I am trapped in our house.. We bought our starter home in a nice (so we thought) cookie cutter neighborhood back in 2009.. The house was built in 2006. Well it is time to move on! The problem - no houses are selling in this neighborhood. A Native American Tribe has purchased a lot of these houses, and there are a lot of forclosures, so the value has dropped, plus we can't compete with the prices of all the forclosures and short sales. (Would you pay 20-30k more for the same exact house?)

We have contacted that tribe to buy ours, and it may or may not happen. (Let's hope). I don't like being a grown up and would like some advice - we refinanced when we were able to cut our interest rate in half, so we don't have a lot of equity, has anyone done a Lease to Own from a seller side? We are just miserable there.. our neighbors are awful, and I am scared to show the home with them around if we were to sell traditionally. I don't like feeling like we have no way out for whoever knows how long, but should we just wait it out? I don't know what options we would have as this is the first home we have owned and I just don't know a lot about real estate.

Many thanks!

Around here (northern IL) there are property management companies that will find tenants and write up a lease for you. They do the credit checks, etc.

Some will even "manage" the property for you (for a cut of the rent). The tenants mail their payments to the property management company and they will field calls from your renters and stuff. Not a bad deal, IMO.

That is the route I would go if renting my home.

Burn it down, collect the insurance. If you need help with this, please contact me. I know a guy that knows a guy that was a guy who could help.

We've had issues similar to this in our area, new home construction was highly incentivized by the city a few years back. As a result, a bunch of new condos went up using a 20-30% forgivable grant. People gobbled these up, with no money down, now they're 3 years in and the forgivable loans are dropping off and there are hundreds of run down condos on the market. The people that took care of theirs are nowhere near able to sell theirs for market value.

Buying on contract has gotten more and more popular as a result. This may have something to do with the recent spike in houses blowing up due to meth labs too...

I would LOVE to do that! Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind lol..



I will have to check in to this.. I hate it... We got in for 0 down since we go the VA route, seemed like a great idea - until now.

You've only been there for 4 years (if I'm reading your first post right)... even in a good market that's not much time to build equity with 0% down. But if you are unhappy there, might as well take advantage of the rates before they rise too much.

When we decided to look this time I made it clear to the hubs, the lender, and the realtor that I WILL NOT pay PMI again. It took us three tries to refi, and the only thing holding us back was the MI company. 20% down on the next place, firm.

PMI is a waste of money...

Erica - most property management companies work for 1/12th the rent (maybe I should say most of the ones i'm aware of), in essence, one months rent per year is their fee.

Short of finding a buyer on your own, if their are foreclosures nearby that are similar in floorplan and 20-30K below you cost, it is going to be tough.

Sorry about your situation. The rent to own deal might be a good thing for you, especially if you can work with the tenant and then help them a CRA-type loan from your bank, if possible.

Does your bank offer any low-mod income loan programs you can help them work into?

Thanks for all the imput.. yes we have only been in for 4 years, but we purchased with a nice bit of equity in it already - and then foreclosure city happened.

MB I am sure they do, I am on the BSA side of the house and still kind of new so I am unfamiliar with what all we have. But that would be an ideal situation, right after selling it to the tribe.

I am just so scared for someone else to live in my house, while it is still ours. I know if it is a rent to own they are more invested and would take better care, but it is still scary!

I'm sure someone here probably has a nightmare story about rent to own. Oh, wait, that's me.

We sold a house on a contract for deed, similar to rent to own, because we had built a new house, and then the market went to heck before we could sell the old one. We were desperate, paying two mortgages, and trying to maintain two houses 30 miles apart.

With eyes wide open, we sold it to a guy with horrible credit. Everyone in the area new this guy's family. They were always in the paper. One brother was in a wheelchair because another brother shot him. A family wedding ended with police arresting some guests after the women in the family got in a brawl.

The guy paid us fairly well, although I used to call for the payments anytime he was a couple days late. His business was in trouble, and one night I got a call from the fire department. The house was on fire. The chief was sure it was intentional, as clothes had been piled by the gas water heater. All the inventory from his business just happened to be in the family room and was ruined by the fire hoses.

The house was fixable, and I held on to his insurance check until the work was done. Soon after, he was able to find a buyer, and we were paid off. It was a three year nightmare, though.

That was 1992 to 1995. Last year, an old neighbor told us the house was for sale again. We looked at the pictures on the internet. Someone had bought the house at a foreclosure, and completely remodeled it. It looked so nice we joked about moving back in. It looks better now than ever.

Renting out to others is stressful! I have 2 homes in 2 different states that I am renting out and 1 of them is a constant pain in the butt.

If you can find a good property management company that takes a good portion of liabilites for keeping the place rented and collecting payments then it might be the best way to go. Besides, if you use the management company the renters will not really know who owns the home unless they know how to search public records.

The key is doing your due diligence on renters. Beyond the credit check, do a background check (your city may actually require it if you are a crime-free housing community), and call every single reference they give you. Google search them. Cyber stalk them.

I think manimal is absolutely correct. After losing our home in a tornado last year, we had to lease a townhome until we could find a home to purchase. Our landlords were the best; they took immaculate care of the place and we did the same in return. But they did a thorough investigation prior to renting the space and had several restrictions in place in order to eliminate as much of the "trouble" as possible.

It takes work, but it can be a win-win.

I would have to move into my barn or my horse trailer...I don't think anyone would take me and my menagerie.

You can park your horse trailer on my driveway?

Thanks, mani.

Whats the reason you are looking to move, Erica?

This is a common problem amongst many cookie cutter type homes. You usually get a lot of square footage for your money, but the long term quality of the home is next to zero. You can literally punch holes in the walls. Take a home built in the 50s through 70s which has been modernized and the quality of construction is much different. Additionally, the construction materials, including the wood of old homes is much better. New wood comes from trees that grow on wood farms in 7 years. They are mostly water content until cut down. The fibers are not very tight. Old home wood is very strong in comparison.

Just something to consider if you have the option.

I am in a similar situation. Owned my home for 7 years, then married and moved in with my husband thinking we would be able to sell. On the market for 7 months with one showing because of all foreclosures and short sales in the area. I gave up and am letting one of his cousins live there for almost half my payment, just so the copper pipes don't get stolen.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood nazi is threatening to turn me into the city for having an illegal rental. Really... would you rather have it empty?

What, praytell, is an 'illegal rental'?

Yah....explain.

Some communities don't allow rentals, if they are an HOA or Condo association.

crazy rules.

Unless you can not get a mortgage on your coop or condo based upon percentage of rentals.

In Lansing, MI in order to rent your home you have to have it inspected by the city and registered as a rental. I have done neither of these things and this guy knows it.

He loves contacting the city ordinance guy over everything... and filing FOIA (freedom of information act) requests with the police department. Then he walks the neighborhood with his dog and gets ahold of anyone's ear he can. He loves to stir the pot...

Oh good grief! He needs a life.