Rent-to-own seems a better way to finance house purchases with Bitcoin, than a mortgage. More honest, as you don't receive the title until you're done.
Discussion
You could arrange a fixed rent (one that doesn't go down with house prices), and thereby reserve the right to purchase the title for X amount of Bitcoin after X number of years.
Or something like that.
the whole idea of "rent to own " gives me some sort of angst like what happens if the relationship turns sour or something. but i've heard of "backwards mortgages" for older folks needing some income, so rent-to-own could be like a peer-to-peer backwards mortgage.
It could, but people actually live in the homes they've mortgaged. They just have to move out, when the mortgage runs out, unless they've died first.
oh that's right. not sure where I had placed the house owner in my head, maybe the attic.
If it's a rental contract, you just cancel the contract and pay the cancellation fee.
Mortgage - Death Charge!
the premium we pay to be able to paint the walls and plant a garden. right now owning is at a serious premium to renting where I live.
To me, this just seems like a way to take advantage of people. What if you pay you house payment every month for years, then get laid off. You can't make the payment and get evicted. If you had taken a mortgate, you could sell the house and recover your equity. If you're doing rent-to-own, you're out on the street with nothing. Companies that do this with appliances actually try to get people to default because they can go rent the appliance to someone else. It's a little like a bait-and-switch.
One thing that used to be common and is more fair is owner financing. You buy the house and pay the previous owner as if it were a mortgage. It's not very common now because most people need to get the full price for the house to pay off their mortgage.
Houses will tend to decline in nominal terms, under a Bitcoin standard. All assets do. You'd almost always be underwater on a mortagage.
Rent-to-own is unattractive for landlords, when house prices rise, because it's easier to find a renter to pay more. Under asset-price deflation, the next renter would pay less.
I agree that rent-to-own is silly when goods and asset prices rise, interest rates are low, and debt is easy to discharge.
Rent-to-own contracts could just include a cancellation fee paid by whoever ends the contract early.
If you're the one renting, you still end up with nothing in this scenario, plus having to pay the fee. If it's a mortgage, the house gets sold off and you get whatever is left after the bank gets paid.