Unlock Your Path to Homeownership with the Home Partners of America Lease With Option to Purchase Program!

Join Herman Antonov and Jesse Zachay in this informative video as they dive into the Home Partners of America program. 

Get ready to discover the advantages and benefits of HPA, and learn if Lease with Option to Purchase is the right fit for you.

Say goodbye to confusion and uncertainty about renting vs buying!

By the end of this video, you’ll have a clear understanding of Home Partners of America, and all your questions about the program answered.

Take control of your future and start your journey to homeownership with confidence. 

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about the flexible and stable solution that Home Partners of America offers. Watch now!”

Discover the Key to Unlocking Your Dream Home with Rent to Own Programs!

Navigating the world of rent to own homes can be confusing and overwhelming. With so many options available, it can be tough to know which program is right for you.

But what if you could have a roadmap to find the perfect rent to own home that fits your needs and budget?

In this post, we’ll guide you through the process and reveal the Home Partners of America Lease With Option to Purchase Program so you can take one step closer to owning the home of your dreams!

Unlock Your Path to Homeownership with the Home Partners of America Lease With Option to Purchase Program!

Join Herman Antonov and Jesse Zachay in this informative video as they dive into the Home Partners of America program. 

Get ready to discover the advantages and benefits of HPA, and learn if Lease with Option to Purchase is the right fit for you.

Say goodbye to confusion and uncertainty about renting vs buying – 

by the end of this video, you’ll have a clear understanding of HPA, and all your questions about the program answered.

Take control of your future and start your journey to homeownership with confidence. 

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about the flexible and stable solution that Home Partners of America offers. Watch now!

TRANSCRIPT

Herman Antonov (00:00):

If you have landed on this video because you’re trying to find out more information about home partners, don’t click off. Right here with me, I have Jesse, he’s our Home Partner specialist on the Antonov Group at EXP Realty. We’ve done over 160 deals

Jesse Zachay (00:16):

About 160+ deals…

Herman Antonov (00:19):. 

Home partners. We know the program in and out, and there’s not a better person to answer all of the questions that you might have about this program. So by the end of this video, you will know all the ins and outs. You’ll have most of your common questions answered, and you will also know if this program is for you or not.

Jesse Zachay (00:38):

Thanks for the introduction, Herman. You know I’d be happy to talk a little bit more about Home Partners.

Herman Antonov (00:42):

Jesse, how many times a day are you on a phone explaining the Home Partners program?

Jesse Zachay (00:47):

Oh my goodness. I probably on an average, probably 20 calls a day. Yeah. We get a tremendous amount of inquiries in business, in the Home Partners space. Like you said, we’ve closed over 160 deals, you know, with Home Partners over the last couple of years. We are the number one Home partners team in the state of Minnesota and one of the top performing HPA teams in the Midwest.

Herman Antonov (01:12):

What, what is Home Partners and who is this program designed for? 

Jesse Zachay (01:16):

Home Partners is a corporation that buys homes that are currently on the market for sale and then offers those homes in a lease with an option to purchase contract to qualify tenants that we have in our pipeline. So they are our, our buyer as a client. And they are a program provider that gives people, like I said, an opportunity to lease a home and have the option to buy it later if they choose to.

Herman Antonov (01:46):

Would that be suitable for, say, renters only, or would buyers that are looking to test drive a neighborhood be a good fit for this?

Jesse Zachay (01:56):

Great question. Both. Right? So I’ll be very, very clear. Home Partners is not a Rent to Own program, but it can be viewed as a rent for a while and potentially own it later by taking advantage of the opportunity to buy to back up and really answer your question super directly. It is for people who simply want to rent, and it is for people that want to rent and may be interested in buying that subject home later. The minimum commitment is a one year lease term. They can lease up to five years and they can take advantage of that right to buy, which is written into the lease with exact figures at any point in time, if they choose to.

Herman Antonov (02:40):

Name, the exact name is lease with an option to purchase. Yes, it is exactly just the way it sounds. That’s exactly what it is.

Jesse Zachay (02:47):

Yes, absolutely. There is no penalty for not buying. There is no person or, you know, home Partners or us are not gonna, you know, put any pressure on you to buy. You simply take it or leave it, and if you leave it, you know, you get to the end of the expiration of your lease.

Herman Antonov (03:06):

What does the Home Partners process look like from start to finish?

