Factors Influencing the Psychology of The Rent to Own Market

Hi Everyone,

   Welcome to 2011! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Holiday weekend.

   A lot of factors are involved in the Rent to own Market, and the ripple effect from any of a number of housing market changes or economic changes can be far-reaching. Dale Siegel, who writes the excellent Blog titled, "Diaries of a Mad Mortgage Broker", had recently asked us to write an article about the psychology of the Rent to Own market, and since her Blog has such a great reputation, we just couldn't resist !

   The Article, which is titled, "The Top 5 Factors Influencing the Psychology of The Rent to Own Market in 2010", is in the most recent section of her Blog, so head on over to have a read. Hopefully, the article will get you to think outside of the box when it comes to analyzing the effect of different events on the Rent to Own niche of the Real Estate market.

   Do you have anything to add to this? What are your thoughts on the psychology of the Rent to own Market? How about the Real Estate Market in general? We'd love to hear from you !

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com

Winter, Profiles, and Technology

Hi All,
   Hope you had a really nice weekend. Winter has turned quite rapidly here in New York, and the snow can't be too far off !

   Recently, we have had some people ask about the behind-the-scenes folks here at HomeRun Homes, and we promise that we will get them to profile themselves in the coming weeks. A memo has been circulated advising against unnecessary shyness and forbidding them from remaining in the shadows! OK, no memo like that was circulated, however, on a serious note, we will try to have one of our very interesting and instrumental staff members profiled for this Blog to meet your requests.

   Quiet week in terms of housing numbers, as there are no housing-related releases scheduled for this week, but there are some economic numbers coming out (and they always affect the housing market, either directly or indirectly).

   On a side note, we have had the opportunity to stress-test a very cool and very powerful new printer (the Epson Workforce 635 All-in-one Printer, Copier, Scanner, Fax, and Wi-Fi). We love this thing ! Easy to Set up, remarkably simple to understand, and blazing fast ! The installation was a little long, and there was no network/Ethernet cable provided, but overall, we have been printing at break-neck speed. In addition, our office manager is happy, as we were able to decommission a printer, scanner, and fax machine that were replaced with this one unit!

   Ahh..."Technology Rules" !

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com

Depressed Home Sales and Housing Slump Acting Like a Prison

Good Morning,

   Hope you had a nice weekend. To those of you who ran the marathon in NYC this past weekend, that is incredible. That is the ultimate definition of pushing your body to the upper limits of it's potential.

   On that note, we all wish that the housing market would push itself to the upper limits of it's potential as well, however, with the Pending Home Sales Index numbers that came out last Friday, don't hold your breath. The National Association of Realtors said, "Pending home sales retreated after two monthly gains, signaling an uneven recovery entering 2011 with some near-term disruptions from the foreclosure moratorium". Troubles abound.

   "The depressed real estate market is having another effect", writes David Schepp from AOL Finance, in an article titled, "Housing's Slump Is Keeping Job Seekers Stuck in Place". Schepp notes that it's become, "more difficult, if not impossible, for workers to relocate to take new jobs. The percentage of unemployed managers and executives relocating for new positions fell to a record low in the third quarter, according to analysis by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based employment-services firm." This is an interesting angle that is not in the forefront of our minds, but it is just another casualty of the housing/economic slump. It's like a virtual "prison".

   For the remainder of the economy, there are no major housing-related numbers coming out this week, and depending on how you look at it, that might be good !

   Have You read the "Secrets of Rent to Own" (The manual on how to buy or sell via Rent to Own), or, "Will It Work In My Town?" (The Real Estate Investing Guidebook)? If not, it's worth noting that if you purchase either of those books, you will receive the other one for free. To learn more about "Secrets of Rent to Own", Read More Here, and to learn more about "Will It Work In My Town?", Read More Here.

Have a Great Day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com

10 Million New Renters?

Good Morning,


   We hope everyone had a great weekend. We certainly hit a homerun (no pun intended) here on the East Coast with golden sunshine, deep blue skies, and low humidity all weekend long. Ahhh...allergies !!

   When looking over some stories on a Google search the other day, I came across a story titled, "Renter Nation", in which the author says that, "The recession and shifting demographics will swell the ranks of people who will rent, not buy, housing over the next five years", and he deduces that, "roughly 10 million extra folks could be moving into rentals over the next five years". While this could be a frightening prospect for those who are thinking about selling their homes within the next 5 years, this does still hold optimism for some segments of the market.

   Those who are looking to sell their home would not have to stretch far across the table to rent their home with an option to buy, or Rent to Own. More often than not, those looking for a rental home will jump at the opportunity to earn some equity while they are renting. In this respect, these numbers hold promise. For Realtors, they will still earn the rental fee. For those who are renting out homes in the first place, they could see a surge in demand, which might potentially drive up some rental prices in certain areas.

   What would be the "Butterfly Effect" of such increases in rental prices? Good Economic sense tells us what should happen, but things have been so very far off from common sense over the past few years, that I would not even venture a guess. We welcome your opinions and comments on this question.

