Sandwich lease options & alternatives

[Jeff Fairchild]

So I've heard recently that sandwich lease options aren't really a good idea for legal reasons. So first question, if one of the main reasons that they aren't good is due to the initial seller not wanting to sell to you when you want to buy and you having to sue, what if you put a clause in there stating that in the event that you have to sue to to non-performance, seller will agree to pay 100% of his attorney fees, 100% of your attorney fees, and an additional $10,000 in damages. Wouldn't that protect you if that happened? Plus, if you pointed out that clause to the seller up front, they would be much less likely to not sell when you want to buy.

Second question, so if you're negotiating with a seller and ask them if they would allow you to take over their payments and they say no, what do you do? Recently I would simply offer to buy on a lease option, but I guess a lot of you aren't doing that. You just walk away from those deals?