What's with the Rent-to-Own Multitudes?!

[mlkmnsgrl]

Oh, this is great! Thanks for posting that article. Glad to hear they've finally given an allocation for the building. The timing is great for us--we know we have a 2 year assignment with strong probability to roll into a permanent 30+ year career, so if we at least know where the new site will be by the end of the 2 years, we can buy based on that location. That's the nice thing about knowing we're renting for at least those 2 years, probably more to get a down payment built up.

Can't blame Cincinnati for trying to keep the tax money! One thing's for sure, though, it sounded like at least in the past the locations they were considering weren't near downtown. We always like it when we can avoid that and it doesn't seem like there's any way $110 million would cover 14 acres worth of land and demolition to put the facility in the super urban areas.

SWOH, we're absolutely open to public transit. We almost always rent near a direct transit line for wherever he works--it's basically a necessity as a one car family. For the last year, though, we haven't been on a bus line, so we've just kind of alternated between days when I don't need the car and days I have to drop him off so the kids and I are mobile. It works, but we're under 6 miles from his office. If it were any farther than that 10-15 min window, it'd be a pain. Similarly, if we're far enough out that a bus trip is going to take much longer than that, especially if it's slowed down by a transfer, we just don't usually feel like it's worth the sacrifice in family time to have him on a bus. We love knowing that it's there when we need it, and in past years, there's been more time of him taking a bus to work than not. That and just walking--that was heavenly, for 2 years we were only a mile away and he just walked!

[mlkmnsgrl]

Originally Posted by WheresTheBeef

Yes and no.

On one hand, to protect your interest in the property something like a land contract or an option should be filed with the recorder.

That said, the numbers are what they are. Most people go into rent to own properties because they don't have good credit. Most of the reasons why people have poor credit don't go away, so they are not able to purchase their "Rent to Own" property. That's not the landlord's fault.

Hmmm, that's a good point. I hadn't thought of it as something for credit issues. We've got stellar credit, so we don't need anything like that kind of "deal". But in those deals, the point is that it's NOT filed with the recorder until some future time, right? Seriously sounds like a no-win to me. Give me a nice traditional 15-year fixed mortgage with a big down payment.

But it's definitely driving me nuts as I comb through Craigslist. Oh well.