Questions to Ask a Landlord | Oh My Apartment

ohmyapt.apartmentratings.com8/7/06

How can I report problems with another resident? How do … Parking Problems. How is the parking situation? Do residents have assigned spots? Do I need a parking pass? Can I get covered parking? A garage? Are car break-ins a problem? Safety Issues. How safe is the apartment? … When you’ve gathered all the appropriate information and learned how your potential landlord deals with people, you should be able to decide whether this apartment is right for you.

For help with apartments or rental properties in your area, call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

Check out this cool “Debate Style” article from man vs. debt and see if it can shed any light on your situation.

Renting: The New American Dream

manvsdebt.com4/25/12

Go on, you. . But if you’re not sure whether to rent or buy… if you’re doing one or the other but are desperately unhappy with your choice… or if you’re in what you think is a good housing situation, but the rest of your financial life isn’t making you happy… then read on. … And if your TOTAL housing costs are less than 25% of your take-home income. …. We keep down-sizing in apartments, each time less room and less money. … I’ve had a string of bad luck with rentals.

For help with rental or sales properties in your area, call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

Here’s a really great article we found about things to look for when you are apartment hunting on a budget.

Let us know if it helps!

3 Things To Look For When Apartment Hunting On A Budget …

online-biz-articles.com5/10/12

There are a few things to look out for if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on rent, but still want to be happy in your own home. … The living room was huge. It was so happy and homy feeling. Why? Because it was the corner apartment. Meaning there was an entire extra wall of windows and extra space. Typically, in low rent buildings, you can get the corner … Sometimes, right around the corner from dingy apartments is a great going out area or shopping plaza.

For help with apartments in your area, call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

As the housing market has slumped and sellers struggle to move their residences, you might be seeing a growing number of “For Rent” signs replacing “For Sale” versions in your neighborhood. That’s because housing prices have fallen so steeply. Many owners know that they won’t get the price they want for their homes in today’s real estate market. So a growing number of them are offering to rent out their homes as they wait out the bad real estate market.

This provides sellers with at least some income while they wait for housing values to start rising again.

The Rent To Own Solution

Many of these rental houses may actually be rent to own properties. Renting to own is similar to renting an apartment or taking on a car lease; you move into the property and pay your monthly rent. But after a certain period of time, which can often reach the three year mark, you have the chance to outright purchase the home.

And here’s the biggest benefit: Your landlord will withhold a certain portion of your monthly rent that will be used as part of a down payment should you decide to purchase the house.

The benefits of participating in a rent to own arrangement are many. First, by living in an actual house instead of in an apartment, you’ll get a taste of what homeownership is all about. You might discover that you don’t enjoy mowing the lawn or cleaning the gutters. You might find that a home is simply too large and time-consuming for you to handle. That’s fine; at least you discovered this fact while renting, not after you took out a mortgage loan.

Rent to own homes also provide flexibility. You can choose to simply renew your lease instead of making an offer to buy. Or, you can also decide to move on when your lease expires, perhaps back to the smaller, but easier to maintain, comforts of an apartment unit.

Overcoming Low Credit Scores

Best of all, though, a rent to own arrangement can get you into a house even if your credit scores leave something to be desired.

Mortgage lenders today have tightened their lending standards. The reason for this is obvious: During the housing boom, mortgage lenders passed out home loans to borrowers with weak credit scores and mountains of debt. Not surprisingly, many of these bad loans fell into default and foreclosures soared.

Mortgage lenders have since learned the wisdom of passing out home loans only to borrowers with strong credit scores and reasonable monthly debts. This means that if your credit score isn’t high, you might not be able to obtain a mortgage loan from most conventional lenders.

Today, conventional lenders will require you to have a credit score of at least 620. And if your score is under the 750 mark, you can expect to pay higher interest rates. Borrowers can still apply for a loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Borrowers who have a credit score of at least 580 can qualify for an FHA loan that requires a down payment of just three-and-a-half percent of the home’s final purchase price.

Rent To Own The Best Option?

But if your score is lower even than that, your best bet might be to enter into a rent to own agreement. By doing this, you can take the steps necessary to boost your credit score while still learning what it takes to become a successful homeowner. And if you find that renting really is the best choice for you? Then you’re fortunate that you’ve discovered this fact before taking on the burden of a monthly mortgage payment.

To learn more about a rent to own home in your area, call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

Under a rent to own agreement, you agree to rent out a house as if you were renting an apartment. You’ll sign a lease, usually for one year. At the end of the lease, you can either renew your lease, leave the property, or make an offer to buy the house. Along the way, your landlord will withhold an agreed-upon portion of your rent check to use as a down payment should you decide to buy the home.

