Author: Brad Beckett

RentCafé says “they don’t make ’em like they used to” and to prove their point, they recently highlighted the top 20 oldest buildings still renting today – some of which are more than 135 years old. “The oldest apartment building on our list is the quaint Pendleton in Cincinnati, OH. Dating back to before the Civil War, the red brick structure is alive with residents inhabiting its 78 rental units. And it’s not just the 171-year-old Pendleton that still has some life left in it! Some of today’s apartment communities witnessed the glitz and innovation of the Gilded Age, while…

The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) says that 78.2% of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by November 6th, 2021.  This figure is 2.2% lower than those who paid rent through November 6, 2020.  The data comes from the NMHC’s Rent Payment Tracker which uses data from 11.8 million professionally managed apartment units across the country – representing a wide variety of market-rate rental properties that can vary by size, type and average rental price. Click here to read more at the NMHC.

How would you like to own your own jail?  Or maybe rehab it into an Airbnb or maybe just fix-n-flip it?  Nestled along the Arkansas River in the little town of Ozark, AK, sits a former jail that was recently listed for just $250k.  The former jail was built in 1914 (constructed with locally sourced sandstone) and is listed on the National Register of historic places.  Its listing says it contains of 2,512 square feet and has five bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms.  Be sure to check out the cool photos of the old cells in the listing. Click here to…

We first posted about Zillow Offers back in 2017 and just last week, we learned that Zillow is planning to sell about 7k homes as it seeks to recover from what Bloomberg called a “fumble in its high-tech home-flipping business.”  Now fast-forward a few days and we learn that Zillow has decided to pull the plug on its Zillow Offers, making the the following statement on their website: “Zillow Offers is winding down, which means we are not making any new offers on homes. We’re focused on helping existing customers and selling our remaining inventory. If you’re looking to sell,…

A recent report from Redfin says that as of late October, a third of homes sold went under contract within seven days of hitting the market – and they say that rate has been in the rise for 6+ weeks.  In addition they point out that their Homebuyer Demand Index (measuring requests for home tours and other home-buying services) rose 1.2 points during the week ending October 24, and was up 10% from a year earlier. “Homes continue to sell quicker and quicker,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “There are still plenty of homebuyers lying in wait who missed…

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates for Q3, 2021 were 5.8% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing.  The national homeownership rate for Q3, 2021 was 65.4% (same as Q2).  In addition, approximately 89.3% of the housing units in the United States in Q3 were occupied and 10.7% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 58.4% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.9% of the inventory. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Insights (HPI) report, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 18% year-over-year in September.  CoreLogic predicts that home prices will increase on a month-over-month basis by 0.1% through October, 2021, and on a year-over-year basis by 1.9% through September, 2022. “Remote work has allowed many employees to buy homes further away from their office. These homes are often in the suburbs or exurbs, where property prices and population density are lower and single-family detached housing more common.”  – Dr. Frank Nothaft   Chief Economist for CoreLogic Click here to read the full report at…

Next Thursday, November 11th is Veterans Day… Here’s a little history about this important day;  In 1918, the armistice of the First World War officially took effect on the 11th day, of the 11th month, at the 11th hour.  The following year President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11th as Armistice Day.   It would later become a holiday to honor veterans of World War I and then in 1954, following World War II & the Korean War, it was renamed “Veterans Day” to honor all American veterans who served in times of war and peace.  Stay safe and Happy Friday!!…..And, be…

According to the ATTOM Data’s Q4 2021 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, zombie foreclosures comprise only one of every 13,300 residential properties in U.S.  However, they do caution that this figure is likely to rise following the recent end of the national foreclosure moratoriums.  Across the country, there are 1.3 million (1,312,410) residential properties sitting vacant representing 1.3% (1 in 75 homes).  In addition they point out that most neighborhoods literally have no empty, blight-inducing homes at any stage in the foreclosure process.  Indeed…. “Zombie foreclosures are in a holding pattern this quarter – at least for now,” said…

According to various news reports, Zillow is planning to sell about 7k homes as it seeks to recover from what Bloomberg calls a “fumble in its high-tech home-flipping business.”  They report that the company is seeking roughly $2.8 billion for these houses and will likely sell them to a multitude of buyers rather than packaging them in a single transaction.  Interestingly, an analysis by KeyBanc Capital Markets says that of 650 homes owned by Zillow, two-thirds were priced for less than what the company paid for them.  Indeed… “The move to offload homes comes as Zillow seeks to recover from…