Lease Options: Sell at Tomorrow's Price While Covering Today's Payment
By Ed Brancheau, Co-founder, SunnyNest Homes. Reviewed by the SunnyNest family team. Updated July 2026.
In a lease option, we lease your house now at an amount that covers your mortgage payment, with a contract to purchase at a locked price by a set date. Your payment problem ends immediately, and the sale completes on schedule. It fits sellers with little equity who do not need cash out today.
Best for: Payment relief now, little equity, no urgent need for cash out, and a willingness to close fully in 1 to 3 years.
How does a lease option work for the seller?
Two documents work together. A lease makes us responsible for a monthly payment that covers your mortgage. An option contract sets the exact purchase price and deadline. During the term we typically maintain the property and may place a resident. At or before the deadline, we buy at the agreed price.
The seller problem this solves is a specific one: the payment hurts now, but a sale today nets you little or nothing because of low equity. The lease stops the bleeding this month. The locked purchase price gives you a defined exit instead of an open-ended landlord life you never asked for. You keep the tax and title position of an owner until the option is exercised, which your tax adviser may find useful.
What should a seller watch out for in a lease option?
The gap risk: you remain the owner and borrower during the term, so a sloppy operator can leave you with missed payments or a worn property. Insist on payments through a servicer you can verify, clear maintenance responsibility in writing, and meaningful option money that the buyer forfeits by walking away.
Lease options got a mixed reputation because weak operators use them to control property with nothing at stake. The fix is structural, not hopeful. Option consideration should be large enough to hurt to forfeit. Payment flow should be checkable by you anytime. Maintenance duty should sit with us in writing, not in a promise. Read our agreement with your attorney. It is built to survive that reading.
Lease option, subject-to, or cash: how do I choose?
Match the tool to the pressure. Need money and finality now: cash. Behind on payments with little equity and want the loan handled: subject-to. Payment covered and comfortable waiting for a locked-in price: lease option. We put all three in front of you with real numbers so the choice is yours.
This is the 3-offer system we run on every property we can. One seller's best answer is another seller's mistake, and the deciding facts are equity, urgency, and what you need the money to do next. A company with one product will tell you its product is the answer. We would rather show the math for each path and let the math argue.
Questions sellers ask us
Who fixes things during the lease term?
In our agreements, we do. Maintenance and repair duty transfers to us in writing for the full term. You should never sign a lease option that leaves you with landlord duties and none of the control.
What if you do not exercise the option?
You keep the option money and every lease payment made, and the house comes back to you, typically in better condition than we found it. The agreement spells out exact return conditions. That downside protection is what the option money is for.
Can the locked price include my closing costs?
Yes. Like our cash offers, lease option purchases close with us covering standard closing costs, and the contract states the net figure you will receive so there are no surprises at the finish line.
See what a lease option offer looks like on your house
Tell us about the property. Within 24 hours you get real numbers for every way we could buy it. No pressure, no obligation, and we will tell you if listing with an agent is your better move.