Lease-to-Own Company Launched

DENVER-For decades, real estate investors have bought single-family homes, leasing them out to renters who ultimately would buy them. In these cases, savvy investors would charge the renter’s a higher than market rental rate, with a percentage of the rent accruing toward a down payment. Often, the renter has a troubled credit history, and while making the rent payments, would also build up his or her credit history.

Now, local real estate veteran Michael Shinn is taking that concept one step further. Shinn, who once owned the largest Century 21 franchise in the US, has launched a franchise company called National Home Buyers Assistance. If he succeeds, it will be the second major real estate founded in the city, joining RE/MAX International, which David Liniger started here 30 years ago. Indeed, Shinn is a contemporary of Liniger’s. He began buying Century 21 franchises about the time that Liniger founded RE/MAX.

This is how NHBA works: A person with bad, or insufficient credit, finds the home he or she wants to buy. The franchise owner buys the home using a three or five-year ARM. The client then agrees to buy back the home at a predetermined price after a year of paying above market rent. As much as 50% of the rent is rebated to the client at the end of the 12 months. The rent money is deposited into a third-party escrow account, which virtually guarantees that the client’s credit record will be on track at the end of the 12-month period, Shinn explains to GlobeSt.com.

So far, Shinn has sold more than 20 franchises at $25,000 each. The corporate office has purchased 50 homes in Colorado worth $10 million and franchise owners have bought another 70 homes worth an estimated $15 to $20 million. In addition, Shinn expects to raise about $15 million in a private placement to qualified individuals to capitalize his fledgling company.

Shinn says he is targeting 35 million Americans who don’t own homes. “At the end of the day, you can go home and really feel good about what you’re doing,” Shinn tells GlobeSt.com.