Real Estate Can Make You Do Crazy Things

Hi Folks,
   Hope you're having a great week.

   It's nothing new to any of you reading this that Real Estate is a great way to make a lot of money, if done right with a cooperating market. However, there is also an under-current of those that use fraud, manipulation, and other schemes to scrape funds from people with blatant disregard for the law.

   For example, there were 4 such incidents that popped up in the news this past week, one involving a Real Estate Broker, one involving an Internet Scam, another involving some Real Estate Investors, and yet another one overseas, just to show how far-reaching this issue goes.

   To be specific, a Real Estate Broker in Phoenix was convicted for evading over $3 Million in taxes from land sales and broker commissions, while some guy sold property in Alabama...property he didn't own and never gave up the Title for once he was paid! The story involving the Real Estate Investors was related to fraud and bid-rigging at Public Real Estate Foreclosure Auctions in California. The overseas one that I referred to above was in New Zealand, where a real estate salesman misled a buyer and failed to pass on an offer made by another buyer.

   I'm going to assume that overall, people are "good", however, with the markets the way they are right now, there are a lot of desperate folks out there, and a lot of people waiting to pounce on them like prey. Of course, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but the sheer spike in these stories tells me that this is a trend that will continue in tandem with the market woes.

   The lesson here: Caveat Emptor, or "Buyer Beware". Do you have any similar stories to share with our readers?

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

TAGS: #RealEstateBroker #RealEstateInvestors #taxes #landsales #bidrigging #RealEstateForeclosureAuction #California #NewZealand

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 !