Author: Brad Beckett

According to the NAR’s 2018 Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, the share of first-time buyers remained at 33% for 2019, which they say is a historic low.  In addition they report that a third of first-time home buyers used down payment help from family and friends.  The NAR also reports that that while tight inventory has caused steeper housing prices, home sellers in many parts of the country have been able to take advantage of the situation and have received a median of 99% of their asking price and sold their within about three weeks. “Low inventory conditions hurt…

Wireless fidelity, aka WiFi…We practically take it for granted nowadays.  Whether we’re looking up property records while sitting at a local Starbucks or crunching data at the office most of us use Wifi at some point during the day.   It’s practically ubiquitous.  However, this technology only started taking off about 15 years ago.  So, what is the history & future of wifi?  Today’s infographic from none other than Netgear sheds some light on the subject…Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to Netgear.com.

What does $1 million get you for a home in different cities across the county?   Well, Zillow says what that home looks like depends heavily on a town’s character, its building history, market pressures, legal guidelines and demographics.  They remind us that the house your money could buy in your town might look nothing like one you’d get across the country, or maybe even in the city next door. “In some cities…a million-dollar home is likely not to be a standalone house. In these places, it’s normal for owners of million-dollar properties to share walls with their neighbors…” Click here…

We first posted about this last summer when Airbnb announced that they were fighting back against Jersey City (a NJ suburb of New York City) over new laws that severely limit short-term rentals.  So, Airbnb gathered the requisite number of signatures to get it placed on November 5th ballot and then spent over $4 million on a campaign to repeal the legislation.  Now, fast forward to this past election day in which the measure was soundly upheld by voters with over 69% of the vote.  According to reports, Airbnb’s opponents, a coalition of  hotel industry and union workers, spent around…

What are the best “small cities” in America?  Well, of course WalletHub put pen to paper to find out!  They say “no two small cities are made equal” but which ones stand out among the rest?  To get their list they compared more than 1,200 cities with populations between 25k and 100k using 42 key metrics of livability – ranging from housing costs and school quality to restaurants per capita.  Indeed… “Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few of its advantages.” Here are…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in November was $1,071.  ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and then track the month-over-month percentage change. To avoid small sample sizes, they restrict their analysis to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds. Be sure to check out their extensive city list. Click here to read the full report at ABODO.com.

According to the latest Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, ATTOM Data is reporting that there were over 1.5 million (1,527,142) vacant single-family homes and condos in Q4 of 2019.  In addition, the report says there were about 288,300 homes were in the process of foreclosure, with 8,535, or 2.96% sitting empty as “zombie” foreclosures.  “While pockets of zombie foreclosures remain, neighborhoods throughout the country are confronting fewer and fewer of the empty, decaying properties that were symbolic of the fallout from the housing market crash during the recession.”  Said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. Click…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for November, 2019 showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,237 (down 0.3%) and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,480 (down 0.3%).  Year to date, one bedroom prices are up 2.5% and two bedroom prices are up 2.6%.  Zumper analyzes rental data from over 1 million active listings across the United States. Data is aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. The report is based…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in September was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of f $1,293.6 billion, which is 0.5% above August’s revised number.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $511.4 billion in September.  That figure is 0.6% higher than August’s revised figure. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that pending home sales increased 1.5% in September, which they attribute to historically low mortgage rates playing a significant role in marking two straight months of gains.  The NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings) increased to 108.7 in September, up 1.5% from August.  In addition, they reported that year-over-year contract signings were up 3.9%. “Even though home prices are rising faster than income, national buying power has increased by 6% because of better interest rates,” he said. “Furthermore, we’ve seen increased foot traffic as more buyers are…