banks are to begin renting out their foreclosures

[Mark Coulet]

does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Chris Clothier]

I don't believe it will ever happen on any large scale. Banks may rent out the REO's in their portfolios and then sell the property, but the REO portfolios for banks are already paid for. The losses they have taken have been accrued and today they are major balance sheet priorities. As long as they are holding these assets, rented or not, they are liabilities that come with major upkeep. The banks are much more likely to sell off large pieces of their portfolios to single bidders than they are to try and enter into the long-term rental business. All my opinion, but it is one shared by a lot of fish in the reo to rental market much bigger than me.