An online platform that works with institutional and small-time investors to buy and manage single-family rental homes across the U.S. is launching in three new markets.
Mynd has been quickly expanding across the country, giving investors the opportunity to own rental homes in cities across the country.
The company is now expanding its offerings outside the Sun Belt by entering Indianapolis, one of three new expansion markets, which reflects a subtle change in strategy for the company.
“If you’re going to create a diversified portfolio of homes, Indianapolis is more current income and less appreciation,” said Doug Brien, co-founder and CEO of the Oakland-based company. “By having exposure to different markets, it allows people to have better risk-adjusted returns. Enough upside over time that they’re also making profit from rent.”
Mynd also expanded into Jacksonville, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee.
The platform allows people interested in making short-term money through rent and long-term money through home price appreciation to choose a market, buy a home and let Mynd handle pretty much everything else. The platform also facilitates sales and insurance.
“There’s a stat that says something like 85 percent of all investors invest within 60 miles of their house,” Brien said. “It’s just never made any sense to me. Why should I think that the 60 miles around me are the best? What are the chances that the 60 miles around me is the best place to invest?”
Mynd now offers homes in 25 markets, serving as a full-service digital platform that manages the rental home on behalf of investors and handles renter relations and maintenance. Mynd’s retail investors can watch the performance of any investment in real-time.
It has eight institutional investors and about 4,500 independent, or retail, investors buying homes across the nation.
The company’s recent growth further proves single-family rentals are a sought-after asset, it said. There are plenty of indications that’s the case.
Institutional investors and hedge funds have been teaming up with home-builders to buy tens of thousands of newly built single-family homes to manage as rentals, a phenomenon known as built-for-rent. Investors have largely targeted cities across the Sun Belt in recent years.
Jacksonville was one of the hottest markets for investors in the last quarter of 2021. Investors picked up nearly 1 in 3 homes sold during that period, a 157 percent year-over-year increase.
Mynd also has properties in Charlotte, Las Vegas and Atlanta, each among the most popular targets for investors late last year.
While many of the markets Mynd serves are in the Sun Belt, it also operates in the Pacific Northwest, Reno, Nevada, Denver and the Bay Area.
The company works both with institutional investors, including Invesco, for whom Mynd is looking to buy potentially tens of thousands of homes, Brien said.
Since 2021, Mynd has grown to manage over 11,500 homes. It expects revenue to double by the end of the year, and employee headcount has grown more than doubled. It has entered eight markets since April 2021.
The latest expansion widens Mynd’s footprint in Florida, which is riding a wave of popularity by both individual buyers and investors.
“You have jobs coming there, good cost of living, new household formation growth,” Brien said of entering Jacksonville. “It’s a good place to be, and you can still get in at pretty good prices.”
Nashville has been on the map for a number of years, meaning investors would be buying in relatively high in that market. But Brien said he sees it as a smart market to enter.
Indianapolis represents a bit of a market shift for the company. The upper Midwest city has traditionally not seen the type of price appreciation that other markets have experienced.
“There’s been strong job growth,” Brien said. “We think it’s an up-and-coming, compelling, affordable with good job growth market where investors can come in and get good, solid yield in good, stable but growing neighborhoods.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the number of markets Mynd is operating in, which is 25.