"The Case for Upzoning"

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"The Case for Upzoning"

Last month, the city council of Berkeley, California approved a resolution that called for the end of exclusionary zoning by 2022. It might not be surprising that a progressive enclave like Berkeley passed such a measure but communities of all political leanings are starting to reconsider both the intended and unintended consequences of restrictive zoning laws. That begins with the acknowledgment that many of those laws have been used to discriminate in housing far beyond the Fair Housing Act of 1968, while also advancing the perception that thriving suburbs consist of for sale, single family homes surrounded by manicured lawns and picket fences. Thankfully, municipalities are challenging those narratives by using upzoning to combat housing shortages and affordability concerns, which in turn will help make suburbs more accessible and inclusive.

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"The Work from Anywhere"

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"The Work from Anywhere"

According to United Van Lines, move out requests from San Francisco and New York to any destination were up 23% and 45%, respectively, versus the same period in 2019. And in San Francisco specifically, Apartment List reported that the share of users interested in moving to a secondary city increased by 9% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Statistics like that sent real estate professionals scrambling to figure out where those people were headed and cities such as Austin, Dallas Fort-Worth, Denver, Nashville, and Raleigh found themselves among the top destinations.

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“Capital Flooding Built-For-Rent (BFR)”

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“Capital Flooding Built-For-Rent (BFR)”

Anyone who has been paying attention to the commercial real estate investment world recently has likely taken notice of the tremendous popularity of the built-for-rent (BFR) sector. As an early investor in the space, we receive many calls and messages from individuals who are trying to better understand what’s going on...

The past 6 months alone has seen a dizzying sequence of announcements from major home builders, investment managers, and publicly traded companies announcing ambitious plans to invest heavily into the single-family rental (SFR) industry.

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"The Rise of the Home Office"

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"The Rise of the Home Office"

Back in May, Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey surprised many when he sent a company-wide e-mailing stating that employees could work from home "forever." Dorsey cited Twitter's focus on decentralization and its need to support a workforce capable of working from anywhere given the circumstances brought forth by COVID-19.

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“Public REITs VS Private Real Estate Investing”

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“Public REITs VS Private Real Estate Investing”

We sometimes get questions comparing our development projects to publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs):  Why would I invest in private real estate if I already own REITs in my 401k?  Is the REIT market a leading indicator for private real estate values?  What should I consider when balancing my real estate exposure?

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“Behind the Numbers of America's Largest Landlords”

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“Behind the Numbers of America's Largest Landlords”

Wall Street's wager on high earning suburban renters is in full view as major industry players are choosing to double down on their SFR investments despite the pandemic.  One publicly traded REIT, American Homes 4 Rent (AMH), recently announced that a $225 million deal that it made with J.P. Morgan Asset Management in February to build rental houses was increasing to $650 million!  How did this happen while nearly every major real estate company in the country had a moratorium on new deals?

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“Single Family Rental Communities in a Recession”

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“Single Family Rental Communities in a Recession”

If you are anything like us, you are probably confined to your home seeing constant headlines about COVID-19 and its effects on literally everything. Unemployment is rapidly rising. The stock market is volatile. Travel has stalled. Nobody knows when this is going to end. Maybe this summer, maybe next year.

As real estate investors, that means that we have to explore scenarios to see how our favorite real estate sector - single-family rentals (SFR) - will fare in this market environment. There’s a lot of factors at play, so by no means is this an article on what to do or what will likely happen. The purpose of this piece is mainly to touch upon what a SFR is and how the asset class might perform during a prolonged recessionary environment.

To start, let’s talk about what a SFR is.

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