Investors benefit from both sides of ‘Rent vs. Own’

Not everybody chooses – or is able – to own a home, but somebody must own the roof over our heads.

Investors are pouncing on foreclosure bargains and then turning the properties into money-making rentals, taking advantage of both sides of the “Rent vs. Own” debate.

And, investors have a lot from which to choose: The government-sponsored enterprises, which include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, own more than 200,000 single-family foreclosed homes, and banks own about 600,000 more.

“Taking into account the enormous stockpile of REO properties currently held by the GSEs, the auction and bulk investment in REO to rental properties may indeed be the next gold rush,” Diane Gozza, the executive vice president of Integrated Mortgage Solutions, wrote in National Mortgage News.

“Much in the spirit of the 1848 Gold Rush, there will be risks and tough lessons learned. But, this private-sector imitative has the potential to be the catalyst for housing market recovery.”

To help accelerate investor interest, the Federal Housing Finance Administration recently launched a pilot foreclosure-to-rental program, offering up investors the chance to bid on 2,500 foreclosure properties owned by Fannie.

But some housing experts have argued that such REO-rental programs aren’t needed because investors are already flooding the market to buy up foreclosures and a government intervention isn’t necessary. “