Business
Exclusive: Big landlords jump into the homebuilding business as demand for single-family rentals surges
#Big #landlords #jump #homebuilding #business #demand #singlefamily #rentals #surges
Jake and Stephanie Murphy are moving into a new single-family rental home built by American Homes 4 Rent.
Diana Olick | CNBC Real Estate Correspondent
As demand for single-family rental homes surges, big landlords are jumping into the homebuilding business to shore up falling supplies.
The push comes as more Americans have the flexibility to work from anywhere and are looking for larger spaces with outdoor areas.
“This market is very undersupplied. There are not enough quality homes for the number of American families,” said David Singelyn, CEO of American Homes 4 Rent, which has built more than 100 rental-only communities in the last five years.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, there were 13,000 new single-family homes started as rentals in the first quarter of this year, up 63% from a year ago. Homes-built-for-rent still represent just 5% of the home building market, but that’s up from the 2.7% historical average, according to the association.
In Mooresville, North Carolina – about 30 miles north of Charlotte – American Homes 4 Rent’s newest development includes more than 220 rental homes with access to amenities including a pool and fitness centers. Landscaping and maintenance is included in the rent.
Jake and Stephanie Murphy, who’ve been able to work remotely since the pandemic, are among those who relocated to the community after selling their home in California. They could afford to buy, but opted to rent a four-bedroom home for their family for $2,400 a month.
“We’re just not sure if the housing prices will really stay where they are currently. So we didn’t want to buy at the peak and then have them go down in a couple of years,” said Stephanie Murphy, who is 29.
The Murphys also said they liked the flexibility of renting as they learn about a new area.
The number of rentals is now falling slightly, as some smaller landlords sell their homes at the top of this pricey market. But Singelyn expects to keep building homes for rent over the next few years based on the strengthening demand he said he’s seeing.
“How many inquiries are we getting? How many showings? How many applications are we getting on every available home? It’s two to three times greater today than it was two years ago before the pandemic,” Singelyn said.
Other companies investing in the build-for-rent market include Lennar, DR Horton, Taylor Morrison and Toll Brothers. Invitation Homes, the largest publicly traded landlord, last year went into a joint venture with homebuilder Pulte Homes to build more rental homes.
Investment in single-family rentals – both buying older homes and building new ones – has grown dramatically. The sector saw investments of about $3 billion in 2020, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. In 2021, the figure surged to $30 billion. It’s expected to reach $50 billion this year as larger institutional investors, homebuilders, and landlord rush into the market.
Like most big landlords, American Homes 4 Rent got into the business during the Great Recession when millions of homes went into foreclosure. The company snapped up cheap, distressed properties, often on the auction block, and turned them into lucrative rentals.
There were 11.6 million single-family rental households in 2006, at the last housing peak. That figure rose to 15.5 million in 2014 after the housing market crashed, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
But the growing demand and tightening supply also mean homes-for-rent are getting less affordable. Nationwide, single-family rents are up more than 13% at from a year ago, according to CoreLogic.
“A shortage of single-family properties available for rent has plagued the market, pushing rents up at record-level rates,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. She noted the the number of single-family rental properties listed early this year was well below pre-pandemic levels.
Back in Mooresville, North Carolina the Murphys are watching how the market plays out. But Jake Murphy said he doesn’t believe homeownership is part of the American Dream, and is enjoying renting for now.
“I’m excited because you look around the neighborhood, there’s like Texas license plates and New York, and then we have California,” he said.
Business
Exclusive: If You Answer Yes to Any Of These 7 Questions, Your Workplace Is Probably More Toxic Than You Think – TalkOfNews.com
#Answer #Questions #Workplace #ProbablyMore #Toxic
The year was 1944, and the Allies were at war. In Washington, the precursor agency to the CIA had an idea on how to help.
Their plan: Write and publish a how-to guide to toxic workplaces, and smuggle it to sympathetic workers behind enemy lines who hoped to sabotage the Axis from within.
Not everyone could carry a gun or blow up train tracks and military installations, the thinking went, but they could make their workplaces so inhospitable and inefficient that they might slow down the Nazi war machine.
The guide was called the Simple Sabotage Field Manual. You can read the whole thing online, today.
What’s most fascinating is how many of the things that we complain about in business today were almost the exact same things that Allied spies advised doing to create toxic workplaces eight decades ago.
In fact, if you’re running a business, it’s worth asking whether any of your employees seem to practice these behaviors regularly.
Do they insist on holding meetings when less-intrusive means of discussion will do?
“Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done … When possible, refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration.’ Attempt to make the committees as large as possible–never less than five.”
Do they talk on and on and on, at length?
“Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate ‘patriotic’ comments.”
Do they insist on revisiting things that have already been decided?
“Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions. … Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.”
Do they treat colleagues and the people who report to them unfairly?
“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
Do they seem to have constant excuses for not working?
“Contrive as many interruptions to your work as you can: when changing the material on which you are working, as you would on a lathe or punch, take needless time to do it. If you are cutting, shaping or doing other measured work, measure dimensions twice as often as you need to. When you go to the lavatory, spend a longer time there than is necessary. Forget tools so that you will have to go back after them.”
