Rent-to-Own Transactions Move into Mainstream

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all having a great week. We are extremely pleased to share with you an article that was done on Rent to Own by a major, authoritative website, American-apartment-owners-association.org.

The article, titled, "Rent-to-Own Transactions Move into Mainstream" (http://www.american-apartment-owners-association.org/blog/2010/06/24/rent-to-own-transactions-move-into-mainstream/), provides HomeRun Homes some fantastic publicity, and it describes HomeRun Homes as, "a highly-ranked online classifieds service matching properties to buyers/tenants".

Within the context of the article, they quoted me when I discussed some of the best markets for Rent to Own (also called Lease Options or Lease Purchase), as Atlanta, Central Florida, North Carolina, California and Chicago, because, "...of the severe decline in home prices in those areas, coupled with a rough economy that poses credit hardships on many buyers".

I was also quoted as saying, "Rent-to-own gives investors a creative option when dealing with slow-moving or distressed properties", and, “At least you know you have someone in the property who wants to be there."

Kudos to that great website for spreading the word about Rent to Own Homes.

We will be checking back in with you on the housing numbers of this week gone-by.

Have a Great Day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

New Residential Construction, Loans, Referrals and Affiliates, Free Book...

Hi Everyone,

A Happy Friday to All.

Things have been simmering here at HomeRun Homes, with traffic to our website at all-time highs, and we are proud to say that we have received the most "Thank You" E-mails from our customers within one week since we began doing business 8 years ago.

OK, some important news coming out next week:

Tuesday the 18th brings the newest figures for New Residential Construction - Building Permits, Housing Starts, and Housing Completions

Friday the 21st brings the Loan Performance Housing Price Index


These are both very important numbers. The announcement of New Construction, coupled with Housing Prices, should paint a better picture of where things have been over the past few months, and if they are positive, they can hopefully continue throughout the summer and beyond.

Now, we usually like to throw some exciting promo on the table at least once a week, so we are letting everyone know that we offer a generous Referral and Affiliate program. If you are interested in learning more, please leave comments here, or you can send an E-mail to homebuyer@lease2buy.com with the subject line of "Referrals/Affiliates", and we'll send you more details. It's a great way to earn some extra money and some free months on your Ads.

As a final note, we are responding to a question from one of the buyers who has received a large amount of responses from sellers this past week. Our best advice is to make a document or spreadsheet with the name and contact info of each seller, along with the details (prices, etc) of their homes. Once you have it all down visually, it's much easier for you to make a decision and make further reminder notes once you have viewed their properties. Good luck, and we hope you found your new castle !

Remember, we are offering a Free Copy of "Secrets of Rent to Own", when you purchase an Ad of 3-Months or longer.

If you're Looking for a Rent to Own Home, you can get your very own "Home Wanted" Ad at http://www.lease2buy.com/prospectivetenants.php

If you're Selling a Rent to Own Home, you can get your very own "Home Available" Ad at http://www.lease2buy.com/prospectivesellers.php


Have a Great Weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!

Silly Real Estate Sayings, Huge Traffic, Featured Ads...

Happy Monday to Everyone,

A taste of fall is in the air here on the East Coast, but as we all know...not for long!

We have a very exciting week ahead, as many of you who already have Ads on our website can imagine. We have had a humongous surge in traffic on the website over the past few days, and a lot of you have been deluged with responses to your Ads.

Please always respond to them as quickly as possible to show them you are serious, and that you want to rent to own your home or find a rent to own home fast ! With the end of the FHA Tax Credit, people are realizing the benefits of rent to own more and more each day.

