Housing Market, Home Building, and You

Hi Everyone,


   Hope you had a great weekend and took a little time to relax.

   We have a very exciting week ahead here, with a lot of great advertising lined up to bring even more visitors to your Ads. Additionally, there is a ton of information coming out on the strength of the Housing Market this week. Tomorrow, the New Residential Construction numbers are coming out, on Wednesday, the Loan Performance Housing Price Index numbers come out, and then on Thursday, we have both the NAR Existing Home Sales and the FHFA Monthly House Price Index numbers being released. We are holding on to hope that there will be a significantly positive bounce in these numbers, but at this moment, I just truly don't see how that can happen. I'm not being pessimistic, but it will take time, and we are not out of the woods yet.

   On Wednesday, we will begin a very exciting 3-part series that will cover the home-building process. We will have comments from builders discussing how they identify, acquire, and build homes and other Real Estate, along with perspectives from other professionals in the industry with additional points of view and comments. It's should be a treasure trove of information for anyone interested in the Real Estate market.

   We hope you have a great week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!!

Passed Website Security PCI DSS Compliancy

Good Morning Everyone,


There has been a huge sweeping reform of the credit card industry, and along with it, there have been new rules implemented regarding the security measures that are taken by websites to ensure full security and protection of data that is entered on these websites. For quite some time, the focus has been on the large multi-national corporations, however, the focus has now turned to all websites, including HomeRun Homes/Lease2Buy.com. In May, We were notified about this by our merchant account provider (the company that processes credit card transactions for Ads that are placed on our website), and we were provided a mandated deadline of July 31, 2010.

The full details of this "PCI DSS" mandate, are outlined at https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss.shtml, which summarizes them as, "...a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. This comprehensive standard is intended to help organizations proactively protect customer account data. "

Well, way back in College, I took Calculus, Advanced Calculus, Integral Calculus, Statistics, and multiple Finance and Economics courses, and this PCI DSS compliance process has truly made those topics seem like cotton candy and fluffy clouds ! What a difficult and stringent procedure ! There was a 200 question exam-type format that we needed to pass, along with a highly-intrusive scan of our website for vulnerabilities and hacker entry points. We can tell you that there were a few minor issues, and nothing that had or would have jeopardized data. My point is that they wanted a fully clean slate, so concurrently, we took advantage of the timing and we transparently moved our site to an even beefier server platform (for all of those techies like myself, it is a load balanced environment to provide stability and redundancy). Thus, more security and a quicker website for our visitors.

The end result?

We have PASSED both the behemoth exam along with our intense website security scan, so, as per Trustwave (www.trustwave.com), the absolute leader in the field of website security, we are now proud to say that we are 100% PCI DSS Compliant (CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATE). We have spoken with many of our peers, and they feel as if they will not make the deadline, and therefore, they risk being discontinued by their credit card merchant account, thus, rendering them basically "out of business".

We are glad that we have passed and that we are recognized as fully compliant with all website and data security regulations, and we will continue to be your centralized marketplace for Rent to Own Homes, whether you are a buyer or a seller!


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

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 !!

Revival and the Life Cycle of Neighborhoods

Good Morning Everyone,


   Hope you're all having a great week. Things are just soggy and humid here in New York, and we eagerly await the return of the sun. Sounds like a great title for a book!

   On the topic of water, it's amazing how towns and neighborhoods go through revivals and declines. We are about 1 mile from the town lake, which back in the 1950's, was the hot spot for people who lived in the city (about 50 miles out). It was the perfect spot to escape the heat without making the trek the rest of the way to the Hamptons.

   Somewhere back a bunch of years ago, the immediate area surrounding the lake began to decline, with the homes and properties falling into disrepair, and the quality of that little area diminished. However, due to some fantastic community efforts, that area is now on an upswing. There were some unoccupied, older-style mobile homes that were in horrendous shape, and these have been torn down for some new lake home developments. In addition, there have been a few incredible new playgrounds that were built (we frequent them with our toddler, so we have become "playground connoisseurs").

   The point that I'm trying to make is that we have seen all of this change within the past 5 years, during one of the worst recessions that most of us have ever seen. Sometimes, the life-cycle of towns, neighborhoods, and communities can operate independently of the greater economy.

   May this be your inspiration for today; no matter what the bigger picture may dictate, be strong, push forward, and keep your ultimate goal in mind, as long as it is ethical.

