It's called a lease option. When this period ends, buyers can exercise an option to purchase the residence. This option is also perfect for those buyers whose past credit history or current job status makes them ineligible for a mortgage loan. But buyers interested in lease options better be prepared to search long and hard for the right property. When a real estate market is booming, as Chicago's is, lease options become rare.
Most property owners have little trouble selling their residences in a hot market.
Because of this, they have little reason to settle on a less-attractive lease option. Lease-option properties are out there. Those buyers interested in entering into a lease-option agreement probably won't get much input from their real estate agents. But here's how a lease option works. Buyers rent the property from sellers for a period of time, usually one or two years, paying monthly rent payments all the while.