Author: Brad Beckett

We have seen this data pop up before.  People are moving away from expensive, high-tax, over-regulated states to places with overall better climates.  However, a recent story in the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com) takes a look at a trend among more-mobile workers who are moving to smaller cities and taking their jobs with them. “One of the bummers is that they are not necessarily joining the workforce,” said Sheila Smith, a real-estate agent in Boise. Many of the out-of-town arrivals she sells to work from home or commute to jobs in distant cities, she said. “People who do…

According to their latest Origination Insight Report, Ellie Mae says that closing rates rose to a new high with the closing rate on all loans at 77%, up from 76.8% in June. Closing rates on purchases increased to 79.3% in July, up from 78.8% in June, while closing rates on refinances dropped slightly to 72.9% in July, down from 73.4% the month prior.  The average time to close was at 42 days in July, the average time to close a purchase dropped to 43 days and the time to close a refinance increased to 40 days.  Ellie Mae’s Origination Insight…

Local Market Monitor, a National REIA preferred vendor, recently released their National Economic Outlook for September, 2019 where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook – September 2019 By Ingo Winzer The number of jobs in August was up just 1.4 percent from last year, the smallest increase in the last two years, and down significantly from the 2 percent rate of January. Any further slowing will be the worst since the big recession. That won’t necessarily lead to another recession – certainly not one of that epic scale – but the slowing…

Believe it or not, in about a week the Autumnal Equinox will take place (the first day of Fall is 9/23) and that means it’s time to start thinking about lawn-care for the upcoming months. The following infographic from The Home Depot lays out exactly what needs to be done to prepare your yard for the winter months so it’s in tip-top shape for Spring. Happy Friday!!!! Hat tip to The Home Depot.

We like these kinds of surveys because they always point out what we real estate investors already know – that investing in real estate is not only a smart choice but the best choice for the long run!  That being said, the folks over Sophisticated Investor conducted a survey asking 2k US respondents which investments they regarded as the safest for long-term retirement investing. They used Google Surveys and targeted men & women between the ages of 35 to 65+ from coast to coast. They asked them which investments (from a list) do you view as the “safest” for long…

National REIA’s Charles Tassell was the featured guest on a recent episode of The Lobbying Show podcast where he discussed the real estate investing industry as well as his experience working in politics & government. “Charles has helped develop policy for dozens of municipalities, counties, and states. He’s worked on several pieces of legislation dealing with economic development, fair housing, and environmental issues. He also helps train local chapters of REIA in organizing, coalition building, and best practices for hiring contract lobbyists.” Click here to listen on the Lobbying Show home page.

On a recent episode of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money, Jim interviewed the since-retired CFO of Home Depot, Carol Tomé, who shared some of her vast experience with The Home Depot as well as what the future holds.  Tomé was with The Home Depot for 24 years.  Among the many items they discussed were Home Depot’s new B2B personalized experienced program they’re rolling out as well as how millinnenals are now buying homes and seeing them as investments.  Indeed…. “They’ve told us through our research, ‘We want to work on our house because we think it’s a good investment,’” Tomé said…

We have kept our eyes on that rapidly retiring cohort known as the Baby Boomers.  With that in mind, a recent article on Realtor.com caught our attention.  They put their number-crunchers to work to come up with a list of the top 10 cities experiencing a “boomer boom.”  To get their list, they calculated the counties with the greatest numbers of incoming people aged 55 and up (per capita), and identified those places that have seen the biggest increases over the past two years (using U.S. Census Bureau numbers). They then they selected the primary cities from all of those…

According to recent data from the Associated General Contractors of America, construction employment increased by 14k jobs in August and was up 177,000, or 2.4%, over the past 12 months.  In addition, they also report that the number of unemployed jobseekers with construction experience remained near historic lows.  AGC officials said that 80% of contractors reported they were having a hard time finding enough qualified hourly craft workers to hire. “Construction employment gains would likely have been higher if firms could find even more people to hire,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Our survey found that 91 percent…

Online flipping site Opendoor recently acquired OS National, a national title & escrow firm.  According to CNBC, the purchase allows them to integrate title, escrow and closings into their online buying & selling portfolio.  Last year they purchased Open Listings, an online real estate brokerage that focused exclusively on representing buyers. “Title and escrow has always been a major pain point in the homebuying and -selling process,” an Opendoor spokeswoman told CNBC. “This acquisition will enable us to start mitigating that pain point with deeper integration with OSN.” Click here to read the full story at CNBC.com.