Author: Brad Beckett

Disaster Recovery By Jeff Watson As I write this post, the disaster in Texas due to hurricane Harvey continues to unfold. It is causing major devastation, the impact of which will be felt for years to come. I recently spoke to a client of mine who has over 30 years of experience in the property and casualty adjusting arena. He shared with me some important initial steps that homeowners in any sort of disaster should immediately enact. Once there is damage to your property, you need to file a claim with your homeowner’s insurance carrier immediately. Unless your homeowner’s policy…

A recent article on Builder.com addressed the issue of legalized drug use, and in particular, “as more states decriminalize pot, how do companies address marijuana use by employees?”  Good question…Especially as more & more real estate investors venture into this field of investing while many others may have employees who choose to legally partake.  Interestingly, according to government statistics, over 22 million Americans used marijuana (in some form) in the past 30 days.  Wow… “An increase in drug usage affects one of builders’ biggest pain points: the labor shortage. There was a time when there were enough people looking for…

The Wall Street Journal (reprinted on Realtor.com) says that “rising home prices are getting borrowers comfortable again with the idea of tapping their homes for cash” and that HELOC’s (home-equity lines of credit) are back!  They say this reflects growing consumer confidence and that it could benefit the economy as homeowners get extra money to spend.   Home-equity lines of credit are similar to credit cards (the line of credit is based on the amount of equity) except that the house is being used as collateral.  Or in the case of a “cash-out refi,” borrowers can refinance their existing mortgage into…

Freddie Mac’s most recent monthly outlook says that the limited supply of houses has created a highly competitive housing market which keeping the share of cash sales significantly higher than its historical norm and affecting mortgage originations. Key takeaways: Housing starts were lower than anticipated during the second quarter of this year Cash sales in June accounted for around 18% of all home sales, which is well above the historical average of 10% If cash sales remain near 20%, that could translate to $172 billion less in mortgage originations than would occur if the cash share was at its historical…

A recent Investment Community of the Rockies (ICOR) podcast speaks with Gene Gaurino about the Top 4 Questions You Should be Asking About Assisted Living Residences.  Gene is known as the “Godfather of Assisted Living Residences” and is the founder and president of Residential Assisted Living Academy.  He will also be speaking in mid-September at ICOR’s annual Real Estate Expo. Click here to listen to more ICOR podcasts.

Citing data from their most National Delinquency Survey, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the foreclosure starts rate was at its lowest since 1988 and that the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of Q2 2017 was 1.29%, down 10 basis points from the Q1 and 35 basis points lower than one year ago.  In addition the percentage of loans having foreclosure actions started was 0.26%. Continuing resolution of distressed loans and fewer foreclosure starts have helped to reduce the number of loans in the foreclosure process to its lowest level since the first quarter of…

We’ve read a lot in recent months about the housing needs of retiring baby boomers and the features they’re looking for and are coming to expect.  Several departments of the U.S. federal government recently put together this interesting infographic illustrating how many of the 21.5 million homes with an adult >65 have accessible features.  It’s good intel about demand for that next deal….. Happy Friday!

Freddie Mac has made changes to the way lenders handle rental income.  Mortgage News Daily is reporting that in a recent bulletin from Freddie Mac, changes were made that affects determination in cases of rental income from short-term rentals with no lease in place.  The changes were reportedly made to reflect recent changes in rental market resulting from the proliferation in short term rentals. A loan used to purchase or refinance the subject property, or a non-subject property, which was not owned in the prior calendar year requires considering net rental income only up to a limit of 30 percent…

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are reporting that sales of new single-family houses in July, 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571k.  This number is 9.4%  below June’s revised rate and is 8.9%  lower than one year ago.  The median sales price in July was $313,700 and the average sales price was $371,200.  There was an estimated 276k new houses for sale representing a 5.8 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full release.

HousingWire is reporting that a group of California landlords recently settled a lawsuit with a tenant and a fair housing group over allegations of discrimination involving a service animal.   The agreement “resolves allegations that the owners and their agents discriminated against a female tenant with disabilities who requires an assistance animal”, requires the the landlords to develop a reasonable accommodation & modification and requires them to pay the woman $31k and the fair housing group $41k The fair housing group alleged that the woman, who lived at the property for more than 15 years, was discriminated against through retaliation due…