Rent to Own strategy in Buffalo, Erie, Niagara County

[John W.]

I thought of rent-to-own is an attractive option as opposed to seller-financing because of the monthly rent being tax advantaged compared to collecting interest with seller-financing, and also thought that with rent to own you avoid the risk of foreclosure because tenants do not own the property. But when I went to my attorney (in Buffalo) wanting to do a rent-to-own, he says he doesn't like them because they aren't enforceable and you can't just evict the non-paying tenant and that it basically ends up being a foreclosure. His solution is to do a seller-financing and also have a pre-signed deed with the buyer that will be recorded back into my name if they default after a certain amount of time. 

I thought that was very interesting and would like to hear people's experiences with rent to own or seller financing in the Buffalo/Erie Coutny/Niagara region.