The suggestion is offered at the beginning or tacked onto the end of ads for resale homes and is even being used to lure buyers into new neighborhoods from intown to the suburbs: "Rent to own. Will consider lease-purchase."

Individual sellers seeking to unload a mortgage payment and developers with an oversupply of new homes are offering the arrangements. Some sellers say mentioning the possibility of lease-purchase or lease-option results in more showings, and ultimately, a deal.

CHRISTOPHER OQUENDO/Special (ENLARGE)

Anthony Taylor (left) was the first person to move into his condo at Historic Westside Village under a lease-purchase deal shepherded through by Edrick Harris.

CHRISTOPHER OQUENDO/Special (ENLARGE)

Edrick Harris (left) worked with Anthony Taylor on a one-year lease-purchase at Historic Westside Village in Atlanta.

CHRISTOPHER OQUENDO/Special (ENLARGE)

Sarah Mercer's renovated Cross Creek condo in Atlanta was to be rented, but a request to do a lease-purchase moved her in a new direction.

Don't forget to ask... 1. How long is the lease? 2. If a lease-purchase, when will the home close? 3. Can the closing be moved up? 4. If a lease option, what's the latest date I can exercise the option to buy? 5. What changes and improvements can I make as the renter? 6. What happens to the money that is going toward the down payment? 7. What rules have to be followed before the sale or option to buy is forfeited? THE DEFINITION Lease-purchase: The assumption is that renters will buy the house, Adams said. There is a definite closing date, but it's later. If the renters say they want to buy it earlier, that is possible. Lease-option: The assumption is that renters may not buy and have to do something — exercise the option — to buy it before the end of the contract, Adams said. The renter has the right to buy the house typically at a set price, under terms and conditions spelled out in the lease agreement.

"If you can match a seller who wants to sell with a buyer who wants to buy, it really can allow both to achieve their goals in a positive way and result in a win-win transaction," said John Adams, a real estate broker and investor. "It is an ideal adaptation of an age-old home buying strategy to our current market situation."

It's something he's seeing more of, especially as some sellers with mortgages on two homes have given up trying to sell and are desperate for someone to cover a mortgage payment.

Tammie Carpenter, a real estate agent with Metro Brokers/GMAC Real Estate, agrees that the perception of a lease-purchase is changing. She's seeing them offered for everything from affordable homes to high-end properties.

"Where we didn't used to like to see a lease-purchase rider on the homes, we're starting to offer that to our sellers, as well as our buyers," she said. "If you're one of those where you've been out there for a while, you can get somebody in there. They're covering your mortgage, and you're going to sell [in] six months, a year."

The fact that new developments, such as Historic Westside Village intown and Millard Bowen Communities' Wildwood neighborhood in Buford, have been using lease-purchases is "absolutely unprecedented," Adams said.

"They are doing this to unload the property. Anything, anything to get them occupied," he said. "They're sitting there empty — somebody's had to pay principal, interest, taxes. It's just a different way of getting money in the door."

If it's something of interest, whether you're a buyer or seller, here are the pros and cons. Adams estimates that only one in every three such deals actually results in a sale.

"There are some risks, but for the most part, it's a great way to get people in," Carpenter said.

The buyer advantages

1. It gives you wiggle room to improve finances.

The buyer can spend the time improving credit and paying off debts. "In today's market where first-time home buyers have few, if any, conventional mortgage sources to choose from, this is a very real way of trying on homeownership, seeing how they like it and building a down payment and improving their credit at the same time," Adams said.

2. It helps you come up with a down payment.

Carpenter said the security deposit or a certain amount of dollars for monthly rent goes toward the down payment, in most cases. For example, Adams explains that $200 of the monthly rent, for 24 months, could go toward the purchase price. That means there's a $4,800 credit applied when the sale closes.

3. It gets you a home that already could have equity.

If you wait a year, the property could increase in value and cost more. "You purchase the property at today's value, not at the future value," said Monte Murphy with Keller Williams Realty Cityside.

4. It's a chance to test a home, neighborhood

"You get 12 months to date the house, to see if that's the relationship that you really want to be ready for," said Murphy, who did lease-purchase for a home he recently sold in Decatur. "You want to date it to see if you can actually maintain homeownership."

The buyer disadvantages

1. Something could happen.

For example, the owner could die, which would send a lease-purchase back into the negotiation process.

2. The market could still be weak, and the price could be cheaper down the road.

To avoid this concern, Adams recommends having the buyer and seller agree to hire licensed senior appraisers. They'll work independently when the time comes on appraisal, and as long as they're within 10 percent of each other, the buyer and seller will agree to split the difference.

The seller advantages

1. The house isn't empty.

"If I owned a house that was for sale right now, I would do just about anything to have somebody say to me, "I'll move into your house," Adams said. "Houses need to be occupied. They need somebody to watch after them."

Adams points out that the state's landlord-tenant law says tenants can't make repairs, but a lot of lease-option renters do it anyway. "Their position is, 'This is going to be my house and I want to make sure that things are done right,' " he said. When a client of Carpenter's recently did a lease-purchase on a four-bedroom home with a finished basement, he negotiated to make improvements such as putting up a fence and updating the countertops. "They're in there, as I call it, loving the house," she said.

