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 land. Show all posts
Showing posts with label land. Show all posts

November 24, 2010

Do the Housing Numbers Make You Dizzy?

Hi Folks,


   Hope you've had a great short week, and you're ready for the Feast !

   As we discussed on Monday, there were quite a bit of pivotal numbers coming out, and I wanted to take a look at them together with you. Whether this will aid in your digestion tomorrow will remain to be seen.

   New Residential Sales: October came in at 8.1% below September and 28.5% below October 2009, and compared to the same numbers released last month, which showed a 6.6 percent short term increase, but was also substantially below the previous year (21.5 percent decrease). What happened to another short-term increase? Where did that go?

   Existing-Home Sales: The figures for October came in 2.2% below September, and 25.9% below October 2009, reflecting, of course, the tax credit frenzy during that period of time.

   FHFA Quarterly Index: This purchase-only FHFA house price index showed a 1.6% drop from the 2nd Quarter to the 3rd Quarter, and a 3.2% drop from the same period in 2009. The biggest movers were the Mountain Division of the US, which was down 4%, while the New England Division rose 0.9%

   We still have a long way to go until we start seeing rock-solid numbers coming out with every new release, and it certainly will, as we cannot create more land, just more houses!

   As a final note, we will be doing a very informative piece on Friday, which will cover the topic of Bank REOs and Foreclosures, so be sure to tune-in (and digest).

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

August 2, 2010

Commercial Real Estate...and We Need Your Input !

Hi Everyone,


   Hope you had a nice and peaceful weekend. As for me, having a toddler, the word "peaceful" does not exist !

   We wanted to announce a few new things currently and on the horizon. First, we have created a new RSS Feed with all of our Press Releases, that covers our news, press and media, regarding rent to own and real estate in general. It is freely available at this link

   Next, for those of you who have placed your buildings, stores, apartments, and land available Ads in the "Homes Available" Section, please note that your exposure would be much better in the Commercial Real Estate section. Please let us know if you would like your Ads moved over to the Commercial Property section.

   Now, we want to turn things over to you, and we have a few questions. For all of those who respond via comments on this Blog or via E-mail, we will send you a small token of our appreciation (please provide your E-mail address along with your correspondence).

Question #1: Would you be interested in seeing additional countries added to the website? If so, which ones and why?
Question #2: Are there any Social Networks that you would like to see us on that we are NOT on currently?
Question #3: What other topics would you like to see discussed on our Blog? Please be specific.

   As mentioned above: If you answer any (or all) of the above either via comments on this Blog OR via E-mail, along with your E-mail reply address, we will send you over a small token of our appreciation.

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

July 26, 2010

Homeowners who Built their Own Home, Part 3 of 3

Good Morning,


   Welcome back. Hope your weekend went well. Aside from some painfully stifling humidity here in the Northeast and some massive storms, it was nice to get together with some family (and to take shelter when the storms hit !)

   Today, we will be completing the final installment on our series on the Home-building process, and we will be hearing from some people who have gone through the process of building their own home. This will provide some valuable insight and tips from people who have already gone through the process, from start to finish.

   We spoke with a couple of homeowners who built their own home. One of the people that we spoke with and who built her own home in Washington State is K.S.Brooks, who is also an author, and we also spoke with Richard Keycon, who built his own home in East Central Alabama.

   Brooks suggests getting to know all of the "local building permit requirements before you buy your parcel and start your project.", as counties usually have different requirements, and that it is important to know the Building Department Inspectors and Coordinators.

   Keycon adds that once you identify the area, you need to find a land agent, and drive around to see every part of the property. They were looking for a very specific parcel, with about "20-30 acres, not many neighbors, a creek, maybe a pond or pond site, and a good building site." Once they settled on the property and purchased it, they asked their land agent and some locals to recommend a builder. Once they selected the builder, they agreed on the building fee, and moved forward from that point.

   The entire process involves a lot of work, as Brooks states, and she says that you should, "Be prepared to be at the house every day either working on or managing the project." and to "take responsibility" for it. She also said to never use the response, "whatever you think is best" when the builder ask you to make choices.

   Both Brooks and Keycon both agree that you need to do your research and comparison shop well in advance, since some items require lead-time for delivery, i.e appliances, counter tops, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, windows, doors, etc.

