The LA Times main headline last Sunday was titled “Home Seekers Edged Out in Inland Market” – but it might as well have said Ventura County.

In short, it discussed how home buyers are finding it hard to get their offers accepted because investors, both big and small, are offering all cash and higher bids. In a new phenomenon I’ve never seen in my 30+ years here, private equity funds with extremely deep pockets are aggressively bidding for limited inventory – why?

Two reasons. 1) They can pay all cash for a home, rent it and have positive cash flow – cash returns that in fact are higher than keeping their cash in a savings account.  2) The real reason however, is that they believe the real estate market has bottomed, and will climb substantially faster than other investments.

Their article last Thursday had a chart that showed the median price change for Ventura County from January 2013 over January 2012 was 13.2%.

So for these investors it’s Buy, Rent and Hold!