8/1     Fuck you.  go speculate on real estate somewhere else.
        \_ To repost the original question... "Tell me if this is legal and
           feasible. We all know about the housing boom and possible bubble.
           The bubble hasn't happened yet, but if it happens, it'll burn a lot
           of individual investors. Since it's a risky business, how about
           starting a corporation that borrows money from banks and from
           individual investors to buy up huge amount of properties, and maybe
           even buy sections of big cities? They can make huge profits by
           renting out properties or flipping them to other individual
           investors? If things go sour, the corporation shares the risks
           so no one gets burned badly, and worst case comes they can
           always declare bankruptcy. Is this legal? Possible? Can
           corporations buy blocks of land or buy cities and make huge
           profits since they have no competitors?"
           \_ Why not just sell crack,  you worthless fuck?
              \_ You seem to have a lot of anger. What's wrong?
                 \_ I've had to move three times in three years because of
                    places that were bought out by real estate speculators
                    who drove all the tenants out.  In one case, a place I moved
                    out of three years ago is still vacant because the soulless
                    motherfucking cunt ass shits who bought the place are simply
                    sitting on it, presumably to sell later.  I know, I should
                    have just bought a place like everyone else, blah blah blah.
                    Well, I'm sorry I commited the crime of wanting to get
                    an education and delaying my entry into the workforce at the
                    time whenn all the bloodsuckers decided to fuck low income
                    renters with their little speculative shitfest.
                    \_ I'm sorry you hate the spirit of capitalism that makes
                       United States the best country in the world. If you
                             \_ We lived in my grandfather's basement until he
                                asked us to leave.  She couldn't find an
                                apartment.  She had some savings and used them
                                to buy a cheap house so we'd have a roof.
                                She didn't "owned her own successful business",
                                she took over my grandmother's failed business
                                and made it work again with 16-20 hour days
                                when said grandmother died and my father
                                divorced her and she had to move back to the
                                US.  She made it, I made it, and I know people
                                whose family had far more than we ever did who
                                got financial aid.  Enough of a sob story for
                                you?  Who are you to ask?  -JOhn
                       hate America so much, you should get the fuck out of
                       my country and move to Commie Europe.    !williamc
                       \_ Go fuck yourself.  I couldn't get a financial need
                          scholarship because my mom bought a cheap house with
                          all of her savings so we'd have a roof over our
                          heads while she spent 20 years resuscitating a
                          failed business (successfully) that she'd taken over,
                          only to have it triple in value.  You're not a
                          capitalist investor, you're a third-rate
                          opportunistic tick.  -John
                          \_ Your mom owned her own successful business
                             plus her house was paid for, yet you still
                             felt entitled to financial aid? Who are
                             you calling a tick???
                             \_ We lived in my grandfather's basement until he
                                asked us to leave.  She couldn't find an
                                apartment.  She had some savings and used them
                                to buy a cheap house so we'd have a roof.
                                She didn't "owned her own successful business",
                                she took over my grandmother's failed business
                                and made it work again with 16-20 hour days
                                when said grandmother died and my father
                                divorced her and she had to move back to the
                                US.  She made it, I made it, and I know people
                                whose family had far more than we ever did who
                                got financial aid.  Enough of a sob story for
                                you?  Who are you to ask?  -JOhn
                                you?  Who are you to ask?  -John
                             \_ Reading comprehension 101, padawan.  "Cheap
                                house" + "failed business" = "no $".  "Cheap
                                house" + "resuscitating a failed business" +
                                "real estate speculators" = "expensive house" +
                                "no $" + "people with far more but who didn't
                                grow up not believing in debt getting financial
                                aid".  Enough of a sob story?  I'm calling
                                you a tick, assuming you're the op.  -John
                 \_ This is the anger one feels when having to spend $600K
                    for some crap place that's still kind of far from work.
                    \_ ObIGotIntoTheMarketInTimeGloating.
