In this third installment of a three‑part buyer‑qualification series, Chris and Nick Prefontaine answer common investor questions about rent‑to‑own deals. They explain that the investor’s upfront costs are limited to the purchase price and any initial setup, while the tenant‑buyer assumes all ongoing property expenses such as maintenance, repairs, and upkeep, effectively eliminating monthly overhead for the investor. The hosts stress the importance of rigorous buyer screening—focusing on sufficient down‑payment, a cash‑out mindset, and adherence to program rules—to keep default rates low (typically 2‑5%). They cite a community member, Rick, who has completed over $1 million in deals with only one amicable default. The conversation also highlights the systems and safeguards built into their rent‑to‑own model, and concludes with calls to action directing viewers to free resources on smartrealestatecoach.com and an apprenticeship program at 3paydaysapprentice.com.
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That comes up a lot because there's certain laws in certain states and there's also the protocol of how we work rent-to-own and our systems that are in place to safeguard that. So Nick, let's talk about this popular question. When I'm an investor and I'm putting a rent-to-own buyer in a house, the last 2 weeks worth, if you're watching this, you definitely want to see who you should be putting in financially the last 2 weeks. This is part 3 of a 3-part series here. For buyer qualifications, what should I expect to pay as the investor when I put a buyer in the house? What should the investor expect the buyer to be responsible for when they go to that rent-to-own program?
Super exciting. And this is why a lot of people get caught up, Dad, with— as far as investors out there, a lot of investors get caught up in the fact that, oh, well, I'm not the way your pricing strategy and structure and everything and the marketing plan. The way that's structured, I'm seeing that I'm not making a great big spread every single month. And that's not really— you got to change your mindset as an investor to really thinking long term because you're going to have a buyer in the house that's taking over all responsibility for maintenance, repair, upkeep, anything that happens with the property. The tenant buyer is going to be paying for all of that. So you as the investor don't have to worry about any kind of a monthly overhead or monthly payment. I was going to use a different word, but we'll leave that there. So I really, I really think it's, it's exciting for these rent-to-own deals, these investors. Once you have a good rent-to-own buyer in there, that you don't have to pay any expenses when it comes to the property. The buyer's over everything. Yeah.
Let me do a disclosure here too, Nick, because this comes up. So people say, well, what if they default? I thought that you can't collect— I'm sorry, I thought you can't enforce that.
Right.
So watch the last 2 videos where Nick talks about who to put in that home. So you make sure you're only putting buyers in the home, buyers who are deserving of the home and have the right down payment and have the mentality that they're going to cash out. They will follow your rules because that's how they get to the end zone. So I don't want you to say, what if there's a default? How about learn how to— I want to say never, because you can't go never. But how about learn how to keep your defaults down to like 2 to 5% on these? And some of our community members, 100%. I think Rick, as an example, Nick, out of all his deals, I mean, he's over $1 million now. He had one buyer default. No problem. It was amicable. They left. Now he refilled the house. It happens despite everything you can do. But you can safeguard it by watching the last 2 videos that Nick did in this 3-part buyer series. Nick, now, do we hit investor and I think we hit both sides of that, do we not?
Yeah. With, with our answer. Yeah, I think we covered both. The buyer, you'll be paying all maintenance, repair, and upkeep of the home just like you owned it. And that's another way we get you buyers out there acting and behaving as if you're a buyer and not a renter.
Yeah. And I'd say, Nick, in general, the Q&A Thursdays are going to have primarily investors or people that want to be investors watching this. If a buyer stumbles upon it, awesome. You know, they go to the website, they can watch those too. Not sure where to get started? Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/getgoing for free books, strategy calls, and a whole bunch more. We're going to help you get going the wicked smart way. We've been after this for over a decade doing exactly that. So guys, just know that our systems are in place. You're in good hands. Should you decide to, say, become an apprentice, go to 3paydaysapprentice.com, the number 3, 3paydaysapprentice.com, just to see what that's all about, because that will allow you to kind of stay on track and let us hold your hand and get you to the end zone where you're profiting 3 times on these deals. And sometimes I'll put a teaser out there, a 4th payday, and that's a little bit more advanced. And that's for another day, another time, or on the Deal Structure Sundays. Be sure to subscribe on these. So you don't miss Sunday, Monday, or Thursday. And we'll see you next week on the next Q&A Thursday.
