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How to ask owners of house about rent to own option?

We our currently renting a house. We absolutely love it and would love making it our "forever" house. I want to compose a letter to send to the owners. Any sample letters or ideas/suggestions to write? Your help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you...

Public Comments

1. Just ask- worst thing is he can say no..... Really doesn't matter how nice your letter is- it's either a yes or no, it's biz and about making money. And if he says no- then screw him and go look for a house rent to own!
2. Personally, I would just offer to purchase it. Rent to own deals are bad all the way around for the "buyer". Just make a straight up offer.
3. Do not get your hopes up. Basically what you are wanting to say is, "We want to buy this house, bt we do not want to actually pay you for it. We would like to continue renting....but with the deed." Not a smooth move for the landlord. If you want it get a loan so that you can pay him for it and make an offer. This is how I bought my first house. Well, sort of.....he asked me to move out so he could sell, so I just bought instead. I was 19 and it was the best panic move I ever made!
4. Be straighforward. Here's a real rough structure. Smooth it out, and put it in your own language: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Mr and Mrs [Owner]: We wanted to drop you a note to say that John and I really enjoy the house that we're renting from you. It's a great house, and has really met our needs. In fact, John and I were discussing this recently. Our long term plans are to buy a house of our own, but we honestly don't think that we could find a house that we'd like more than the one we're currently in. It occurred to us that what we'd really be interested in is buying the home we're currently in. That is, we would love to be able to purchase your home and make our own. Unfortunately, right now we don't have the necessary downpayment to buy. And of course we're not sure what your long-term plans are for the property. However, one solution that would work for us and might work for you is if we could work out a "rent to own" arrangement on your property. You already know that we're responsible, that we take good care of the house, that we're financially responsible, and that we pay our rent on time. With a "rent to own," we'd continue renting, continuing to take care of your property and paying our rent. However, we'd also be able to purchase the home at some point in the future. This might work out well for you. We could come up with a timeframe that would fit with your plans regarding your home. Maybe you'd be willing to sell it soon. Maybe you'd want to wait longer. But this way, you'd have a very willing buyer--us. You wouldn't have to spend a lot of time and effort getting the house ready to sell. And you'd save the real estate agent's commission when you sold because you'd be selling directly to us. And if, for some reason, our plans changed and we decided we didn't want to buy, you'd still have your home. And meanwhile, we would have been renting it--continuing to take good care of it for your future needs. If you'd be interested in this win-win proposal, please let us know. We'd love to begin making long term plans. Thank you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Again, that's very rough. But play around with that. Quick comments on a few of the other postings: It's true that lease-options are restricted in some states. That's especially true in Texas. But otherwise, you shouldn't have a problem. You're not asking for the deed to the property. That'd be called a "subject to" deal. The deed would remain in the name of the owners until you exercised your option. And, properly structured, lease-options can indeed be a win-win for both purchaser and seller. If you are financially able to buy now, it'd probably be in your best interest to do so. But if you're not--or the owners don't want to sell yet--a lease option is a good strategy. Hope that helps.