Do they seem paralyzed and unable to act?
“Advocate caution. Be ‘reasonable’ and urge your fellow-conferees to be ‘reasonable’ and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on. … Be worried about the propriety of any decision–raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.”
Do they have a hard time working with colleagues?
From the sabotage guide:
“Never pass on your skill and experience to a new or less skillful worker. Give lengthy and incomprehensible explanations when questioned. When training new workers, give incomplete or misleading instructions.”
Do they set fires at work, or else call in false police reports to send emergency workers to the wrong parts of the city?
OK, obviously this one would go beyond just creating a toxic workplace, and the fact that they’re on the list is a reminder that the sabotage guide was in fact intended for warfare.
But, if some of the other items on this list seem a little familiar, maybe it’s worth an investigation. You might realize your workplace is more toxic than you think.
Business
Exclusive: Spirit delays shareholder vote on merger hours before meeting to continue deal talks with Frontier, JetBlue – TalkOfNews.com
#Spirit #delays #shareholder #vote #merger #hours #meeting #continue #deal #talks #Frontier #JetBlue
A Spirit Airlines plane on the tarmac at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on February 07, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Spirit Airlines on Wednesday delayed shareholder vote on its proposed merger with Frontier Airlines until July 8, hours before a meeting scheduled for Thursday so it can further discuss options with Frontier and rival suitor JetBlue Airways.
It is the second time Spirit has delayed a vote on its planned combination with Frontier and extends the most contentious battle for a U.S. airline in years.
Spirit originally scheduled Thursday’s vote for June 10 but had delayed that for the same reasons.
Both Frontier and JetBlue have upped their offers in the week before the scheduled vote approached.
“Spirit would not have postponed tomorrow’s meeting if they felt they had the votes,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry consultant and president of Atmosphere Research Group. Spirit didn’t comment on whether that is the case.
“We compliment the Spirit Board for listening to their shareholders, who clearly were not supportive of the Frontier transaction, and adjourning the Special Meeting,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said in a statement later Wednesday.
“It’s clear that Spirit shareholders have now handed the Spirit Board an undeniable mandate to reach an agreement with JetBlue.”
“This is like the end of a soap opera episode,” Harteveldt added.
Frontier and Spirit first announced their intent to merge in February. In April, JetBlue made an all-cash, surprise bid for Spirit, but Spirit’s board has repeatedly rejected JetBlue’s offers, arguing a JetBlue takeover wouldn’t pass muster with regulators.
Either combination would create the United States’ fifth-largest carrier.
JetBlue has fired back at Spirit, saying it did not negotiate in good faith, setting off a war of words between the airlines as they competed for shareholder support ahead of the vote.
Frontier didn’t immediately comment about the postponed vote.
Spirit shares were up about 2% in afterhours trading, while Frontier was up more than 1% and JetBlue was down 1%.
Business
Exclusive: Get hype for the first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – TalkOfNews.com
#hype #images #NASAs #James #Webb #Space #Telescope
Very soon, humanity will get to view the deepest images of the universe that have ever been captured. In two weeks, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — NASA’s super expensive, super powerful deep space optical imager — will release its first full-color images, and agency officials today suggested that they could just be the beginning.
“This is farther than humanity has ever looked before,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a media briefing Wednesday (he was calling in, as he had tested positive for COVID-19 the night before). “We’re only beginning to understand what Webb can and will do.”
NASA launched James Webb last December; ever since, it’s been conducting a specialized startup process that involves delicately tuning all 18 of its huge mirror segments. A few months ago, NASA shared a “selfie” marking the successful operations of the IR camera and primary mirrors. Earlier this month, the agency said the telescope’s first images will be ready for public debut at 10:30 AM ET on July 12.
One aspect of the universe that JWST will unveil is exoplanets, or planets outside our Solar System — specifically, their atmospheres. This is key to understanding whether there are other planets similar to ours in the universe, or if life can be found on planets under atmospheric conditions that differ from those found on Earth. And Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, confirmed that images of an exoplanet’s atmospheric spectrum will be shared with the public on July 12.
Essentially, James Webb’s extraordinary capacity to capture the infrared spectrum means that it will be able to detect small molecules like carbon dioxide. This will enable scientists to actually examine whether and how atmospheric compositions shape the capacity for life to emerge and develop on a planet.
NASA officials also shared more good news: The agency’s estimates of the excess fuel capability of the telescope were spot on, and JWST will be able to capture images of space for around 20 years.
“Not only will those 20 years allow us to go deeper into history and time, but we will go deeper into science because we will have the opportunity to learn and grow and make new observations,” NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said.
JWST has not had an easy ride to deep space. The entire project came very close to not happening at all, Nelson said, after it started running out of money and Congress considered canceling it entirely. It also faced numerous delays due to technical issues. Then, when it reached space, it was promptly pinged by a micrometeoroid, an event that surely made every NASA official shudder.
But overall, “it’s been an amazing six months,” Webb project manager Bill Ochs confirmed.
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