Author: Brad Beckett

This one puts everything into perspective;  A recent “chart of the week” from the Mortgage Bankers Association illustrates how home prices, when adjusted for inflation using the CPI, are still nearly 4% below the second quarter of 2007.  The chart also shows the quarterly average for the NAR’s months supply of existing homes for sale, which is a measure of inventory that accounts for both the pace of sales and the number of homes for sale on that market. “…we are now starting to see signs of deceleration in home prices, as data for the second quarter of 2018 shows…

Where are the best places to live in America?  That’s surely a loaded question and one that Realtor.com recently put to the test for the 2nd year in a row.  They teamed up with Money magazine and looked at over 135k data points at places with populations greater than 50k.  They looked at items that included the overall economic health,  public schools, local amenities, housing, and the cost of living. “For someone who’s starting from scratch, this is a list of areas with great quality of life, healthy housing markets where affordability is important, and great overall community,” says Danielle Hale,…

We all know that when it comes to making purchases, cash is king.  However, when it comes to buying homes, more often than not, there is a loan involved.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com) says that in the city of Detroit the vast majority of buyers are paying in cash – even with rising home prices.  In the first six months of 2018, 87% of all single-family home & condominium buyers paid cash compared with 28% paying cash nationwide.  That being said, the median price of a home in the Detroit was just just…

We have seen this before…Not only do people vote with their wallets but also their feet.  Now, a new report from Redfin details how low-tax states are attracting residents from high-tax states.  Redfin says the trend of people leaving high-tax states for low-tax ones has been underway since 2010 and is accelerating. Interestingly, they report that taxes are three-times lower in the top-10 migration destinations than in the 10 places people are most commonly leaving.  Well, go figure….. “With home prices reaching new heights in many metro areas, it’s no surprise people are continuing to move away from expensive metros in…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, U.S. multifamily rents rose $2 in August to $1,412 – which they report is yet another all-time high, having now risen 7 months in a row.  Year-over-year in July, rents were up 3.1%.  Yardi says the sector’s performance is highlighted by rising occupancy rates in the face of robust supply growth. “The multifamily market, however, shows no signs of nearing the end of its cycle. While it might be overstating the case to say that the sector is picking up steam, August rent data indicates that deceleration no longer seems to be an accurate…

With one more week of Summer before us it’s time to start thinking about Fall maintenance.  With that being said there is one important element of a house that often gets overlooked and can cause a lot of financial hardship if not properly maintained…your chimney.  But what exactly are these things and how do they work?  Today’s infographic from brickrestoration.com gives us a brief overview of these smoke-removing marvels….Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to brickrestoration.com.

Are mobile homes the solution to affordable housing?  We have had several posts about these time-tested abodes and recently came across this short piece in the Knowledge Base of the Rental Property Owners Association, a chapter of National REIA located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mobile Home Investing Real estate investing is a broad term that most people associate with “buy and hold” of either single-family or multi-family residences, commercial office spaces, or rehabbing units or houses to sell. While these are great strategies for investing, they are the traditional methods and are highly competitive. The real estate market ebbs and…

What are the different kinds of technology and resources that are useful in real estate investing?  In a recent episode of the BRAG Radio podcast, Larry Goins & Co-Host Kandas grouped them  into 4 main categories: finding deals, funding deals, keeping track/organization, and connecting with other investors.  They share how investors can use technology and resources to make their processes more seamless and convenient! Click here to listen at larrygoins.com.

Recently we posted about college towns with the best returns on investment.  If you’ve invested in student housing, your property(s) probably just come back to life as students recently returned to big cities & small towns all across the country.  These investments can be very lucrative as well as a form of house-hacking – especially if you have (or soon will have) a son or daughter living there as a student.  However, a new report from Trulia suggests that not all “big” college towns offer an advantage for students living off-campus, in privately-owned housing, and says there are some locales…

Trying to anticipate the next cool place millennials will flock to can be like predicting the weather.  However, that being said, the folks over at 24/7 Wall St. crunched numbers from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to come up with the 40 top places where young people are moving.  After looking at migration to U.S. counties, they ranked them based on the number of 25 to 34-year-olds who moved there from a different county in 2016 as a share of the total county population.  Indeed… “The primary reason people move is for work. Many young people move for jobs…