   We would like to start a new feature here on our blog, since we have had a few people ask us about it, so we are definitely considering it. So, do you have a property you'd like us to feature here? If so, E-mail us at homebuyer@leasebuy.com with the Subject Line, "Feature My Property on Your Blog"

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

 

Common Misconception: Realtors ARE Welcome !

Hi Everyone,

   We hope you had a great weekend, and welcome back.

   Today, we would like to address a very common misconception, and we would like to clarify this for all of those who have asked us about this. We receive countless E-mails from Realtors, real estate agents, real estate brokers, etc, with some wonderful comments about our website, but telling us that since they are Realtors, they cannot use our website. This is a huge misunderstanding on the part of these individuals and companies, and we would like to discuss this today, since this one fact is holding them back from finding buyers for their homes for sale (or homes for Rent to Own), and simultaneously, is taking away from extra responses that buyers on our website can have presented to them.

   We would like to put this right out into the open to all people in the Real Estate industry; We are not your competitors - we are your friends and your resource.

   We are here for buyers, sellers, investors, Realtors, and anyone who is selling a Rent to Own Home, Buying a Rent to Own Home, or is offering home-related services (appraisers, attorneys, Realtors, mortgage brokers, etc). I will admit that when we first started, we did rant against Realtors, basically, it was a "silly rookie mistake", and we realized that we are all here for one purpose - to help people buy or sell homes. So for our tiny mistake back about 8 years ago, we take full responsibility and we apologize.

   Now, we know that not all of your clients want to Rent to Own. Some of them would like to sell outright, and if they can, fantastic. However, should their listing sit dormant on the MLS and be in jeopardy of becoming an expired listing, this mean that the homeowner is not able to get out from under their payments, and a Rent to Own might be the solution to their problem. So, that is where we come in - and we reiterate - we are not your competition. Of course, we ask that you not contact any homeowners on our website and ask them to list with you as that would be a violation of the terms of our website (and of course, just plain unethical), but, if you are contacting them about buyers that you have, then by all means, make the connection with the homeowner, and identify yourself and your intentions.

   Occasionally, we receive E-mails from people asking if we send them listings, however, we have clearly defined in our terms and in our "About Us" section (http://www.lease2buy.com/rent-to-own-homes.php), namely, "We do not "send" you listings: All of the listings of Rent to Own homes, Rent to Own buyers, and home service providers are all listed on our website, and you can browse them for FREE !".

   So, to summarize, where the MLS is a listing of homes for sale, HomeRun Homes (Lease2Buy.com) is a listing of homes available for Rent to Own, homes wanted by Rent to Own, and Home Services available for homeowners and prospective homebuyers. This puts us in a unique position within our niche of the Real Estate Market, and not as a competitor with the MLS and Realtors.

   Hopefully, we have been able to answer your questions about who we are and why we can work together. Your focus is on transactions, listings, and deals, and our focus is on being a central meeting place for Rent to Own buyers and sellers, but we both share a common ground in providing customer service and helping people. Realtors definitely help people, and we would like to think we do, as well.

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

Neighbors, Community, Charity, and Giving...

Hi Everyone,

   A Happy Friday to everyone out there. We had some great feedback regarding our Blog entry from Wednesday, titled, "4 Tips on Pet Friendly Housing", and we are glad that these tips were helpful. We are always available to answer any questions that you have via the comments section on our Blog.

   I would like to officially deem this weekend as, "Good Neighbor Weekend", and here are a few things that I suggest on this 2-day romp of "giving and caring".

   First: Make it a point to have a friendly discussion with one of your neighbors at least once this weekend. If he or she is outside, then stop your car and have a chat with them. Ask them how things are, how their family is, and how their work is going. This might seem elementary to some people, however, there are some who just cannot find time to do these things (I'm guilty as charged !). If you live in an apartment, visit a neighbor down the hall. It's all about interaction with people who share a common theme with you - location.

   Second: Get involved in your community. Now that the warm weather is here, many towns have weekend clean-up days. get involved in one of these. If you have kids, make sure you bring your kids along as well. It's important for them to see their parents pitching in. It sets a great example for them, helps keep your town clean, and strengthens your sense of community.

