Yes, so then it may come down to whether you want to speculate on real estate or not. Will the increase in housing prices more than pay for the closing costs you'll have to pay for a realtor? Are housing prices at peak or not? This is speculation and if you don't speculate very well, you may still consider this option.

That being said, if the renter abandons this agreement, the seller keeps their house, weathers the market downturn, and puts the house back on the market (keeping the money they earned from renter without giving them the property). Whereas look at what happens with bank loans. If you have a downturn in housing, the entire financial system comes to a grinding halt, not just home sellers.