Why aren’t buyers and renters snapping up your lease options?
Lease options have been quickly rising in popularity among real estate investors, but while they can be one of the best choices for selling or buying a home today, many are not seeing as much activity and volume as they’d like. So why aren’t you getting the level of action you anticipated?
1. Fear
While lease options are incredibly advantageous for those looking for a new home, renters and buyers are more fearful than ever. Constant stories of new scams have consumers paralyzed with distrust. So how can you add more credibility to your advertisements, real estate website and brand without making the lease option too good to be true?
2. Terms
While the lease options you are offering may sound like an amazing deal to you, is it really competitive and attractive to consumers? How do your payment rates, pricing, length of agreement and down payment requests stack up against the competition? Are they a good match for the most likely buyers of your homes?
3. Upfront Money
Many real estate investors are demanding large sums in exchange for lease option agreements. This can certainly be understandable, given the commitment being made, but is the amount of upfront money you are requesting holding you back from more volume? Could asking for a little less actually end up being more profitable? Test the balance between upfront rent, rental deposits and option money.
4. Visibility
Perhaps none of the above are issues, and it is really more an issue of your lease option properties not even making it on the radar of prospective buyers. Signs and print ads in local media have their place, but maybe you need to go bigger, or get better at targeting the right prospects. If you aren’t getting any inquiries at all, should you consider listing in the MLS, investing more in building your buyers list or sending out direct mail?
