Sounds more like a bottom-feeding investor to me.
Or you could just be getting lucky with a unique house that somehow found a buyer for that particular unique quality.

Are you sure your price isn't too low?
And I'm leery about the lease bit -- but there are ways to protect yourself.

I don't know - can you put a specific neighborhood alert on zillow? Can you set up an automatic mailing?
I'd ignore him. I don't think it hurts to have your house up there. (those more knowledgeable may).

What do you have to lose by communicating with him? It's a long shot, no doubt, but it just might work out for you -- stranger things have happened. And you should be able to determine fairly quickly whether he's legitimately interested by asking a few direct questions.

To ensure your interests are protected, make sure your price is indeed a fair one by getting a few CMAs from knowledgeable local realtors (consider this a jump-start on interviewing agents for your eventual January listing), and an independent appraisal by an independent professional appraiser.

A good, knowledgeable real estate attorney can help you draft a lease/purchase agreement that will protect your interests. Just mentioning that your attorney will be drafting the lease agreement may quickly scare off a scammer.

Good luck to you!

Don't know about listing on zillow, but I do know that our home's value on zillow isn't accurate. Hope you are doing other research for comps etc.

Well, I have just not done anything about this guy. Have not heard back either. I figure it is just fluff.

As for comps, yes, I have looked around to try to figure out where we should be on price. I know Zillow is off. Maybe by a lot. But I live in an area where the houses have been built gradually over a 60 year period. There is a huge range of styles, sizes and values. Some roads are markedly better than others. Even in a good market, only a few get sold each year.

So, I keep thinking that comps won't really work in the normal way. It will be a "what the market will bear" situation. But, how to get a sense of that is difficult -- until we jump in there and start the process.

Whatever you decide, get a good real estate attorney. Have him/her review any contracts or documentation. A good real estate attorney is a great expenditure.

The Florida market is not very good right now, so be prepared for a long list especially if your area wasn't selling well prior to the downturn.

Best wishes :-)

Amy - totally off topic question. I see you list FL gardening as your second fav forum.
What's the tomato season down there? I love tomatoes and just go into mourning at the end of tomatoe season. I was at a Farmers market a few weeks ago that amazingly still had tomatoes coming in from their own patch (vs. Tennessee or somewhere) and another woman and I were going on about how thrilled we were. I said something about tomatoes are the one reason to think about moving further south and she said that the southern winter tomatoes still don't taste as good as summer midwestern tomatoes. Doesn't seem like that'd be true.
Do you grow indeterminate tomatoes year around down there?

To make this thread related - I understand what your talking about on comps. When I look at rural properties is sort of the same thing. One of this One of that, everything is different. Realtors usually have to do a lot of
finding things that are only somewhat similar then do a lot of adding and subtracting.

"Hi, My wife and I are looking for a house in your area. We would be willing to give you your price if you would be willing to sell to us on a lease option. We have good references and good assets. Please call me or e-mail me if you would like to sell your house this month. Thanks."

So, I googled the guy. He's a realtor and builder out west somewhere.

I would not do a lease option. If this person is a realtor and a builder, he can afford to BUY your house. The advice to consult with a RE attorney is good.

If they have good assets, why not do it? You can charge a big deposit, high rent, and get all that money on top of your equity. Leasing will allow them to move before they sell their own house (if they can't qualify for both); I would consider this a better alternative than a contingent offer.

DW does not want to sell our house before we buy since showings are such a hassle with little kids (and their toys all over the place), and timing a move is a real PITA. Several months ago we could qualify for 2 houses, but not today. Last month, we were excited to find that a house we were watching had also come up for rent. We could move first, prep our house, and close after we sold. This is a perfect situation for us. Unfortunately, after seeing the house, it wasn't quite what we wanted...

Port Charlotte houses for what ever reason are actually increasing in value and we have been moving them on Zillow.
We just listed one off Edgewater which I own and get a bunch of emails "gee, I love short sales", that's all well and good but is it a short sale if there is no paper on it? And no it's not my style to ever sell a property for less than I paid for it.

I can only assume the Builder/Realtor is not that serious...or I would have heard more.

As for tomatoes ;-) our growing season is November to April. It's all backwards. By the time summer rolls around almost everything melts in the heat and humidity. I tried my hand at veggies, but didn't have much luck. Now bananas, that's something I can grow down here!