Do you want to own your dream home? Of course, we all do. With the cost of living continually on the rise many individuals find themselves wondering if they will ever be free from the clutches of their landlord. Through a rent to own (also known as a lease with the option to buy) you can begin the journey to becoming a homeowner even if you have bad credit.
First of all, what is a rent to own? A rent to own is when a tenant makes an arrangement with their landlord which allows him or her to buy the property from the landlord over a period of time by applying a portion of their monthly rent towards the final purchase of the house.
With tighter mortgage requirements and banks experiencing a serious credit crunch many prospective homeowners find that they are unable to qualify for a home mortgage. It would seem all hope is lost but there are secret strategies that tenants can implement to make a rent to own work for them.
One might ask, why would I even want to implement these strategies and what are they? The answer is simple. You want to implement these strategies because you want to become a homeowner and put your hard earned money towards something that will one day be yours, instead of filling up your landlord's wallet each and every month.
First of all, you need to truly examine your credit. One of the deal breakers that prevent banks from giving you a loan is bad credit. If you have credit problems, you should look into hiring a credit restoration company to work on improving your credit and remove as many negative statements from your credit report which in turn helps to increase your credit scores. As crazy as it sounds, your landlord might even agree to pay for it, all you have to do is ask.
Secondly, you need to have landlord report your monthly rent payments to the credit bureaus. There are companies out there that will actually help your landlord report to the bureaus on your behalf. There are two benefit of reporting your payments. The first is that you will be adding a positive payment history to your credit file; the second is that you now have proof to show the bank that you have been paying your rents on time.
Nowadays lenders want to see that borrowers with past credit problems can make timely mortgage payments. Implementing the strategies above will help you create a solid case when seeking a mortgage from the banks.
The main advantage of purchasing a home through a rent to own agreement is that you can live in the home of your dreams right now, while working on getting your credit fixed so that you can qualify for a mortgage from the bank.
Owen Mcgab Enaohwo is a Solutions Provider (Real Estate Investor) at ZENITH PROPERTY SOLUTIONS LLC. Through our marketing, we are able to locate sellers and landlords who are willing to sell their property for a fair price through a rent to own agreement. We negotiate favorable terms with them and then put the property under an assignable contract. We then locate a buyer (tenant) and then assign our interest to the buyer.
If you are looking for rent to own homes in Maryland, District of Columbia and the Northern Virginia area, we can help. Visit Our Home Buyers Page.