I don't like beating a dead issue especially so near the holidays when we should all be merry as in Merry Christmas, but my phone is ringing off the hook with people inquiring about lease purchases. IF ALL YOU REALLY WANT TO DO IS LEASE A HOUSE FOR THREE MONTHS, this isn't going to work for you.
When I return calls to people who have called for a lease purchase and explain the terms of a lease purchase, they're horrified. WHAT? What do you mean "terms"? "I have to put down non-refundable earnest money?" "What, I actually have to buy the house at the end of the term?" "What, only a portion of the rent will go toward my down payment?" "What, I can't get out of my contract after 3 months - after all, I really only want to rent for three months anyway, and I don't want to rent an apartment." "What, I have to have a credit check, are you kidding me, if I had good credit I'd get a loan." "This is more complicated than buying a house, I'm out of here!" Reality bites! Rather sounds like Kyle's Mom, Sheila Broflovski on South Park with her famous rant: WHAT, WHAT WHAT????!!!!
A lease purchase means you will lease a particular property for an agreed upon term at an agreed upon monthly price and agreed upon NON-REFUNDABLE earnest money. At the end of the term there is a performance - you'll buy the property. Lease purchases are great for salespeople for example who know they're expecting a bonus check at the end of June, but want to purchase a home today. Unfortunately, without that bonus as a deposit, they can't get the loan terms they'd like. If the buyer will be paying cash and not proceeding with a loan, your bank will generate a signed letter to the seller to that effect - that funds are available for purchase. The seller and prospective purchaser sign a lease purchase agreement and when the bonus comes in or that big raise is realized, they notify their loan officer and proceed with the loan and purchase of the property. Sellers defaulting is somewhat rare, except for those sellers that are not makeing motgage payments or are behind already in thier payments. So buyer defaults are more the norm. Should the buyer default, the seller keeps the earnest money for having kept his property off the market while the seller waited to fulfill his legal obligations. It can be written into the contract that if a buyer loses his job, is transferred by his company, or some other similar event where purchasing the home is out of the question, the buyer's liability can be limited and credit left in good standing.
I remember many years back that there was a contract called "lease with an option to buy." That option was not merely a verbal agreement. When a prospective purchaser signed a contract to lease a property and live in it for an agreed upon time, say six months, they bought the house at the end of the time period OR they moved out. The penalty for not purchasing the home might be forfeiture of half the earnest money or whatever both parties had agreed. If you moved into a neighborhood and realized the school wasn't working, the commute was too long, you didn't like the neighbors, or any other reason whatsoever, you did not have to go forward with your purchase but you did have a cash penalty - you were not about to live in a person's house for several months for free, nor would the seller have to obtain a court order to have you removed. They'd go straight to the sheriff and like Nicholas Cage, you were Gone in Sixty Seconds.
If you want to do a lease purchase today because you want the kids to start in the new school this January rather than waiting till March when that big promotion will be announced or if your lease is up now, or the commute is the real reason you were even considering this particular property, remember that you must have spoken to a loan officer to get your ducks in a row for loan at the end of the lease term, you will have to put down non-refundable earnest money, and there is a severe penalty if you do not move forward, not the least of which is ruined credit.
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