Author: Brad Beckett

With homeowners sitting on record amounts of equity a new startup will buy a home and rent it back to the [former] owners for up to five years.  It’s called EasyKnock and they say that with their “Sell and Stay program,”  homeowners can access their home’s equity (in as little as 21 days) by selling it to them, allowing the owners to stay put and not upend their lives.  They also allow the home to be repurchased at any point.  They say homeowners “get the money you need, on terms you can control.”  Indeed… “Our Sell and Stay program, the…

The Wall Street Journal is reporting (as reposted on Realtor.com) that so-called progressive Democratic lawmakers across the nation are proposing tighter controls and/or new taxes on landlords and property owners.  The article discusses recent efforts in Illinois, New York (city & state) and Oregon as well as celebrity Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said she wants to “stand up to the luxury developer lobby” during her campaign last Fall.  In New York state, the attitude of one assemblyman seems to sum up their mission quite succinctly;  “Landlords have had their run of the playground, and we’re taking it back,.”  However…. “Members…

Remodeling Magazine recently released their 32nd annual Cost vs. Value Report comparing remodeling projects & upgrades with the value they retain when the property is sold in 136 U.S. housing markets.  It’s all about the ROI… “While the overall changes since last year are modest, the 2019 Cost vs. Value report reflects the robust market that the remodeling industry has enjoyed over the past year. All projects covered in the report show an increase in value over the previous year…” Click here to read the full report at Remodeling.com.

A new report from RENTCafe says that high-income earners are the fastest growing renter segment in America.  Citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau, they say the annual increase in the number of high-income renter-occupied households (those earning $150k+) has been consistently growing faster than owner-occupied households.  In fact, between 2007 to 2017 those rich enough to own, but preferring to rent, grew by 175% compared 67% in homeowners in the same income bracket.  Indeed… “The attitude toward renting at any income level is changing. With renters becoming the majority population in many U.S. cities, the spike in the national…

According to a recent report from ATTOM Data Solutions (as reported by Bloomberg), 1 in 11 mortgaged properties in America are “seriously underwater” – representing over 5 million properties.  Drilling down into the data reveals that in 27 zip-codes, more than half of the homes are “seriously underwater,” meaning they have a loan-to-value ratio of at least 125%. “At the end of 2018, the most “seriously underwater” zip code was Trenton’s 08611 — in New Jersey’s capital — where 70.3 percent of mortgaged homes were valued at $100 or less for every $125 owed. The St. Louis zip code 63137…

Where are all the retirees settling down?  According to a recent article on Realtor.com, the coming “gray-tsunami” is reshaping real estate markets across the nation.  They say that 1.2 million people aged 55+ relocated out of state in 2018 –  a record high.  To that end,  they looked at all metros across America with 1/4 of the population aged 60+, filtered the listings for phrases like “aging in place,” “senior-friendly,” and “ground-floor master bedrooms,” then looked at the numbers of those 55+ moving to the area.  Interestingly, they point out one aspect of this cohort that they say is troubling:…

Which states created the most jobs and which ones lost them?  That question was recently put to the test by the NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog.  Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics total non-farm employment in December, 2018 increased by 2.6 million jobs, compared with a gain of 2.2 million in 2017. It turns out that the South created the most number of jobs by adding 1.2 million total non-farm employment to the area, while the Northeast created the least number of non-farm jobs.  The bottom-line;  just look at the map and follow the money. “Year-over-year, ending in…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, U.S. multifamily rents held steady in January, coming in at $1,420, while year-over-year growth was 3.3% – with the growth rate exceeding 3% for six months.  Yardi calls this a healthy performance and said market players are largely optimistic about 2019.  Indeed…. “Multifamily continues to run strong in terms of performance and popularity as an investment alternative. Other real estate property types—such as office, retail and hotel—have long-term structural demand issues, while non-real estate sectors including stocks, corporate bonds, emerging markets and housing are showing signs of strain as the cycle lengthens.” Click here…

One of the challenges of posting social media (besides the actual content) is how to size/resize the pictures you want to display or share.  It can be a mystery and best and an exercise in frustration at worst.  To that end the folks over at ConstantContact put together this handy size chart for the main social media platforms.  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to Constant Contact.

When you think about California, inexpensive real estate is not something that comes to mind.  In 2018 the median home price for the entire state was $539k, which doesn’t even compare to the prices when you look at cities such as Los Angeles ($795k) or San Francisco ($1,199,000).  To help put things into perspective, if you want to call it that, the folks over at GoBankingRates point out that in most places across America, you can pay less for a house and in many places you could buy several houses for the cost of just one single home in a…