华盛顿邮报 私募股权如何改变了美国郊区?(下)（在线收听）

Some of the company's tenants claim that it has made money by subjecting them to unfair rent hikes and excessive fees, which is something that the company denies.

该公司的一些租户声称，公司通过无理提高租金和收取过高费用来赚钱，但公司否认了这一点。

They have 70,000 houses, which is a remarkable number of purchases.

他们有7万套房子，这是一个可观的购买量。

One of the big advantages they have is that they're very quick.

它们最大的优势之一就是速度非常快。

At one point earlier this year, when we were looking at their figures, they were buying up to 80 homes a day or more.

今年早些时候，当我们查看他们的数据时，他们每天购买多达80套住房。

And one of the reasons that they were able to do this is that, first, they had a lot of money that they raised through private equity.

他们能够这么做的原因之一是，首先，他们通过私募股权筹集了大量资金。

And the second is that technology has changed.

第二，技术已经改变。

It's really hard to assemble that many properties.

集合这么多房产真的很难。

If they have a computerized algorithm that tells them when a home that they might like is for sale, they can close a deal or make an offer within two hours.

如果他们有一个计算机化的算法，告诉他们什么时候他们可能喜欢的房子正在出售，他们就可以在两个小时内完成交易或提出报价。

Two hours seems really fast and just seems like a whole other order of what a regular house buyer would be able to do,

两个小时似乎真的很快，就像一个普通购房者能够做的完全不同的顺序，

that instead of having a real-estate agent, who was going to house and then visiting the house and talking to other people about this house,

不需要房地产经纪人，去找房子，然后参观房子，和其他人谈论这所房子，

that if you're using an algorithm to automatically bid on or make offers on houses, then you're clearly at a pretty intense advantage.

如果你使用一种算法来自动对房屋进行竞价或报价，那么你显然具有相当大的优势。

Right. That's their number-one advantage, probably, is the speed with which they can make a decision.

是的。 这可能是他们最大的优势，就是他们做出决定的速度。

But they also have a very big advantage from having so much money.

但他们也有一个非常大的优势，因为他们有这么多钱。

You know, most people I know, when they buy a house, they put in an offer, and it's always contingent on whether or not you can get a loan from the bank to buy it.

你知道，我认识的大多数人，当他们买房子的时候，他们会提供一个报价，这总是取决于你是否能从银行获得贷款来买房子。

But these guys don't have to do that.

但这些家伙不需要这么做。

They just say, "We're going to give you an all-cash offer."

他们只会说，“我们会给你一个全款现金的报价。”

They tend to have a pretty high rate of success with their offers.

他们的报价往往有很高的成功率。

One of the things we found in our reporting was an interview with one of the executives of this operation, and he was talking about just how quickly they can move on a property.

在我们的报道中，我们发现了一件事，那就是采访了该公司的一位高管，他谈到了他们对一处房产的处置速度有多快。

It's far quicker than any regular family could do.

这比任何普通家庭都快得多。

They get automatic feeds every 15 minutes about markets across the country,

他们每15分钟就会收到全国市场的自动反馈，

and they have an algorithm that, within 15 minutes, can score the house, and they can decide whether or not it's something that they're interested in.

他们有一个算法，在15分钟内，可以给房子打分，他们可以决定这是不是他们感兴趣的东西。

So, as a result, within two hours or a couple of hours, they can get an offer out to the people who are selling the home, which is obviously so much faster than you or I would be able to move on something.

因此，结果是，在两个小时或几个小时内，他们就能给卖房的人一个报价，这显然比你或我能够采取行动的速度要快得多。

Peter, what was your reaction to hearing that?

彼得，听到这个你有什么反应?

We were pretty surprised.

我们都很惊讶。

We knew that they were a very sophisticated operation that had grown very quickly, but we didn't know anything about this computer algorithm or the speed that they could move on a house.

我们知道这是一个非常复杂的操作，发展得非常迅速，但我们不知道对这种计算机算法或是它们处理房子的速度一无所知。

It seemed astonishing. It's an astonishing advantage over a regular family.

这似乎令人惊讶的。 与普通家庭相比，它有惊人的优势。