Built-to-Rent Communities Make the Decision Between Buying and Renting a No-Brainer for Some!

Gabrielle Brand inspected single-family houses and condominiums after selling her family’s four-bedroom home in Atlanta and moving to Arizona for her husband’s job transfer. She was looking for a home for herself, her husband, Trevor Brand, and their 2-year-old daughter. The couple settled on a brand new four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home in Litchfield Park, a Phoenix suburb. However, instead of purchasing it, they are renting it. the pearl doha

The Brands were “extremely careful” while choosing their new home because their previous home in Atlanta was custom built, according to Mrs. Brand. She claimed they were eager to move into their two-story stucco house in the gated community of Las Casas at Windrose. It features a fenced-in backyard, premium vinyl flooring that looks like wood, and a kitchen with light gray granite counters and stainless steel appliances. The family has views of the White Tank Mountains and downtown Phoenix and is within walking distance of a playground. Las Casas is located in a highly rated school system, which is a crucial deciding factor. The Brands pay a monthly rent of $2,969 dollars. According to CoreLogic, this is 47 percent more than the median rent for a four-bedroom single-family house in metropolitan Phoenix, which was $2,018 in March.

The Brands are among the thousands of people who can afford to buy a home but choose to rent instead, ranging from millennials to empty-nesters. These renters are looking for built-to-rent communities, which are new single-family home developments that developers aim to rent rather than sell. These tenants are lured to the premium features and finishes, amenities, and outstanding school systems that these rental communities offer, rather than the high price of single-family houses today or the bidding wars.

According to Tim Sullivan, senior managing principal of Zonda, a housing-market analysis organization, a single-family home designed for rent commands a higher price than an existing single-family home that is subsequently rented. Because the built-for-rent homes are new and typically developed as part of bigger, master-planned communities with facilities such as pools, walking trails, playgrounds, and fitness facilities, the premium can range from 10% to 20% or more, he added.

Traditional house builders are rapidly joining the built-to-rent market for a variety of reasons, including strong demand from a variety of demographic groups. In March, Lennar Corp., one of the country’s top house builders, announced the launch of Upward America Venture, which was initially funded with a $1.25 billion equity investment from Centerbridge Partners, Allianz Real Estate, and other institutional investors. The partnership will buy single-family houses for rent in high-growth cities across the United States, with plans to buy more than $4 billion worth of new single-family homes and townhouses from Lennar and other house builders.

Andrew McCarthy, 58, is a well-known actor and filmmaker who has appeared in films such as “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Weekend at Bernie’s,” and “Less Than Zero.” He is the author of “Brat: An ’80s Story,” a memoir (Grand Central). Marc Myers was the person he chatted with.

My mother was standing at the door of my fourth-grade classroom when I looked up. She’d arrived to take me out of school. Something horrible had happened at home, I thought. Instead, she took me to see “Pippin” in New York.

We acquired last-minute matinée tickets in Times Square and ended up at the first row, in the middle. Before singing a song, one of the actors gave me a wink. My first performance sowed a seed.

In Westfield, New Jersey, my family resided in a three-bedroom Colonial. You arrived through a Dutch door, which was white with green shutters. The top portion of the building was always open.

My father and mother had four sons. Stephen was four years my senior, while Peter was 112 years my senior. Justin was a year and a half younger than me.