Pros and Cons of Lease-to-Own from Owner and Tenant Perspective

[Aaron Anderson]

Hey BP, I'm in the fortunate situation of having multiple qualified applicants for my rental property opening up next month.  One of them asked if I would be open to a lease-to-own option.  My initial gut reaction was "No." because it was my intention to keep the units long term.  However, after I thought about it, I really don't know a lot about the lease-to-own option.  I'm familiar with land contracts and seller financing, but that is only if I own the home outright, correct?

After watching several videos and reading 10+ articles on BP, I feel like I can explain it better, but still not perfectly.  Especially from the renter/buyers perspective, what are the benefits?  It seems like a lot of risk for a minimum savings off the rent price.  Is it worth it from the owners standpoint to lock up a property under contract without knowing how the market will shift later?

Can someone explain this a little better please?