The Expert Podcast

We talked about this potential development a few months ago and sure enough it's starting to happen. With the prices of homes going up as much as they are and interest rates going up, there's some entrepreneurial or maybe you even want to call it opportunistic companies that are looking at this as a way to make money. What they're doing is they're putting the rent to own model onto real estate instead of just renting an apartment where you just rent every month and then you move out when you're done or buying

a house which requires, you know, a lot of income requirements and down payment and maybe you don't qualify. These companies are doing a rent to own for real estate and according to the article on Fast Company they're saying that it's putting aspiring homeowners in financial jeopardy. The reason why is because their ownership is a little bit dubious — your title is not in your name, you don't really own it, you're renting it, and supposedly they're taking some of the money and putting it away for you to

own that home later. However, there's no guarantee you're going to qualify for the mortgage later and also there's a lot of clauses. According to this article, in this company's brand new model, they can keep that money if you default on your rent or you decide you want to move or if it needs work you have to do the work. So it's the best of both worlds for the landlord, right? They get rent from you but you have to do the maintenance and repairs. It's one thing if you own a house — you're responsible

for maintenance and upkeep and fixing things. But isn't that one of the advantages of renting? Where if something goes wrong you just call the guy, you just don't have to deal with any maintenance. This is kind of best of both worlds for landlords, maybe worst of both worlds for tenants, where you pay your rent — it's higher than a regular rent would be — and you have to pay if things break because technically you rent to own. This is something that has some risk involved and most financial experts will tell you

look, if you're ready to buy a house go ahead and buy one. If you're not, then rent. But don't try to mix it together because you may end up with the worst of both worlds. This company is called Divi. We're not familiar with it, we haven't reviewed if it's good or bad or have an opinion. It's just that this article is saying that there may be some things you might be cautious of if you do something like this — not necessarily this company but just in general if you're going to half rent and half own.

Which half are you getting? Are you getting the good half or the bad half? What are your thoughts on rent to own property? It's not like rent to own a TV where it's a small investment. This is the largest investment and there's a lot of clauses where you might not be able to purchase that home or go through with the purchase or get the money that's supposed to be credited all in your favor if there are clauses that allow the rent to own company to deduct it and keep it for default or other violations.