Tuesday’s webinar was a blow out!  So many signed up that many of you missed the webinar and emailed me begging me to send you the replay information!  It was such a popular call and the feedback was so great that I decided to ask Than to come back again for a special encore presentation TONIGHT, July 30th at 8PM EST.

This is your last chance so don’t miss it.  Sign up now!

To register for Than’s “How to Automate your Marketing and Find Tons of Motivated Sellers and Buyers” go to:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/788541282

We only have a few lines left for tonight’s webinar with Than Merrill at 8PM EST so don’t miss out!  The response has been absolutely amazing for tonight’s webinar!

Than has agreed to do this webinar for us on his “Top Secrety Strategies for Finding Killer Real Estate Deals.”

He has also agreed to go over his top marketing strategies for finding buyers.  He is currently bringing in over 130 buyer leads a month using the techniques and systems he will share with you tonight!

Plus we will be giving out some awesome gifts for everyone who attends!

Click the link below to Register for this event:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/730483594

I look forward to having you on the webinar!

Wendy Patton

Lease option investing and rent to own trainer

P.S. Everyone who attends the webinar is going to receive a FREE video training on “how to Raise Money from Private Investors” for your next real estate deals!  You will also get a copy of a custom Power Point presentation you can use when you meet with private lenders!

P.P.S. Than and I will also be raffling off two seats to a 4 day Intensive Marketing & Wholesaling training to one lucky person!!! This is a $3,500 gift so don’t miss your chance!

Click here to register:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/730483594

Tuesday, July 28 at 8:00PM Eastern I will be interviewing one of the top real estate investors in the nation, Than Merrill, to find out all his “Secrets to Finding Killer Real Estate Deals.”

Many of you may know Than as he is the star of A&E’s hit TV show “Flip this House.” Than is one of the nations most successful investors and is known as the “Marketing Maven” when it comes to finding under market value real estate. The marketing strategies he will share with us on this webinar will drastically change the future of your investing career.

Plus, we will be giving out some awesome gifts for everyone who attends! Why, because I love you…that’s why!

Click The Link Below To Register For The Event:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/730483594

Here is just a short list of what Than and I will be covering on the webinar…

• How to find deals 30% to 50% below market value consistently
• The secrets behind finding the BEST lists of motivated sellers
• How to get any marketing campaign done for you
• How to build your buyers list and qualify buyers so you don’t have to worry about getting properties sold in today’s market
• How to be successful even if you are only investing on a part time basis
• How to jumpstart your real estate investing career and pick up a check for $20,000 in the next 30 days

For those of you who have never heard Than speak before prepare to be impressed. He has one of the best business minds and will really show you how to get your first deal done in the next 30 days as well as grow a highly profitable business.

Click The Link Below To Register For The Event:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/730483594

We look forward to having you on the webinar!

Wendy Patton

Lease option and Rent to Own trainer

P.S. Here is a list of the killer bonuses…remember we only have 250 lines and I guarantee you they will be filled so register right away so you don’t miss your chance!

Bonus #1: Everyone who attends the webinar is going to receive a FREE Video training on “How to Raise Money from Private Investors” for your next real estate deals! You will also get a copy of a custom power point presentation you can use when you meet with private lenders!

Grand Prize: Than and I will be raffling off TWO seats to a 4 Day Intensive Marketing & Wholesaling training to one lucky person!!! This is a $3500 dollar gift so don’t miss your chance!

When it comes time to place a rent to own buyer in a home, sometimes the home owner or the lease option investor feel pressured to get someone in as quickly as possible.  This usually happens because the mortgage payment for your home has become a financial burden.

Even if that is the case, you still need to make sure that when you screen your rent to own buyer that they meet the criteria on your qualifications list (by the way, you should always have your qualifications list in writing).  Failing to make sure that rent to own buyer meets these qualifications can cause you problems for two reasons:

1. It could be a violation of Fair Housing Law – trust me, you don’t want to go there.

2. You could end up placing a bad lease option tenant and have to evict them later.  Don’t go by gut feel.  Approve a person because they meet the criteria on your qualifications list.

Want to learn more about rent to own buyer selection?

If you are a lease option investor read, “Investing in Real Estate with Lease Options and Subject To Deals”

If you are a real estate agent or home seller read, “Rent to Sell“

If you are a real estate agent do you have any listings that aren’t selling?  Has the seller blamed you for it?  Don’t you hate wasting all that time and money trying to sell listings that you can’t find buyers for?

