Atlanta Firm Helps, Invests in Repossession Property
A real estate investor with a heart. This is what could be said of Atlanta-based real estate investment firm Pride of Ownership Partners, which has been offering lease-purchase options to families or individuals in Atlanta who do not yet have the money to buy a repossession property.
The lease-purchase scheme is increasingly being offered in foreclosure-clobbered states like Nevada and California, according to Emory University real estate professor Jim Grissett. He said both repossession property buyers and sellers can benefit from the rising popularity of the lease-purchase scheme.
Cecelia Robinson, a 57-year-old writer from an area near Baltimore, is among those benefiting from the lease-purchase program offered by Pride of Ownership Partners. Robinson said she left Maryland after her business failed and her house almost became a repossession property.
Now she is leasing a three-bedroom repossession property purchased and renovated by Pride of Ownership. Robinson can rent the house for three years, during which time she can decide whether to purchase the house. If she opts for a purchase, the firm will credit half of all the rent she has paid during the three-year period to help pay the down payment. The selling price would be based on the appraisal of the house during the time she signed the lease-purchase contract.
Robinson is ecstatic about the house she now considers her dream house and about the affordable terms Pride of Ownership has offered her.
Tim Cabrera and Jeffrey Britz launched Pride of Ownership Partners in July 2008 with only $1.4 million. But now they have a total of 50 units all bought from repossession property inventories across Atlanta. They said they housing market is still fragile, so they cannot simply buy and then quickly sell at a profit.
So they adopted the lease-purchase scheme to help their company break even and at the same time help people that deserved to be helped. So far, they have no problems renting out the homes.
Cabrera and Britz also educate their clients about mortgages, credit rehabilitation and home ownership. All applicants go through a strict screening process to ensure that they work only with smart and responsible renters or buyers.
Cabrera makes sure that renters and prospective buyers know everything about fixed-rate mortgages, upfront payments, monthly payments and other obligations.
Arlanda James is another renter helped by Pride of Ownership. Her family almost became homeless in December when the house they were renting suddenly became a repossession property. Now she is happily renting a four-bedroom house owned by Pride of Ownership.