   Finally: Charity. This is a tough one nowadays, since most can barely find money to buy food and pay for basic essentials. But remember, it does not have to be money that you donate; you can donate non-perishable food (cans), old clothing, and other items. You can just ring a local religious organization, a non-profit charity, or you can even drop some items off in those large containers that are stationed in some shopping center parking lots (most are put there by the Salvation Army).

   The benefits to your neighbors, your community, and people in need are obvious. What's more, the feeling of "doing good" will carry over into your every day life and will shed some light on you. It's really amazing.

Try it out this weekend and let me know how it went.

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

4 Tips on Pet Friendly Housing

Hi Everyone,

As odd as it may seem, but happy mid-week (already?).

There is an increasingly important item that I would like to touch on today, which is very important to quite a lot of people who are looking for a home to Rent to Own.

This topic is regarding "Pet Friendly Housing". To those of you without a pet, this is a non-issue for you, however, for those of you with a dog, cat (or perhaps even a wolf?), this is very high on the priority list for you. There are quite a bit of sites that dedicate themselves to these types of accommodations (if you know of any that you can recommend, please let us know and we will add it to our Blog to help out our fellow readers).

A few tips that are worth mentioning here:

1. For any homeowners that are Renting to Own their home: Please specify within your "Home Available" Ad(s) whether pets are permitted or not. This can save you time by letting you weed out those who are truly the best pre-qualified fit for your home.

2. For anyone looking to Rent to Own a home, you will want to note within your "Home Wanted" Ad that you do have a pet (or pets), the type of pet, and any other pertinent info for the seller.

3. Make sure that you understand and realize any potential surcharges for keeping a pet in the home. Make sure that you have all charges in writing and whether they cover the term of the Lease Option (Rent to Own), or are per year charges, and/or are per pet.

4. If the size/weight/type of the pet is a factor, please also make sure you have this documented and in writing.

For those of us who have a pet at home, they quickly integrate themselves into our families. Unfortunately, there are some people who will look at this as an opportunity to scam you for extra money for keeping your pet, so make sure everything is documented and preferably notarized, as well.

As a side note, and off-topic, we have added some new features to the Advertising Opportunities that are available on HomeRun Homes (http://www.Lease2Buy.com), and you can click here to view the PDF. If you are unable to view or open the attachment, you can have our "Advertising Opportunities" sent to you by visiting this link.

Have a Great Day, 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 !

5 Tips for Selling a For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

Hi Everyone,

Today, I'd like to discuss 5 very important tips for anyone trying to sell their home on their own. This type of arrangement is often referred to as For Sale By Owner, or FSBO.

Tip #1: PRICING: In order to determine a fair selling price for your home, you need to investigate home prices in your area. You'll want to review not only the prices that homes are listed for, but what they have sold for as well. Your best resource for this information will be your local newspapers. You can even take a trip down to your local government office to check out more details from the mortgages that have been obtained by new homeowners in your area and saved ("recorded"). These documents are public domain, and it takes a little time to get the gist and flow of how to do this research, however, there are usually plenty of clerks available to take your questions. Some other ideas: talk with real estate agents in your area, and check around for appraisers in your own network of family and friends. If you can connect with an appraiser, you can ask them for a general rule of thumb for pricing on your home, and perhaps they can make a few suggestions to increase the value. Finally, you can always shell out a few hundred bucks for an actual appraisal of your home, but most often that will not be required.

TIP #2: LEGALITY: Whenever you are talking about the sale of a big ticket item such as your home, it is always good advice to retain an attorney and/or consult with your local Title Company. To check if your state is a Title State or not, please refer to this handy resource: http://title.grabois.com/

TIP #3: MORTGAGE: I am a firm believer in lining up all of your "ducks" in advance. Before you get to the physical process, you'll want to consult with some mortgage brokers and banks to educate yourself on the financing side of selling your home. This goes both ways, in that, if you make a good contact with one of these individuals or institutions, you can always refer a potential buyer to them, since they would already be familiar with your situation from your previous discussions with them.

TIP #4: ADVERTISING: This is where you want to do your homework on creating your Ad. Check on the Web and in your local papers to see the most common Ad format. Once you have done your research, create an electronic copy of your Ad, perhaps in Microsoft Word. In addition, you will want to have high-quality images of your home, for the interior and the exterior. For the exterior photos, make sure you get a sunny day when you take the photos. Why? Would you be more excited about a photo of a potentially new home when the photo is framed by a grey, cloudy, and rainy day vs a bright, sunny day with blue skies? It's all psychological.

