The Institutionalization of the American Dream

Currently, there is a gap between what is offered via the single-family homeownership model in the United States and what is desired by home consumers. Home consumers make one of the biggest investment decisions in their lives primarily based on utilization needs. The state of the housing market,...

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Main Author: Geoghegan, James G.
Other Authors: Shen, Kairos
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2022
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144663
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author Geoghegan, James G.
author2 Shen, Kairos
author_facet Shen, Kairos
Geoghegan, James G.
author_sort Geoghegan, James G.
collection MIT
description Currently, there is a gap between what is offered via the single-family homeownership model in the United States and what is desired by home consumers. Home consumers make one of the biggest investment decisions in their lives primarily based on utilization needs. The state of the housing market, available inventory, borrowing capabilities and interest rates, and where in life the consumer finds oneself are material factors that sometimes play second fiddle to the occupancy objectives consumers pursue when deciding between renting and owning shelter. Factors influencing occupancy related decisions can range from long-term growth or downsizing requirements, job stability, geographical labor mobility, and cost of living that are sometimes in conflict with traditional societal pressures to pursue the American dream of home ownership. Even though the purchase of a home is one of the biggest investments the average American will make it rarely is evaluated solely as an investment because the timing and market conditions are normally dictated by one’s occupancy needs. This thesis introduces a more flexible housing offering for consumers looking to enter more established single-family communities, particularly in the Northeast region of the United States where the recent Single-Family Rent (“SFR”) and Build to Rent (“BTR”) models have yet to become broadly institutionalized. Due to the binary own vs rent decision tree that consumers in these established markets face, there are limited options to align investment with occupancy decisions. As a result, there is a mismatch in what single-family home ownership models offer with what consumers are looking for depending upon their particular criteria. Via institutional partnership, additional housing transaction offerings focused on optionality can be introduced into the marketplace resulting in a more expansive menu of renting and buying opportunities for consumers to ultimately engineer more tailored investment vehicles for their financial and personal needs. This unique housing offering proposal will be presented in the form of an investment pitchbook under the fictitious name – The Housing Menu. The attributes of the investment opportunity, strategy, and structure will be applied and evaluated in a case study approach to ultimately determine the viability from an institutional investment perspective as well as to present the benefits to prospective homeowners in the hope to expand on the current homeownership menu offering.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1446632022-08-30T03:33:05Z The Institutionalization of the American Dream Geoghegan, James G. Shen, Kairos Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Real Estate. Program in Real Estate Development. Currently, there is a gap between what is offered via the single-family homeownership model in the United States and what is desired by home consumers. Home consumers make one of the biggest investment decisions in their lives primarily based on utilization needs. The state of the housing market, available inventory, borrowing capabilities and interest rates, and where in life the consumer finds oneself are material factors that sometimes play second fiddle to the occupancy objectives consumers pursue when deciding between renting and owning shelter. Factors influencing occupancy related decisions can range from long-term growth or downsizing requirements, job stability, geographical labor mobility, and cost of living that are sometimes in conflict with traditional societal pressures to pursue the American dream of home ownership. Even though the purchase of a home is one of the biggest investments the average American will make it rarely is evaluated solely as an investment because the timing and market conditions are normally dictated by one’s occupancy needs. This thesis introduces a more flexible housing offering for consumers looking to enter more established single-family communities, particularly in the Northeast region of the United States where the recent Single-Family Rent (“SFR”) and Build to Rent (“BTR”) models have yet to become broadly institutionalized. Due to the binary own vs rent decision tree that consumers in these established markets face, there are limited options to align investment with occupancy decisions. As a result, there is a mismatch in what single-family home ownership models offer with what consumers are looking for depending upon their particular criteria. Via institutional partnership, additional housing transaction offerings focused on optionality can be introduced into the marketplace resulting in a more expansive menu of renting and buying opportunities for consumers to ultimately engineer more tailored investment vehicles for their financial and personal needs. This unique housing offering proposal will be presented in the form of an investment pitchbook under the fictitious name – The Housing Menu. The attributes of the investment opportunity, strategy, and structure will be applied and evaluated in a case study approach to ultimately determine the viability from an institutional investment perspective as well as to present the benefits to prospective homeowners in the hope to expand on the current homeownership menu offering. S.M. 2022-08-29T16:03:05Z 2022-08-29T16:03:05Z 2022-05 2022-05-05T17:08:17.868Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144663 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Geoghegan, James G.
The Institutionalization of the American Dream
title The Institutionalization of the American Dream
title_full The Institutionalization of the American Dream
title_fullStr The Institutionalization of the American Dream
title_full_unstemmed The Institutionalization of the American Dream
title_short The Institutionalization of the American Dream
title_sort institutionalization of the american dream
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144663
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