Sell or Rent to own in a depreciating market

[Rachel Mellies]

We are planning to move later this winter and planned to list our house for sale in the spring but also open to renting to own.  We would be selling within 3 yrs to avoid capital gains tax. Problem is our state in recent years went insane with the market to skyrocketing prices, it topped out and is now dropping between interest rates and unaffordable housing it’s getting harder for people to sell. 

Looking for advice on which would be best in your opinion. I’ve never done a rent to own and still learning what it involves. 

Pros to sell: we have a lot of equity in our home and it would free up our finances and some debt we have in other investment properties. also wouldn’t have to worry about upcoming big maintenance needs our house could need (like a new roof). 

Pros for rent to own: easier option for getting our new loan since we’ll have a signed lease (we do not want to move twice so we plan to buy before we sell). Be able to lock in a selling point (so I read) and have buyer in the works instead of having it for sale for possibly many months losing money. No realtor so we save a lot of those fees.