For nearly 20 years, we have offered housing options to
folks across New York State. Covering 18 counties, we
have a wide selection of homes and settings for families
just like yours. Why do we feel we are the best rental
option in the market place today? Here are a few ways we
are different and how these differences benefit you:
1) NO RENT INCREASE FOR 5 YEARS UNLESS PROPERTY TAXES
INCREASE! Years ago, we came to
realize that the number one enemy of landlords is
vacancies. When no rent is coming in it is hard to pay
the bills. So we came up with a win/win situation that
our tenants love and benefits us as well. Let’s face it,
you want to be able to set up a budget and know how much
money you have coming in and going out each month,
right? We want the same thing! So by helping you we help
ourselves too! That is why you will see our 5 year no
rent increase unless property taxes increase promise IN WRITNG as part of our written
agreement.
2) FLEXIBILITY OF A MONTH TO MONTH LEASE. Most landlords
who rent out single family homes want 1 or 2 year
leases. We have learned that most tenants want and need
more flexibility in their lives should a job change come
about. We have found a month to month lease to be more
accommodating to our tenants and thus give us more
potential tenants to choose from. This helps us pick
folks we truly feel are a good match for our homes and
program.
3) $100 PER MONTH PURCHASE DOWN PAYMENT CREDIT. Let’s
face it; most families have a goal of home ownership.
But at the same time, those same families many times
struggle to save enough money for a down payment. Our
goal is to have long term tenants and eventually sell
them the home they are renting from us should they ever
want to. One way we can accomplish this is through our
purchase down payment credit. Every month you pay us
rent we credit you $100 towards the purchase of the
home. We will do this for up to 60 months, with a
maximum allowed down payment accumulation of $6,000. So
what does this mean to you? Quite simply, at the end of
5 years (60 months) you will have a credit with us of
$6,000 towards the purchase of the home you are renting
from us.
We know of no other landlords doing this.
Since you are not required to pay us extra rent in any way,
this is truly a “free” way for you to build up that down
payment you have probably been struggling for years to
save. We are willing to sell our homes to tenants who
have treated us right by paying us rent over the years.
We have been told by our customers that our $100 credit
program is their only hope of ever saving enough money
to buy a home. With this program, we win, you win and we
all walk away happy.
It must be written here for
clarification that this down payment credit program only
applies to the purchase of a Cornerstone Home by our
tenant who has occupied the home as our legal tenant. In
no way is it a cash reserve or savings that is paid to a
tenant should they decide to move out of our home or
purchase a different home not owned by Cornerstone.
4) FULL TIME MAINTENANCE STAFF. If you have ever rented
from a landlord who never wanted to make sure you had
heat and hot water you know how important this is! We
are not part time landlords. This is all we do. This
means when you have a maintenance issue we fix it
professionally and promptly.
5) WE RESPECT YOUR PRIVACY. Have you ever had a landlord
who lived next door or even in the same town and seemed
to constantly stop by or drove by slow just to be nosy?
That is not us. We respect your privacy and unless you
have a maintenance concern or don’t pay us the rent on
time, you will hardly ever hear from us. We have over
700 homes so it is pretty obvious that we don’t have the
desire or time to concern ourselves with our tenant’s
private lives.
6) WE ARE A COMPANY NOT AN “INDIVIDUAL LANDLORD”. This
may sound a bit confusing but it is a major benefit of
renting a home with an option to buy from Cornerstone.
Here is what we mean. We get calls from prospective
tenants constantly who need a place to live not because
they didn’t pay their rent or are newly moving into the
area. Rather, they are looking for a home to rent
because their landlord is making them move for one
reason or another. Maybe you are reading this right now
and that has been you at some point in your life. It is
not a good feeling. Sometimes the landlord has to sell
the home for financial reasons so the tenant has to
move. Sometimes the landlord has a relative needing a
place to live so they evict their tenant in order to
accommodate their relative. There are countless reasons
for why this happens. The bottom line is that it happens
all the time. We know because some of our tenants have
come from this exact unsettling situation. Moving is a
pain. It uproots your family and it cost money… not to
mention the emotional stress. The bottom line is that we
here at Cornerstone NEVER want you to move from our
home! We are in the business to rent and eventually sell
our homes to our tenants, not have them move!
7) PREDETERMINED PURCHASE PRICE. We don’t require our
tenants ever purchase their home from us. However, we do
encourage everyone to move towards the stability of home
ownership and try to help them achieve that goal through
our credit counseling and $100 per month purchase down
payment credit program. So when you rent a home from us,
we will write in the rental agreement what the purchase
price will be should you decide to purchase the home
within that first 5 year period.
Should a tenant not
purchase the home within that first five years, we
reserve the right to adjust the offered purchase price
based on current market conditions and will once again
guarantee that newly set price for an additional 5 year
period.
8) FREE BUDGET AND CREDIT REVIEW. When you sit down at the
table in our office to read through and sign our rent
with option to buy agreement, we also review
your credit report that we obtained to support your
application. We take a few minutes and go over that
report with you, showing you your credit strengths and
weaknesses. We also help you complete a monthly budget
form which will let both you and us decide whether the
home you are interested in is indeed affordable for you.
We know of no other landlords who take the time to do
this. In our opinion, we are setting tenants up for
failure if we put them in a home they can’t afford. Here
again, our goal is long term tenants who may even
eventually buy the home from us. So it is obvious we
want you to succeed so we succeed. We achieve this by
taking necessary time to provide a credit review and
budgeting ideas.
It must be understood that good
credit scores are not necessary to rent or purchase a home
on land contract from us. What is vital though, is solid
and consistent income. We look harder at your income stream
than your credit so if you have poor or even horrible credit,
please know that if you prove to us you are a trustworthy
tenant, we will even consider selling you a home on land
contract.
SUMMARY
As you can see, here at Cornerstone we truly are
different! We approach our real estate business with a
mindset of partnering with our tenants so everyone
involved succeeds. That is why we do all the above
things. If you are ready to rent your own single family
home then you owe it to yourself to work with a long
standing company who helps you succeed. Renting with an
option to buy is without question the very best way to
eventually secure home ownership. And if purchasing a
home is not your goal for whatever reason, we would like
to think we are still the best option for you because of
our professionalism, wide selection of homes and
businesslike approach to tenant/customer relations. Give
us a call and let’s partner together to give you and
your family the right housing option for you!