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

E-book, Rent to own Secrets, and Barbecue...

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to do a quick check-in with everyone and wish you a peaceful and relaxing day, if you are off today.

It will be a quiet week in terms of Economic and Housing indicators, but we will be buzzing on the HomeRun Homes campus with some new Social Media initiatives we have coming up this week. Also, coming up in the short term will be another wonderful utility to help you catch the latest Rent to Own Homes and Rent to Own Buyers as soon as they hit our website.

Additionally, we are very honored to have our E-book, "Secrets of Rent to Own", listed on the super directory of E-Books (E-Library.net), with the full link to our book directory listing as http://e-library.net/Secrets-Of-Rent-to-Own__ebooks22707.htm

OK, we will let everyone get back to their family, barbecue, and festivities.


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

Mortgage Horror Story...

Hi Everyone,

Friday is upon us, and it's another sizzling one, depending on where you are geographically!

Today, I'd like to share a mortgage horror story with you. When I purchased an investment home with some partners a couple of years back, we were assured an interest rate on an interest-only/balloon mortgage. However, once we got to the closing table, the rate showed up in the documents as higher by 1/4 point. Needless to say, we were all quite furious, and the fact that the mortgage broker was not at the closing didn't help the situation(he was on vacation), so we called him on his mobile phone to voice our disapproval over this rate discrepancy. There was quite an exchange of words, however, it was kept on a professional level and just short of using expletives.

Ultimately, it was a mistake on his part, and he made good on the difference with a check to us for the difference calculated out over an agreed upon period of the loan. In order to avoid delaying the closing to have new papers drawn up, we moved forward, and accepted the above-mentioned check from his closing associate to cover a majority of our "losses". The moral of the story: Make sure everything is in writing, whether it be an E-mail from the mortgage company, or physical documents, you just cannot argue with hard copy. In this case, we had done previous closings with this broker, so we know it was an error and not malicious. Either way, "in writing" is the key. May this little story and this tip save you tons of aggravation !

Economic News related to the Real Estate Housing market is quiet next week, but as we all know, any and all economic news that is released will affect the housing market directly or indirectly. Always keep your eyes and ears open!

We have additional items/upgrades and more new features rolling out next week, so be sure to check in on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and any other days in between for breaking news and updates. What would even be easier for you? You can subscribe to this Blog feed or you can subscribe for Blog updates via E-mail. These options are both located on top of the column on the right-hand side of this page where it says, "Subscribe To Posts" and "Subscribe by E-mail". Also remember to check out our Podcasts for Free Download in our ITunes Store at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=373351426


We hope you stay cool, and have a great weekend!
Happy Rent-to-Owning !

Facebook, Twitter, Podcast...

Hi All,

Hope you had a great week!

We just finished up with an interview for a new website focusing on home buyers in the 20-35 year old range, and that article should be out late month (or early June), so we will keep you posted.

It's been a really quiet week in terms of Economic News for the Real Estate/Rent to Own Market. We are just watching the market and that horrendous spill in the Gulf.
We pray that they cap it before it damages the wildlife and the local Gulf businesses. As a side/personal note - Gulf Shrimp and Gulf Oysters have always been my weakness.

We have just had our Facebook profile shortened to a much prettier address:
http://www.facebook.com/homerunhomes, and as some of you already know, our Twitter Address is: http://www.twitter.com/homerunhomes

Do you see a pattern emerging in the naming?


OK, so a News Flash: We are boldly looking to endeavor into the world of Podcasting, which for those of you who are not aware of them, they are basically Blog Posts, but in a voice recording that you can download and play on your Ipod or MP3 player.

Now, I am not crazy about my recorded voice, however, a lot of you have spoken and asked me to do this. So the answer is, "Yes", I will give it a try.

If our team is able to successfully organize the techie side of it, I will post the Podcast here on the Blog. Apparently, this saves a lot of time when you can listen to the Blog as opposed to reading it. Please be patient as we try to figure this one out - I'm off to do some voice exercises now (kidding).

Please check back Monday for more news!
Have a great weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !




My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-820fd66e75f39e338c13a2a4fd033585}

Pending Home Sales and Real Estate Trouble Spots

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone had a healthy and productive week. Not only is Friday upon us, but yes...May is upon us !

Living on the East Coast has it's perks, and being a couple hours away from Atlantic City is one of them. That is if you enjoy that kind of stuff. I came across an article citing Atlantic City as one of "Tomorrow's Real Estate Trouble Spots". No surprise that Atlantic City, N.J., is on top of the list, however, I always thought that aside from the Casinos, the area outside of the bright lights was depressed, in terms of home prices and the economy. So, basically, it's more of a yesterday and today "Trouble Spot". As a side note, this was from a survey of 315 cities, so the sampling size they used was pretty large, and it carries some weight with it.

We have been doing a lot of internal work on our site, in terms of aesthetics and our database. We will have a new Press Release coming out next week, and we'll be sure to notify everyone here regarding it.

