Category Archives: Rent to Buy

“Heaps of houses and heaps of money!”

Posted on September 16, 2022 by carolynbond

Update: Sheree Becker is on bail pending an appeal to the Supreme Court in 2024. Sheree Becker, one of Otton’s “advanced mentoring students” has been found guilty of seven charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception. (Update – Sentenced 29/11 to … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton, Uncategorized | Tagged lease options, rent to own, Rick Otton, Sheree Becker, vendor terms | Leave a comment

Record Penalty for Rick Otton

Posted on November 15, 2018 by carolynbond

On 15 November 2018, Rick Otton and We Buy Houses received the highest penalties ever imposed in Australia for breach of Australian Consumer Law. The Federal Court imposed penalties totalling $18 million against We Buy Houses Pty Ltd (We Buy … Continue reading →

Posted in Property Seminars, Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton, vendor terms | Tagged lease options, rent to buy, rent to own, Rick Otton | Leave a comment

Lease Options in Court

Posted on January 22, 2017 by carolynbond

A former Rick Otton student, and witness in his Federal Court case, lost a lease-option case in Supreme Court of NSW (Australia) in December 2016. The case shows, once again, the risks faced by owners, buyers – and even ‘creative … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton | Tagged Rick Otton | Leave a comment

Lease Options

Posted on April 16, 2016 by carolynbond

In this post I consider some examples of rent-to-buy houses (lease options) which were provided by the people who promote them. Even these positive examples offer very little benefit to an unsophisticated ‘buyer’ in exchange for significant financial risk. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton, vendor terms | Tagged lease options, rent to buy, rent to own, Rick Otton, Tony Cordato, vendor terms | Leave a comment

One more ‘rent-to-buy’ risk – property values

Posted on April 8, 2016 by carolynbond

In addition to all the other risks associated with rent-to-buy/vendor finance deals, the ‘buyer’ must gamble on a minimum increase in property value over a short-term. An examination of some historic property price fluctuations shows how high this risk this … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, vendor terms | Tagged lease options, rent to buy, rent to own, vendor terms | 7 Comments

Rent-to-buy selling techniques

Posted on July 5, 2014 by carolynbond

This post is about selling techniques taught by Rick Otton. While not all rent-to-buy operators would use these techniques, it is likely that they are used widely in the industry. Many – perhaps most – of the people in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton, sales psychology, vendor terms | Tagged lease options, rent to buy, rent to own, Rick Otton, sales psychology, Sheree Becker, vendor terms | Leave a comment

Rent-to-buy houses – is it legal?

Posted on March 28, 2014 by carolynbond

Update: Most rent-to-buy property agreements are prohibited by law in South Australia and Victoria. Check state legislation. While a number of rent-to-buy websites respond “yes”, this question could refer to any one of many different transactions. The term “rent to … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, vendor terms | Tagged Commerce WA v Susilo, Gray v Latter, lease options, rent to buy, rent to own, Rick Otton, Tax v Thorogood 1927, vendor terms | Leave a comment

Big comeuppance for ‘Big Kahunas’

Posted on March 8, 2014 by carolynbond

The problem with ‘creative’ or ‘innovative’ strategies is that that the application of the law to the transactions may not have been tested in the courts. I’ve written previously about what can go wrong for buyers and unsuspecting sellers, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton | Tagged Commerce WA v Susilo, Gray v Latter, rent to buy, rent to own, Rick Otton, vendor terms, we buy houses ltd | Leave a comment

Acceptance of rent-to-buy – the Census question

Posted on February 24, 2014 by carolynbond

“This proves rent-to-buy is accepted!” (Update August 2016 – In 2016 the words in the Census question were changed from “rent/buy scheme” to “shared-equity scheme” suggesting that my conclusion in this post – that the question never referred to vendor finance or … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton | Tagged Census, rent to buy, rent to own, vendor terms | Leave a comment

Limitations of pre-contractual advice

Posted on February 17, 2014 by carolynbond

See 15/3/14 addition to this post This post focuses primarily on rent-to-buy house deals, but it also applies to some other complex or high-risk consumer contracts. I’ve explained how some rent-to-buy deals work, and what the risks are for buyers … Continue reading →

Posted in Rent to Buy, Rent to Buy Houses, rent to own, Rick Otton | Tagged legal profession, rent to own, Rick Otton, sales psychology, vendor terms | 1 Comment