2. The rental period may last through the soft market.

Many homeowners enter into lease-option hoping the purchaser won't exercise the contract to buy, Adams says. They're just hoping to get 2 1/2-3 years down the road, when home prices might return to normal. Having the funds also allows investors to buy properties at a great price and get it off their books by renting it so they can move on to another home, said Stan Jones with Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners.

3. A real estate commission may not be needed.

If the seller finds a renter on their own, when the lease-purchase closes in a couple of years, a real estate commission won't come out of the profits of the sale. Or if only one agent is involved, Adams suggests asking that agent to accept less than a full commission.

4. The home stands out, especially among a certain buyer group.

The hottest segment of the home buyer market, which is first-time home buyers, has been largely disenfranchised by the traditional mortgage market, Adams said. "They want to own, but they can't because there's no conventional lending available," he said.

5. Money is coming in.

If the rent is above a monthly mortgage payment, the seller is making a profit and maintaining ownership and equity in the home, said Murphy.

The seller disadvantages

1. It's still your house.

If you're ready to wash your hands of the home, it's going to be awhile. But on the other hand, this could be an advantage come tax time and in terms of equity.

2. The buyer could back out.

"It may not close," Jones said. "That's the challenge." Especially for first-time buyers, many changes could happen in two to three years, including having a family, divorcing or changing jobs. Or maybe they still can't get approved for a loan. "All of these things would have a major impact on their desire to complete the purchase," Adams said.

3. The value of the property could be underestimated.

You've cut the price of the home to sell it now, but it's tricky to say how much it will be worth in two years. Some leases use a price escalator, for example, increasing by a half percent for each month, Adams said. "It's a recognition that three years from today, the home will probably be worth more ... assuming we get back to a more traditional market," he said.

THE EXISTING SINGLE-FAMILY HOME

• Where: Lawrenceville
• Who: Shane Nifong, owner
• What: A three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath investment property purchased last June.
• Why: When he bought the home, it was a foreclosure in need of work. "I bought it with the intent of fixing it up and selling it," he said. It took about three months to renovate, and by the time he put it on the market, the supply of homes had increased. After about a month and a half of having it for sale by owner, he decided to rent it. Every month, he dropped the price a bit. Stan Jones with Keller Williams had talked to Nifong about doing a lease-option, and he was surprised to find that an agent was willing to list it that way. He had a renter in two weeks.
• Terms: He's getting $1,150 in rent, and there's a one-year option to buy. The purchase price is $163,000, which is a few thousand above his original list price.
• The risk: "If I somehow decide in the next year that I don't want to sell it, then I'm kind of stuck." Or if the renter exercises an option and it appraises for less than $163,000, they will have to renegotiate.

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT

• Where: The Washington at Historic Westside Village, Atlanta
• Who: Russell New Urban Development, development arm of H.J. Russell & Co.
• What: Community with condos in the $140,000s-$230,000s.
• How long it's been offered: A couple of months. As of the end of May, one person, Anthony Taylor, had moved in, and another was negotiating a contract.
• Why: "We really started doing it because of the market. There was almost never a need to utilize it [previously]," said Edrick Harris, senior development manager with H.J. Russell. "But now with the change in the lending criteria, with it becoming more strict ... a lot of folks that are still out there and want to buy, have some challenges. It's an opportunity to go ahead and come in and get settled in."
• Terms: Typically one year. There's no penalty for closing early. Before they move in, the buyer walks through the home just like a regular home closing, giving the builder a "punch list" of items to fix. "We treat them just like a buyer."

THE EXISTING CONDO

• Where: Cross Creek, Atlanta
• Who: Sarah Mercer Tinnon, who was only seeking to rent her improved condo.
• What: A three-bedroom, two-bath flat she's owned for eight years in the intown gated neighborhood, which has about 1,000 condos and amenities, including a golf course, tennis courts, pool, clubhouse and pond. She's gutted the kitchen and bathrooms to update them and put in custom closets. "I don't mean to brag, but my place is so awesome, it looks like a decorators' show home."
• Why: Tinnon is marrying Peter Chatel in August, and they've bought a new home in West Village, a Smyrna community. She put her condo for rent on craigslist and received 10 calls within five days. A potential renter expressed interest in buying, but was still trying to sell two homes. "So we did a lease with an option to buy. So anytime within that year, they could purchase it, or if I decided to sell it at the end of their lease, I would give them the right of first refusal."
• Terms: The rent covers her mortgage and homeowners' association fee. "I get to take the interest write-off. When we combine our incomes, we're going to need as many write-offs as we can get," Tinnon said.
• The risk: Since she didn't work with a real estate agent or mortgage lender, Tinnon didn't do credit or background checks. That's the only downside, she said. "But this is a nice couple, and I did get e-mails from the companies they work for." Plus, she adds, "It's good karma. It feels like the stars aligned in support of our upcoming marriage and our being together. That's the way we're looking at it."