Bloomberg is reporting that credit card spending is surging. According to a recent data from the Nilson Report, credit card spending surged 9.4% last year to a total of $3.5 trillion. It was also revealed that credit card delinquencies were on the rise as well. This was all bolstered by reports from the Federal Reserve that U.S. household debt climbed in Q4 of 2017 at the fastest pace since 2007. Click here to read the full story on Bloomberg.
Author: Brad Beckett
Brad Beckett
Director of Education & Outreach, National Real Estate Investors Association
Ignorance of the law, or even skirting the rules because that’s how it’s always been done can get you every time. Recently, the SunHearld (Biloxi, Mississippi) reported that several real estate investors in Gulfport were charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for allegedly holding secret meetings to rig bids and allegedly deciding ahead of time who was going to bid on a particular house and how much the others might be paid for not bidding. The investors claimed it was all happening out in the open and that the attorneys representing the mortgage companies knew what was going on. Either…
National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedrooms dropped slightly to $1,026. This figure is down 1.9% since the beginning of the year and marks the third consecutive month of falling rent prices. 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. “Bucking last year’s trends, national median one-bedroom rent prices continue their downward trend…
In today’s technology-driven times, there is critical need for skilled tradespeople. Electrical, plumbing and carpentry jobs are projected to see double-digit growth rates in the approaching years but will lack qualified men & women to fill them. That’s why The Home Depot Foundation recently announced it was investing $50 million to train 20,000 skilled men and women to work in the industry pipeline by 2028. The funds will flow through the Home Builders Institute to train veterans and U.S. Army soldiers who will soon be returning to civilian life, high school students and disadvantaged youth. Hat tip to…
The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that total construction spending in February was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.2 trillion, which was barely above January’s revised estimate. However, February’s number is 3% higher than February 2017. In addition, private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $533.4 billion in February, and nonresidential construction was $448.6 billion. Total public construction spending was $291.1 billion, which was 2.1% lower than January’s estimate. Click here to read the full release on Census.gov.
Real estate investors need to be aware of not only the laws and governmental regulations of the areas in which they’re investing, but also, and perhaps more importantly, they need to know the political landscape as well. A recent episode of the Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor podcast talked about the places where politics and Real Estate Investing connect and how real estate investors and landlords can support the candidates and legislation that, in turn, support the industry. They have a conversation with RPOA president Tom Koetsier, a successful real estate investor that also sits on the Grand…
What are the least & most popular cities for millennial home buyers? Consumer financial matchmaking site LendingTree recently analyzed mortgage requests and offers for borrowers ages 35 years and under (between 2/1/17 and 2/1/18) along with requests from the total population of mortgage-seekers based on the location of the property to be mortgaged. They then came up with a set of rankings generated from the percentage of total purchase mortgage requests received by LendingTree from millennial buyers. Be sure to look at the entire 100-city list. “From a housing market perspective, tight inventory is boosting prices in many markets and…
Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for April showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment dropped to $1,184 (down 8.9%) while the two-bedroom average grew 1.1% to $1,414. In their report they said “…it seems a bubble has popped since rent has fallen back down to below $1,200.” 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…
A REIA leader from South Florida has a warning for people getting excited about reality TV shows that make flipping look like the road to easy money; “…they are unrealistic in the profits they portray.” A recent article in Miami’s Community Newspapers caught up with Ryan Kuhlman (leader of Broward REIA and Miami-Dade REIA) who warns fellow investors that it is hard work and perseverance that will make you successful in real estate investing, not necessarily forking over big bucks for someone’s training program or mimicking what they see on reality TV shows. “The fact is that you can be…
In their recent Inventory & Price Watch report, Trulia reported that, while the national housing inventory has risen 3.3% over the last year, the available inventory of starter homes has hit a 6-year low. In addition, they report that the quality of available starter homes appears to have diminished and are less likely to be move-in ready with fixer-uppers constituting 11.2% of the market, compared with 10.3% in 2012. “First-time home buyers face a perfect storm this spring. Affordable, move-in ready starter homes have become harder to find amid rising home prices and mortgage rates. While new home construction hit…
