buying a lease option, good deal or no deal?

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hello, I am a new to real estate investing so I would really appreciate any advice from seasoned investors. There is a house I am looking at purchasing in a working class neighborhood that is under a lease option with a year remaining. The seller is a motivated seller(bankruptcy) which I am sure I can work to my advantage. Here are the numbers:

He wants 46K Which I’m sure I can probably lower
Rent 550/mo
Utilities are paid by renter
Taxes and Insurance are 1000/yr
The purchase price at the end of the lease option is 59900
If any other numbers are needed please let me know

I am not sure if you should still use the 50/50 rule on buying a lease option so I don’t know if this would be a good deal. I am going to try and the get the purchase price down to 40K as the seller is trying to sell quickly(3 days as noted on his ad.)
I really would appreciate any advice on weather this would be a good deal or not. Thanks!

2

Why on earth is the purchase price set at $60K at the end of the lease?

3

If the seller is in bankruptcy, the sale price may be dictated by the bankruptcy court with little room to negotiate.

AJ,

As I read the post, the seller already has a lease option tenant who has an option to purchase at $60K.

4

the purchase price is set at 60k for the current tenant and he is not sure if the tenant wants to purchase the house from him or if he could quick enough as he is trying to sell the house before he files bankruptcy.