Blackstone, other investors snap up thousands of Tampa Bay rental homes
Ken and Susan Beran embodied that old idea of the American dream. They married. Built a house. Raised a daughter within its walls. But after 30 years, as Ken eyed retirement, the Berans envisioned a different dream. In December, they moved to a new home — this time, to rent. Ken said he can’t imagine ever buying a home again. Susan, a first-grade teacher, hasn’t felt so calm in years. “I’m leaving a building I had to maintain, had to stress over,” Susan said. “I’m taking all of my memories with me.”
Bad credit, ravaged savings and evolving attitudes are driving more Americans to rent houses, and big-money investors are waging war to win their business. Few are mightier than the Blackstone Group, which dropped $150 million to buy 1,000 Tampa Bay homes — in just the last six months.
The New York-based private equity giant has already bet $3.5 billion across the country that the housing crisis has fundamentally changed the way many families live. Once-proud homeowners like the Berans, they believe, are beginning to reject home ownership altogether.
The next generation may do the same. “Millennials” between their late teens and early 30s have so far spoken with their wallets that they like driving borrowed Zipcars, watching Netflix and renting bikes, tools and dresses. Investors are betting millennials will apply that thinking to the biggest expense of their lives.
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I comment with experience in both ministry to the general public and years of social work. Our society as we know it has deteriorated. Pride in purchased homes has become obsolete. Being protected from the new ills and challenges due to class or ethnicity is more extinct. Over 70,000,000 homes were stolen in the last decade. According to Supreme court ruling Carpenter vs Longan, 83 U.S.271, 16 Wall, 271, 21 L.Ed.313 (1872), it is prohibited to deprive anyone of their property without a trial by jury; even under the united States Supreme Court’s ruling for foreclosure which states that a foreclosing party must own both the note and the mortgage at the time of filing the foreclosure complaint. Few if any of the 70,000,000 homes stolen were through trials by jury with original promissory notes and mortgages presented to the jury. Let’s not forget; the Attorney’s General already have determined that no banks in North America hold original documents proving ownership. Millions of stolen homes await their true owner’s awakening and return for restoration. What is also unfortunate is that many were driven away by Servicers, or debt collectors, whose operations are unlawful, according to the Fair Debt Collections and Practices Act. The most atrocious secret of all is that Sheriffs attended millions of evictions; yet according to Title 42, sections 1988, 1981, 1985 and 1986 they have no civil authority. Yes any sheriff attending an eviction has committed treason. This is why we must have compassion for our community which has suffered a profuse, ongoing invasion without boundaries. Yahuveh and his scriptures are the eternal solution, HalleluYah !!! All Hail To The King of Kings and Lord of Lords!!!
A short sale is where a buyer buys your home for an amount short of (less than) the amount that you owe then bank and the bank accepts that amount to settle the loan.
Don’t get it. Where are these houses the investors are buying to rent? Certainly not in my area. When we lost our house to f/c three years ago, we had a really hard time finding a place to rent because of our now bad credit. We moved into a drug infested area, gang activilty which has resulted in all sorts of criminal acttivity. Found out the landlord was desperate to rent the place out so that is why he rented to us. For 2 years now we have been trying to get out of the area, but no one will rent to us because we have bad credit. We have the money to pay rent but no one will even consdier us because of our f/c, BK and bad credit. So can someone explain to me, how this works and who are they renting to?
@ See – most of those rentals in the posting are in the Tampa Bay (Florida) area where they are concentrating most of their monies right now with the market being so depressed and distressed. Where are you located? You should be okay now with showing that you have a 2 year rental history of paying rent. It’s just not your credit report that they rely upon. Get your proof of paying rent (copies of cancelled checks) and have them ready to show a prospective landlord to prove your case. Many, many people are in your same shoes. You can also check out Realtor.com for rentals as well. Most of these investors are using agents or management companies who also have properties listed on Rent.com Good Luck! Where you are sounds like not a good place to be, esp. with children!
Come on Bobbi, there is lots of pride at Blackstone. They might call it Capitalism, I think we should call it something else. Housing is a fundamental human right, unfortunately this beloved country of ours hasn’t made that a priority, but even in the Great Depression their seemed to be less aggression. All the hustles we see today are very old, people getting ripped off, constantly worrying about housing, jobs and so on and a big entity like, Blackstone is always on the hunt, as is their mode of operation. We need to pry housing away from the so-called free market rentiers. It isn’t housing to these folks, it’s only a way to make money. I think many families would much prefer to maintain (with pride) their own homes, have more say in their finances, government and every other aspect of increasingly dismal prospects in our deeply divided society.
I’m sorry but as a mortgage broker (and doing it now for over 40 years) I make a modest living; not gouging my customers but also couseling them when considering purchasing a home. I am also a baby-boomer so my theories are quite different than the newer generation. I disagree with this couple. I believe home ownership is a right to be attained; not given freely. Okay, I’m old school – you work and earn the right to own a home. What I don’t understand is if these ‘landlords’ can do it then why would you want to line their pockets when you could do the same and own your own home? Is it sheer laziness on these ‘renters’ who opt not to have to worry about maintenance? Where has our pride gone? To Ipads, notebooks, dating services, fancy technology? Mobility, are you kidding me? Before I purchased my home in ’86 we were renters and we moved 12 times in 12 years. Each time at lease renewal there was always some repair that the landlord would not fix and most of the time we spent our own money to fix them. I have pride in what I own and I just don’t get it with the mind-set of these renters out there. If we become a world of renters, what comes next? Do we not care that every day one of our rights under the constitution is being eroded and taken away? This country’s founders fought hard and long to preserve those rights and yet today, there isn’t even any pride in that either. Sad, very sad!