NYT: First-time homebuyers competing with Wall Street-backed investors 

It’s always been tough to be a first-time buyer, stretching to get into a starter home. Today, there’s an extra challenge: an unprecedented level of competition from investors backed with Wall Street money, according to a New York Times story. At first, it seemed an opportunistic response to the housing bust. “Once the bargains dried up, the investors were expected to stop buying. Except they didn’t stop.”