Land Installment Contracts (LICs) are a dangerous rent-to-own scheme that can leave potential homebuyers in the lurch instead of leading to homeownership. Although not a new kind of agreement, LICs have proliferated in Memphis in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, after which many single-family homes were purchased by large out-of-town investors. This week, Dr. Andrew Guthrie from the University of Memphis Dept. of City and Regional Planning visits the program to discuss some research he and U of M colleagues are undertaking around the impact of LICs on Memphis families and neighborhoods. Later in the program, regular commentator and housing expert Austin Harrison returns to talk about what's happening around LICs in other parts of the U.S., in terms of both research and activism. 

Further information

A Memphis Mirage: How Home Mortgage Alternatives and Increased Equity Firm Ownership Diminish Wealth in Low-Income Communities” by Wade Rathke (founder of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and Diné Butler examines how large equity firms diminished home wealth in low-income neighborhoods in Memphis and the nation in the years following the Great Recession. White paper from the Hooks Institute. 

United Housing. For help or resources if you think you have or are being offered a land installment contract.