Jesse Zachay (03:09):

First thing prospective Home Partners residents do is complete an application which we send to you directly. That helps tie, you know our business together. It is a one-time application that has a $75 fee. Home Partners will do verification of income through pay stubs or tax returns, depending on the type of business that you’re in or what your employment looks like. They take a look at your credit. They work with folks that have credit that is six 20 or better. Once they get an approval put together, they let us know what your top end budget is for, for the home search. So, for example, you know, you do the application home Partners approves you based on credit and income, and they say, all right, we will, you know, work with you as a resident with a top end rent budget of $3,000 per month.

(04:07):

At that point, what we do, what I do is, is I get back with the resident and revisit what the criteria that they’re looking for. You know, they might say, Hey, I’m looking for a $2,500 rent, you know, per month. Then we set up a custom home search based on that top end priced amenities, neighborhoods start to identify homes that would be of interest. We put showing schedules together. We get you out there in the field with agents looking at these homes. And then when you find the one that you want to move forward with we submitted over to Home Partners. They put together a preliminary lease agreement for you to review and sign off on. Once that happens, we make an offer on the house with cash on behalf of Home Partners. Then if they elect to take it we put it under contract, go into an inspection phase, which is eight days clear, that inspection phase. Next thing you know, you are moving into that house between 45 and 60 days from when we got our original offer accepted to put in under contract. So there’s a lot of moving pieces to it, submit an application, identify homes, pick that house out, re put it under contract for you. We work the whole process and the next thing you know, you’re moving into it between 45 and 60 days later. With that minimum commitment of a one year lease.

Herman Antonov (05:30):

How important is it to work with an experienced agent?

Jesse Zachay (05:35):

Oh, man, really, really important. I mean, we love Home Partners as a buyer and as a business partner. But there’s a lot of moving pieces to it, right? You know, things can happen through the process that maybe an unexperienced agent would know how to navigate inspection items, how to smoothly get through the closing, how to ensure that, you know, the resident understands who the Home Partner’s entity is, who we are in the process, and who the property management company is. So it’s really important. 

Herman Antonov (06:14):

Is the minimum commitment from a potential resident?

Jesse Zachay (06:18):

12 month lease is the minimum commitment. 

Herman Antonov (06:21):

How long does it take to get into a home? 

Jesse Zachay (06:25):

Between 45 and 60 days? Once we get that home under contract

Herman Antonov (06:29):

Are homes pet friendly?

Jesse Zachay (06:31):

Yes, every single opportunity through Home Partners is pet friendly (as long as there are no HOA restrictions). They do have some restrictions. Up to three pets total must be a total combined weight of under 180 pounds. There is a one time pet fee of $300 per pet, which is due at the time of your security deposit plus plus a $30 flat pet rent every month that you’re leasing.

Herman Antonov (06:56):

Who’s eligible to apply and how do you Apply? 

Jesse Zachay (06:58):

Anybody can apply. But here’s exactly what Home Partners is looking for. Number one, they’re looking for credit scores that are 620 or better. They really weigh heavily on TransUnion fico scores. They look at combined household income. So depending on the kind of work that you do, they ask for different things. If you’re a W2 employee, they’re asking for your two most recent pay stubs a PDF format, and then updated or uploaded into the portal. If you’re self-employed, they’re asking for tax returns and copies of bank statements and deposits that are associated with your business. 

Herman Antonov (07:57):

Two, how come some cities are approved and others are not?

Jesse Zachay (08:00):

So Minneapolis St. Paul Marketplace is an approved community with Home Partners of America. However, there are specific cities and municipalities that they will not buy in. So even though Minneapolis – St. Paul market is approved, but they actually do not buy or acquire houses as in Minneapolis or the city of St. Paul. There are many cities the Twin Cities areas that are not eligible as well.

Herman Antonov (08:25):

What are some of the common ones that you know?

Jesse Zachay (08:26):

Yeah, some of the common ones that I know they will not buy in currently are Blaine, Coon Rapids, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Spring Lake Park, South St. Paul. North St. Paul, cottage Grove. Yeah. Those are ones that they’re not buying in. And why is that? I think it’s important for people to know when Home Partners goes to acquire a home tey have to get a rental license? To buy it and to make it a rental for the resident, they have to go to the city. And they have to acquire a rental permit or a license, you know, from that city or municipality to be able to rent it. Those cities that I mentioned, most of them have what Home Partners deemed as an unreasonable timeline to be able to get an inspector into that house to be able to issue them a permit. 