Website tip of the week: With all of this huge additional traffic, this could be a great time to put your Ad on top of the State page where you have the Ad, so these visitors see you before anyone else! (We described this feature in detail in the following blog post: http://www.blogging.lease2buy.com/2010/04/lease2buycom-updates-featured-free.html

One of our customers suggested this to us over the weekend: "Get more Sellers selling lower priced properties.". The short answer is that we can't control the values of the properties that are posted on our site. Now, that being said, price is relative, and by that, I mean that a price that is high for one potential buyer might be just right for another. A quick glance through our site will show prices on the very low end numerically, on up to a few mega-mansions with high-end numbers. It's all a matter of taste and preference. A seller of a "low-priced property" may be in just as much of a need to sell their property as a seller with a "high-priced property". Again, "relative" sums it up.

Some food for thought on a very interesting article on Yahoo Finance, titled, "4 Biggest Lies in Real Estate". To summarize, they listed them as: Phony Photos and Videos, Valuations Lacking Value, Mortgage Rates You Can't Get, and Unreal Property Descriptions, plus, they also tossed in a "Euphemism Alert".

The interesting thing about the Euphemism alert is that all of you have probably read these types of Ad descriptions, for example, "Handyman's Special" (you have to gut the whole property first), and "Great View" (you'll break your neck twisting your head out the window to see the water). Some of these just go with the territory, and the old rule of "Caveat Emptor", or Buyer Beware, applies here.

Either way, this makes a great educational read for those of you on either side of the table, as a buyer or a seller.


We will check in with you during the week with more information.


Have a great day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

Expansion regardless of Economic Conditions

Hi All,
Hope your week is going well so far.

We have been letting people know about our newsletter, and we have many new subscribers, so we welcome them!

We also know that once they are visiting our site, they will be seeing and contacting both Buyers and Sellers of Rent to Own Homes, so the snowball effect occurs. Let me explain - you are offering a home, they need a home, they see your Ad, they contact you, you make a deal, and everyone is happy. If they have a home they are offering, they see your Ad, they contact you, you make a deal and have a new home! The circle of life; happy visitors make happy customers.

On to another topic:

We live in what was a small town out in Eastern Long Island. We moved back in 2005at the high point of the market, however, the traffic has exploded as new subdivisions have sprung up everywhere, and the influx of people coming "out East" has been so dramatic, that they recently began expansion of our main road from 2 lanes to a 4-lane highway.

This is another sign of "Sprawl", but most importantly, it's a sign of flourishing during a difficult market. The empty stores and shops with the whitewashed windows has slowed, and new businesses have moved in. It's incredible how communities spark back to life, and this should be happening all across the country. Would it be too much to ask for a Starbucks near me?

I hope everyone has a great week, and we'll check in with you later in the week to give you some more updates.

Have a great day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

Helpful Tips when doing your Walk-through...and More..

Hi All,
We hope you had an absolutely fantastic weekend, and we welcome you back.

A few interesting items happening today and this week:

Since the Spring is here for most of us, our market tends to pick up (we hope!), and buyers start doing their walk-throughs of properties that they are closing on. This brings me to the "Tip of the Day":
When doing a walk-through of a property, make sure you bring a small electrical outlet tester, as well as a phone jack tester.
These are two very inexpensive items that can save you time and money !
I've been burned on that a few times and it is quite irritating, so please learn from my silly mistakes.

OK, now, for HomeRun Homes, we have been compacting our database of properties and buyers, since it was a very busy February & March. Basically, to spare you the technical jargon, we compressed the data so that the site works faster.
Additionally, we have edited our YouTube Video for Rent to Own Homes over the past few days. Please take a glance at it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlOZxvY2gg4

Please also note: You can Follow our Blog and be notified of new posts by clicking on the "Follow" Button on the Right-hand side of the page - we promise that we will not bore you or let you down !

Finally, New Residential Construction numbers are coming out this Friday, the 16th. These numbers, as you can imagine, are very important for the housing market and the Economy, since this takes into account Building Permits, Housing Starts, and Housing Completions. For more information and details on this upcoming Report, here is the link: http://www.census.gov/const/www/newresconstindex.html

Thank you.
Have a Great Week and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!