LEASE/PURCHASE SENSE

When I have a listing, I get a lot of inquiries about lease/purchase. I've been told it is against Texas law and our attorney says not to do them. There are reasons it's not beneficial to either the buyer or the seller.

For the seller: The seller gets his house cleaned up, repaired, maybe painted and new flooring and decides to lease/purchase. After time, the freshness is gone. Suppose tenant/buyer changes his mind and decides not to buy or can't get loan approval to make the purchase. Now the seller must spend the money again to get the house ready. It could even be in worse shape if the tenant/buyer wasn't taking care of it. Perhaps the market has gone down and it won't bring as much money as previously. Did the seller trust the tenant/buyer to make the payments to the mortgage company and it didn't happen and now the house is being foreclosed on?

For the buyer: Suppose you give the seller a down payment at an agreed sales price but at the end of the lease term your situation hasn't improved and you still can't get loan approval or afford to buy? What if the market has gone down and you've agreed to a price that's now too high? Have you been trusting the seller to make the mortgage payments but he hasn't and now the house is being foreclosed on and you can't get your deposit back?

Just things to think about. I wouldn't take the risk either way.