In March, “60 Minutes” featured a report on real estate investment trusts buying houses that otherwise would have been bought by prospective individual homeowners.
The premise was that those firms were driving the spike in prices and rents. It featured Jacksonville.
Amid rising home and rental prices, the report focused on Tricon Residential, but it also mentioned another player, Invitation Homes.
At the end of second quarter of 2022, the company owned 83,093 houses throughout the U.S., including 1,928 in Northeast Florida.
In the second quarter, it bought 14 homes in the market comprising Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
The average price was $417,284.
According to the Northeast Florida Realtors Association, the median price of a home in the four counties in June was $400,995.
Kristi DesJarlais, Invitation Homes senior vice president of communications and PR, offered insight into how the company works.
She said Invitation Homes and others like it represent 4% of the investment purchases around the country.
Over the past five years, Invitation Homes said it has purchased 0.5% of the homes in markets where it operates.
DesJarlais said her company charges the market rate for rents and the company’s customers have an annual average family income of $130,000.
Invitation Homes’ optimum property features an open-concept floor plan with three bedrooms, two baths and a yard and garage. The neighborhood should have access to transportation and good schools.
When a home is purchased, repairs are made and kitchens are equipped with new appliances and vinyl wood floors.
Invitation Homes manages its properties and employs 21 full-time maintenance workers in the Jacksonville market and uses 66 specialty trade companies to handle larger repairs.
Annually, the company handles 500,000 maintenance requests nationally on its 86,000 properties.
When one renter moves out, the house is inspected and worn appliances are replaced.
As property managers, the company operates on annual leases – no vacation or Airbnb rentals.
“It behooves us that people stay in the home for a longer period of time,” DesJarlais said.
The company inventory’s occupancy rate is 98%. Those not rented are being refurbished or are being placed on the market to be sold.
The company’s business plan targets three kinds of customers – aspirational, transitional and preferential.
“We provide them that opportunity to live in a really nice neighborhood and rent a home that they would love to buy and live in,” DesJarlais said. Like transitional customers, they are trying out different areas. They may be looking around Florida and are not limited to Jacksonville.
