And it doing so, could you find "an exceptional deal". 

So I really need the best option

Spoke to a local real estate agent and some others and so far everyone says that it would be a huge headache (legalities etc) and would cost a ton up front. 

I've always read on here and heard others talk about how buying and financing commercial properties are so much easier than residential.

If so, highly recommend boarding it up.

nothing pointed at you personally but there has been build to rent projects were investors had to put up 50k non refundable and never got their house built.. so I can see putting it in escrow and releasing it upon closing for sure.. thats what i personally do with my new builds although since we average 25 to 75k of upgrades per house buyers have to stroke non refundable checks directly to us for those items.

Home equity is 6-7% depending on length 5yrs vs 15yrs a 30 yr mortgage is 6%...Ideally rental stays rented out bringing in 1/2 of mortgage payment on new house based on numbers and is already cash flow positive bring in $1200/month (worth about 180k)and new property is going for 240k going rental price is about $2,000/month but I owe 18k still on private mortgage- reason I want to pay it off (4% flat 720 interest from cc for 1 year) to have it 100% paid off, then use home equity to pay off....or try to balance transfer balance after 1 yr which ever is lower but I figured that would mess with debt to income ratio and with this property being brand new, which is hard to find being located outside of closest major city...goal is to keep house rented out till it's paid off while also being cash flow positive with both properties combined and using paid off/ nearly paid off 1 to pay for 2nd rental, so I'd say lowest debt while also building wealth/equity not worried about a monthly/yearly profit per say as long as someone else is paying down the mortgage ie: my current property is bringing in $1200/month but current market value says it should bring in atleast $1500-$1600 but the tenant is phenomenal so she's paid same rent since 2017 I've put about 36k into between mortgage payments for 2 years and some up keep...she's put in the other 130k!!

So, between the two of us, we earn over $280K.

There's only so much to learn from reading and in this real-estate climate, it would be really helpful for someone who has made some recent investments to afford me 15 minutes of their time. 15 minutes to chat about their journey, challenges, successes, and any lessons learned.Make no mistake.

The lease option is tough to make work with your breakeven so far above market rent, especially if adding a rent credit creates too high a premium.