[OT] Coordinating a rental lease with buying a home

[mattkime]

I'm starting to house hunt and I'm curious how I might navigate my current rental lease in regards to buying a new home.

The landlord wants me to sign a lease mid feb that would start mid august. I personally think its crazy but its apparently normal where I live. (Madison, WI)

We're just starting our search and don't want to buy unless we feel really good about something we find. The market is pretty hot here. Its common for houses to sell in less than a week. This means that moves are made quickly and you don't really know what is going to be on the market.

I guess I'm tempted to sign the lease and then break it later. At least thats the strategy that doesn't risk homelessness.

Any advice?

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Leases that start before school ends are a typical tactic in a college town. I have never heard of signing a lease that starts six months later. You might want to talk to a local lawyer or leasing agent to discuss what your liabilities would be.

It might be worthwhile to say you are looking to buy a house and are willing to pay a higher rent without a lease.

[btfc]

Generally, when you break a lease you are responsible for the costs incurred by the landlord, rent for the time that it stays empty, cost to advertise for a new tenant, etc. In a hot rental market that might not be bad, but it might come back to bite you. I'd first try to negotiate a shorter lease period or month by month agreement.

[Ombligo]

You can also have a lease buyout clause put in. The one I put in my leases for tenants is early termination costs two months rent.

But I've never heard of renewal with six months of lead time. That sounds absurd.

[pqrst]

It sounds like you have not mentioned the house hunting to your landlord. Depending on your relationship with them , I would talk to them about it. It is a pain in the butt finding, advertising, screening and getting new tenants. Most landlords may or may not cut you a deal. But prepare for them to play hardball especially if you give notice a month or two after signing the lease. My two cents.

[C(-)ris]

I think it is a college town thing. They do that here in La Crosse, WI in all the rentals around the colleges. Same in Winona, MN. They are doing leases that start in July or August right now.

[Carm]

pqrst wrote:
It sounds like you have not mentioned the house hunting to your landlord. Depending on your relationship with them , I would talk to them about it. It is a pain in the butt finding, advertising, screening and getting new tenants. Most landlords may or may not cut you a deal. But prepare for them to play hardball especially if you give notice a month or two after signing the lease. My two cents.

We did this with our landlord when it came time to buy after our lease was coming to an end. We told him we would be looking and needed a month to month lease until we bought, he had no problem with that. We bought close to the middle of the month and used the extra time to clean up the property before we left. Most of our stuff was already packed in the garage.