How to stop renting and buy a house in Miami-Dade or Broward

Waiting to see if prices drop costs you in a way almost nobody mentions: the rent keeps running while you wait. What you can control is the order.

Nobody knows what prices will do. What you do know is your rent: at $3,400 a month that is $40,800 a year, and it does not come back. With a mortgage (a home loan), part of every payment stays with you, as the part of the home that is already yours.

That does not mean buying always comes out ahead: a home has costs rent does not (insurance, property tax, repairs). It means waiting has a price too, and it is worth knowing it before you decide.

1. 1See if you are readyWhat you have saved, your credit, and what the home you want costs. With those three you know whether you can buy now or how far off you are. Do it before you look at homes, not after.I want to see what I can buy →
2. 2Check when your lease endsLook for two things in your lease: the end date and how much notice it asks for before you move out. In Florida a lease can ask for up to 60 days of notice; if you rent month to month, it is 30 days. That date sets your calendar.
3. 3Do not sign another year blindIf you plan to buy in the next few months and you are offered a one-year renewal, ask about a shorter term or month to month first, even if it costs a bit more. Breaking a long lease usually costs more.
4. 4Line up the down payment and the lender letterWhile you keep renting: set the down payment aside, apply for down payment help (Miami-Dade, Broward and the state all have it) and get a pre-approval letter from a lender. Pay rent on time: the lender looks at how you pay.I want to see my programs →
5. 5Buy and set the closing dateMake the offer with the letter in hand. From the accepted offer to the keys it usually takes a month to a month and a half.
6. 6Now tell your landlordWith a signed closing date, give the notice your lease asks for, in writing. If you can, leave a few days between getting the keys and handing back the apartment: closings sometimes slip.

• Telling the landlord before you have a closing date. If closing slips, you have nowhere to live.
• Counting on your rental deposit for closing. In Florida the landlord has a deadline to return it or tell you in writing what they are keeping; do not plan your closing cash around it.
• Waiting until you have everything saved to start. Down payment help and the lender letter take weeks: you start them while you save, not after.

Rent to own means renting a home with a promise that you can buy it later: you pay rent, sometimes with an extra that is supposed to go toward the purchase, and at the end of the term you decide whether to buy at the agreed price. It sounds like a shortcut. Before you sign, it is worth knowing how it can end.

• The owner writes the contract. They set the terms. Depending on what it says, if you miss a payment or break a clause, you can lose the extra you paid and the option to buy.
• The home is not yours in the meantime. You are still a tenant: if the owner stops paying their loan or sells, your "option" may be worth nothing. And depending on the contract, repairs can be on you even though the home is not yours yet.
• The price and the date can be locked from the start. If the contract fixes the price and the home drops in value, you either buy at that price or walk away from the option and lose the extra you paid. And if you cannot get approved for the loan the day the option comes due, you can lose it too.
• You can end up without the purchase. If you do not buy in the end — because you are not approved, the contract falls apart or the owner loses the home — you can leave the home without the extra money you paid.

Do not sign a rent-to-own contract or hand over extra money without a real estate attorney reviewing the contract first. Umbralio does not offer rent to own and does not broker those contracts.