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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 22 April 2025 C O V E R S T O R Y T he single-family rental sector has been a critical part of the American housing ecosystem for decades. While the notion of owning a home is a core tenet of the so-called "American Dream"—even without the iconic white picket fence— the fact remains that many Americans are not in an economic position to buy a home or secure a mortgage even in the best of conditions, much less in a time when inflation is still cooling, mortgage rates remain relatively elevated, and insufficient inventories continue to keep home prices high. Single-family rental (SFR) offers an alternative, a middle-ground compro- mise between homeownership and multifamily renting that provides the conveniences and perks of a single-fam- ily home while removing some of the economic costs and barriers to entry. That has long positioned the sin- gle-family rental segment as a place ripe with opportunities for both investors and companies servicing the sector. In recent years, factors such as high demand and limited supply have helped single-family rents often stay ahead of the multifamily equivalents. While recent months have seen those trends begin to shift as home construction has ramped up and multifamily develop- ment has slowed down, demand for SFR homes is expected to remain strong, with Zillow putting the typical asking rent for single-family homes at $2,189 in a March 2025 Rental Market Report. Year-over-year, according to that same report, rents have increased in 47 of the 50 largest metro areas, and "the median household now dedicates 29.3% of its income to secure a typical rental—up from 26.9% before the pandemic." Stakeholders ranging from large institutions to mom-and-pop investors continue to make SFR a priority, and as long as that remains the case, there will be a need for service providers to perform tasks ranging from due diligence inspec- tions to property scopes and renewal inspections. Safeguard Properties, a staple of the property preservation marketplace for more than three decades, has recently expanded its offerings into the SFR sector. Leading the vanguard of this initiative for Safeguard is John Elsey, Safeguard's VP of Single-Family Rental. John Elsey graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in construction technology. He spent over a decade in the new home industry, where he became a Graduate Master Builder with the NAHB. He entered the SFR industry in 2014 with American Homes 4 Rent, where he was the VP of Home Services, encompassing both occupied maintenance and turn management nationally. He most recently served as the VP of Turns for Mynd Inc. and Roof- stock before transitioning to Safeguard Properties. "The demand for SFR properties, although already strong, increased even more when interest rates began to drastically increase in mid-2022," Elsey explains. "The demand for housing has not abated, but the macro-environment has placed homeownership out of reach for much of the general public. The demand for housing has pushed rental home prices to historic levels." A Shifting Landscape Breeds Shifting Priorities F actors such as higher interest rates, inflation, and supply challenges have combined to help cool the overall housing market over the past year, with many existing homeowners remaining "locked in" by low rates acquired during the pandemic and its aftermath. "The balance of homeownership vs. renting has shifted greatly since 2022," says Elsey, with many American families watching the prospect of homeown- SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE OF SFR Safeguard's John Elsey, VP of Single-Family Rental, discusses how the company is leveraging its nationwide property preservation vendor network to support the SFR sector. B y DAV I D W H A R T O N D A V I D W H A R T O N , Editor-in-Chief of MortgagePoint, has 20 years' experience in journalism, having worked for the Five Star Institute since 2017. Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published con- tributions in both online and print media publications. He can be reached at David. Wharton@thefivestar.com.