How long you have
Your first agreement covers 27 months, and you know your rent and your price before you sign it.
Every solid bar above is a number written into the agreement before you sign it. After month 27 we sign a new 12 month agreement, and we will not pretend to know today what a market will do two and a half years out.
You are not paying a fee to extend. The house simply costs more if you buy it in those six months, and you know the exact number, in dollars, before you sign anything. If you do not buy it, the higher price never applies to you.
Nothing you have built up is ever lost. Every option fee and every rent credit stays yours and still comes off the purchase price. A new agreement does not reset them.
Buy sooner if you can
There is no penalty for buying early, and there is nothing magic about month 21. If you are ready in month 9, buy the home in month 9.
You should not wait to start trying, either. The families who buy are the ones who start working the plan shortly after they move in, not in the twentieth month.
In a lot of cases a family's monthly cost goes down once they own, because the payment stops being rent and starts being a mortgage.
Needing more time is normal
The 6 month extension is built in because we expected some families would need it. Needing it is not a failure.
If you need more time after that, you get it. As long as you are still working toward buying, current on your rent, and there are no major lease violations, we extend for another 12 months. We have not yet had a family in good standing who wanted to keep going and did not get an extension.
The two ways this ends early are the two you would expect. A family stops paying rent, or a family decides they no longer want to buy.
Taking longer is not one of them. A move out costs us far more than an extension does, and this only works as a program if most families finish. If you are committed to buying and you just need more time, more time is what we want to give you.
How buying actually happens
Nothing automatic happens at month 21. There is no moment where the house becomes yours because time passed.
You buy the home with a mortgage. Every family who has purchased through this program got approved for a home loan and used it to pay us the balance. Nobody has bought with cash. Even after your option fees, your rent credits, and any grants from your lender or housing counselor, there is still a mortgage at the end of it.
That is what the whole program is built around: getting you to the point where a bank will lend to you. The rent credits and option fees lower what you have to borrow. They do not replace the loan.
Why 21 months
The 21-month first term gives you a clear target. It is not a promise about when a lender will approve you.
The goal is for you to be ready for a mortgage when you are ready to buy. Some families buy during the first term. Others use the built-in 6-month extension or a 12-month renewal.