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Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

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Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#21

What constitutes an 'Investor' in this article? If I see a distressed home for sale in my neighborhood and decide to buy it, fix it up, and rent it out; this article seems to put me in the same category as institutional investors who come in and buy or build entire communities of homes.

> If I see a distressed home for sale in my neighborhood and decide to buy it, fix it up, and rent it out Buying something to rent it out is clearly investing. Buying something to fix it and re-sell it is usually also seen as investing. Buying something to use it (live in it) could also be an investment but usually isn't seen as such because it's assumed that you only live in one place.

If its my primary residence, then it's a place to live.

If it appreciates, cool. I can make more money when I move somewhere else and use that to leverage my next house WHICH I LIVE IN.. If it goes down, bummer, but I can still use that to leverage my next house WHICH I LIVE IN.

I bought the house to live there, not as a financial instrument. The financial thing is secondary.

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#22
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hilarious sure, but also sad and concerning. I'm tentatively alright with the idea of renting forever and never owning property... but with rent increasing and investors buying up more and more property, it looks like things will get uglier and uglier. I am not alright with paying absurdly high rent.

> I am not alright with paying absurd rent. Then you should either: 1) Buy a house to live in 2) Buy a house to hedge against rents going bananas The 30-year fixed rate mortgage at negative real rates is the biggest handout the world has ever seen.

the insane mortgage rates we saw in the last few years really are going to be a generational redistribution of wealth that we'll talk about for the next century, I think. That might have been the last train out of town for the middle class to widely own housing in a lot of cases.

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#23
post #7

Pretty hilarious to see “Why is Rent Skyrocketing?” as the article directly under this one on the front page.

Hilarious sure, but also sad and concerning. I'm tentatively alright with the idea of renting forever and never owning property... but with rent increasing and investors buying up more and more property, it looks like things will get uglier and uglier. I am not alright with paying absurdly high rent.

have you considered moving?

My wife and I were able to buy a house in Baltimore City while both attending graduate school

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#24

In 2012 I was looking at investing in REITs. One REIT's pitch was that they owned such a large percentage of the rental housing in Tampa Florida, that even though vacancy rates were high, and rents were going down throughout the nation and other areas in the state of Florida, they were able to keep rents high in Tampa. Disgusted, I realized the harm that REITs and private equity are doing to housing markets, and want…

We just need to remember that banning housing investment means banning rentals which is problematic for people who don't have good credit and a down payment.

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#25

In 2012 I was looking at investing in REITs. One REIT's pitch was that they owned such a large percentage of the rental housing in Tampa Florida, that even though vacancy rates were high, and rents were going down throughout the nation and other areas in the state of Florida, they were able to keep rents high in Tampa. Disgusted, I realized the harm that REITs and private equity are doing to housing markets, and want…

They just bought an entire new homes community on the east coast of Florida. Crazy but seems like they are creating locale specific monopolies.

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#26
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you not an investor in that situation? The person who wants to own a house to actually live in is the only one not being an investor.

I think the concern is local investors keep the money in the local economy, whereas 'foreign' investors are extracting value from the local community.

And the small investor can’t usually impact the housing or rental market on their own

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#27

What constitutes an 'Investor' in this article? If I see a distressed home for sale in my neighborhood and decide to buy it, fix it up, and rent it out; this article seems to put me in the same category as institutional investors who come in and buy or build entire communities of homes.

You are, just as much, competing against someone who wants to buy that home for themselves thus raising the price of it.

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#29
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you not an investor in that situation? The person who wants to own a house to actually live in is the only one not being an investor.

I think the concern is local investors keep the money in the local economy, whereas 'foreign' investors are extracting value from the local community.

How are foreigners giving money to local construction companies and others in the community "extracting value"? Those foreign investors are capitalizing the community.

Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year

#30

What constitutes an 'Investor' in this article? If I see a distressed home for sale in my neighborhood and decide to buy it, fix it up, and rent it out; this article seems to put me in the same category as institutional investors who come in and buy or build entire communities of homes.

> this article seems to put me in the same category as institutional investors

as they should.

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