Buying property with a lease option as an investor

[Joe S.]

So I’ve heard about lease options and sandwich lease option when I first started investing over 20 years ago. 

Here are some of my initial thoughts that has pretty well held solid and possibly even become more solidified. 

As a seller, I have sold properties/filed properties to tenant buyers using lease options.   I’ve actually had a number of people exercise their option and get a loan and buy the house. So I am not saying that lease options are illegal or scammy. You that are from Texas you may already know that there is a lot of controversy over lease options so I for one do not use them here.
When I first started investing I was in a different state so that was what I learned to use as disposition. As an investor, I trust myself to endeavor to do the right thing. I have had more than once where the tenant buyer went to exercise their option and I wish that they didn’t, but I honored our agreement and did not look for technicalities to keep them from exercising their option.
On the Buy side as far as an investor I never used the lease option to tie up a property. One of my original mentors was PRO lease option on the purchase side, however I never felt  peace about it.

I was always concerned what if something happened to the original seller and they did not cooperate when it came time to exercise the option. 

As an investor, I’ve had multiple sellers try to get out of an agreement after we had a legally executed mutually agreed upon sales/purchase agreement. I’m talking about the kind of property you’re going to buy within a month or less and the seller just flakes out at the last minute. If a seller can flake out in less than a month what can a seller do or at least try to do given a 3+ year span of time????

Has anybody successfully bought properties with lease options ?
Anyone else have any thoughts on lease options as for  as the strategy that investors use on the purchase side? Maybe if you’re PRO lease option on the buy side you can share your thoughts as well.