Blackstone's Invitation Homes Hires New CFO

Blackstone Group's Invitation Homes, the largest owner of single-family rental houses in the U.S., hired Ernest Freedman from Apartment Investment & Management Co. to become its chief financial officer.

Freedman, who held the same position at the Denver-based real estate investment trust, will start at Invitation Homes on Oct. 14, the company said. John Schissel, the current CFO, will stay on through a transition period. Apartment Investment & Management has about 50,000 rental units at almost 200 communities from California to New York.

Invitation Homes has been hiring executives with experience working for large publicly traded apartment landlords to manage its massive rental empire. Blackstone, through Invitation Homes, owns almost 50,000 houses in 14 markets including Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix. The private equity firm snapped up foreclosed properties after values fell as much as 35 percent from their 2006 peak.

Jonathan Gray, head of real estate at New York-based Blackstone, has said that while the company’s rental business will eventually tap public equity markets, it isn't in a hurry. The four publicly traded house-rental firms have struggled to convince investors they can operate efficient businesses, with shares of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust down 13% this year and American Residential Properties Inc. down 6%.

Before joining Apartment Investment & Management in 2007, Freedman worked for Ernst & Young LLP, General Electric Co.'s commercial real estate group and HEI Hotels & Resorts.