Stories
Stories
Helping vets become resident landlords
Reed Benet (MBA 1991) is founder and CEO of HeroHomes.com, an online organization that helps military veterans secure no-money-down VA loans to purchase and live in small multifamily homes for housing themselves and income purposes. In this interview, he explains details of the VA Loan Guarantee program that his organization is promoting to veterans as a way of anchoring and investing in their communities.
“HeroHomes is like a Zillow.com for military vets. We find and educate the vets; we get them to the website, which is part of the education process; and we inform them that they have this thing called the VA Loan Guarantee. That’s a no-money-down home-buying power, which was a result of the GI Bill after World War II. And what they particularly don’t know is that you can use this up to a no-money-down $417,000 to $721,000 to buy and be a resident landlord in a duplex, three-unit, four-unit, or a five-unit, and one of those units can be a commercial unit.
“So the original thought is surging military vets into the decayed urban core of post-industrial cities, where land is vacant and available and potentially valuable, if you can create industrial-strength demand for it. But there was something missing, and that was this resident landlordship opportunity.
“So in our phase three or four, when we get to vet crowd-buying, where we get to prequalifying a hundred to a thousand vets at a time, and they’re bringing $42 million to $417 million dollars of buying power, you’ve got some market power, particularly if the issue isn’t the supply or the amount of suppliers.
“There are many people that are focused on vets in a foundation, nonprofit, and government effort. And in terms of lending and the basics of a one-unit home, everybody’s doing this. But nobody’s specifically going after finding the vets and educating them to the opportunity that they have this no-money-down, resident-landlordship opportunity.
“We have 350 vets in the pipeline. We have nine prequalified to buy property. And we have six actively shopping, and we’re in 35 states.”
Editor’s note: Some of the figures in this article have been updated since the video interview took place.
(Published March 2017)
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 01 Jun 2023
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Elevator Pitch: Block by Block
Re: Curtis Wong (MBA 2019); Timothy Connors (MBA 1999) -
- 07 Dec 2022
- Arabian Business
Dubai-Based Proptech Builds Up
Re: Aahan Bhojani (MBA 2019) -
- 25 Aug 2022
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Up on the Corner
Re: Nadine Dlodlo (MBA 2008); Calvin Young (MBA 2015); Rawi E. Abdelal (Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management Emma Bloomberg Co-chair, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative); By: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Melissa Golden -
- 28 May 2019
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Tech for the People
Re: Henry Tsai (MBA 2017); Shireen Santosham (MBA 2008); Mitchell B. Weiss (Richard L. Menschel Professor of Management Practice Chair, MBA Required Curriculum); By: Deborah Blagg
Stories Featuring Reed Benet
-
- 01 Sep 2023
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Case Study: The Home Team
Re: Brendan Kennealey (MBA 2006); Needham Hurst (MBA 2016); Reed Benet (MBA 1991); Charlie Andersen (MBA 2014); DJ DiDonna (Senior Lecturer of Business Administration); By: Jen McFarland Flint -
- 21 Sep 2017
- HBS Alumni News
Reed Benet: Making A Difference
Re: Reed Benet (MBA 1991) -
- 01 Jun 2012
- Alumni Stories
Letters to the Editor
Re: Reed Benet (MBA 1991); Brian Keane (MBA 1986); Brian Mullen (MBA 1980); John Heilner (MBA 1967); Jim Werner (MBA 1973); Dave Bradford (MBA 1982); Ashok Ramaswami (MBA 1996); Angie Hicks (MBA 2000); Dal La Magna (MBA 1970)