When R2O Homes founder Darrin Collins surveyed the rent-to-own-homes landscape, he saw a disturbing panorama of “me-too” companies.
The corporate culture in many of those companies didn’t allow employees to hear or care about the person sitting in front of them. It didn’t matter much that the person in front of them was trying hard to qualify to own a home; the company just cared about getting someone to rent their houses.
That trend is the opposite of what Collins is doing at R2O Homes. He has charged R2O Homes with one mission, to help serious minded people reach their goal of home ownership.
Collins designed R2O Homes to market to two distinct areas: qualified individuals who they can get in their home right away, and not qualified individuals whom they will place in the rent-to-own system.
Collins has discovered a huge misconception. Buyers mistakenly think they know everything they need to know. He goes on to say, “I know it sounds strange but people unfortunately don’t know what they don’t know and worse, when it comes to home buying, so much of what people think they know just isn’t true.”
He goes on to say, “One of the big things prospective homeowners mistakenly think is that all rent to own companies are the same. We work very hard for people in our system, but before that, we work just as hard to overcome the perception that there is only one system, one way and everybody is dropped into it.”
The goal for Collins then became establishing his brand as one of education and advocating for his clients’ success. He and his staff stress getting the word out that they can help educate people so they can successfully become home owners.
Collins compares the process to coaching, where the process is very specific to each client. He puts it this way, “The question is what we will do to help you as a human being become a home owner. Each person will be different because each has unique situations which brought them to where they are now. We understand that and we work with them to help them move forward.”
Collins quietly says, “Let me tell you a secret. I am a coach. That’s how my creator made me, how he framed me and it’s what I do very well. So the culture of our R2O Homes business has evolved from that. It goes to us looking at individuals and discovering what we’ve got to do to get them from point A to point B, right? Some people come in qualified and all we have to do is find them a house. Some people come in not qualified and we have to put them on what amounts to a 12 step credit program.”
It seems that one of the biggest triggers for prospective homeowners is shaky credit. When the R2O coaches challenge people to become homeowners, a full 90% of them will start apologizing about where they are now from a credit angle, and elaborating about how their credit got so bad.
Collins is adamant that there is really no level of credit that a person has that they can’t help. He insists that everybody can own a home. Indeed he reflects that it’s not even a matter of can or can’t, but merely the length of time the process takes relative to the person’s unique situation.
Consequently, it could be a program of three, six, twelve or more months that Collins and his crew will coach, guide and nurture someone through the process to home ownership. They make it a point to say that the length of time they are willing to spend as a company helps to separate them from other companies which can’t or won’t invest that time.
Collins and his coaches are unanimous in wanting people to steer clear of ‘deals’ where a down payment is required and they end up somehow staying in the process forever. For R2O Homes the process is a means to an end. Collins says, “We counsel our clients that if they see a five year rental process, they are in a rent-to-rent situation and not a rent-to-own. It’s part of our coaching process to help them recognize the difference and get through the program as quickly as possible and become a homeowner.”
The process, as Collins explained it, is a joint effort between R2O Homes and its clients. The clients provide information on where they are now and R2O Homes provides the consulting and ultimately the coaching that gets would-be buyers to the place where they can own their homes.
It is not a process for the lazy, and some have to work a little harder than others because of their circumstances, whether bad luck, bad decisions or bad marriages.
A case in point is a retired warrant officer going through a difficult divorce. He came to R2O Homes knowing that he couldn’t get a mortgage, though he had a small VA loan. So Collins had him placed in their rent to own homes process for about six months, in the home that he wanted, showed him some simple steps and he was able to break through and become a home owner. He not only got the house, but he ended up with good credit as well.
Collins sums it up this way, “Situations are unique, so we don’t have a cookie cutter approach. We’re going to coach you and walk you through the process of how to become a homeowner. There is only one caveat: you have to take direction and follow the rules. Whatever your situation is, wherever you’ve landed in life, whatever you world looks like right now, we are going to individualize a model that’s scripted and fits your world to get you from point A to point B which is home ownership. That is big and it’s very rewarding for clients and us. That is what we do. We like it. We are good at it. We’ve helped quite a few people succeed at it, and there will be many more.”
For More Information On R2O Homes Please Visit: http://www.r2onc.com.
R2O Homes
2016 Hope Mills Road
Fayetteville, NC 28304
(910) 222-8763