Posted by JohnWe (NoCA) on January 19, 2000 at 09:59:23:
A land contract is a bilateral agreement, binding to both the seller and the buyer.
Don’t think of lease option as one phrase, but two different things. A lease means you’re renting the property to someone for a designated time frame. An option is a unilateral agreement (binding only to the seller) that allows the buyer to purchase the property in the future sometime under pre-designated terms.
Think of a land contract as a normal real estate purchase that won’t close for a few years or more.
If you hold an option to purchase a property, you can decide not to excercise it. This won’t be so easy with a land contract.
Hope this helps.