The American Securitization Forum hit a new high in attendance this year in Las Vegas.
Executive Director Tom Deutsch said the only city that can now adequately accommodate the conference is the Sin City. The ASF will likely find a permanent conference home in Las Vegas, he said in opening remarks.
Las Vegas is perhaps the perfect backdrop: representing runaway millennial wealth glossing over terribly acute housing pain. It’s a great fit. Las Vegas needs all the help it can get and so does housing finance.
So it is highly suitable, all things considered, that the ASF numbers are up in part to new attendees at the conference: firms that represent REO rental management.
Ronald Mass, who works in structured products at Western Asset Management Company said in an earlier panel there will be “millions of homeowners transferring into renters in the next few years in the Unites States.”
The need for investor loans for the multifamily sector is huge, he said, and judging by private conversations last night in the bars in the Aria hotel, REO rental management will be where the money is.
But will hedge funds and private equity invest enough capital to help these renters finds quality accommodation without hiking their rent through the roof? The firms seem to think so.
The pitch is for the capital to buy the property and let the REO rental firms manage it from there.
“We tell them to ask themselves, can you find a plumber in San Bernandino?” said one such pitchman. “Of course the answer is no, and we have the network of contractors. I have a meeting to close a $4 billion deal to manage a portfolio of REOs that will need to be converted into rentals.”
Secondary firms find more and more they are stuck with distressed housing. They are confident they can securitize such multifamily portfolios but were reluctant to do so for fear of not keeping up with local code enforcements.
Many firms here at the ASF say they can handle it. All for 10 to 20 basis points in profit on the top of the rent.
REO rental firms may be new to the ASF, but they’re old at the game. They pitch a good pitch, and it looks like the secondary market is willing to take a swing.
Write to Jacob Gaffney.
Follow him on Twitter @jacobgaffney
