By the way yes I have run this issue before with SD realtor ( which gets my respect on the issue) and this time I agree with the logic that if this has been a 3 year deal and all of sudden the guy has gotten into a mess then the renter needs to either move on or pay up! And yes there is a huge difference if Marion wants to get a deal on the house but I can say from experience is not a easy journey! My situation was very different the owner had 7 homes at 100% loans and purchased in August 2006 I signed the lease in Nov 2006. The owner told me to stay as long as we could and she letting the house go. We continued to deposit the funds every month in an escrow account and when the home was purchase back by the bank we sign a month to month rental agreement on another home down the street as a back up plan while we work on our purchase offer. Not to mention I was advised by my lawyer through the entire process.