re: What should be done about investors buying up homes?

The government will always be involved in most every aspect of our life. More importantly they will always complicate things and make life more expensive and miserable. Governmental influence is one of the four factors which affect value related to real estate.

For the past two decades, investors were often permitted to obtain financing for single family residential properties with the same terms and conditions (30 year amortization with a 30 year fixed interest rate) as individuals. If the investor buying a single family dwelling were forced to obtain mortgage financing terms from a 'non-conventional loan' perspective they would seek an alternative investment. Simply put, their loan terms would be similar to another investor which is purchasing a machine shop or office building (20 year amortization with 5 year fixed interest rate).