Author: Brad Beckett

What are the best neighborhoods for buying and investing?  ATTOM Data Solutions helps answer that question with their 2018 Neighborhood Housing Index where they ranked rank over than 10k neighborhood housing markets nationwide based on six factors impacting the hyperlocal housing market: affordability, home price appreciation, school scores, crime rates, unemployment rates and property taxes.  Their top 5 markets were:  Pine Ridge neighborhood in the Naples, Florida, metro ($632,871 median price); Westlake neighborhood in the Mobile, Alabama, metro ($196,179); Union neighborhood in the San Jose, California, metro ($795,000); Westmoreland neighborhood in the Charlotte, North Carolina metro ($326,000); and Hunters Hill…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, U.S. multifamily rents rose $3 in July to $1,409 – which they report is yet another all-time high.  Year-over-year in July, rents were up 2.8%.  Yardi says the multifamily market continues to demonstrate steadiness and that growth continues to be led by secondary markets being driven by strong late-cycle economic performance. “Economic conditions remain favorable for the multifamily industry, especially in secondary markets that are leading the nation in employment growth. Domestic migratory patterns are also driving demand in key markets in Florida and the Desert Southwest. Households received an income boost via the…

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that retirement-aged Americans across the country are struggling to find housing they can afford.  To that end, the folks at smartasset.com investigated just how much money seniors spend on housing and what cities are the most expensive for seniors.  Specifically, they looked at the number of senior renters and homeowners who spend at least 30% of their income on housing.  They found two main points; Seniors who rent are more likely to be housing cost-burdened (over 2x as likely as senior homeowners) and Seniors in big cities struggle. “Many Americans miss the opportunity…

If you own rental property you will want to listen to this one.  In a recent episode of the Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast, Brian Hamrick discusses rental application fees with RPOA’s Executive Director Clay Powell about recent moves by the Grand Rapids, Michigan City Council to institute a rental application fee ordinance.  This is an issue that has ramifications nationwide and affects landlords, property managers as well as the people they’re trying to serve. It is about property rights and could actually inhibit the ability to provide affordable & safe housing to those that need it…

Are you someone who has thought about investing in a rehab project?  A recent article over on AskaLender.com looks at the process of doing a fix-n-flip and explains the process of buying a fixer-upper, remodeling and/or renovating it and then selling it at a profit.  They rightly point out that “it’s important to know what you’re doing when taking on a fix-and-flip project. If you make a mistake, your profitable investment could turn into a costly money pit.”  Indeed….always do you due diligence before making any investment. Doug DeShields, president of the National Real Estate Investors Association, and an active…

Black Knight Financial Services recently released their “first look” report for June, 2018 showing that active foreclosures continue to decline and have fallen below 300k for the first time since late 2006.  In addition they report that foreclosure starts fell 3.1% in June for the lowest single-month total in more than 17 years.  Black Knight’s month-end mortgage performance statistics are derived from their loan-level database representing the majority of the national mortgage market. Click here to read the full report on BlackKnightInc.com.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 6.4% annual gain for May, 2018.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 6.1%, down from 6.4% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 6.5% year-over-year gain, down from 6.7% in the previous month.  Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco continued to report the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities. In May, Seattle led the way with a 13.6% year-over-year price increase, followed by Las Vegas with a 12.6% increase and San Francisco with a 10.9% increase. Seven of the 20 cities reported greater…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units increased slightly coming in at $1,013 (down 3.15% year-to-date).  However, two-bedroom units posted a large gain came in at $1,262, which is $32 higher than July’s number.  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. Click here to read thr full report on ABODO.com.

This weekend several states across the fruited-plain will be kicking off sales tax holidays for the back to school season.  Whether you think these are good or bad public policy is irrelevant;  the bottom-line is saving money!  The folks over that the Tax Foundation recently put together this handy chart showing which states are holding sales tax holidays as well as any threshold limits.  Click here for a detailed list of all the states and their exemptions.  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the Tax Foundation!

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in June was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.3 trillion, which is 1.1% lower than May’s revised estimate but is 6.1% higher than June, 2017.  During the first six months of this year, construction spending amounted to $619.9 billion, which is 5.1% more than the same period in 2017.  In addition, residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $568.3 billion in June, which is 0.5% below May’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report on census.gov.