US landlords help tenants buy their properties

Washington

MELISSA Suniga and her mother had been renting a three-bedroom Phoenix house for less than a year when their landlord, Blackstone Group's Invitation Homes, gave them the chance to buy it.

Ms Suniga, a 40-year-old childcare worker, used her security deposit and US$2,000 she'd saved from her income-tax refund, along with a county grant and a credit from Invitation Homes that together provided her with US$10,600 more for her down payment and closing costs. She expects to complete her purchase of the US$150,000 house this week."When I started renting, I thought, 'I wish I could buy this home,' " Ms Suniga said in an interview.