With today's ever increasing challenges of home buyers and home sellers in a market where Sellers can't sell for being upside down, and Buyers can't buy because they have lost a home or dramatic job change, an increasing benefit to all parties is the opportunity for a well developed and brokered Lease Purchase.  Traditionally these have been a very low percentage of transactions and even lower percentage that have been seen through to fruition.  Much of that has relied on the fact that someone with poor credit needed to get back on their feet through the effort of building credit while building equity in a property.  The fact was, in a Seller's market, the money was so readily available, that if folks weren't able to buy, then there was REALLY a reason they couldn't.  Maybe the small percentage of folks had gone through a catastrophic event, or some level of real hardship, but more often than not, there may have been a pattern of payment problems, and while they might have had some cash to warrant the earnest money towards the purchase option, those patterns usually made themselves evident again - remember, and empirical data tells us that future results are usually predictable based on past performance. 

Today's market finds us in a paradigm shifiting economy, where there is a large percentage - if not a majority of people - in some areas, that are experiencing true hardships.  A well crafted Lease-Purchase that is a win-win-win for everyone can mitigate the burden of a Seller that might have two properties and must do something with one, and though reluctant to rent, can see the benefits of having more than the note covered, and ratcheting in increasing earnest money, along with incentivizing the Tenant/Buyer with earlier benefits towards closing.  We have successfully structured these types of deals of late where all parties are much more readily interested in a mutually beneficial relationship.  Where all parties recognize the benefits, the adverse perspective of the negotiation becomes secondary, and the process to build benefits for all parties is easily established.  There is a win-win-win for everyone, including the Seller, Buyer and the Professional Realtor that builds trust with all parties, equity for both Buyer and Seller, in a well structured Lease Purchase.