HomeRun Homes Rent to Own Homes Blog

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HomeRun Homes is a centralized marketplace which helps people Find or Sell a Rent to Own Home, both Nationwide and Globally to the thriving Rent to Own Market. http://www.lease2buy.com
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts

May 5, 2011

Explosion in Number of New U.S. Households

Hi All,

   Welcome back, and TGIF.

   Some time ago, we mentioned the rapid increase in new U.S. Households, and recently, there was a great article on the Realtor.org website that discussed this topic, titled, "Big Jump Expected in New U.S. Households".

   "Millions of young adults are beginning to move out of their parents’ homes and create new households at the fastest rate since 2007", says the article, with additional sources within the article stating that, "In 2011, between 750,000 and 1 million new households are expected to be created". Bloomberg News calls this a, "Major jump to U.S. housing starts possibly by more than 50 percent".

   What was the cause of this "explosion"? The article says that a lot of people had to move in with their parents due to the economy, but as the economy gains momentum, these same people will be looking for their own residence, and thus, the new households. This, in turn, will also stoke Housing Starts (from the demand). The article cites the demographic component of housing as "strong", but limited by current economic and psychological components.

   What does this mean for the Rent to Own Market? Well, if demand is increasing, but people still have blemished credit as a result of the economy, the demand for Rent to own should surge in tandem with this explosion.

   Slap on a helmet and fasten your safety buckle...it's going to be a fun ride !

   Questions? Comments?

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

TAGS: #renttoown #realtor #housingstarts

October 13, 2010

It's Still Rent to Own to Me

Hi Folks,
   News and trends spread fast in our global economy. One of the housing trends that has reached well beyond the borders of the U.S. has been that of "Rent to Own".

   As I often say, when I started this business in 2002, “Rent to Own” and "Lease Option” (and hybrids of the two) were alien terms. Over the 8+ years of managing the business, we have had our eye on the global markets, and we have seen some interesting developments.

   Now, the devil is in the details, but there are slight variations of Rent to Own all around the globe. For example, Australia uses the terms "rent to buy" and "vendor finance", and the UK and Ireland use "buy to let" (as well as lease option).

   Do you know what the two largest markets for Rent to Own are outside of the U.S.? It's Canada, and also, the Philippines. I bet you didn't guess that? Yes, often, this blows people away. In addition, the Philippines actually refer to it as "Rent to Own", as do our neighbors to the north. The Canadian market also uses some other variations, such as Vendor Take Back, or "VTB". Some other countries that use Rent to own or variations of it, include New Zealand and some of the Caribbean Islands .

   However, to find variations, we don't have to look far. While Chicago, the major cities in Florida, and North Carolina are some of the places that use the term, "Rent to Own", other places such as Atlanta and Phoenix use, "Lease Purchase" (varies in definition, but extremely similar).

   Please don't take this as the musings of a Real Estate Blogger, but as a primer for your entry into multiple national and international markets outside of your regular niche focus. Perhaps you could even consider it a small education on the real estate naming conventions across our big blue marble that we call Earth.

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

August 9, 2010

New to Real Estate Investing? What You Need to Know...

Hi Everyone,

Hope you had a great weekend.

With the market in a state of suspended animation, and with people either out of work and/or clinging on to their job by a thread due to the economy, many people are looking for additional sources of income. Some people might hop onto the Multi-Level Marketing programs that are out there, and some others are diligently looking for opportunities.

There is a fair amount of people who look towards real estate investing, and they want to buy and flip homes, which is basically purchasing the home, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit. Folks, let me tell you this...it's not easy! I am one of these people who, back in 2002, was looking for additional income, when a group of friends told me that they were investing in Central Florida. I took that as my cue and was down in the Sunshine State the following weekend.

We purchased a few homes, but turning these homes around was hard, even in a good housing market. We struggled, and it was very difficult. Things finally turned out well, and I left a job at a Nationwide Corporation in which I was a Computer Engineer. This was a good thing, however, we found it more and more difficult to find people for our homes (this is how HomeRun Homes was born, but that is another topic).

