“Own Nothing, Be Happy”

Bet that headline grabbed your attention right! That report is accurate as of about a week ago; but what does it really mean and how does it affect you? The short of it is, a Dallas based institutional investment firm bought almost 2,000 single family homes, AND paid $495 million of it in cash. Why would a company with so much money on hand, decide to just drop over half a billion dollars into the real estate market all at once? Because Wall Street is now moving to control the housing market, and they are doing it right in our face.

Look at it this way… I’m sure you played Monopoly before right. No matter how many players start, you usually end up with about 2-3 players in the end that have all the property, and are basically laughing in your face and squeezing you out of every $17 rent you collect, before you are even able to count your change! We are watching this in real time folks. We can disregard that “Invitation Homes” already owns about 80,000 homes across the nation, and the fact that their motto is “Live in a great house without the headache and long-term commitment of owning”. No need on focusing on their brilliant marketing plan….I want to focus on how our or THIS generation is lacking understanding on the wealth that real estate brings, and opting for a more free lifestyle where they can rent, leave, and go on about their day. Sounds great huh, that’s what they want you to think.

What I’m trying to make clear is, is if one entity controls a large share of any market, then they can drive the price up as high as they would like. So if you’re wondering why rents are climbing so fast lately, its because you have several big corporations driving up the price because they have the most variety to offer, and they don’t HAVE to care about the little man at the bottom that doesn’t ultimately have a choice.