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Investing Strategies

Right Now: My Top 3 Ways to Get Lease Option Buyers

teeshirtWhen you think of Craigslist, you probably think of job searches, furniture sales, bizarre personal ads, and would-be scammers.

But did you know that Craigslist is widely used by real estate investors – including me – to not only find and sell properties but also to find lease option buyers?

After years of real estate investing in a variety of ways, including wholesaling, rehabbing, buy-and-hold rentals, and wholesaling lease options (my personal favorite), I’ve realized that the market we're in right now is one of the best I've ever seen for selling houses through lease option.

"Wait...What's a Lease Option Again?"

In case you don't already know, a "lease option" is basically rent-to-own. You find someone who'd like to be a legit homeowner, but isn't quite ready yet, either due to damaged credit, maybe a past foreclosure still haunting them (think there are a few folks around who faced foreclosure in reacent years, but would love to start moving towards homeownership again?), or other reasons.

Essentially the investment model is, you offer them a property with two separate but linked agreements: (1) a lease and (2) an option to purchase agreement. The lease is just as it sounds - a standard rental agreement. The option gives them the option to purchase for a window of time (usually a few years) at a set price, and often offers terms like rent payments credited towards the purchase price, etc.

Lease options generate quick profits by collecting "option consideration" up front from your tenant-buyers, some mid-to-longer term cashflow as your tenant-buyers pay monthly, and often a nice payday at the end if/when they excersise their option to buy your property. You just have to find homeowners who are willing to rent their homes long-term and buyers who are open to rent to own instead. If the terms are right, lease option transactions are a win-win, for everyone involved.

A Word on Ugly Houses and Bad Neighborhoods

harrisonRegardless of how you find your lease option buyers, here’s the key thing to remember: Ugly is a tough sell. You’ll always struggle to sell bad homes in bad neighborhoods, so if the home needs a major facelift, the terms must be attractive – period.

For example, I’ve done lease options for homes without kitchens or bathroom fixtures. How did I do it? Over the top awesome terms. Like offering 100% rent credit for three years and making your rental fee better than just competitive. 

Heck, I once rented for $350 in an area where comp’s rented for $800. Bad house; good terms – that’s the key.

With Lease Options making a strong come back in today's arena, I often get asked my top most effective ways to quickly find solid lease option buyers.

So how do I find these lease option buyers?

Well for starters, that’s where Craigslist comes in. (For those of you who don’t know, Craig’s List is a classified advertisement website, with separate sections of online commerce including employment opportunities, items for sale, housing, personal ads, services and discussion forums.)

Of the three resources I will share with you today for finding lease option buyers, Craig’s List is easily my top choice. If your house is in a good area, just post it on Craigslist with 3-5 different ads daily and keep rotating through them.

(The key to Craig’s List is renewing often, in order to keep fresh eyes on your ad.)

signsBandit signs are effective as well for bringing in the lease optoin buyers for me right now.

You don’t need anything fancy – just a blank yellow sign with phone number, property address and key phrases like “lease/purchase” or “rent-to-own” written with a black sharpie. Simply post ten signs in the home’s vicinity, and wait for the phone to ring.

Thirdly, if bandit signs are too old school for you, then Postlets is also a great option, and gets great results for me right now.

It’s a free, time-saving and user-friendly way to post your lease option property across various websites (like Zillow and Trulia). It’s a great resource to get plenty of bang for your buck, so to speak. Just make sure to check these sites frequently for your listed property.

If I had to pick only one...

If I had to swipe everything else off the table and choose only one method for bringing in lease option buyers, I'd go with Craigslist.

Hands down, Craigslist has proven itself over and over again, so it's absolutely my #1 recommendation. Because Craig’s List is so well-known, and because users update their content so frequently, it has a greater readership and market reach than bandit signs or even Postlets.com.

But whether you choose Craig’s List, bandit signs, or postlets, remember that it should typicalkly take under a month to find a lease option buyer, if your terms are good. So get out there and use as many ways as possible to get your lease option deal noticed, then make your potential tenant-buyer an offer he can’t refuse, and get “cash healthy” sooner than you ever thought possible.

After all, cash is king.

 

Do It To It! Immediate Action Steps

Consider – Consider using lease option buyers to provide an effective means of becoming (and remaining) “cash healthy”.

Use Craig’s List – Use Craig’s List to find lease option buyers, in addition to buying and selling properties.

Bandit Signs – Don’t ignore bandit signs in your search for lease option buyers. (They really do work!)

Use Postlets.com – Use Postlets.com to post your lease option property across various websites.

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