Private equity is the gamification of everything, in a compressed time frame. A company focused on longer time frames will cultivate their reputation. This takes the form of quality products and good customer service. PE has no need for any of this nonsense. They are looking for a quick return on their investment; to trade in all reputation and goodwill for their immediate value in cold hard cash. The more immediate the better, so they can move on to their next acquisition.
How private equity is changing housing
121–130 of 312 posts
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#122Corporations shouldn't be allowed to own residential properties. Period.
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
this sounds nice, but neglects the fact that (1) materials cost has gone up and (2) zoning requirements exist. (1) means its just more expensive to build overall, and (2) means that a lot of proposals for apartment complexes get voted down.
Part of building more is getting government (mostly) out of it so that things like zoning laws don't hamper new development. Obviously that is very hard to do at a local level when incumbent homeowners' housing values would be cut in half overnight.
This is happening in california. In fact there are three current situations:
1/SB9 cutting R1 lots in half
2/ ADU laws, which let you build up to 3 homes/units where there was one and further, can be combined with SB 9
3/ AB2011 which lets you turn defunct strip malls into housing
Honestly, this plus things like PermitFlow make me feel like we will be able to build enough. The issue will be making sure the housing is affordable rather than expensive and empty.
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's wild when you think about it: a family scrapes together a down payment and pays full freight on property taxes, while a corporate landlord can roll one property's paper losses into the next deal and keep building their portfolio, tax-deferred
In many states, there's a homestead exemption on property taxes that doesn't apply to non-owner occupied properties, so the opposite is true. Also, I don't know what you mean about rolling paper losses into the next deal, but I suspect it's not accurate either. There's a reason this non-existent loophole wasn't mentioned in the article that was looking for reasons to hate on corporate landlords.
Capital loss carryover is possibly what they were referring to
Unrelated note but the Homestead exemption in Santa Clara County, average sale price $2,300,000, is $7,000. To be explicit, the home’s value is reduced by $7,000 for valuation purposes.
Edit: the tax deferred part sounds like a 1031 exchange
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#125build. more. and this problem will go away.
this sounds nice, but neglects the fact that (1) materials cost has gone up and (2) zoning requirements exist. (1) means its just more expensive to build overall, and (2) means that a lot of proposals for apartment complexes get voted down.
>this sounds nice, but neglects the fact that (1) materials cost has gone up
That's a red herring because most of the price increase comes from increase in land prices.
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#126I just watched a video from Dave Ramsey title "What the Government Should Do to Fix the Housing Problem" He specifically calls out Institutional Investors and Foreign Corporations that have been purchasing single family housing and converting them into rental properties. I think he makes some good point in his video: https://youtu.be/_CrgniwSLLM
Why do you think that renters don't deserve to live in single-family homes?
Not at all what the GP said.
They aren't saying landlords are the problem, they are saying Institutional Investors and Foreign Corporations being landlords are the problem.
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#127Corporations shouldn't be allowed to own residential properties. Period.
For every complex and difficult problem, there is a simple, easy and wrong solution.
If corporations can't own residential properties, how would anyone rent a house? How would home builders build model homes? How would Trusts manage real estate?
This is a complex and nuanced problem.
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's wild when you think about it: a family scrapes together a down payment and pays full freight on property taxes, while a corporate landlord can roll one property's paper losses into the next deal and keep building their portfolio, tax-deferred
Afaik, property taxes are due no matter what, at least in Texas.
The tax being deferred is income/capital gains.
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#129Housing is more than a market - it's where people live
Do we apply that logic to any other market that's served by for-profit companies?
"corn/egg/beef is more than a market - it's what people eat"
"cars/gas is more than a market - it's how people get around"
"natural gas is more than a market - it's how people stay warm"
Re: How private equity is changing housing
#130A gift link (no paywall, no archive): https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/private-equity-hou...