If something here isn't clear enough, that's a failure on our part — tell us and we'll rewrite it.
A lease agreement paired with an option to purchase the home, usually within one to five years. A portion of your monthly rent may be credited toward the purchase price, and the price itself is often agreed up front — which protects you if the market rises during your lease.
No — that's the point. Lease-to-own exists for buyers who aren't mortgage-ready yet. You move in on rental terms and use the lease period to build credit, save a down payment, and get your file in shape for financing.
In most agreements, accrued credits and any upfront option fee are forfeited if you decide not to purchase. This is the single most important term to understand before signing, and it varies by contract — read it closely and have an attorney review it.
With a lease option, no — you hold the right to buy, not the obligation. Be careful with lease-purchase agreements, which can legally obligate you to complete the sale. The two sound alike and are very different; always confirm which one you're being offered.
They overlap heavily, and the labels get used loosely across the industry. Both mean you rent first and hold a right to purchase later. In practice "rent-to-own" usually describes agreements where a set portion of rent accrues as credit toward the price, while a plain "lease option" may carry a smaller credit or none at all, with the value sitting in the locked price instead. What matters is not the label but the eight terms — read those.
Nothing, and there is no tier that changes that. Every listing's address, purchase price, option fee, monthly credit, and term are visible without an account, without a form, and without a subscription. Buyers are never charged and never upsold.
A flat listing fee of $249 per property, per year while listed, paid by the seller. The first 40 seller signups pay $125 for the first year on one listing, then $249 per year. A seller can stop future renewal from their dashboard, including when an option is signed, and keeps the paid period. That's the entire model. We don't take a commission on the sale, we don't charge buyers, and we don't earn anything from your data — which is precisely why we can afford to show you every term before you talk to anyone. A business paid to publish complete listings has no reason to hide them.
Before a property is listed, an administrator reviews the material terms, disclosures, photos and property details, and requires that all eight material terms of the option are complete. Review of ownership evidence is a planned addition. A seller who won't state a purchase price doesn't get listed.
No. Your contact details go to the specific seller whose property you reached out about, and to no one else. We don't run a lead-resale business, we don't syndicate to lender networks, and we don't sell marketing lists. If you eventually want a lender or an attorney, that's your choice to make on your own timeline.
Because a large share of otherwise solid buyers can't clear underwriting right now, and that pool is growing as rates rise. A structured lease option lets you agree a price today with a buyer who is committed but not yet bankable, collect an option fee, and hold rent in the meantime — rather than carrying the property while you wait for a conventional buyer. It also gives you a defined outcome if they never exercise.