't know about elsewhere.

I hope the OP finds a lease-option if that's what she's looking for. But another post of hers showed she was looking for a temp agency, and if you're looking for work as well as looking for a place to live, you're pretty vulnerable. CL is "buyer-beware" territory --- I found my job as well as my home on CL when I was moving here, but most of the ads I saw there were scams.

(BlueMoonAthena online scams work by getting your personal information and then using it. There may not be an actual home for rent/purchase. But when you're online looking for a home, then you might be online ready to give up your personal and financial information to someone who says they're doing a credit check.)