SPRING HILL, Tenn.—When real-estate agent Don Nugent listed a three-bedroom, two-bath house here on Jo Ann Drive, offers came immediately, including a $208,000 one from a couple with a young child looking for their first home.
A competing bid was too attractive to pass up. American Homes 4 Rent, AMH 2.00% a public company that had been scooping up homes in the neighborhood, offered the same amount—but all cash, no inspection required.
Twelve hours after the house went on the market in April, the Agoura Hills, Calif.-based real-estate investment trust signed a contract. About a month later, it put the house back on the market, this time for rent, for $1,575 a month.
A new breed of homeowners has arrived in this middle-class suburb of Nashville and in many other communities around the country: big investment firms in the business of offering single-family homes for rent. Their appearance has shaken up sales and rental markets and, in some neighborhoods, sparked rent increases.
On Jo Ann Drive alone, American Homes 4 Rent owns seven homes, property records indicate. In all of Spring Hill, four firms—American Homes, Colony Starwood Homes, Progress Residential and Streetlane Homes—own nearly 700 houses, according to tax rolls. That amounts to about 5% of all the houses in town, a 2016 census indicates, and roughly three-quarters of those available for rent, according to Lisa Wurth, president of the local Realtors’ association.
Those four companies and others like them have become big landlords in other Nashville suburbs, and in neighborhoods outside Atlanta, Phoenix and a couple dozen other metropolitan areas. All told, big investors have spent some $40 billion buying about 200,000 houses, renovating them and building rental-management businesses, estimates real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors LLC. Still, they own less than 2% of all U.S. rental homes, according to Green Street.
The buying spree amounts to a huge bet that the homeownership rate, which currently is hovering around a five-decade low, will stay low and that rents will continue to rise. The investors also are wagering that many people no longer see owning a home as an essential part of the American dream.
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last commentFor once I'm glad I have an HOA. No renters allowed in my sub division.
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Critics claim these big investment firms scooping up houses by the thousands is driving up prices and affecting supply
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While I get a good portion of my news on tuscl, remind me how this discussion relates to clubbing
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It's all perfectly legal, but I don't like it. I wouldn't mind if I had a landlord who did lapdances, like the stripper with five houses in "The Big Short."
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Shadow. I’m on an HOA board that tried to enforce the no renters clause in the CC&Rs and we lost. Be thankful that no one has challenged it yet.
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@Papi_Chulo
That are not new;
America’s concept of “landlord” from medieval times to the present...
A single still, timeless, image is worth a thousand words...
tuscl.net
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I think this is an interesting trend - and only time will tell what happens in the long run. Is this signaling a move away from home ownership - and building lasting equity? I’m curious to see what develops.
Sadly, Americans are horrible at saving money and building a nest egg. I love having the ability to invest for the long term. But, most of the country likes to spend and piss away their income. Home ownership is one way from LDK’s can develop a nest egg - as the principal portion of each mortgage payment is forced savings.
One thing that might be attractive about these renter communities is they make relocation much easier. A person can move jobs and locations without needing to sell a home.
In my view - anything that decreases the American public’s ability to build equity and savings - is not good.
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Sorry! I guess my spell check knows me too well!
one way from LDK’s = one way folks
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@623
it really depends on how the no rentals clause is written in the HOA documents I live in a HOA as well and our agreement has been upheld a few times ivy a Florida court, location also has some bearing on these types of court challenges
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In my hood there were a bunch of overpriced outdated houses that were on the market for years, even with the low interest rates. Then COVID hit. They all sold, ALL of them, stupid prices, people didn’t care, I’m not complaining. Just drives up the value of mine. some guys bought these house, slapped fresh paint on the outside, threw new carpet in them then relisted at $50-100k more and resold them again!
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In my Senior citizen community houses have doubled in price since I bought 6 years ago. Houses are going for more than the listed prices. There is a bidding war in the whole county. My real estate lady tells me that there is a problem with people bidding too high and then cannot get the financing.
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I think there has been a migration out of many cities - and it has pushed the home prices up significantly over the past year. The pandemic, rising crime rates, and high taxes - have made folks decide to move away.
Many folks are seeing neighborhood home prices jump upward - based on recent sales. This is nice for folks who have some equity in their homes. I’m thinking this will continue for awhile.
The apartment prices still seem crazy in Manhattan (NYC). But, even if the prices drop a lot - they will still seem crazy. Real estate in NYC kept moving higher and higher before the pandemic and social unrest hit. The folks who benefitted were the real estate agents - who dealt with the very wealthy clients. A few buddies are in Manhattan real estate - and they made insane money.
I kept wondering when it was going to come back to earth. Maybe it will correct over time?
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Yeah it looks like some of these up and coming cities Austin, Nashville, Denver, Charlotte are starting to really catch up to the bigger metro areas. It’s pretty crazy.
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Did anyone see the SNL skit where they likened Zillow to porn? Papi is right on point with this topic since I have to admit to discussing current real estate trends and home prices at a strip club while getting a lap dance (sad but true). Here in South Florida real estate has gone crazy, but it’s not corporate landlords, but wealthy New Yorkers driving up prices. Not a bad thing for me, but it really hurts young families and first time home buyers.
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I’ve been investing in real estate for years, strictly commercial multi use bldgs never in residential real estate, I learned that lesson 40 years ago, private tenants have too many rights, and a large number of renters will go out of their way to make your ownership as unprofitable as possible
I say let those large landlords deal with residential tenants I prefer to rent to businesses that are not unhappy about my ability to make a profit on my investments
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It might be part of "The Great Reset" where private ownership is not woke nor socialist enough
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What we need is more tenants rights.
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^ want more tenants rights, buy them with your money !
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Private equity firms are in it for profit, so this is a low probability of a socialist program. However, watch out for the democrat party to use it for propagnda to get government more involved in street level home ownership management.
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^ big business is seemingly in bed with the left these days
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A lot of the big hedge-funds/investment-firms seem to be going woke with all the climate-change and racism-is-everywhere bullshit
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With the eviction moratorium expected to end pretty soon, this type of stuff is going to get even more interesting (and potentially depressing)
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I dump l0ad 0n da hedge
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Millions of people can't be thrown out into the streets. Something will have to be done to curb retaliatory evictions and rogue landlords.
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^ like I said put your money where your mouth is or shut the fuck up
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When I sell, I'm thinking long and hard if I should rebuy at these insane prices or just fuck off to another country
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I feel sorry for anyone who MUST move for whatever reason. Unless you have a shitload of equity in property to sell, this is a horrible time to be a buyer.
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