Experience with rent-to-own companies like Hyperion and Mack? (fit in, rental) - Chicago Suburbs - Illinois (IL) - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

angkub · 04-20-2015, 07:32 PM

It is $75 for the application for all people that are over 18 years old and who will live in the home. It's not $75 per person. $75 flat fee for all. And I am not a realtor. Actual renter. So yes, this has been a positive experience for us. We also have to rebuild our credit from a foreclosure. So this program is great for that.

jetpiloto · 04-25-2015, 09:55 AM

Hello there, I am going through the process of leasing a home from Home Partners of America. So far things have gone well. I was told of this by my realtor when I couldn't get approved for an FHA Loan due to federal tax lien issues. He hadn't worked with them before, so it's a new experience for both of us.

My credit scores are in the mid-600s and my wife's are in the low 700s. So far the process has gone smoothly, even though my situation is not the typical one. We filled out the application online, including paying a non-refundable $75 fee. I was a bit concerned, since they didn't look at our data or give us any pre-approval prior to this. Maybe my realtor should have done that, I'm not sure. But I figured that $75 was not a huge risk, so we did it.

We are working with a young man named Tim at Home Partners, and he's been quite pleasant and helpful. It took him a couple of days to approve us, including two calls to us to clarify certain information on our application. Following the second call (which was regarding the tax lien situation) we received our approval in about 10 minutes!

We are now getting ready to go home shopping with the realtor. If anyone's interested in the rest of the process let me know and I'll continue to post updates here on how things are going with Home Partners. But up til now, I'm quite pleased with the process.

tsworld31 · 04-27-2015, 04:26 PM

Hi, I am considering going with this program as well. Can you give me more info? I also DM'ed you as well. Thanks.

tamoshay · 05-01-2015, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetpiloto

Hello there, I am going through the process of leasing a home from Home Partners of America. So far things have gone well. I was told of this by my realtor when I couldn't get approved for an FHA Loan due to federal tax lien issues. He hadn't worked with them before, so it's a new experience for both of us.

My credit scores are in the mid-600s and my wife's are in the low 700s. So far the process has gone smoothly, even though my situation is not the typical one. We filled out the application online, including paying a non-refundable $75 fee. I was a bit concerned, since they didn't look at our data or give us any pre-approval prior to this. Maybe my realtor should have done that, I'm not sure. But I figured that $75 was not a huge risk, so we did it.

We are working with a young man named Tim at Home Partners, and he's been quite pleasant and helpful. It took him a couple of days to approve us, including two calls to us to clarify certain information on our application. Following the second call (which was regarding the tax lien situation) we received our approval in about 10 minutes!

We are now getting ready to go home shopping with the realtor. If anyone's interested in the rest of the process let me know and I'll continue to post updates here on how things are going with Home Partners. But up til now, I'm quite pleased with the process.

Hi - I am interested in Home Partners and am wondering how your experience is going now that its been a few weeks as there are few threads in 2015?

mark1115 · 05-01-2015, 07:02 PM

I've been trying to work with Home Partners for over two weeks now. Its been a very frustrating experience. It's like talking into a black hole. My application sat in someone's in box for over a week before it was even opened. It took them another 3 or 4 days to tell me they needed additional tax info (I'm self employed) and today they asked for my wife's social security number AGAIN (its in a field on the application that you can't get past unless it is filled out). I remain hopeful that we can get this done, but I'm concerned from the start about this company.

miguel00 · 05-02-2015, 10:50 AM

I'm a realtor in Illinois and in my market anyone who looks for a rental can expect to have a credit/background check run and it applies per every individual who is 18 or older. There are some exceptions to this of course. Home partners of America is charging $75 per household which in the whole scheme of things is not too bad. Also once you get approved you are ready to start looking for that "right" home. You won't have to reapply unlike a rental that has 10 applications on it and you didn't get picked for some reason. I would say for those who encountered some hardship and it caused their credit to get affected and now its very difficult to find a place to live then Home Partners might be a good option. Even with a Short Sale or Bankruptcy you are being given a chance to start over without waiting.

CaliDreaming01 · 05-06-2015, 08:15 AM

Is there a minimum FICO score required for approval? My husband and I submitted an application Monday afternoon and I'm anxiously waiting for the decision.

Our income ($150K), DTI (<30%), RTI (<20%), background check, and rental history (3+years) are great but I'm worried about our credit scores, esp my hubby's. He had a foreclosure and other baddies stemming from a divorce several years ago. The foreclosure happened two years ago when his ex stopped making mortgage payments as she was supposed to. Also, in January, he did a voluntary repo of a vehicle--I could have kicked him but he didn't want the payment anymore and he felt that it was a good time for him to do it since he had all the other bad stuff going on and his FICO was low anyway. His FICO was in the low 600s before he did the voluntary repo.

My credit is better, but I also have some baddies. I have a lot of credit card debt--51% utilization. I also have a $41 medical collection from 4 years ago I didn't know about. In 2013, I have three 30 day lates on a vehicle I cosigned for a family member which was repossessed but I immediately reinstated the loan and the payments haven't been late since. My FICO8 scores are all 680 and up, but my FICO4 scores for mortgages are in the low 600s.

We have a plan to pay off my credit card debt and be in a position to get a good rate on a mortgage in no more than 3 years, but in the meantime we really want to be in a nice place in a good school district when my daughter starts Kindergarten next year. This program would be perfect for us because right now the rental market is extremely tight in our area. If we are approved then we would be able to get a MUCH better rental for the price we are paying or even a home we would want to purchase if something perfect opens up.

I'd really appreciate if any realtors or anyone else could give me an idea if we can expect to be approved or not?

CaliDreaming01 · 05-07-2015, 02:35 PM

Reading over the comments again, I am concerned, as some have pointed out, that all of the positive comments about this program have been from people who joined just to comment in the thread. I've been scouring the web for some unbiased positive reviews and haven't been able to find very much--positive or negative.

I guess I will be the guinea pig and provide updates on my experience. I have been a member on this site since October 2011 so I am legit.

So far, I put in my application with Home Partners on Monday. They charged my card for the application fee on Wednesday. I've heard nothing from anyone after submitting my app. I don't know if that is good or bad. I don't think my credit report has been pulled as of yet since I've gotten no alerts from my credit monitoring service. It would be nice if they could provide some sort of status updates in the process, because new rentals are coming on the market and we don't know whether to jump on those or to see this process out.

Will keep you all updated.

CaliDreaming01 · 05-08-2015, 09:45 AM

We just got approved for the program today by email. We are able to get a home that is up to $2130 in rent, which is more than enough for us as we were aiming for $1700-$1800. So far so good!

Now I guess the fun part starts for us. I will continue to update...

DAYMOAN · 05-08-2015, 04:30 PM

Hey guys......im down here in Ga but had questions for anyone willing to answer. We just put an offer in on a property through Homepartners. They gave us a max they would offer on the property which the seller accepted. Now by that number being the max they are willing to pay which is supposed to be market value, after the closing costs and get ready fees ranging around 5-6k plus the 5% they tack on at the end of each year. Is it feasible or plausible to expect to get a loan for almost 20k more than they purchased the home for? Has anyone bought after the first year?