Author: Brad Beckett

In late April the U.S. Census Bureau released their state population counts form the 2020 census that will, among many things, be used to determine how many congressional seats and electoral votes each state receives.  The Cook Political recently put together short analysis of what this means for the 50-state composition of the next Congress as well as the electoral map across the nation.  They show that only 7 seats are shifting between the states, with Texas being the big winner.  In addition, they point out that Republicans need to pick up 5 seats in order to win control of…

It is often said that elections have consequences…here’s a good example:   The Wall Street Journal is reporting (reposted on Realtor.com) that tucked into President Biden’s new $1.9 trillion spending package is a provision going after 1031 exchanges.  According to the report, Biden’s proposal would abolish 1031 exchanges on real-estate profits in excess of $500k.  In addition, the WSJ points out that a recent congressional tax committee report estimated that the 1031 tax break would save property investors more than $41 billion between 2020 and 2024.  That is, of course, $41 billion that would get reinvested and not spent on…

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales were up 1.9% in March, 2021.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) rose to 111.3  In addition, they report that year-over-year contract signings were up 23.3%.  In an optimistic tone, the NAR says these increases are indicative of a high demand for housing.  Indeed… “…With mortgage rates still very close to record lows and a solid job recovery underway, demand will likely remain high….Low inventory has been a consistent problem, but more inventory will show up as new home construction intensifies in…

The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2020, was 331,449,281.  This figure represents a 7.4% increase from 2010’s number.  Today’s infographic from the Census Bureau illustrates the percentage of change in resident population, for all 50 states (including D.C. & Puerto Rico).  The most populous state is California and the least populous is Wyoming.  The fastest growing state was Utah and the state that gained the most numerically since 2010 was…drum-roll please….Texas.  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday! Hat tip to the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices were up 0.9% in February and up 12.2% from one year ago.  The FHFA produces the nation’s only public, freely available house price indexes (HPIs) that measure changes in single-family house prices based on data that cover all 50 states and over 400 American cities and extend back to the mid-1970s.  The FHFA’s HPIs are built on tens of millions of home sales and offer insights about home price fluctuations at the levels of the nation, census division, state, metro area, county, ZIP code,…

On a recent episode of the Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast, Brian Hamrick talked with Joe Evangelisti about what it means to become a high performance real estate investor and the “Five Roads to Victory” that Joe teaches his clients and team members.  Joe is a second-generation builder who jumped into “fix & flips” after serving in the U.S. Navy “Seabees.”  He has amassed a real estate empire consisting of single-family homes, multi-family apartment buildings and self-storage.  He is also a high-performance coach for real estate investors and entrepreneurs and serves as the Visionary and CEO to…

The U.S. government is reporting that the national vacancy rates for Q1, 2021 were 6.8% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing.  The national homeownership rate for Q1, 2021 was 65.6%.  In addition, approximately 89% of the housing units in the United States in Q1 were occupied and 11% were vacant. Owner-occupied housing units made up 58.3% of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 30.6% of the inventory. Click here to read the full release at the U.S. Census Bureau.

We all love top 10 lists and they often spell out places we wished we would have invested in before they made the list! Realtor.com, citing recent survey data, says nearly half of U.S. adults would prefer to live in a small town or rural area.  They point out that the “idyllic appeal of small-town life” has taken on a whole new dimension during the coronavirus pandemic.  To that end, their number-crunchers took a look at metros with a population <50k and then factored in affordability metrics such as median home price, year-over-year price change, ownership costs (as a percentage…

According to their Q1 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, ATTOM Data says, despite moratoria, there were a total of 33,699 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2021.  While this figure is down 78% from one year ago, it does represent a 9% increase from Q4, 2020.  In addition, there were 11,880 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in March 2021.  Again, while down 75% from one year ago March’s number is up 5% from February.  Properties foreclosed in Q1, 2021 had been in the foreclosure process an average of 930 days, up 8% from Q4, 2020 and…

The U.S. Government is reporting that sales of new single-family houses in March, 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,021,000 which is 20.7% higher than February’s revised rate and is 66.8% higher than one year ago.  The median sales price of new houses sold in March was $330,800 with an average sales price of $397,800.  There were an estimated 307k new houses for sale at the end of March representing a 3.6-month supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.