BlackRock (BLK, NYSE) is a great company and the stock has fared very well over the last year.
They’re a great company in many ways. They were excellent employers (I worked for one of the group in NYC many years ago.)
I think they’re just doing what any aggressive company does. They are buying a lot of “distressed” properties (according to a realtor member of the family), but this could be either good or bad. In some cases, the properties are occupied by crazy hoarders and have been seized in city tax sales so Black Rock is buying them from the city and then hiring local realtors to work on the deal, which sometimes involves relocating the crazy hoarder whose family has had nothing to do with her for decades.
So I don’t think we should get hysterical.
It depends on what they do with the properties. There is pressure against home ownership, which has nothing to do with Black Rock, and towards temporary situations in smaller premises. So we shall see.
But honestly, I think BlackRock is focused on the money and not on ideology, but will take advantage of whatever current is strongest and most profitable.