How private equity is changing housing

> If there are enough vacant units available and enough supply that property values are not appreciating like crazy, someone will crack and cut the rent or sell out so they can get a better return on their money.

Your thesis here is disproven in large cities like the one I live in, Miami. Many investors / property owners here don't give a damn on getting a return on their investment so long as it doesn't go to $0 - they buy real estate sight unseen because it's a good way for the well-to-do in LatAm and Russia to get their money out of developing/regressing economies and into the USA. Half the units in the building I live in are vacant - they are owned by Brazilians, Argentines, Venezuelans, etc who want a safe haven for their money (and for Brazilians, as a base to buy loads of Apple products that they can turn around and sell back in Brazil for a 2-3x markup).

Why would they buy properties and not assets that are even easier to buy and sell such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, etc.

That said, I would probably not be opposed to restricting foreign ownership of residential real estate, if indeed it is that big an issue.

The idea is that tracking it is effectively impossible for a foreign government...and we've made that whole infrastructure incredibly easy via making it legal for LLCs to purchase homes. We don't prevent foreigners from forming LLCs, and often times there are brokers that make their vig on doing just that for wealthy foreigners - they set up a myriad of LLCs to protect the identity of a buyer, who then drops $1mm+ on a property that they will never actually use in a country they will likely never visit.

Plus, to buy stocks or ETFs or bonds or whatever, you have to register with a broker, who has to legally report each sale and transaction to the government. The point isn't the liquidity. The point is that a family can drop 200k-500k in a pretty stable asset in an incredibly less volatile environment and effectively not report it. That is worth it in the age of hyperinflation in LatAm economies. Plus, if the unit in question is in a decent location, they can escape at the first sign of trouble.

That LLC is going to have to pay property taxes or the sheriff will seize and auction off the property. And there won't be a mortgage or homestead exemption so they will be at the top tax rate. They'll probably want insurance on that property, which is more expensive for an investment property especially if it's sitting vacant, and they'll need to have electric and gas hooked up and paid so it can be temperature controlled. It will need lawn and landscaping care during the summer, and snow removal during the winter. If it's a condo then they'll need to pay association dues instead. All together that's easily well into 5 figures a year, every year, on a 200k-500k house.

They can offset this and maybe even get some cash flow by hiring a management company to rent it out, but then it's not sitting vacant, which was the original complaint.

In the case of vacant South Florida condos, sure, the LLC pays a small tax. Sure, they pay some insurance, but most of that if managed properly is absolved by the HOA (idea is that the building HOA if managed well basically mitigate a lot of longterm risk of property damage - this is the case in my building), they won't need electric or gas hooked up past what came with the unit when it was finished....most of the time the floor isn't even finished in these units.

They can offset this, as did my previous landlord who was based in China and had 5 units in the building. However, a small 10k to a family worth millions is nothing especially if it means they can escape a despotic regime at any point, and have somewhere to go, and if they need money, they can liquidate a condo VERY quickly.