Land Contract

One of the many alternatives to rent to own housing is entering into a land contract agreement. A land contract is made between the seller and the buyer of a property, much like in a rent to own or lease purchase agreement. With land contracts, however, the seller provides financing to the buyer to purchase the property for an agreed upon price. The buyer, in turn, repays this loan in installments.

Under a land contract, the seller maintains legal ownership of the property while permitting a buyer to take possession of it for most purposes other than legal ownership. Once the final purchase price has been paid in full, along with any interest, the seller must hand over the legal title of the property to the buyer.

A land contract home is also sometimes known as a “contract for deed” or “land installment contract”. It is a special kind of real estate contract mostly because it’s one in which the seller provides a loan to the buyer. Land contracts are entered for a variety of reasons, namely when the buyer cannot obtain a conventional mortgage loan from a more traditional lending institution, due to poor credit or lack of funds for a sufficient down payment.

If this sounds like a viable option for you, please check out our inventory of land contract homes, available today!