SOLANO REAL ESTATE SCENE Wall Street landlords in Solano County

As promised, here is some interesting information about Invitation Homes and the $500 million worth of single-family dwellings they own and are leasing here in Solano County.

According to public records, Invitation Homes owns close to 1,000 houses in the county and 80,000 others in America. Tricon owns a bunch here too and 36,000 nationwide, but for today I think my readers and my Realtor friends will appreciate some of this research I have done with some help from Kathy Fetters over at Old Republic Title on these Wall Street landlords.

Wall Street investors and billionaires took advantage of the Great Recession and jumped on opportunities from 2008 to 2012 buying huge pools of delinquent mortgages for 20 cents on the dollar and took on the delinquent loans for failed mortgage companies. Other big investors made bulk purchases of REO bankowned homes from lenders that chose to sell 200 to 300 homes at a time in bulk to a single buyer at 50 to 60% of the value rather than sell them off one at a time.

Blue Mountain, right here in Vacaville, became one of the largest flippers in the country and bought thousands of homes yearly for a few years at the trustee sales one at a time and in bulk, purchased REOs from exhausted lenders that just wanted the assets off the books. On Feb. 27, 2012, everything changed when Warren Buffet told his favorite reporter, Becky Quick with CNBC, that he would buy up a couple hundred thousand homes today if he could. Here are just a few examples of what has happened in our town since then.

On Nov. 22, 2013, Invitation Homes acquired 411 Marina Blvd. in Suisun City for $182,436 at a trustee sale. This home is available today for rent at $3,050 per month via Invitation Homes property management, and if they sold it today, they would get $550,000 from one of the many frustrated pre-approved first-time home buyers looking for a four-bedroom, two-bath, 1,800-square-foot home.

The house at 740 Castlewood Court in

Fairfield is also available to rent today at $3,425 per month. This was purchased July 19, 2012, for $209,000 at a foreclosure sale, and this is a four-bedroom, twobath, 1,800-square-foot home, too. It would sell in a heartbeat for $575,000 to a couple of seniors looking to move down to a one story on a cul-de-sac and sell their huge high-maintenance two-story home.

Interestingly, public records on this property does show a first mortgage recorded against the property for $500 million with Deutsche Bank recorded in December 2016. This is called a blanket deed of trust secured against a couple thousand homes.

There are many more of these for rent today but let me share just two more.

The home at 172 Randall Ave. in Vacaville, a 1,500-square-foot, threebedroom, two-bath, is available today at $2,860 per month. This beauty was bought Aug. 14, 2013 for $230,000 and it appears it was purchased directly from the owner before the distressed seller lost the home to foreclosure. On April 28, 2015, Chase recorded a lien against the house for $636 million to secure a commercial loan. This home would sell today after five days on the market for $550,000 with multiple offers.

Finally, on Aug. 24, 2021, Invitation Homes purchased 413 Rolling Oak Drive in Vacaville for $630,000 all cash with no contingencies. This Browns Valley home probably closed escrow in 15 days and beat out all the other families that needed to obtain a loan, including our veterans and active duty USAF buyers that wanted their little ones to be able to go to Browns Valley Elementary around the corner.

They would take a loss on this one today after vacancy, repairs and commissions. They are now asking $3,445 per month rent and after property taxes, insurance, property management, vacancy and maintenance they will net a positive cash flow of $1,900 per month, which is a rate

See Porter, Page 15

ABOVE: Most of the year Lemon Coral sedum gives unbeatable lime green foliage that tumbles like a lava flow over the rim of containers.

RIGHT: Then in April in the South, uncountable yellow flowers erupt into bloom signaling the official “spring” celebration can begin.

FAR RIGHT: Containers cluster together on the corner of The Garden Guy’s patio showing Dolce Appletini heuchera, Supertunia Vista Paradise petunia and a container of Lemon Coral sedum intermingled with Superbena Imperial Blue verbena and Supertunia Mini Vista Scarlet petunia.