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Corporate Buyouts

Close-up of a For Sale sign
Daylina Miller
/
WUSF
For decades, the seller of a house would pay the commission of the buyer’s agent, which has usually been 5-6%. If a new settlement is approved, that rate could be cut in the next few years, according to Stephen Brobeck with the Consumer Federation of America.

Corporate Buyouts

How investors and large corporations that are buying more single-family homes are putting a pinch on homeowners and renters across the greater Tampa Bay region.

Investors are buying more single-family homes across the U.S., and a growing number of them are large corporations.

This market trend has made it harder for homebuyers in the greater Tampa Bay region, who are increasingly outbid by investors for the same homes.

And in some cases, the large corporations backed by Wall Street are also squeezing out mom and pop landlords.

In the neighborhoods where large corporations are buying up the most single family homes, homeowners and renters say there’s major downsides.

This WUSF series was reported in partnership with the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida.