Renting, owner filing bankruptcy
Hello,
My husband and I moved into a house a few months ago. We were planning on renting for a while and then once we decided we liked the area, either switching our lease to a rent-to-own option or just waiting until our lease was up and getting a loan to buy the house. (There are several reasons that works out for us better such as time for improving credit scores, I will get some money from a settlement which can help with a small down payment -15K, etc.) Well, when we paid our rent in September the lady asked us if we were thinking of switching to a rent to own? We told her yes and to get back to us with the terms and we can discuss it further. Well, yesterday she called us to schedule a time to pick up rent for November. She explained that she wouldn't be able to offer an rent to own option because her and her husband were going to file for bankruptcy. He is a home builder, and they have several properties that they own and are either renting out like the one we're in or they are trying to sell.
My husband and I are wondering what is our best option? Can we try to assume the loan from them so it is transferred into our name and we become the new owners? Or should we wait until they file and the house gets taken over by a trustee or whoever and try to get it from them? Or try to get a loan now, which may not be likely due to 600-level credit scores (about, not sure what they are at now but they were a little above 600 earlier this year.) This is a little bit of a shock. We were not expecting to have to make this decision so soon!
