Posted on November 2, 2011
This brings to mind Robert F. Kennedy's famous quote: "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?"
Q: Why does the seller rent their home?
A: They don't know any better.
Q: Why doesn't the seller use a Lease Option or Purchase?
A: They don't know any better.
It pains me to say it. Here's another bit of news that proves the point that the percentage of realtors offering the "why not," creative approaches to selling real estate is very, very small. As of mid-2011, the Census Bureau cited a net increase of 1.4 million households that moved into rental housing - 4 percent more than the same period last year.
So apartment rentals are going from dead "flat" to rising. Does this make sense with so many options for the "accidental landlord," i.e., they couldn't offload the property fast enough, so they're stuck? The "accidental tenant" comes along with lots of income, albeit sporadically earned, or a credit score ding that's well on its way to healing, but hasn't disappeared fully enough for the bank to overlook it. I yearn for that day when we get the headline, "Rising Demand for Lease Options."