Author: Brad Beckett

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…

Good intelligence about a neighborhood can be priceless – especially when you want to know what criminal activity has taken place.  The LexisNexis Community Crime Map is a free online resource that lets you zero-in on a whole host of variables affecting your property (or the one you’re thinking about purchasing).  It’s good intel and a bookmark you’ll want to have in your browser. Click here to access the site.

What are the best 10 cities in America for infrastructure?  Leave it to the folks at Realtor.com to put pen to paper to find out.  They looked at the largest 150 metros across the country and rated them such items as; Percentage of roads in “good” or “fair” condition (who doesn’t hate potholes?), percentage of bridges that are “structurally deficient,” public transit, airports, bike friendliness, and per capita government spending on various forms of infrastructure. “Infrastructure in the United States is a stark tale of haves and have-nots. Some cities have pristine and modern systems, investing deeply in future projects;…

We’ve had several posts about the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and its potential to revolutionize real estate transactions.  Now that its hovering around 15k per dollar more people are talking about it. So how exactly does this virtual currency work?  The folks over at CBInsights recently put together this handy infographic to help explain this crazy concept.  All we can say is “caveat emptor”……and of course, Happy Friday!! Click here to read more about blockchain & bitcoin on CBInsights. Click here to see Bitcoin’s current exchange rate per dollar.

As we close out the year, the Census Bureau recently reported that the rate at which renters moved in 2017 was at a historic low of 21.7%, compared to 35.2% back in 1988.  However, they report that renters still moved at a higher rate than owners (21.7% versus 5.5%, respectively). “Although renters continued to move at higher rates compared to owners, the decrease in the overall mover rate was partially driven by declining mover rates for renters,” said Charlynn Burd, a geographer with the Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division. Click here to read the full report on Census.gov.…

According to a recent study the by the National Association of Home builders, single-families built after the 1990’s have an average of 3.1 toilets, 2.6 showers and 2.3 bathtubs.  In addition (citing data from the Census Bureau) the share of single-families with at least 2 bathrooms is now hovering around 97%, versus 1973 when only 60% had two johns.  Reading further the data show that the number of toilets, showers and bathtubs all increase regularly as single-family homes become newer.  Go figure….last year we posted about how the median square footage size of new single-family houses was largest on record. Click…

According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. homeownerhip rate was 63.9 in Q3 of 2017 – which is nearly points lower than before the housing crisis.  However, there are some areas of the country where homeownership is growing…but where and at what pace?  That’s question Realtor.com set out to discover with their list of the nation’s top metros with the fastest growing homeownership rates. Interestingly, a little over half of the metros on their list have median prices well under the national median of $274,492. “‘Affordability is a strong draw to these areas,’ says Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com.…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price increased slightly for December to $1,040 for a one-bedroom apartment, which is a 2.4% increase since the beginning of the year. The top three cities with the largest rent increases were: Newark, NJ (12.9%), Corpus Christi, TX (9.8%) and St. Paul, MN (7.4%).  The biggest decreases going into December were Columbus, OH (-8.3%), Madison, WI (-4%), and Santa Ana, CA (-3.7%).  San Francisco still tops their list at $3,253 for a 1-bedroom and $4,239 for a 2-bedroom apartment.  Indiana’s Ft. Wayne is at the bottom with $466 for…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix U.S. multifamily rents fell slightly for the second straight month, but they report that rates are stabilizing at moderate growth levels.  The average U.S. rent in November $1,358 (down $1).  However, year-over-year they increased 2.5%. The deceleration is largely caused by the wave of supply in those metros that might be worse if not for the construction labor shortage that has delayed projects by an average of four to five months. As a consequence, even though Yardi Matrix tracks about 600,000 units under construction nationally, only about 300,000 units will be delivered in 2017.…

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that total construction spending in October was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.24 trillion, 1.4% above September’s revised number and 2.9% higher than October, 2016. Through October, construction spending amounted to $1.029 trillion, 4.1% more than the same period in 2016. Click here to read more at Census.gov.