They can't do it without getting creamed by the market (which is exactly what's happening now). They're a public company, which means they need to report earnings quarterly. All of those carrying costs come straight out of earnings. Worse, they're a public tech company, which are usually valued on having consistently increasing revenues and high margins (Zillow had something like 80% margins before Zillow Offers). If they have a year of massive losses investors are going to lose confidence in their business model, tank the stock, and oust the CEO.
I suspect that Blackrock or whoever buys the portfolio is going to make massive amounts of money off of it, though. Financial firms are setup to hold assets for long periods of time and even out gains and losses, and their investors expect this.
There’s also the reality that unoccupied homes rot from the inside out. It turns a traditionally appreciative asset quickly into a depreciating asset that, when looking at Zillow, also creates a bit of a market trend since comps are also common in pricing a house.
Banks had this same issue with the foreclosure issues following 2008. And it was largely why some just….didn’t forclose or in other cases struck deals to allow the previous owner to stay on temp basis.
I suspect that Blackrock or whoever buys the portfolio is going to make massive amounts of money off of it, though. Financial firms are setup to hold assets for long periods of time and even out gains and losses, and their investors expect this.