OfflineSaw this ad (below) on Craiglist in my area for a Lease to Own house. I hadn't seen this before where the seller says in the ad that the down payment will be used to upgrade the house, which won't be available until a few months later in the fall. What do you think of this? Do you like the upfront honesty of letting people know it's their money that will be used for this purpose? Or is that too much information too soon? Has anyone disclosed that type of information in their ads? If so, what was the response? Please discuss! 
Here's the ad:
"This is a 4 bedroom house that you can own for less than rent. Located less than a mile from the Lake with off-street parking. It will require a down payment of $4000 which will be used entirely for upgrades (high efficiency furnace, roofing, kitchen upgrades, windows and flooring). The house will not be available until October but it will be a very good deal for someone!"
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But from the sound of what needs worked on sounds like $40K worth of work to me, new fur..2500-5000 flooring 1000,s roofing 3000 to 6000 new windows @ 300 per etc. Just dosen't add up.
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Good point, guitarman! I was wondering so much about the "give me money first and then you can later move in after I use your money" concept that I missed that the $4,000 downpayment would cover just one or two things on the list! I double-checked and indeed $4,000 was the correct amount listed in the ad. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the price of the house -- which was listed in the ad headline - is $34,000.
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Give it a call and play like a buyer and see how he justifies the numbers.
The owner is doing the upgrdes for tax purposes. and if the deal fall thru it goes to him anyway. Make sur you get all of this in writing so that nothing falls back on you.
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TRSD, I might give a call because it would be interesting to hear what they say about the numbers, and the next comment after yours provides some interesting insight.
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bret1218, that is interesting about the tax purposes aspect of this. I'm actually not interested in this particular home as I have a couple of others in the works right now but this has been an interesting "study" for me as I just had not yet seen someone asking for money upfront in an ad from someone who might lease-to-own and then not allowing the person to move in until months down the road. It's not something I would care to do but wanted to hear other's thoughts about it. I'm always learning something new!
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This is true for RE..."The best way to learn this business is to do this business." - John Addision, co-chief executive officer, Primerica
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http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/investing-journals/18857/...