   As far as environmental impact, Brooks summarizes it as, "Lean towards green, but don't be over-zealous.", and gives us this specific example, "We explored installing a Geo-thermal heating/cooling system for our SIP (structural insulated panel) home. Because SIPs are air tight and incredibly efficient, and with the low cost of hydro-powered electricity in Eastern Washington, it would have taken us 20 years to reap a return-on-investment for Geo-thermal. Instead, we went with a high-efficiency wood burning fireplace, with standard HVAC as a back-up. The result: our 1700 square foot 100% electrically-run house is generating electric bills under $60 per month."

   In closing, Brooks states that it is vital to make lists for everything (parcel, vendors, materials, etc.), and Keycon agrees and says that planning is key and that when searching for a builder, to remember that, "All builders are not created equal".

   We definitely hope that this series has been helpful to you in one or many ways. Remember that there are many builders who build homes and will then Rent them with an Option to Buy (Rent to Own Homes), so it requires a little bit of homework on your end to find these builders.

   If you have any question, we area always available to respond to them. We will be back to our regular Blog posts on Wednesday, since we have a lot of interesting information and topics to cover.

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

July 15, 2010

What Tenants Look For In a Rental Property

Hi Everyone,

Yes, we know that we don't usually post on Thursdays, however, we wanted to pass along a great article that we were interviewed for, called, "What Tenants Look For In a Rental Property". In that article, w have listed the 10 most common things that tenants were looking for in a home over the past 60 days.

To Summarize, these 10 items are:
1. Double Garage/2 Car Garage
2. Some Land/Acreage
3. Must Allow Pets
4. Pool
5. School District
6. Basement – Nice Size & Finished Basement
7. Proximity to transportation (Bus/Subway, etc)
8. Backyard Would Be Nice. A Three Bedroom Would Also Work.
9. Fireplace.
10. Washer/Dryer Hook Up


We were very kindly referred to as, "HomeRun Homes (www.Lease2Buy.com), a rent-to-own classifieds powerhouse" and "...a highly-ranked online classifieds service exclusively for rent-to-own properties", of which we are very proud of! The full article can be seen here: http://www.american-apartment-owners-association.org/blog/2010/07/14/what-tenants-look-for-in-a-rental-property/


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

May 19, 2010

Commercial Real Estate Market, Multiple Properties, Charleston visit...

Hi Everyone,

Hope your week is going well. We are glad to be with you here and to make a few announcements and give you some information on the markets around us.

We just returned back from Charleston (South Carolina) for a quick 2-day conference, and we had a chance to visit the downtown waterfront area. Since this was my first time down there, I was very impressed by the way the Civil War era homes are mixed in amongst the modern architecture. Charleston is a very quaint little city, and we actually learned about the "Widow's Porch", that is standard on all homes along the waterfront, and which is an homage to the bygone era, where women would wait on the top part of their homes for their husbands to return home from sea. Of course, some never made it back, thus the name of the porch. How times have changed, as nowadays, it could also be referred to as a "Widower's Porch", had it been the wife out at sea and the husband was at home waiting for her. Nevertheless, it is a very nice city to visit, with good cuisine, fantastic architecture, and a market that is evidently strengthening.

Since we are on the topic of markets, there was a very interesting article on Inc.com, titled, "Norm Brodsky on Why Real Estate Still Rules". A construction service owner was curious as to whether he should buy or rent office space, and Norm responded along with the comment that, "I expect that the commercial real estate market will bottom out in 18 months to 24 months". Yes, we all had a feeling about this, and his respected opinion only bolsters this feeling. This is truly a valid concern. We have seen a very large part of the Commercial Real Estate market make inquiries to us regarding the potential to do a hybrid of renting and purchasing stores, buildings, lands, or lots...thus, Rent to Own. In response to these requests, we have implemented the Commercial Real Estate section, where Commercial Properties can be listed, or Commercial Properties can be viewed. We are hoping that this gives some owners and potential buyers of Commercial Real Estate another option, and hopefully, this will help them in their endeavors.

We have made a few changes on the site this week, primarily linking to this Blog from the footer on all pages of our website. Additionally, when a quote is requested for Selling Multiple Properties, we have made the E-mail that comes to the requester into a much more detailed quote format. Once again, all of these changes are being made to simplify the experience for people who are buying or selling a Rent to Own Home or other property.

We have some more improvements in the pipeline, and we will keep you updated as the week continues. Please feel free to comment here and let us know what improvements you would like to see !


NOTE: The Podcast for this Post is available at: http://www.box.net/shared/ngq38qsv5u


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