Author: Brad Beckett

Director of Education & Outreach, National Real Estate Investors Association

The pest control & rodent removers over at Orkin say for the 10th year in a row Chicago continues in its first-place spot on their Top 50 Rattiest Cities List, with Los Angeles and New York occupying the number 2 & 3 positions.  Orkin says cities on their Rattiest Cities list are based on the number of new rodent services highlighting demand and efforts that residents & businesses have taken to treat rodent issues. “Rodents can cause a lot of structural problems for property owners…They can get in around piping and even chew through walls. These tiny culprits tend to…

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National REIA Chapter Boston REIA is reporting that a new law was recently signed by Massachusetts Governor Healey with the stated aim of protecting tenants from the negative impact of eviction records. This law, part of the Affordable Homes Act, allows tenants to seal certain eviction records from public view and prevents these records from appearing on credit reports. It will come into effect on May 5, 2025. Boston REIA says that the new law won’t take effect until May 2025, giving the courts and credit reporting agencies time to adjust. Landlords and rental agents will also need to update…

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The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in September, 2024 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,148.8 billion, which is 0.1% higher than August’s revised number.  However, September’s revised estimate is 4.1% higher than one year ago.  Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $913.6 billion in September, which is 1.3% higher than August’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

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According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), home prices were up 0.3% in August, and up 4.2% from August 2023 to August 2024.  The FHFA HPI is the nation’s only collection of public, freely available house price indexes that measure changes in single-family home values based on data from all 50 states and over 400 American cities that extend back to the mid-1970s. “House price appreciation in the United States remained modest for the sixth consecutive month…The slow but continued house price growth and the effect of locked-in interest rates led to persistent housing…

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Rental information site Zumper recently released their latest monthly National Rent Report for October, 2024.  According to their data, median rent for 1-bedroom apartments was $1534 (up 0.1%) and $1,910 (down 0.1%) for two-bedrooms.  Be sure to check out their entire list of the top 100 metro areas. “As new supply levels across the country peaks at historic highs, our national rent index reflecting stable rates highlights the resilience of rental demand across the U.S…This sustained high demand can be linked to several economic factors, including low unemployment, easing inflation, and continued wage growth”   Said Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades.…

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This Monday, November 11th, is Veterans Day… Here’s a little history about this important day;  In 1918, the armistice ending 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.   Later, it would become a holiday to honor veterans of World War I and then in 1954, after World War II & the Korean War, it was renamed “Veterans Day” to honor all Americans who served in the military during times of war and peace. Be sure to take…

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According to the ADP National Employment Report for October, 2024, private sector employment increased by 233k jobs and annual pay was up 4.6% year-over-year. The ADP National Employment Report is an independent and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on the aggregated and anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees. Click here to read the full report at ADP.

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The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 4.2% annual increase for August, 2024.  Their 10-City Composite increased 6% and their 20-City Composite increased 5.2%, year-over-year. “Home price growth is beginning to show signs of strain, recording the slowest annual gain since mortgage rates peaked in 2023…As students went back to school, home price shoppers appeared less willing to push the index higher than in the summer months. ”  Said Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). Click here to read the full report…

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According to their “advance” estimate, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is reporting that America’s real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.8% in Q3 2024. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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