(09:25):

So if we say like, all right, we know the city of St. Paul has up to a 75 day waiting period for that inspection. You combine that with the waiting period for Home Partners to get the home ready, plus the closing timeline to be able to get that home. You know, next thing you know, we’re at well over a hundred days, you know, waiting. And that completely turns off the resident or the renter, and we lose the deal. Home Partner said, you know, that’s just not gonna work for us. So we’re backing out of those markets. Some other cities like Champlin and Maple Grove in the last year, that they weren’t gonna bless the sales of any homes in their communities to people that were buying for the purpose of turning those homes into rentals so that they weren’t gonna issue any more rental permits. I’m getting into the weeds, into the technicalities of it, but it has to do with permitting in the cities and timelines that really don’t align with the goals of the residents that we’re working with. Hope that answers your question.

Herman Antonov (10:29):

I hope this information really helps you guys. I know there’s a lot of information online. There’s a lot of  listed homes for sale that are available for rent, and it’s confusing. So feel free to reach out to us. We’ll leave contact information below the video. If you have any specific questions about the application process or the whole process in general, feel free to reach out. Keep in mind that a lot of folks that we’re working with, they inquire about the Home Partners program in the process. They end up finding out they’re actually eligible to purchase a house. So even if you have questions about buying a home, if you are in a home that needs to be sold, we can help you with that as well. And we can actually help you line up the closing dates so that it’s actually convenient for you.

(11:14):

A lot of phone calls that we get are from potential residents who are looking to rent a house, and then we find out that they’re actually, that they’re actually on the market pending to close and they have 15 days left to move into their new rental. And at that point, there’s nothing we can do. Yeah. So to avoid that stress and uncertainty talk to us ahead of time. We can work on a timeline so that you don’t have to worry about, you know, moving in the next two weeks. Other common things that we’re seeing that people are like, we know that you are eligible for the program. We know that we can get you approved for the application, but when we find out the actual timeline or reasons behind whatever your situation might be of why you’re, you know, looking into this program, then we find out that we can’t help because we’re past the timelines.

Jesse Zachay (12:07):

Right? That’s some of the best advice, Herman, that we could possibly give anybody, you know, who is entertaining or flirting with this, do not wait to get serious about doing an application. The worst conversation with the resident that I had been talking to for oftentimes weeks and weeks, and then they finally decide to get serious enough to do the application and then we have just run out of time because they have a lease expiring and we can’t get them into something to beat that timeline. So that is huge, right? Another thing that’s important to remember is that we’re talking about a one time application that costs $75 and a whole window of opportunities open up to you without having to submit multiple applications. If you’re already pre-approved and just pick out the house that you want.

(13:07):

You know, for those of you that are renters and have been in the rental game for a while, you know that every house that you have interest in that you want to do an application for is gonna cost you a hundred bucks. Well, what if you do that at three or four houses and you get denied on all of ’em? You’re out 3 or 400 bucks with nothing secured vs one time $75 application. And it’s good for every home that we could possibly consider and for up to six months. So that sounds like a deal to me. Another, you know, value add, just to interject, you know, for some of you renters that are out there that have just been told by your landlord that the landlord is selling, if you have interest in staying in that home, we can work out a deal oftentimes to where the seller never has to list and doesn’t have to go on the market or show or anything like that, where we can get Home Partners to come in with an offer, have them acquire the home, keep you as a tenant, then you don’t have to move and everybody’s happy, stay where you want.

(14:07):

The seller gets to sell and Home Partners just acquired a new, you know, rental property. 

Herman Antonov (14:12):

How convenient would that be?

Jesse Zachay (14:13):

That’s really convenient. And we do that. We did a number of those last year.

Herman Antonov (14:17):

Who’s responsible for repairs?

Jesse Zachay (14:19):

So major mechanical, you know, things Home Partners of America is responsible for. So once the home closes and HPA adds it to their catalog of homes in their portfolio, they have a property management company that’s responsible for the lease and the management of it. So if your hot water heater breaks and you need a new one, you can contact them. They dispatch someone out to come out and take care of it. The little things like, you know, light bulbs and you know, batteries in the thermostat and all that is on the resident with the major repairs covered by Home Partners covers and they have a process to do it.

Herman Antonov (14:54):

What are the basic home criteria, you said the home partners are looking for? Just off the record, if you are shopping with an agent who has not done a home partners deal, yes. I’m not trying to say that, you know, we’re so great and everything, but just, just so that you know, a lot of times they’ll take you to houses that don’t even even qualify.

Herman Antonov (15:16):

So pre-screen those houses ahead of time so that you are not wasting time on five showings when you could have been, you know, watching Netflix at home instead.