                    \_ People are unlikely to change their investment habits
                       and it's a waste of energy to get angry, so how
                       you get your ass in an investment club and start
                       investing? If you don't have enough capital, there
                       are lots of time-shared flipping clubs you can join
                       these days. You can buy 1/4 of a house with 4 other
                       members and flip the house for 1/4 of the profit
                       (minus club fees), I've made a lot of money in the
                       past 2 years this way, and now have enough to flip
                       a few houses of my own. If I can do it, SO CAN YOU!
                       Don't wait! Do it while the market is still hot. All
                       indications show that sales of homes rose AGAIN in
                       June. Despite liberal naysayers yapping about the
                       bubble, the Bush economy is really working and
                       things are looking really good.
                       http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8758416
                        http://lin.kz/?mbl19
                        \_ Erhehehahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah
                           Didn't any of you LIVE through the late '90s?
        \_ To answer the original poster, it seems this is done with corporate
           space.  E.g., Arden Realty owns a whole bunch of class A office
           bldgs in SoCal.
           Big real estate companies owning lots of single-family homes is not
           as natural, since home buyers get a big tax break that frequently
           goes into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if they live in the
           house for two years, and if you're the big company, you don't get
           \_ Could you go into detail on this?  I'm not quite at the point of
              buying a house yet (esp. in this market), but considering it.  I
              wasn't aware that the savings were in the hundreds of thousands?
              \_ http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/050726/16039.html?.v=1
              \_ http://lin.kz/?40lym
              \_ http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/050726/16039.html?.v=1
           the tax break, so you're not as competitive.
           Persons or small/mid-size companies owning lots of apartment bldgs
           is more common.
           \_ True, rental real estate does not get the 250K/500K tax free
              treatment of residental real estate.  However, you do get to
              roll one rental unit over to the next rental unit and put
              off paying taxes on your profits.  I've always assumed that
              there are not companies owning and renting out many residential
              units because the business doesn't scale well.  And of course
              being a new landlord today is just awful for cash flow.
        \_ so let's come back to the original question. Can rental (apartment)
           companies as well as land-owning companies merge to form a single
           land owning mega corporation? Can companies own and run their own
           cities? Will the CEOs be like kings and the people who rent or
           \- like Disney?
           pay exorbitant city fees and association fees be like... peasants?
           \_ isn't that what a REIT is?
              \_ Yes. Also, look up Irvine Land Trust.
                 \_ There are also lots of real estate investor's groups doing
                    this. Someone forms a LLC and each investor puts up $x .
                    Usually it is for office buildings and the like, but
                    investors have been doing this for residences on a large
                    scale in places like Arizona, Florida, and Las Vegas.
           \_ I never understood this spectre of corporate feudalism that
              people are so afraid of.  The government is a much more dangerous
              entity as far as sliding back into feudalism is concerned.
                -- ilyas
              \_ Insofar as govt. is given broad central powers, sure. But in
                 terms of actual legal implementation of serfdom in the US,
                 look no further than Walmart.
              \_ You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
                 Another day older and deeper in debt.
                 Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go....
                 I owe my soul to the Company store. -Kentucky folk song
                 I owe my soul to the Company store. -West Virginia folk song
                 \_ http://www.ernieford.com/Sixteen%20Tons.htm
                 \_ http://lin.kz/?fmdj3
                 \_  http://www.ernieford.com/Sixteen%20Tons.htm
                 \_ It is important to remember in discussions with ilyas that
                    he is a tax payer supported grad student.
                    \_ This is a similar red herring to saying tom holub or psb
                       is a college dropout.  -- ilyas
                       \_ I don't remember either of them espousing an extremist
                          ideology that equates dropping out of school with
                          evil.  If they had, it would certainly be relevant.
                          What if you found out one of our local religious
                          conservatives worked at an abortion clinic?  Would
                          that be a red herring?
                    \_ ilyas reminds me of those old shredded wheat
                       commercials.  "The whole grain libertarian in me says
                       'FUCK POOR PEOPLE!  POWER TO THE CORPORATION!', while
                       the frosted side of me in the real world loves the fact
                       that MEN WITH GUNS are forcing poor slobs like meyers
                       AT GUNPOINT to pay for my quality education!" -meyers