TIP #5: MARKETING: It's time to plaster your Ad everywhere - starting with the Internet. There are a lot of free sites - but with free sites sometimes comes the "time-wasters". The old adage, "You get what you pay for" certainly applies. In addition, there are forums, discussion boards, and many other places that will allow you to announce your home, of course, once you have passed the proper permission steps unique to each of those specific sites. Should you decide to also accept Rent to Own as an option to purchase your home, you can always place your "Home Available" Ad on our website, as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO), as well as a Rent to Own (Click Here to Sell Your Home).

So there you have it. Once you start receiving offers that are in your price range, this is where your attorney, title company, and ultimately, your mortgage broker, will come into play.

Have a great 4th of July Holiday, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !!

Grandma's Lesson, HR 5623, and More...

Hi Everyone,

Happy last day of June to all of you! I cannot believe that we are turning the page into July. Time truly flies !

I wanted to share a funny story with you from my younger years (way, way back!), when I was a big collector of baseball cards. Everyone knew that I loved collecting baseball cards. One day, my grandmother knew that I was looking for a Pete Rose rookie card, which I knew as quite a pricey item. She went to her local hobby shop, and they had the card, so she kindly asked for the price, and they said two fifty. Not wanting to make the purchase without having me checking the card first, she called me up and I was on my bicycle to her house within minutes. Once we got to the store, I saw that it was definitely the card I wanted. My grandma dug deep inside her little purse, and she pulled out two dollars and fifty cents. The guy behind the counter looked at her like she was crazy, and said, "Sorry, two fifty means two hundred and fifty dollars". After giving my grandma adequate cold water to snap her back to reality from the "sticker shock", I came to realize a very valuable lesson: "In Writing".

I just cannot say this enough. I referred to it a while back (Mortgage Horror Story Blog Post), when I had to re-learn that lesson the hard way. May you all learn from this so that it may never cause you heartache and problems.

On another front, some good news came across the wires yesterday, which basically stated that the House OK'd the extension of tax credit closing deadline. This Bill, the "HR 5623", would give people some breathing room, should the Senate pass it when they vote on it. Per the Inman News Website, there are approximately 200,000 people who were under contract by the tax credit expiration of 4/30, but they will miss the closing deadline, which was today.

On the website front, we had our Rent to Own Home Blog posts streaming on our home page. however, there were some errors coming up from the Content Aggregation service, so we have removed it for now. As always, you can read, follow, and interact on our Blog right here !


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

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 !!

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 !

Our 8th Anniversary in the Rent to Own Homes Market...

Hi All,

Happy Wednesday to all of you. We wanted to let everyone have a copy of our Press Release that just hit the wires today (FULL RELEASE HERE). It's been a tough road for us with a lot of ups and downs, but we love what we do and we love hearing great news from customers who bought or sold Rent to Own Homes by using our website.

We will continue to provide the best service and the best Web experience for you. Our belief is that you either give 110%, or you stop altogether. Well, we choose to give 150% !

OK, Enough of my blabbering - here is the full text of the Press Release:

For Immediate Release:

HomeRun Homes
(631) 676-3609
(631) 574-2420
homebuyer@lease2buy.com
http://www.lease2buy.com/

Top Website for Rent to Own Homes Celebrates 8th Anniversary

Ronkonkoma, New York, June 23, 2010 - HomeRun Homes (http://www.lease2buy.com/) is celebrating their 8th anniversary this month. The Company has continued to be an omnipresent force in the Rent to Own Homes niche of the Real Estate market, and continues to thrive in a field that has seen a majority of their competition dissipate.

Another Milestone for One of the Original Rent to Own Websites

The management team of HomeRun Homes\Lease2Buy.com commenced web operations in June 2002, after working on a series of Real Estate rehab deals in Orlando and Central Florida. The President of the Company, Robert Eisenstein, states that during that time, they found it difficult to locate people who would be interested in Renting to Own the properties that they had rehabbed, and he says that, "We realized that something had been missing - a central location where sellers could find buyers for their Rent to Own homes, and where buyers could ask for exactly what they needed in a Rent to Own home". He goes on to say that, "HomeRun Homes was born from this concept."

