Author: Brad Beckett

A recent analysis from Trulia has found that nationwide home sales have been failing at an increasing rate – with starter homes being at most risk.  In the 4th quarter of 2016 alone failures were 4.3%.  Furthermore, they report that on an annual basis the failure rate has nearly doubled to 3.9% in 2016, up from 2.1% in 2015.  To determine this, Trulia took the daily status of all listings for the first two months of each quarter from Q4 2014 through Q4 2016 and then tagged any properties that went from “Pending,”or “Active Contingent” back to “For Sale,” or…

Early this month, Zillow recently released their list of what they believe will be the ten hottest real estate markets of 2017.  Topping that list is Nashville, Tennessee, which Zillow predicts will see homes appreciating by 4.3% (Nationally, Zillow expects home values to appreciate 3% over 2017).  For their analysis, Zillow looked at cities with quickly rising home values, low unemployment rates and strong income growth. Zillow’s top 10 hottest housing markets for 2017 are: Nashville, Tenn. Seattle Provo, Utah Orlando, Fla. Salt Lake City, Utah Portland, Ore. Knoxville, Tenn. Ogden, Utah Denver Sacramento, Calif. “The growth and demand for…

Data powerhouse CoreLogic recently released their National Foreclosure Report showing that nationwide foreclosure inventory declined 25.9% in November (year over year).   There were 26k completed foreclosures in November representing a 25.9% decrease from November 2015.  Across the country there were approximately 325k homes in foreclosure, which represent 0.8% of all homes with a mortgage – compared with 465k (1.2% of all homes) in November 2015.  According to the report, the five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures were Florida (48k), Michigan (31k), Texas (25k), Ohio (22k) and Georgia (20k).  Taken together, these five states account for 36% of…

7 Reasons Why Smaller Multifamily Homes  are Great for Real Estate Investors By Richard ‘Monty’ Montgomery Reader Question: Monty, my wife and I are 32 years old and have just finished restoring a big Victorian two-family home in New Jersey. We took on a bit of debt, but I just paid all of the credit cards down and completely paid off a pretty big loan. We currently owe around $280,000 on the mortgage and it is worth around $350,000. Our other two-family is hitting on all cylinders. Debt is looking good and we once again have a good amount…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently released their Annual Rent Report highlighting national trends for 2016-2017.  Using over a million listings from all across the U.S., they determined the average price of a 1-bedroom apartment for each city, state as well as the whole country.  They report that the average renter in 2016 paid $1,001 per month.  It’s interesting data especially when you correlate it with the reports we’ve seen from other sources. “…if 2016 was any indication, rents in 2017 will continue to rise. The continuing revitalization of aging urban cores — especially in the South and the Midwest…

Real Estate news site Inman recently released their Real Estate Industry for 2017 which they surveyed some of the industry’s top executives (among other respondents) who were nearly unanimous in saying that 2017 will be another strong year for real estate and are hoping that freed up inventory, spurred on by higher interest rates, will motivate buyers into taking action.  Indeed… “Thanks to the momentum driving the housing market — good employment, rising salaries, high-earning millennials with an interest in homeownership who are unhappy with high rents — our research found there is good optimism about the housing market in…

This month ATTOM Data Solutions, “curator of the nation’s largest fused property database,” released their 2017 Rental Affordability Report which says that buying a home is more affordable than renting in 66% of U.S. housing markets.  The report used data from HUD, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and RealtyTrac on 540 counties with at least 900 homes in 2016. “While buying continues to be more affordable than renting in the majority of U.S. markets, that equation could change quickly if mortgage rates keep rising in 2017,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions, the new parent company…

CNET is reporting that a new law in Arizona effectively makes the state extremely friendly to short-term rental sites such as Airbnb.  The new law, which preempts local ordinances, removes any limits to the number of properties that can be rented out as well as any restrictions on the number of days they can be rented.  However, according to the new law, Airbnb must collect local taxes for each rental based on an agreement reached last month between Airbnb and the Arizona Department of Revenue. “For thousands of hard-working Arizonans, opening their home to out-of-state guests provides the financial breathing…

Who are first-time homebuyers, exactly, and what are they composed of?  Using data from the NAR’s annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers the folks over at MGIC put together some interesting facts & insights about first-time homebuyers.  Interestingly, 74% rented before buying and 67% said their primary reason for buying a home was out of a “desire to own our own home.”  Happy Friday! Click here to read more on mgic.com.

The RPOA Real Estate Investor Podcast recently discussed “Replacing Your Job Income with Five Rental Properties, Infinite Returns and Profiting by Solving Other People’s Problems with Nick Watkins.”  This is a great conversation with an investor who started off with a duplex and now owns several rentals and has real-life experiences to share. “Two-Thirds of the way through my conversation today, Nick Watkins drops a huge bombshell: He’s managed to generate as much money in rental profits as he makes in his full-time job – and he’s done it with only two duplexes and three single-family properties!  Nick takes me…