Author: Brad Beckett

Where are the best places to flip houses in America?  While they don’t have an actual crystal ball, WalletHub recently looked at over 170 American cities, using over 29 different criteria such as market potential, cost and quality of life to come up with a list of the best places to find flips.  However, for all of you wannabe Tarek & Christinas out there, they do caution that it’s not quite as easy as it is on TV: If you’re among the millions of HGTV viewers who’ve seen an episode of “Flip or Flop,” you’ve probably thought about the thrill…

We have posted a lot about cyber security and how to avoid getting caught in its snare.  Today’s infographic from Panda goes over the some of the most common social media scams on the internet and how to spot them.  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to Panda.

For the first time since 2008, the Federal Reserve recently cut rates by one quarter point.  In a recent a recent episode of Real Estate News for Investors Kathy Fettke explains what the rate cut means for real estate investors and sheds more light on the current economic landscape.  She says this action marks a dramatic shift in monetary policy. “So we will most likely see a strong economy through the rest of 2019, and probably up until the election. And, if the economy remains robust, there’s a strong chance Trump will get re-elected….These are however, uncertain times. The best…

Redfin says that millennial homebuyers are less likely to undertake creative measures to help pay for their mortgage.  According to their research, only 51% said they’d use a creative strategy to help buy their new home versus 60% who would, just one year ago.   To get their data, Redfin surveyed over 2k people who planned to buy or sell a home over the next 12 months, zeroing-in those born between 1981 & 1986 (millennials).  Indeed… “Millennial homebuyers in 2019 are less likely to take extraordinary measures to afford their mortgage payments, such as getting help from their parents or co-ownership…

Where are the most affordable places for renters?  Zillow recently ran the numbers on affordability (% spent on rent and median rent costs) to come up with the 10 best cities in America for renters.  They point out that renters typically spend 27.8% of their income for rent, which all of their top 10 cities fell well below.  Indeed… “Affordability is a relative concept in housing. Markets that seem affordable because their median rent is on the low side may actually be unaffordable to people who make the typical wage there. So, we measure affordability by the share of median…

Recent data crunched by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing show that housing’s share of America’s gross domestic product (GDP) continued a downward trend, which they say is more evidence of the the lack of housing supply caused and affected by ongoing housing affordability issues. According to their research, housing’s share of GDP fell to 14.6% with the home building and remodeling component making its sixth consecutive negative contribution to GDP growth, declining to 3.1% of GDP.  Housing-related activities contribute to GDP through residential fixed investment (home building, multifamily development, and remodeling) and housing services, (rent and utlities). Click here to…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for August showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,233 and the median two-bedroom rent was $1,477.  Year to date, one bedroom prices are up 2.1% and two bedroom prices are up 2.2%.  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 on all data available in…

Are there still affordable lake towns left in America?  That’s a good question and one that the folks over at Realtor.com put pen to paper to figure out.  They say you don’t have to be a “gazillionaire to afford a home in bona fide lake town – you just need to know where to look.”  So they took a look listings with phrases such as “lake view” and “lake house” in over 900 metro areas and measured the percentage of vacation homes, dining, drinking, and outdoor activity establishments.  Indeed…the secret is now out. “Buyers should consider how will they personally…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in August was $1,075 with two-bedroom units coming in at $1,360.  They say the trend they identified in July (where decliners were moving more sharply downward than gainers) has become less pronounced in both one and two-bedrooms.  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.…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in June was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,287.0 billion, which was 1.3% below May’s revised rate.  Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $507.2 billion in April, 0.5% below May’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.