Corporate investors may become your landlord as they buy more Florida real estate

More corporate landlords in Florida’s rental market

As more people move to Florida, there’s a changing trend in the real estate market: instead of having a private landlord, you might have a big corporation managing your rental property.

TAMPA, Fla. - As more people move to Florida, we know rent prices are going up, but there’s another interesting trend happening in the real estate market. Instead of having a private landlord, you may have a big corporation managing your rental property.

Corporate investors now own hundreds of thousands of rental properties in the state, capitalizing on the state’s quick growth and minimal rental protections, but some residents aren’t happy with the lack of ‘mom-and-pop’ landlord management.

Corporate real estate investors own well over 100,000 single family homes in Florida, with more than 25,000 of those in the Tampa Bay area. There was a major spike in corporations buying properties in 2021 after the pandemic.

READ: More than 50% of Americans opting for 'rent-first' lifestyle, survey finds

"I think that COVID really, really changed things. Not only with acknowledgment to the interest rates, but the culture, our lifestyles, everything," said Allie Paige, a Tampa realtor.

Although some renters in these communities are concerned about the impersonal aspect of corporate versus a mom-n-pop private renter, Paige says it isn’t always a bad thing.

"You think a corporation is maybe safer and so you don't want to go with a mom-and-pop landlord because you're not 100 percent sure you know what's going to happen. You think that you can't trust a larger corporation, but we trust large corporations every single day... when there is a corporation there are going to be checks and balances and there's more people to reach out to. It's not just somebody who owns this property and can turn their phone off and not respond to you."