What can I suggest to a "newbie", or someone that is new to Real Estate investing ? Research, Research, and then Research again. You must chose the location to focus on, and research the heck out of how the state and the county works. Do you need an attorney? A Title Company? What is legal and what is not legal? These definitions differ from place to place, so you need to research and do your homework.

We have summarized some very important items regarding investing in Real Estate at THIS LINK, and this should give you a great foundation so you can get out there, make offers, and close deals!!

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




June 28, 2010

33% Drop in Sales? Where do we Stand?

Hi Everyone,

Welcome back. We hope that you stayed cool this past weekend, because at least for us here on the East Coast, the humidity has been searingly painful. However, there are people who adore this weather, which shows that we are all unique in our likes and dislikes.

We had a whirlwind week here last week, with some fantastic publicity regarding Rent to Own Homes, along with a lot of work we have been doing on the website infrastructure (including making the website resolve even quicker on your screen).

Looking back to last week, in retrospect, we saw some numbers come out that were a little bit of a shock. By now, most of you already heard that new home sales (new single family homes) plunged about 33 percent from April to May. The tax credit incentive for purchasing homes ended April 30th, so that is a major contributing factor, but are we really shaping up yet? Are the fundamentals of the economy that strong yet to tout a recovery? Yes, there are definitely some promising areas in the country in terms of economic and housing recovery, but there are a lot more regions that are in trouble. Is it that a lot of the incentives are not as far-reaching as anticipated? Or just that it will take more time? On that note, we can only assume that "time will tell", as the old cliche says.

Now, there are some more numbers coming out tomorrow (S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices), but these have a 2-month lag, so I really am interested in seeing their next release (the next one after this release). Let's all keep an eye on them together, as it effects each and every one of us.

Advice for the moment: Keep your focus on the Rent to Own Home that you are either looking to buy or looking to sell. Stay tuned to us for new information, announcements, and contests. We will try to be your liaison and will try to provide you with updates whenever we have them.


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

June 25, 2010

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 !

June 7, 2010

Baby Boomers and Rent to Own...

Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a great summer-like pre-summer weekend, and welcome back !

There is an important topic that we wanted to touch on, and that is the topic of Baby Boomers, and whether they should Buy, Rent, or Rent to Own. The last two options might strike you as odd - Rent and Rent to Own - but we will explain here.

As the first group of Baby Boomers approaches 65 years of age, the youngest of the Baby Boomers is in their mid-upper 40's. Since we are trained to think about who would normally rent or rent to own a home, we think of people just starting out in life, and looking to either rent for a while before finding a home to buy, or renting to own a property and converting it to a purchase within a specified period of time. However, this can be faulty thinking for a number of reasons, and to make a long story short, the Economy has really blurred these lines. There are plenty of folks out there who were close to retirement, and then they have lost it all, only to start all over again. In these such cases, a Rent to Own would be ideal for them, since they can still pursue the home-ownership option that they lost due to unfortunate occurrences often beyond their control.

I tried not to rant much on this, but we have seen so many people who have been hurt so badly by this economy, that it is absolutely heartbreaking. When you hear a 60 year old couple crying over how they lost their life savings and their home, and they have come to our website looking for a Rent to Own home, it is just painful. It is something that you literally want to cry over. It's days like that where we know that our site is there for people who are in need of finding or selling a Rent to Own Home, and we know that people are finding what they need so they can regain their dignity, pick up the pieces, and carry on with their lives again.


On a much lighter note, we are proud to announce that we have just surpassed 1100 Friends on our Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/homerunhomes), 217 Fans on our new Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/lease2buy), and are we are now well over 900 Followers on our Twitter Page (http://twitter.com/homerunhomes). We would love to have you as Friends, Fans, and Followers on all of our pages, so be sure to check them out. Please note that our Blog Posts update those sites automatically soon after they are posted.


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

April 12, 2010

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 !!

February 9, 2010

Blog will move over to lease2buy.com website

So we are now working feverishly in order to move the blog under the umbrella of lease2buy.com

We are working with the kind folks at Google and our Hosting Provider in order to get this squared away.

I'll personally spare you the technical geeky details, but be assured that this will be a good source of behind the scenes information for you.

Juicy tidbit - here is a great link that shows when all of those vital economic indicators are released: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/national_economy/nationalecon_cal.html