I won this dubious award myself when I secured a great lease option deal on a gorgeous lakefront home but made the HUGE mistake of having the option start right away (just at the beginning of the off-season)  instead of once I found a tenant-buyer.  I made 5 months of payments out of my own pocket on an empty home while I tried to find a tenant-buyer.  In the end that mistake cost me over $7,000 and a lot of stress.   

Lesson learned: I should have either made my contract contingent on securing a tenant or waited until the start of the on-season to begin the contract. 

For more information on avoiding other risks in lease options see Chapter 4 of my book Investing in Real Estate with Lease Options and Subject-To Deals.

Sellers who make this objection take pride in their home and they don’t want someone, like a tenant, living in their home that won’t take care of it.  You want to reassure them that you are not putting tenants in their house, you are putting future home buyers in their house and that is a big difference. 

You might say something like, “I want you to know that I really screen my rent-to-own buyers and they are hand-selected by me.  I also am not going to put just any tenant into your home.  I am putting a future home buyer in your home.  These people take better care of a home, because they are planning to purchase it.” 

Remember, don’t cringe when you hear objections – they are signals that the seller is seriously considering your offer. 

For more information on how to handle seller objections see chapter 6 of my book Investing in Real Estate with Lease Options and Subject-To Deals.

If you find a great deal Lease Option deal on a property but the monthly rent is higher than you can afford if it goes vacant what do you do?  Do you pass on the deal because you know you can’t afford to pay the rent?  Do you take the deal hoping that it doesn’t go vacant? 

If it’s a great deal you definitely don’t want to pass it up, but at the same time I can almost guarantee you’ll get burned if you get in over your head.  So what do you do?  Find a partner or wholesale the deal.  If you can find a money partner you’ll get to keep more of the end profits.  If that doesn’t work then wholesale the deal to another investor at your local REIA group.  You may not make as much but you’ll still make a nice profit AND you won’t be in the horrible position of having to make rental payments that you can’t afford. 

For more information on how to find partners for your deals see Chapter 16 of my book Making Hard Cash in a Soft Real Estate Market.