Some of those sellers would make great rent to own sellers and that way you’ll still get your full commission instead of losing the listing or just finding a renter.

So what makes a good rent to own seller?

1. When their home has been on the market for 90 days or longer – slow selling homes can be good candidates for rent to own because sellers become more open-minded to other ideas as they see their home languishing on the market.

2. Seller has already moved into their new home – whether the seller bought or built a new home and the old one hasn’t sold yet, they have two homes and two house payments.  No seller wants to pay for a home to sit empty for very long

3. Relocated to a new area – if a seller has relocated and their old home hasn’t sold yet

4. New marriage – if the newlyweds were both homeowners and they move into one house and are selling the other

5. Owe as much on their home as it’s worth – this lack of equity makes it difficult for a seller to sell their home outright because they’ll have to bring money to closing.  However, a rent to own home may bring a price premium that can cover some or all of this difference.  Plus, the additional time of the rental period may allow the seller to pay down more principal on their mortgage

6. Landlord selling a rental property – landlords can make great rent to own sellers since they are already used to the idea of having tenants.  Also, because the home isn’t their primary residence, they aren’t likely to need the money from the sale right away

7. Inherited the property – recently inherited property is usually sitting empty and the owners may not need the money right away.  This works well with one or two heirs, but when you have many it tends to get more difficult to get them all to agree to anything

8. Vacation home or 2nd home – because this isn’t the seller’s principal residence, the home may be sitting empty.  Getting rent to own buyers will give the seller some cash each month that they don’t have now.

Remember, rent to owns or lease options are a great option for sellers who have trouble selling their home conventionally.

Market rent is what it is and you can’t change that as a home seller, lease option investor or real estate agent.  You have a small amount of wiggle room but if you are asking too much in rent on your rent to own home it won’t rent.  I can’t tell you how many real estate agents I talk to about doing a rent to own just assume the mortgage payment of the seller should be the asking price for rent.

Unfortunately in some markets the market rent just won’t be enough to cover a high mortgage payment.  The seller has to understand that if their entire payment is more than the rent they will have to cover the difference.

So what can you do if the seller can’t afford to cover that difference each month?  Are your rent to own sellers out of luck?  Not necessarily.  Here’s an idea to get buyers to pay more in monthly rent, which will work if your seller has equity in their home.  When you are advertising the home, advertise for market rent.  Once you find a buyer that wants the home ask them, “Would you like to earn 50% on your money?”

They’ll probably say, “Yes!” or “What do you mean?”

I would respond by saying, “If you pay $200 more in rent each month, meaning $1,400 instead of $1,200, the sellers will give you that $200 each month as an option credit on this home, plus an additional $100 option credit.  This would give you a 50% return on your money and help you buy this home much more quickly by building up option credits.  Would this work for you?”

This gives your seller an extra $200 per month to cover the mortgage payment, but they will credit it back to the rent to own buyer at closing.  If the buyer doesn’t purchase the home, the seller keeps the extra money.

Whether your are a lease option investor, a real estate agent or a home seller or home buyer, anyone involved in a rent to own transaction has the same points to look out for in negotiation.  I’m not going to cover all of the negotiation points here but I’ll focus on a few of them.

1. Monthly option credit – This wold be a portion (or all) of the monthly rent which is credit towards the purchase price ONLY if the tenant-buyer exercises the option to purchase.  This credit is in no way mandatory, but can be very helpful to the buyer when it comes time to purchase.  If a seller is granting option credits they need to have enough equity in the home to cover them

2. Monthly rent amount – Typically rents are priced at market rent or a little bit more on a rent to own transaction.  However, this amount can always be negotiated to make it better for you.

3. End purchase price – the amount the buyer will actually pay for the home once they exercise the right to purchase.  This final amount will determine the buyer’s new mortgage payments.  It will also reflect the net proceeds for the seller.  Most rent to own sales command a slightly higher purchase price, possibly as much as 5% to 10% more depending on the strength of the real estate market in your area.

Want to know more about key points to negotiate in rent to owns?