Rent to own houses look more attractive today thanks to the problems of the residential real estate market. Buying a house in today’s economic climate is a risky proposition; no one is sure yet if housing prices have reached their bottom or if they still have a long way to fall. No one wants to buy a house worth $250,000 today only to find out that it’s worth $200,000 six months from now.

Unemployment Uncertainty

Then there’s the uncertainty in the labor market. The national unemployment rate has shown little indication that it will fall below the 9.5-percent mark any time soon. This has made potential homebuyers justifiably nervous. It’s understandable that you might not want to take on the commitment of a monthly mortgage loan payment when you’re not sure if you’ll still have your steady job next week, next month, or next year. Those thousand-dollar-plus payments aren’t easy to make when you’re out of work.

The nation’s high unemployment rate is one of the biggest factors in its equally high foreclosure rate. RealtyTrac, a foreclosure-information Web site, reported that 2.8 million properties in the United States received foreclosure filings in 2009, an all-time record.

Home Affordable Modification Program

These very bleak reasons are why the federal government created its Home Affordable Modification Program. Under this program, mortgage lenders and banks receive financial incentives to lower the monthly mortgage payments of homeowners struggling to pay their home loans. The government designed the program to stem the tide of foreclosures. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked; the government’s goal was to help 3 to 4 million homeowners avoid losing their homes. The program, though, hasn’t come even close to this figure.

You don’t want to become a future housing-foreclosure statistic. Yet, you do want the benefits of a home, including elbow room, privacy, and your own outdoor space. Thanks to rent to own houses, you can get this.

Rent to Own a Trial Run

Consider signing a rent to own agreement as a trial run for homeownership. When you work out such an arrangement, you learn what it takes and how much it can cost to keep up a home. But you also retain the flexibility of renting. If you discover that you don’t like living in a home, you can simply walk away from your lease when renewal time rolls around.

Be careful, though, when selecting a rent to own home. You’ll be staying at this location, more than likely, for at least a year. You want to make sure that the rent to own houses that you consider have the amenities that you want: You might need one located near a good public school or within walking distance of local parks. You might want a huge backyard, or maybe you want a smaller yard that’s easier to maintain. You might need at least three bathrooms depending on the size of your family.

When you’re shopping for rent to own houses, it pays to be choosy. You’re deciding whether the life of a homeowner is right for you. You need all the information you can get.

To learn more about rent to own houses in your area, call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

The wave of housing foreclosures that has swept across the country since the start of the Great Recession proves one thing: Many people became homeowners who weren’t financially qualified to make the leap from renting. Banks and mortgage lenders passed out loans to borrowers with low credit scores, piles of debt, and shaky employment histories.

It all led to a soaring number of foreclosures. RealtyTrac.com, an online provider of foreclosure data, reported that the United States saw 2.8 million foreclosure filings in 2009. That stands as an all-time record.

Clearly, many people purchased homes who would have been better off financially if they had remained renters.

People who are debating the merits between renting and owning a home should know that there’s an option available that will let them experience homeownership will retaining the flexibility of renting – rent to own homes.

Under the rent to own process, which has grown increasingly popular thanks to the sluggish real estate market, individuals rent a home just as they’d rent an apartment. There’s one crucial difference, though: They have the option each time their lease expires to either leave the house, renew the lease, or make an offer to buy the home in which they are living.

Many rent to own agreements even allow residents to pay a little extra each month that the landlord uses as a type of down payment. If the residents decide to make an offer on the house, they can use that extra money to pay down a portion of the house’s final sales price.

This arrangement makes especially good sense for consumers with low credit scores. Today, mortgage lenders rely heavily on these three-digit scores to determine who gets mortgage loans and at what interest rates. Consumers with low scores, under 620, will struggle to obtain a mortgage loan from conventional mortgage lenders. It might make more sense for them to instead, enter a rent to own agreement and slowly rebuild their credit scores. They can do this by making all their monthly payments on time and reducing their credit card debt.

They can then either purchase their rent to own homes or make an offer on another house, confident that their credit scores are now high enough to make them a better credit risk in the judgment of mortgage lenders.

Moving into rent to own homes serves an even greater purpose for many consumers, though: It teaches them whether homeownership is right for them.

Owning a home is a big responsibility. Homeowners have to maintain their homes both inside and out, something that requires a significant amount of work. They have to pay their mortgage bills on time or face foreclosure. And they have to pay the list of other expenses that come with owning a residence.

