Single-family rental home giants form trade group

[Eleena de Lisser]

Article from March 26, 2014:

Single-family rental home giants form trade group

How do you know when an industry is getting serious?

When it forms a trade group. And that's what the burgeoning business of big-money-backed single family rental homes did today.

A handful of the single-family rental giants that scooped up at least 130,000 homes in Southern California and elsewhere over the last two years launched the National Rental Home Council on Wednesday, a Washington, D.C.-based operation that will "educate" and "advocate" about the "professionally-managed single-family rental industry."

The coalition includes arms of Wall Street giant Blackstone Group, Santa Monica-based Colony Capital, Agoura Hills-headquartered American Homes 4 Rent, and Oakland's Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust. Combined, these firms and a few others have spent billions of dollars over the last two years buying up thousands of homes, with an aim to become giant landlords.

The group's website is full of data and stories about the upsides of renting instead of owning your house, the benefits of "professionalizing" property management and the neighborhood and economic impacts of all this home-buying.

http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-mo-rental-giants-plant-flag-in-washington-20140326,0,7368877.story#ixzz2yq6a5DjP