Acquisitions, Ventures, Web Traffic, and Global Reach

Today, Lease2Buy.com attracts a vast amount of web visitors, and has in excess of 1.2 Million hits. During their tenure, they have made one acquisition, which was a purchase of Equifree.com, a Stop Foreclosure website, and they have spun off an additional website, StopForeclosureRenttoOwn.com, which reaches out to those in the most urgent need of buying or selling a home. Continuing their tradition of helping people find what they need, they also offer a free Rent to Own Newsletter via download on their website, and also provide a very useful Blog (http://blogging.lease2buy.com/).

HomeRun Homes appears in many publications, such as Financial Advisor Magazine, Wallet Pop, and many others, as well as reviews on multiple Blog Sites. Their reach extends to the global real estate market, with their top 5 markets listed as the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, and the Philippines. In his 8 year Anniversary meeting, Eisenstein states that the company plans to make a stronger global reach a top priority, since there are "many people in many countries who are stranded, and don't even realize that Rent to Own could be a resolution to any housing problems that they may be facing, as either a buyer or as a seller."

For additional information on the topic, "Top Website for Rent to Own Homes Celebrates 8th Anniversary", please visit http://www.lease2buy.com/

ABOUT HOMERUN HOMES

HomeRun Homes is a Centralized Marketplace which helps people Buy or Sell a Rent to Own Home, a Commercial Property, or to offer Home Services nationwide and globally to the thriving Rent to Own market.

- END -


We will check in with you to discuss the latest housing numbers when we have had a chance to take a good review of them.

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

Dad's Day, Secrets Winner, and Big Housing Numbers...

Happy Monday to All,

A Happy Belated Father's Day to all of you Dads out there. Our son is not at the "tie-buying" age, yet, but he is still in the "make-a-present-for-daddy" stage, which is absolutely wonderful. The walls of my office are decorated with his masterpieces and it adds color to every day. I know you're too young to read this Blog, but thanks buddy !

Now, on Friday, we announced our contest question; "What city did we begin investing in when we first started our business?". To all of the people who answered correctly and won their free copy of, "Secrets of Rent to Own", Thank You! Now, for the answer to that question, the winners of the contest checked out the "About Us" section (http://www.lease2buy.com/rent-to-own-homes.php), and you found out that the answer was Orlando, Florida.

We officially opened the doors of HomeRun Homes/Lease2Buy.com on June 8, 2002, so we are now officially into our 9th Year. We will continue on with more contests and giveaways, so make sure to tune in here. Want to make life even easier for yourself? Choose one of the "Follow" options on the right-hand side of the page !

This is going to be a very big week in terms of Housing Market data. Today, the Loan Performance Housing Price Index numbers will be released. On Tuesday, some hefty data will be released: NAR Existing Home Sales and the FHFA Monthly House Price Index. As if these major factors weren't enough, New Residential Sales will be released on Wednesday. This is quite a contrast to last week, which was a lot quieter in terms of Housing.

We will check back with you on Wednesday to take a look at what these numbers were, what they mean for you and I, and to take a look at how they can or will impact the Rent to Own Homes market.


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

Tax Credit Extensions and a Cool Contest...

Hello and Welcome to Friday !

A lot of emphasis is placed on looking at the National stage and spotlight for the latest housing trends and news, but I think that it is also important to look at your local area and see what news is being generated. That being said, it might be that your local market is an exception to the rule vs being an actual microcosm of the true market.

With that statement out of the way, we have a great local paper that I review quite often, called the Long Island Business News (thus, my sermon about checking out your local markets). They just ran an article, titled, "Senate passes tax credit extension", and this was about the extension of the closing date for those purchasing homes under the tax credit. The date was changed from June 30th to September 30th, which gives lenders what they referred to as, "breathing room". One of the attorneys that they interviewed for this article mentioned that he has all of his deals ready to close by the 30th. This is the the case with most of the attorneys we have been speaking with, some of which are listed in our Home Services Section.

Well, the wind up here is this: Thank you, Washington ! Nothing like going down to the wire. But breathing room is good.


CONTEST TIME:
OK, we will be providing a Free Copy of our E-Book, "Secrets of Rent to Own", to the first 5 people who answer the following question:

What city did we begin investing in when we first started our business?
Hint: The answer is very, very easy to find on our website.


We will give everyone the answer on Monday. So quick - dig up that answer on www.Lease2Buy.com and then E-mail me at homebuyer@lease2buy.com with the subject, "CONTEST ANSWER".


Good Luck to Everyone !

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