A Boring Dystopia

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Jeff Bezos-Backed Real Estate Company Is Launching A New Fund To Acquire More Single-Family Homes Across The U.S. (finance.yahoo.com)

submitted 11 months ago by wanderingmagus@lemmy.world to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world

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[–] MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Zillow lost their shirt doing the same thing.

[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Zillow was trying to flip.

[–] MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

True. Outright rent-seeking is certainly typically safer than flipping.

I think the risks that crushed Zillow are still relevant: Trying to do something at national scale requires a situation where lack of local knowledge is unnecessary. And housing has proven a few times not to be that.

I would bet on Amazon to come up with an "investment" scheme that externalizes the extreme local market risks to their "partners".

[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I just don't like large corporations buying up the housing. It just drives the cost up. I am not against local landlords. I had rented many times when I didn't want to buy and I appreciate clean, affordable, and well-maintained properties. Local landlords can only buy so many properties before they run out of cash, as such the market limits itself. Bezos can buy a lot of homes before he even puts a dent into his cash funds. There are times when corporate ownership makes sense, I had a friend who traveled to BFE for weeks a time and his company owned a house where he could stay. They always had someone out there for weeks or months at a time.

[–] MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Agreed on all points.

Some communities pass laws to keep investor landlords out entirely.

Amazon buying rental property might also be ruled illegal under current anti-trust laws.

I don't know the best approach, but I don't expect good things to come from Amazon getting into the landlord business.

[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Amazon isn’t involved. This is another company.

[–] MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Good point, but really beside the point.

Anyone who thinks Bezos' controlling interests in both companies won't cause public harm should consider my fine selection of bridges that I'm selling for ridiculous bargains.

[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 0 points 11 months ago

He will not cause harm because of Amazon, he will cause harm because he's Bezos.