If you are a lease option investor you’ll want to read “Investing in Real Estate with Lease Options and Subject To Deals”

If you are a home seller or real estate agent you’ll want to read “Rent-to-Sell”

If you are a home buyer or real estate agent you’ll want to read “Rent-to-Buy” (coming soon)

All of these books are available on Wendy Patton‘s website

Here are some of the reasons rent-to-own can be beneficial for you as a home seller:

1. Higher Purchase Price – Rent to own sales typically command a price premium over traditional sales.  The buyer is paying extra for the flexibility he receives by not having to do an outright purchase immediately.

2. Higher Rent – You may be able to charge more for monthly rent in a rent to own than you would for just a straight rental.

3. Cash Flow – If your monthly payments are less than the monthly rent, the difference goes in your pocket.

4. Option Fee – This upfront fee paid to you by your buyer is what secures the purchase price down the road.  If the buyer closes on the home, it would be applied towards the purchase price.  If the buyer elects to not purchase the home, the option fee is forfeited and still remains yours.  Either way you win.

5. Eliminates the Burden of the Mortgage Payment – If you have already moved on to your next home and your old house is sitting empty while you try to sell it, then you are saddled with TWO mortgage payments. I feel your pain.  Ouch! Placing a rent to own buyer that pays that extra mortgage can take away your pain.

6. Getting Your Home Sold Faster – In slow selling markets offering your home as a rent to own can help you get a buyer into the house much faster. This option will open up your pool of buyers significantly.

7. Getting Your Home Sold at All – If your home is just flat out not selling for whatever reason, offering it as a rent to own may be the only way to get it sold.

Want to learn more about selling your home as a rent to own?  See Wendy Patton’s book, Rent to Sell, Your Hands on Guide to Sell Your Home When Buyers Are Scarce.

Let’s face it, as a rent to own investor having a good credit repair company on your team is a must.  The vast majority of tenant-buyers NEED to improve their credit before they can qualify for a mortgage.  Especially in today’s mortgage climate.

Another important reality is that we as a rent to own investor cannot leave credit repair up to the rent to own buyer.  If you simply tell them to improve their credit so they can buy at the end of the option period what do you think will happen?  Nothing.  They’ll never get around to it.  Mostly, despite their good intentions, it will be because they don’t know what to do.

With as many years as I’ve been doing lease option or rent to own investing deals I still don’t know everything there is to know about credit repair.  I hosted a webinar recently with a credit repair specialist and I learned a lot!  One of the reasons I don’t know everything is because credit repair changes.  Instead of trying to have to constantly stay on top of all the changes and then coach my rent to own buyers through every step I find it to me much easier, much less time consuming to simply require them to enroll in a credit repair program at the onset of the option period.  If it becomes a requirement you are going to have a much higher success rate.  And they’ll thank you for it!  Rent to own buyers will be grateful because you helped them get through the steps they needed to homeownership.

If you want to learn more about credit repair, watch the webinar I was talking about.  Also if you are looking for a reputable, quality credit repair company (because, trust me, not all of them are) – I recommend www.renttoowncreditrepair.com

I did a big post yesterday on becoming a Realtor, looking at the pros (many) and cons (next to none in my opinion).  But I left out one of the biggest, most important reasons for becoming a real estate agent when you are doing lease option investing – Networking.

Lease option homes are by and large pretty homes.  The pretty home market is pretty much controlled by real estate agents.  When I say controlled, I mean that they are the ones doing the massive majority of the listings for these homes.  With that being the case you need to make real estate agents your friends to get deals in your pipeline.  Becoming a Realtor gives you an inside track.  For one thing you can start networking with other agents in the brokerage where you have your license.

Then you can expand out to other offices from there.  Just ask people in your office if they know of other agents who might have a home that isn’t selling where the seller told the agent that if it doesn’t sell they might have to rent their home.  Those agents are bound to know other agents that have mentioned something like that to them.

In lease option investing all it really takes is a handful of good networked real estate agents to keep your deal pipeline full.

I recommend you become licensed and consider Keller Williams as an office for you.  I will gladly sponsor you and also assist you in working as a Realtor.  I can help you get started in the right direction. I have been licensed over 20 years.  Let them know I am your sponsor and we can work together to help you as an investor and also to assist you to recruit other investors (Realtors) in your team.  Please email me to find the closest Keller Williams office to you.  Wendy@WendyPatton.com or call me at 248-394-0767 and I will assist you in making a great choice for your future.