Author: Brad Beckett

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that foreign buyers purchased $153 billion in U.S. real estate over the past year, representing a 49% increase from the previous reporting period.   The top five countries with buyers were China, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, and India.  Foreign buyers typically paid $302,290, which was 9% more than the 2016 survey. Around 10% of foreign buyers paid over $1 million, and nearly half of the transactions were cash purchases.  The data is from the NAR’s 2017 Profile of International Activity in U.S. Residential Real Estate. “The political and economic uncertainty both here and abroad…

Local Market Monitor (a National REIA preferred vendor) recently released their National Economic Outlook for July, 2017 where they share their thoughts on developments taking place in the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook – July 2017 July 19, 2017 By: Ingo Winzer Jobs in retail sales were flat again in June. What’s going on here? I’ve been harping on this for a few months but the picture still isn’t clear. Is the lack of growth in retail jobs an indicator that growth is slowing down? Or does it just mean that we’re buying more stuff on-line? In dollars, retail sales…

According to a new report from leading data analytics provider HouseCanary, the single-family rental market is strong and has maintained Effective Gross Yields that average 8% nationwide.  The data is from HouseCanary’s most recent Rental Investment Index (HCRI Index) which allows single-family rental home investors, lenders, and renters benchmark the health of the single-family for-lease market by individual state, ZIP code and block.   Twenty-eight out of 50 MSAs in the country surpassed the nationwide average Effective Gross Yield of 8%. Rochester, NY topped the list with a yield of 17.2%, while Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, CA was at the bottom with 3.9%.…

Bloomberg is reporting that big name money investors are snapping up foreclosed properties in Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory teeters on what could become one of the nation’s worst ever financial debit crisis.  According to the story, bidding wars have even broken out for delinquent loans while at the same time the property conditions are rapidly deteriorating (albeit with stunning views of the Caribbean).  Bloomberg says it’s a “tell-tale sign that the market is getting frothy” and that making a profit could be elusive when you consider that the PR government is mired in debt, the economy has been contracting…

Hoarding has been around in many forms since the beginning of time.  Most recently, reality TV has shed light & attention on the problem while many landlords have stories they will readily share about that “one tenant.”  In that vein, the New York Times recently featured an interesting article entitled “Helping Those Who Hoard” that focused on apartment buildings in New York City and how property managers are dealing with this important issue.  Specifically, they cite the phenomenon as a mental illness which has to be carefully addressed – which is why the NY Times reports that many building managers…

Black Knight Financial Services recently reported that America’s underwater borrower population has fallen below two million for first time since 2006.  They found that rising home prices have both decreased the number of borrowers underwater on their mortgages while increasing the amount of “tappable or lendable” equity available to homeowners.  The data is from their First Look report for May 2017, which is taken from month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database representing the majority of the national mortgage market. According to the report: The number of underwater borrowers declined by 16% in the first three months of…

What are the top cities in America for whiskey lovers?  Redfin recently sought to answer that very question and came up with a list of the top 12 cities enjoy a glass.  To get their list they utilized a collection of curated rankings lists from across the internet and a variety of publishers and considered a few key factors in developing a weighted points system.  Frequently-listed whiskey bars earned their cities points based on the number of times they were mentioned, and critically-loved whiskey bars weighted higher than those that were frequently listed.  Either way….it’s another fun list that also…

It’s now mid-summer and people all across the fruited plain are either vacation or thinking about an upcoming trip and odds are they’re going to be paying someone else for the privilege of using that rental for the week.  The folks over at Fortune Builders recently put together this handy 8-step graphic about buying and renting out a summer vacation rental.  Remember, always do your due diligence……Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to FortuneBuilders.

What is an empty-nest baby boomer to do with all those extra rooms and free space?  That’s the problem a new app called Nesterly seeks to solve.  Basically, it helps these older homeowners with extra room connect with college students in need of housing.  Interestingly, Nesterly even says renters can “…pay part of their rent by helping around the house…”  We can imagine that cutting the grass is high on that list of barterable chores. “Think Airbnb meets Angie’s List. For the older users, Nesterly will serve as a service app through which homeowners can search for potential renters based…

We’ve had several posts here on REI2Day about maximizing your ROI when renovating a property.  On a recent Real Estate News for Investors podcast, Kathy Fettke discusses why it’s important to have a good grasp of the numbers and know which improvements will give you the best “bang for your buck.” Click here to hear more Real Estate News for Investors.