Jesse Zachay (15:26):

Not to mention the emotional toll that it can take, right? Like yeah, you just wasted time looking at homes, but maybe you really found one that you really, really like and you want to move forward with and your agent takes it to Home Partners of America and gets immediately met with a rejection because they didn’t do their homework or don’t understand what kind of houses HPA is looking to buy. So let’s talk about those for a minute.

Herman Antonov (15:50):

And the reason I’m allowed to say this is because I was that agent six years ago.

Jesse Zachay (15:57):

<Laugh>, yes. We’re good at this because we failed a lot <laugh>

Herman Antonov (16:00):

We’re not gonna practice on you.

Jesse Zachay (16:02):

Yeah, no, no practicing again, we talked about, you know, approved community. It has to be an approved community. The home cannot be any older than a hundred years old. It must have central air conditioning. It cannot have a pool of any shape or form. It cannot have any disclosed issues that are disqualifiers for Home Partner of America. What does that mean? Right? If there is a notation in the seller’s disclosures about any kind of environmental concern like mold or asbestos, that’s an automatic disqualifier.

Jesse Zachay (16:36):

Yes. Water in the basement, any kind of seepage or leakage, anything that’s written into those sellers disclosures, HPA is gonna shut down immediately. You know, history of fires, no way. History of mold, history of flooding, no way. It cannot be in a floodplain, cannot have a, well, it cannot, even if it’s sealed, it cannot have a septic system. It has to be on city sewer and water. When you do a walkthrough of the house, it needs to be in good condition. You know cuz there’s an inspection that’s associated with all the homes. So you need to go in there and go, all right, you know, this looks like it could get through inspections and not have a lot of requests. Because if there’s a lot of requests you run the risk of obviously the seller rejecting those inspection requests. But more than anything, if it’s a lot, Home Partners of America will just flat out cancel and the whole thing falls apart. You gotta have a trained eye.

Herman Antonov (17:34):

Yep. Thank you for sharing that. Last question. If a potential resident decides to actually purchase the home that they’re renting, how does that process look.

Jesse Zachay (17:42):

Home Partners is not a financial institution, so they’re not financing any loans, right? So I wanna be really clear, you know, that your ability to buy a home isn’t through them. You simply have that right to purchase. If you want to exercise that right, you have to obtain financing on your own through a lender or become a cash buyer. All you need to do is get your financing aligned and then go back to Home Partners. They have an acquisition process for you as the buyer, which they work you through pretty seamless. But you do have to get approved to buy through your lender and we can help people with that. We’ve got plenty of trusted lenders that we know.

Herman Antonov (18:21):

We got so much  value on top of value.

Jesse Zachay (18:28):

Too much <laugh>. If, if you guys are still listening to me

Herman Antonov (18:32):

<Laugh>. So if you want to skip the whole hassle of leasing a home with an option to purchase, what’s the best route?

Jesse Zachay (18:39):

If you want to skip the whole hassle of it, yep. We can position you as a home buyer and you can go out there and buy a home instead. Over the course of the last year it has been tougher to get homes under contract with Home Partners requirements and the things that they’re looking for. Sometimes we have a hard time finding a home. And there might be one little stipulation that didn’t work with home partners. So if you want to, you know, bypass that and call the shots yourself, let’s get you positioned to be able to buy and have you make those decisions. Cuz in all reality, think about it. You know, if you have 620 or better credit and have reliable provable income for the last couple of years and can qualify with Home Partners of America, you can probably qualify for a mortgage as well, especially in current market conditions, right? We can probably get you qualified and regardless of how much you have to bring to the table for down payments and closing costs right here, right now we can negotiate a lot of it.

Herman Antonov (19:37):

That is a closing statement. If you have questions about buying, renting, an option to purchase, rent to own, lining up your closing and your moving date into your rental place, whatever that might be, we’ll leave a link where you can fill out the information in the form. And what will happen is that form will come on Jesse’s desk, he’ll take a look at it, reach out to you and see if he can put together a really solid plan of the next steps.

Jesse Zachay (20:16):

Absolutely.

Herman Antonov (20:17):

Don’t worry, no one’s gonna spam you,

Jesse Zachay (20:19):

No one’s gonna spam you, and we’re not gonna give or sell your information to anybody else. Just want to answer your questions and really paint a clear path, getting you into that home that you’re looking for. All good. Cheers,

Herman Antonov (20:31):

<Laugh>. Yep.