If the buyers later have to move out of town, can they let someone else take their place in the deal? Could you take out a new mortgage loan on the property? Can you keep the $3,000 if they later trash the place and desert it? Can you sell to someone else instead if you get a better offer?
Have you offered to hold their mortgage when the year is up? Or will a bank give them a loan with only $3,000 down? If not, can they keep trying or must they give up and move out? If they leave, do they get the $3,000 back?
Here's more: If they fall behind in rent payments, do you have the right to evict them? Do they still get the $250 credit in a month when the rent is late? Do you own the deposit money, does it remain theirs, or is it kept in trust? If so, where is it held? What happens if you don't make your own mortgage payments or fail to pay property taxes? Who pays to replace the water heater if it dies just before closing?
Your lawyers can think of lots of other things that should be nailed down in a written contract that will be fair to everyone.
How Much For Maintenance
Dear Edith: Is there some approximate formula that relates the fraction of house purchase price to what you will have to spend for upkeep on furnaces, water heaters, siding, roof, etc. say over the next 20 years? My husband and I, the old grinches, are worried about a younger relative taking on a house. -- First Old Grinch
Answer: For property in good shape, investors and property managers often estimate about 2 percent of market value to be set aside every year for future expenses like the ones you mention. That's an average, of course, not really much use in predicting what will happen with one individual property.