[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm doing it right now. No problems thus far. I'm likely to exercise the purchase option unless things nose-dive again in which case it gives me a good "out". The owner is getting a good deal - we have a vested interest in caring for the property even if we decide to not buy down the road. Seems a smart way to keep loser tenants who might just trash the place away.

I'd think this would be a particularly good time to offer things like this - there are a lot of people out there who are either recovering from big losses and therefore don't have a down payment or are leery of the current 'recovery' to take the plunge - in other words they want to see if it's real or not before committing.

Also from either perspective (buyer or seller) you get to lock in your price early. The owner of this place is betting on prices going down by the time our option-exercise date is; I'm betting it will be flat or slightly up (it's in 2012). If he's right, he locked in a price and made a little extra money. If I'm right, I'm happy. Hell, even if things are down a little I still think I got a good price unless things drop another 20-30% and stay there (doubtful for this market, maybe a 5-10% drop at most is what I see).

Anyway, don't dismiss it - it can be a useful tool for both buyers and sellers.

My in-laws bought their first house years ago that way too. I think it can be a very smart way to do things if you're careful.