*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
Jacksonville has been hit with one of the nation’s hottest financial sector trends — REO-to-rental investors, where hedge funds, private equity firms and banks raise millions in capital to buy foreclosed or distressed homes in bulk at bargain prices, rehab them and turn them into rentals. Traditional landlords and owner-occupants would have had a difficult time making a dent in the massive amount of property on the market since the recession. These large institutions and private equity funds have bolstered the recovery of Jacksonville, as professor of City and Regional Planning Dan Immergluck notes. “There’s evidence in markets where they’ve moved in quickly, prices turned around,” Immergluck said. “They were falling, and they either stabilized or they started going up. I think they’ve helped put a floor under properties in some places, and I think that has some positive impacts.”
