Home Run Homes Knocks it Out of the Park

In mid-2002, real estate entrepreneur Robert Eisenstein was working for a major corporation in Manhattan when a good friend asked if he was interested in investing in properties in Florida, inviting him to tag along to check it out for himself.

He and several colleagues were rehabilitating properties there when they noticed how challenging it was to find people interested in renting the properties, but with ownership being the eventual goal. 

"I went down a few weekends and sank some cash into a property, but there were some rules in place that were basically anti-flip, that is, I couldn't fix it and re-sell it immediately," he said. "So we decided to rent it out with an option to buy, however, we were unable to find people who knew about this type of arrangement or who were comfortable with it."

A centralized place was needed, one that appealed to sellers searching for such buyers while simultaneously giving those buyers a wider array of housing choices. That idea, HomeRun Homes/Lease2Buy.com, was then born, finally moving to Lake Ronkonkoma from Queens in 2005 and now celebrating its eighth year, holding fast despite the recent economic downturn that has stymied the real estate market at large.

"We are always in a good position, since people will always need to buy or sell a home, and there will always be people with poor credit or without income that they can prove with documentation," Eisenstein, the company's president, said. "We have seen an increase in business, but it is a niche that performs well in any market condition."

By focusing on the rent-to-own segment of the real estate market, Eisenstein's business has made impressive strides. Generating a considerable amount of web traffic through its site - over 1.2 million hits to date - HomeRun Homes has also expanded in other markets of real estate, acquiring the stop-foreclosure website Equifree.com and spinning off an additional website, StopForeclosureRenttoOwn.com, focused on those buyers and sellers in more dire financial straits.

The payment schedule for a client is commonly the same as a monthly rent payment, though how much if any of the rent is applied toward the ultimate purchase price remains at the discretion of the homeowner, Eisenstein said. He added that no figures on the rate of those who ultimately buy versus those who don't were available, as once a verbal agreement is reached with the seller, HomeRun Homes will step aside and allow the tenant/buyer to independently make any official deals with the seller. 

Despite not being involved in this final stage, Eisenstein points to the growth of the rent-to-own niche over the better part of the last decade as evidence of this business model's success.

"For potential tenants/buyers, anyone is a good candidate if they want to try a home before buying it," he said of his target clientele. "As for sellers, it would be anyone who is stuck with their property and unable to sell it."

As provided for through his company, the ownership half of the rent-to-own option remains optional within a specified time frame.

"The tenant has the right, but not the obligation, to purchase the property within a stated period of time and at a stated price," Eisenstein explained. "It is known as Rent to Own, Lease Purchase, Lease Option, Lease to Own, and Option to Buy, depending on where in the country you are."

Going forward, Eisenstein said he plans to broaden its reach globally, beyond its top markets currently in the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, and the Philippines. He believes that rent-to-own housing could provide viable solutions to both buyers and sellers in untapped markets, where such an option for both parties may not yet exist.

"We are examining many other markets and we are doing our due diligence as to pricing of ads and the needs in those markets for our services," he said.

For more information, visit Lease2Buy.com or call (631) 676-3609.