Our local MLS has a check box that we can mark to show sellers who are willing to do a lease or rent w/option. The problem most sellers have is that they really want to sell and there are many renters who say they want to rent w/option but have no intention of buying. Very few are willing to put up any option guarantee money in case they opt out of buying. Thus, your seller just becomes another landlord with funds still tied up in the property.

Mindy, I get calls all the time from people saying they want to find a house they can do a lease-option but what I find is they have not gone to a lender and would not be considered a viable buyer. There are several reasons people are not ready to buy but you need to be careful that they aren't just renters looking for a place.

If I were working with them as it seems you are, I would have a lender look them over and determine their buying power, if any, at this point in time. Like Gene said, most sellers do not want to tie up their property with a maybe-might kind of buyer.

I have found tht if you look for listings that have been on the market for a while, they are more open to other options

Mindy - Does your MLS offer a 'wild card' search for terms that may be in the remarks? In ours, we can type in a work like "handyman" , "fixer-upper", or "as-is" and it will find listings with that word or terms meaning the same in the remarks section.