By living in a house rather than an apartment, rent-to-owners can gain at least a taste of what homeownership is like. Some might discover that they’d rather not spend their weekends fishing wet leaves out of gutters or mowing the front lawn. It’s better for them to discover this before purchasing a home rather than after.

Rent to own homes are becoming increasingly easy to find as sellers struggle to move their residences in this dismal residential real estate market. This is good news for consumers who want to settle once and for all whether they’re destined to be renters or owners.

To learn more about rent to own homes in your area, call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

Problem with Landlord repairs to House | Rental Advice Forum …

www.rentalprotectionagency.com4/19/12

I have called my landlord and sent emails about repairs that need to be done to the house that I am renting and they are not responding. I would like assistance with getting a landlord to do their part when renting to someone.

To learn more about the rent to own process call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.

Back then, few homeowners even considered offering their homes on a rent to own basis. After all, if they could sell them within weeks for top dollar, what was the incentive to rent out their residences?

A Whole New Home Frontier
Today, that trend has drastically changed. Homeowners are struggling to sell their homes, even those located in hot neighborhoods. The residential real estate market crashed in late 2006, sending home prices plummeting. Today, buyers have the power in the housing market. They have a large number of homes from which to choose from and sellers are desperate. They’re willing to compromise on everything from sales prices to closing dates to making repairs before closing a housing sale.

This means one thing for those consumers looking for rent to own homes – they, too, have plenty of residences from which to choose. Those sellers who haven’t been able to sell their homes for months often switch to renting their residences. Others who realize that they won’t get their preferred sales price do the same thing.

Existing Home Sales Fall

The latest numbers on existing home sales from the National Association of Realtors reflect this. According to the association, as of the end of August, existing home sales – which include the sale of single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, and co-ops – were on pace to hit 4.13 million at the end of 2010. That may sound like a lot of home sales, but this pace is 19 percent below the 5.10-million sales pace that the country saw in August of 2009 and far below the existing sales pace during the housing boom years of 2004 and 2005.

There are few signs that the residential housing market is set to rebound any time soon. Unemployment is still high, sitting at 9.6 percent across the nation in September. Buyers won’t purchase homes if they’re fearful of losing their jobs. Until job growth finally begins to occur, existing home sales will remain sluggish.

The expiration of the federal government’s two housing credits – the $8,000 first-time buyer credit and the $6,500 move-up buyers credit – has also hurt the sales of existing homes. These tax credits expired at midnight on April 30, and housing sales soon began to tail off.

Rent to Own Customers Still Need Research

Just because the rent to own market is now a stronger one, though, doesn’t mean that those individuals looking to rent a home can afford to skimp on their research. Rent to own buyers should be every bit as vigilant when it comes to researching neighborhoods and houses as would be traditional home buyers.

Rent to own customers should study their potential new neighborhoods carefully to determine a few things:

• Is it safe?
• Are good schools located nearby?
• How busy is the street on which the home sits.
• How much noise filters into the house?

These customers should look carefully at the house, too. Is it in good condition? Has the owner kept up with repairs, or has the owner left the front porch to sag and the basement to leak during heavy storms?

Rent to own customers need to remember that they may one day be the owners of the houses they are renting. If this is the case, they want to take possession of residences that benefit from solid locations in strong neighborhood as well as homes that will retain their value.

HomeBuyersAssistant.com is a national company with a dedication to helping people achieve their goal of owning a home regardless of their current credit situation. Our “Rent to Own” programs is available for clients who have a serious commitment to improving their situation. We can help you rent to own a home anywhere in the USA, even if you’ve been denied in the past. You can go from renting to owning the home of your dreams sooner than you ever thought possible!

Apartment Living: 10 Things You Should Do Before Signing a Lease

feedproxy.google.comMarch 29, 2012 9:01:09 PM GMT-04:00

We’ve put together some very practical advice to help you through your next apartment search and lease negotiation. It’s such a great feeling when you find a place that looks perfect at first glance but it’s important that you check under the hood a little bit and do your homework before signing the lease. Our [...]

To learn more about the rent to own process, Call Us At: 800-651-8678

“Rent-to-Own Deals are Usually Good for Sellers, Bad for Buyers …

www.zillow.com3/9/12

Most people buy real estate hoping that homeownership will turn out to be a good investment. But increasing wealth doesn’t always come with buying. The same.”

To learn more about the rent to own process call us at 800-651-8678 Or, Click Here to get started.