As the homeownership rate creeps lower, a number of builders--including Toll, Lennar and Ryland--are testing out and in some cases diving head-first into the rental market. Here, Sharon O'Malley takes a comprehensive look at the emerging hybrid business model.
While the Fredrick, Md.-based builder might not make a fuss over the money he donates, the hundreds of staff hours spent on charity work, or his participation on local nonprofit boards and committees, the recipients of those kindnesses do.
How far out is too far out? That calculation is being rethought as suburban town centers grow increasingly walkable, making the 'burbs every bit as sexy as the urban core.