Here's something interesting:  Florida's own Transcendent Investments Management (TIM) is one of the pioneers in the new trend (check our earlier posts on this subject) of investors buying distressed single family residential properties and then holding them as rental properties-- the new single family rental REITs.

Who is TIM?

Transcendent Investments Management is based out of Aventura, Florida, as a private equity company working with investors both inside and outside of the United States.  According to its website, TIM is able to "combine the nimbleness, responsiveness and creativity of a smaller firm with the scale and reach of a major operator."

Which TIM does seem to be doing. 

Back in 2008, its first fund involving distressed properties focused upon Freddie Mac homes with capitalization of $100,000,000, successfully investing in foreclosed REO properties around the country (Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and other hard hit housing markets) and then holding most as rentals (90%). 

That was four years ago.  TIM's head honcho, Jordan Kavana, has been quoted as explaining this early strategy of targeting distressed homes as rental investments because TIM projected a return at 15 to 20%. 

TIM's Second Turn at Bat in 2012

Now, Transcendent Investments Management is doing this again. Their second fund is targeting $250,000,000 to invest in distressed single family properties and every last one of these homes will be held by TIM as rental investments.  TIM plans to wear the hat of landlord for the next five years, and it will part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's new scheme that helps investors like TIM buy up big bunches of REO properties for just this sort of thing.

Where will these new REO properties come from?  According to Kavana, TIM is working with brokers and partners across the country to find the best deals for its purposes.  And TIM isn't tracking the economy here: TIM isn't watching the economy for signs things are getting better; TIM is touting itself as a company that makes its ROI by being a "capital provider in the inefficient market for distressed properties."

The Build U.S. Back Program(TM)

TIM as a goal in mind, something that it is promoting as its Build U.S. Back(TM) program. 

Read this for yourself and ponder how successful TIM is going to be, and how much Florida's future will benefit from innovative strategies like this one (quoting from its website):

Build U.S. Back™ is a novel approach to rebuilding our American residential communities and restoring aspiring Americans to the dream of home ownership.

This program is unique because it is based upon a partnership with Fannie Mae, whose benevolent mission is to make residential home ownership affordable to Americans.

Build U.S. Back™ began in phases; first with a pilot program in Miami-Dade County Florida later expanding to four additional counties either in Florida or in other locations in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

Our goal is to put Americans back into homes they can call their own. Recent statistics clearly demonstrate the damage that predatory lending (and irresponsible lending practices) have done to the real estate market.

Foreclosures are at an all-time high. Banks and quasi-governmental agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have acquired huge portfolios of REO property and Build U.S. Back™ provides the perfect vehicle to get those homes off the books of those organizations and into the hands of needy Americans seeking to fulfill the American dream of homeownership.

Once our pilot programs demonstrate the viability of our business model, Build U.S. Back™ will roll out a national program with heavy emphasis on those communities hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, where many persons dispossessed of their primary residence will be offered a path to renewed homeownership.