Buying or Selling a Home/rent with option to buy

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Expert: - 6/16/2006


Question
I have recently entered into a lease for rent with option to buy. We have signed a contract and the lease is renewable for up to 4 years.I have people telling me that the lease is no good because it was not noterized. I live in the the State of New York and would greatly appreciate an answer.
Thanks, Barbara  

Answer
Dear Barbara;
First, I would like to state that matters such as this are legal matters and therefore should be asked of an attorney.  I cannot give legal advice.   However, I can speak to the differences in contracts.  As to the lease and if it is any good...It depends who you ask.  Certainly an agreement can be verbal or written.  If verbal, it is difficult to uphold if it is contested.  If written, it is still not terribly binding unless there is a notary to notarize the signatures.  The most official documents also get recorded and are therefore more enforceable. If the landlord contests the lease you may have problems proving that the lease is legitimate.  However, unless the lease is contested, you have a signed contract which is also legally binding but not necessarily totally enforceable.  In the good old days, the only thing required for an agreement was a handshake, but in this letigious world of ours, I am sorry to say that the more one uses all legal means available, the more one is protected.It isn't too late to correct this. You can call the landlord and request that you both get a notarized signature.

Sincerely,
Jessica Bryan
Managing Broker
House to Home Realty  

Buying or Selling a Home

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Jessica Bryan

Expertise

buying and selling process such as:
General questions from first time buyers
How to market a home
Why choose a REALTOR
How do I find a REALTOR
Should I consider buying or selling without a REALTOR--how much can I save
Should I remodel or move
How much can I expect to gain by fixing up my home before selling
Helpful tips when selling
Helpful tips when buying
finding a good mortgage loan
what is the difference between banks, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokers
Questions from the general public, people thinking about getting their real estate license, newly licensed.
Fellow professionals who have interests in networking and how to get started
What is a market evaluation and how does it differ from an appraisal what are the different loan programs
services a REALTOR can perform
when to use a lawyer
when to use escrow
what are the regional differences in the buying and selling process
what is the MLS and how does it work
how can the layman access information on the web--listings and other information
These are just a few of the questions. I can suggest that if I am unable to answer a question I will refer the inquiry to a source that can.

Experience

Anyone who is in this business and who dedicates oneself to professionalism has continued to take classes and along with it,additional credentials, awards and honors. I can list a host of them, but my greatest accomplishments happen to be those of getting first time buyers (who didn't think they could afford to buy a home)into a home of their dreams. The look on their faces when I hand over the keys is worth all of the hard work.

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