Has anyone ever done a lease to own home-TX?

I am wondering if there is anyone out there who knows about or has personally done a lease to own option on a home. What are the positives and mostly what are the negatives.


My spouse and I just moved to Texas from out of state for his job. Anyways, in the process of moving and not being able to sell our home for almost a year, we had to file bankruptcy chapter 7 and it was discharged in May of 2009. Our main goal is to buy a home and yes we do know that we have to wait 2 years from the date of our discharge. Fortunately we did not foreclose on the home, it went through short sale. Anyways. We can't officially start looking until May of 2011 and we are not sure if we want to stay in our apartment anymore. Our lease is over Jan 2010. So, we were considering this lease to own as an option. We understand it is a way to build your rental history, which we already have, but it allows you time to save for your down payment while building your credit back up.


I just don't want to get into something and two years later we don't like the house anymore and something better comes along. I hear you lose your deposit and could possibly be in a contract violation.


I also understand that you agree to a rent amount and pay extra for savings to put towards the down payment. Do you have to do that? I have almost $25K saved already for my downpayment so I don't want to pay extra in a payment to save. Also how does that work, is it escrowed?


We are trying to find the best way to get into our home. If we have to wait it out and renew our lease til May of 2011, we will.


Thanks.|||Hi;





I wish I could answer your question - We're considering doing the same thing and are very interested in hearing an answer from someone who's done it.





Our situation is a little different. We agreed to a Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. Even though it was less of a ding on our credit than a typical foreclosure, we have to wait to get financing a minimum of two years as well. We're renting a house (actually, the lease expired) but would like to buy. We'd like to do a lease-purchase or lease-option in the hopes that it will be a permanent, or potential permanent move.





Hopefully, someone will response with an answer - not just another question! Good luck to you.