Next Week (Tuesday, May 4Th), The Pending Home Sales Index numbers will be released, and this should be reflecting the tax credit for (new) home buyers.

Finally, for additional background on our Rent to Own website and a peak at our history, please read more about us here: http://www.lease2buy.com/rent-to-own-homes.php

A lot of exciting and cool stuff coming next week - so stay tuned.
Have a Great Weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

Troubled Cities, Creative Real Estate, FHA Tax Credit, and more

Happy Monday to Everyone,

We hope you had a great weekend, and were successful in wherever your ventures took you, whether it was looking for a home, selling a home, or just enjoying some time with your family. On a personal note, we spent the weekend with our toddler going from Chuckie Cheese to a few of those inflatable bouncy places. I've had enough pizza and gummy bears to last me a lifetime !

I came across an interesting story that I wanted to share, and it is worth taking a look at. It's titled, "10 Cities Facing a Double Whammy of Default Risks", and it lists cities which are not only in the throes of major home value declines, but also have other dominating economic issues as well. For example, the top city on the list was Las Vegas, and the article cites speculation and wild loan-types as the contributor to the decline in housing prices, construction, and jobs in the Metro area. The other cities listed are Merced (California), El Centro (California), Port St. Lucie (Florida), Fort Myers (Florida), Bend (Oregon), Ocala (Florida), Detroit (Michigan), Rockford (Illinois), and Toledo (Ohio). Although they are all different cities, some of the issues read like a script. This is an important read if you live in these metro areas, or if you are considering a move there. On the flip side, if you are an investor the specializes in rent to own or creative real estate deals, you might have a ground-floor opportunity in helping to revive these areas !

A side note - This Friday, 4/30, the Tax Credit for new home buyers (of up to $8,000) will expire. We wrote an article on this earlier, and you can read it here:
http://www.blogging.lease2buy.com/2010/04/details-on-fha-tax-credit-for-home.html

OK - back to working on our website and getting more traffic to your ads !
Have a great day, and we'll chat again on this Wednesday !

Happy Rent to Owning !

Special Offer, Social Media, Mobile, Home Prices...

Hi Everyone,
Happy Friday - we made it through another week!

It's been a busy week here, and we want to cover a few things, as well as announce a New SPECIAL OFFER, since the one from last week was a HUGE hit with everyone!

First off, some business:

We continued aggregating our site across the Social Media Aggregation sites to ensure our Blog reaches new visitors - in plain English - this means more and more visitors to your Ads - a very good thing !
Additionally, we continued developing StopForeclosureRenttoOwn.com, our newest venture, with the goal of reaching people in desperate need of housing!
Last but not least, we continued preparing our site for Mobile users - it's a huge project, since there are so many models of mobile devices, but very important!

Next - Upcoming Economic Events:

Tuesday 4/27 - S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index:
Per Standard and Poors Site:
"The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices measures the residential housing market, tracking changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States."

Now - for the SPECIAL OFFER:

For Every Ad placed, whether it is a "Home Wanted", "Home Available", "Home Service", or "Commercial Property" Ad, you will receive a Free Copy of "SECRETS OF RENT TO OWN" (Click here for info on this book)

Now, normally, we only do this when you purchase an Ad of 3-Months or longer, however, just for today - that is until 12 Midnight EST today 4/23 - when you order ANY Ad (1 month and longer), you will receive a free copy of the Guide

Sounds Good?

OK, here's how this will work, step-by-step:

1. Place an Ad at one of these links (click on of the following links):
Looking for a Home? - "Home Wanted" Ad
Selling a Home? - "Home Available" Ad
Offering a Service? - "Home Service" Ad
Offering a Commercial Property? - "Commercial Property" Ad

2. Remember - the above pages will say you get the book for a 3-Month or longer Ad...This is a SPECIAL OFFER direct from management!

3. Once you have placed your order, send an E-mail to homebuyer@lease2buy.com with this subject:
"Ad Placed - Send me Secrets of Rent to Own"...we will verify, and then E-mail it to you immediately.

Remember - this is a SPECIAL OFFER to our members !

Thanks, have a great day, a great weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!

Site Design, Social Media, & Housing

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to thank you for being regular readers on our blog, and also, repeat visitors to our website (www.Lease2Buy.com).

A few notes on our website, as we have continued to re-design quite a few key pages and remove some fluffy text. Additionally, we will be adding newer features to get your Ads out in front of more (even more!) potential buyers or sellers, so please keep checking the site regularly for these changes and additions.

On the advertising front, we have continued working with some solid companies in terms of expanding our Social Media presence, and you can check a few our profiles here:
Facebook (Click Here)
Twitter (Click Here)

We are also listed on every major social media site, and we are developing our profiles on them substantially, as well.


On the economic front, New Residential Sales were released last week, and the numbers dipped 2.2% from January...but 13% from Feb 2009. These are some very telling numbers, and this tells us we are not out of the woods yet.

Continue to keep all creative buying or selling options open.

Thanks, and Happy Rent-to-Owning.