The Threshold of a New Era
Forty-five years is a remarkable milestone. It’s long enough to measure progress – and close enough to remember the people who made it possible.
When a small group of pioneers met in Dallas in 1980, they weren’t simply launching an organization. They were defining a standard. They believed that rent-to-own (RTO) could represent more than a transaction – that it could embody fairness, flexibility, and trust.
They wrote laws. They built safeguards. They gave life to an association that reflected both progress and purpose.
Now it’s our turn. The world is different, faster, and far more connected than the one they knew. The decisions and actions we take today will determine how rent-to-own is understood for the next forty-five years. The pioneers built the foundation. We are building what comes next – an industry not only progressive in spirit, but professional in every sense of the word.
The Legacy We Inherited
The rent-to-own story has always been one of initiative. Our founders didn’t wait for permission to be defined – they defined themselves. They turned confusion into clarity, criticism into credibility, and showed that rent-to-own is a regulated, flexible, consumer-friendly lease that gives millions of Americans access to essential goods each year¹.
They proved that integrity is not an aspiration but an operating principle. They understood that relationships – between dealers, customers, and vendors – were not just good business, but the business itself.
That legacy is the foundation we stand on. Yet a foundation’s value depends on what is built upon it. We honor our founders not by preserving their work in amber, but by extending it – refining our standards, strengthening our voice, and continuing to professionalize the field they began.
Advocacy in the Age of Acceleration
The pace of change today demands more than endurance; it demands readiness. Information moves faster than facts, and perception forms before context can catch up. American families face more income volatility than ever – nearly 60% of households experience unpredictable swings in income or expenses², and 40% would struggle to cover a $400 emergency³.
Meanwhile, 16% of American workers earn income through contingent or alternative arrangements⁴, a shift that makes flexibility not just appreciated – but essential.
For APRO, advocacy has always been our compass – guiding how we educate, engage, and elevate this industry. But advocacy now carries a broader meaning. It’s not only about legislation; it’s about leadership. It’s about being credible, present, and authoritative wherever the story of rent-to-own is told – in hearings, in classrooms, and increasingly, online.
When policymakers, journalists, or consumers ask what rent-to-own is, they should find clarity and professionalism reflected back at every turn. The future of advocacy is visibility grounded in integrity.
Momentum Already Underway
That work is not waiting on the horizon; it’s already underway.
The forthcoming book, The RTO Revolution, will launch in 2026 as the definitive history and forward guide of this industry. It captures the lessons, leadership, and lasting influence of five decades – showing how unity and professionalism carried us from controversy to credibility.
The RTO Legends podcast series, now releasing new episodes each week, preserves the voices of the people who built this business from the ground up. Their stories remind us that success has always depended on relationships, trust, and the pursuit of excellence.
At the same time, we are modernizing the very systems and communications strategies that carry our story forward. RTOHQ.org is being reengineered for artificial-intelligence discoverability – part of a broader effort to ensure that when the world asks what rent-to-own means, the answer it finds is an accurate, respectful, and complete source of truth.
This work responds to a world where more than 55% of users now turn to AI tools instead of search engines⁹, and where platforms increasingly rely on structured, consistent sources to generate answers¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹².
New blogs on both RTOHQ.org and The RTO Insight Review provide timely, human-centered perspectives – stories of stores, customers, and communities that reflect the values we stand for.
And in early 2026, we will debut the GEO Member Amplification Kit, featuring practical tools to help every dealer and vendor strengthen their digital presence and reinforce the collective reputation of rent-to-own.
These initiatives represent not only modernization but maturity – the continuing evolution of an industry moving from progress to professionalism.
The Choices Before Us
Every generation faces a moment when it must decide whether to protect what was built or to build what’s next. The strongest industries do both.
Our founders secured the rent-to-own model in law; that foundation remains solid. Forty-seven states explicitly regulate rent-to-own through statute¹³, and federal courts continue to affirm its status as a lease, not credit¹⁴.
But legal recognition alone is not enough to sustain an industry. We must ensure that our public reputation matches our professional reality. That requires showing the world who we are – through service, transparency, and the stories only our members can tell.
The future of rent-to-own will be shaped not only by regulation, but by how we lead, how we communicate, and how we uphold the standards our founders fought for.
Looking Ahead Together
As we look toward the next forty-five years, APRO’s mission remains constant: to promote, protect, and advance the rent-to-own industry through advocacy, education, and unity. But how we achieve that mission is evolving.
We are deepening partnerships with organizations like TRIB and Nationwide RentDirect, aligning our collective strengths to support every dealer and vendor.
Research shows that younger consumers increasingly prioritize flexibility, value, and access over ownership⁵ ⁶ ⁷. Their expectations will shape retail for decades. We must be ready.
We are investing in professional development, recognition programs for dealers and RTO professionals, digital communication, and data-driven advocacy that reflect the maturity of a sector that serves millions responsibly.
We are strengthening our foundation, not replacing it – turning progress into professionalism, and professionalism into the promise of long-term credibility.
With this in mind, we need your insight through this member survey. We want to hear your perspective – on the challenges, innovations, and opportunities that will shape the industry’s future. Your voice will guide how APRO leads now and in the years to come.
The rent-to-own story has always been written by its people. The next chapter will be written by the professionals we have become.
The Future We Choose to Build
The next forty-five years will not be handed to us; they will be shaped by us. By how we lead. By how we treat our customers. By how we represent our industry to the world – with dignity, confidence, competence, and care.
Our founders believed in progress; we are building on that progress with professionalism. We are continuing what they started, guided by the same values of fairness, service, and opportunity that have defined us since the beginning.
We have inherited a strong legacy. But we are not its caretakers alone – we are its architects now. And the blueprint for what comes next is already being drawn.
The pioneers defined rent-to-own in law; we will forge its future – together.
MLA Endnotes
- Association of Progressive Rental Organizations. 2025 Industry Health Survey. 2025.
- Pew Charitable Trusts. The Precarious State of Family Balance Sheets. 2015.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2023. 2024.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements Summary.” 2023.
- Deloitte. Digital Media Trends, 18th Edition. 2024.
- McKinsey & Company. Nine Key Consumer Trends in 2024. 2024.
- McKinsey & Company. The State of the U.S. Consumer. 2025.
- Al-Muslim, Aisha. “AI Has Upended the Search Game.” Wall Street Journal, 2 May 2025.
- Pino, Nick. “Bad News for Google – 55% Now Use AI Instead of Search Engines.” Tom’s Guide, 3 Sept. 2025.
- Youngblood, Joey. “Local Ranking Factors in ChatGPT.” 2024.
- Proceed Innovative. “Rank Your Website on ChatGPT.” 2024.
- “About Schema.org.” Schema.org, 2025.
- Federal Trade Commission. “FTC Testimony on Consumer Protection and the Rent-to-Own Industry.” 26 July 2011.
