Author: Brad Beckett

The U.S. Government is reporting that privately owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,297,000.  This number is 3.3%  above October’s revised estimate and is 12.9% higher than November, 2016.  Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 930,000; this is 5.3% above October’s revised figure of 883k. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 359k.  Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,298,000.  This is 1.4% below October’s revised rate of 1,316,000, but is 3.4%…

In their 2018 construction economic forecast, the Associated Builders and Contractors predicts there will be stability in the construction industry’s economy and expansion of nonresidential construction.  Their chief economist, Anirban Basu, said that while construction project backlog and contractor confidence remain high heading into 2018, he warns there are risks as a number of potential cost increases could come into play next year: “With wage pressures building, healthcare costs surging and fuel prices edging higher, inflation is becoming more apparent,” Basu said. “That could translate into some meaningful interest rate increases in 2018, which all things being equal is not…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for December showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,233 (up 4.2%) and $1,392 (almost no change) for a 2-bedroom apartment.  San Francisco continues to dominate their National Rent Index of 100 cities at $3,390/$4380 with Ft. Wayne, Indiana rounding out the bottom at $490/$550.  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…

Where are drivers sitting in their cars the longest and shortest across the nation?  That’s the focus of today’s infographic from the Census Bureau which looks at America’s average one-way commuting times for the 10 best and worst cities. We just hope you’re not sitting in your car, stuck in traffic, reading this in on your phone…..Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the Census Bureau.

Real estate marketplace Zillow has an interesting take on the current affordable housing crunch.  In a recent release, they say that the boom in single-family rentals has contributed to a crunch in affordable housing inventory for-sale, which has limited options for lower & middle-income buyers.  They report that the number of single-family homes that are rented grew by 5 million between 2006 and early 2017, and that these homes tend to be in the less expensive end of the housing market.  They cite analysis showing around 270k fewer homes are sold each year compared to 2006, or about 5% of…

In their most recent Loan Performance Insights Report, CoreLogic says that, across the nation, 5% of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency in September 2017, which is 0.2 percentage points less than it was in September 2016.  The foreclosure inventory rate was 0.6%, which was also down 0.2 percentage points from 2016.  In addition, CoreLogic says that both August and September experienced the lowest foreclosure inventory rate since June 2007 when it was also 0.6%. “While natural hazard risk was elevated in 2017, the economic fundamentals that drive mortgage credit performance are the best in two decades,” said Frank…

In a recent podcast, the RPOA’s Brian Hamrick speaks with Hunter Carlile, who, at the age of 44, lost his corporate job and had to figure out how he would support his wife and three kids.  Since then he has bought/sold or rented over 200 homes – primarily through tax lien investing.  Hunter shares his tax lien & investing strategies as well as how to find distressed properties, fix them up, and either sell or hold them as rentals.  He also discuss the ins/outs of tax lien investing and what pitfalls investors need to be aware of. Click here to…

In their most recent U.S. Home Flipping Report, ATTOM data solutions is reporting that homes flipped in Q3 2017 had an average gross flipping profit of $66,448 per flip, representing an average 47.7% return on investment, down from 48.7% in the previous quarter and down from 51.2%  in Q3 2016.  The latest number is the lowest average gross flipping ROI since the 2nd quarter of 2015.  Overall in the 3rd quarter, 48,685 single family homes & condos were flipped, representing a home flipping rate of 5.1 percent — down from 5.6 percent in the previous quarter and unchanged from a…

Rental Housing Journal is reporting that around 75 protestors recently showed up to voice “their” concerns about landlord-tenant relations at the Trends Rental Housing Management Conference and Tradeshow Show, which took place in Seattle, earlier this month. “Tenant rights, labor, and housing advocate groups planned a day of protests and education to ‘counterbalance the presence of landlords from around the state at an industry trade show at the convention center downtown Tuesday,’ according to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog.” Click here to read the full story on RentalHousingJournal.com.

Bed bugs are no stranger to a real estate investor’s world – especially if you have rental property.  Pest fighters Terminix recently released their first-ever Entomologists’ Almanac which named bed bugs 2017’s Pest of the Year.  Their research indicated that bed bugs not only garnered the highest online search volume for any pest this year, but that Americans searched for information about them more than 7 million times!  Next in line were scorpions, spiders and silverfish. Investors across America know that early detection is the key to stopping an infestation.  And, the best way to detect bed bugs is with…