Author: Brad Beckett

We already know that student housing can be a lucrative investment – especially in the right location.  Recently, the folks over at Redfin looked at nearly 200 public colleges & universities across the country to and compared the monthly dorm rate with the median condo mortgage in their respective cities.  Then they ranked the colleges by enrollment to narrow down their list to the 15 most popular ones.  Now that the secret’s out, are there any good deals left to be had? “Homeownership can be a great way to build wealth…Students will build equity that they can one day use…

The National Association of Realtors recently reported that inventory levels continue to drop – in fact, they’ve fallen for 27 straight months!  Today’s infographic from Keeping Current Matters gives us a nice snapshot of August’s existing home sales and good insight into the state of the current market.  Happy Friday! Hat tip to Keeping Current Matters.

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) Report, home prices across the country rose 6.9% year over year for August and are up 10.9 % from July.  In addition, Corelogic predicts that home prices will increase by 4.7% on a year-over-year basis through August 2018. Key takeaways: National Home Prices Projected to Increase 4.7% by August 2018 Utah and Washington Continue to Post Double-Digit Annual Home Price Increases Las Vegas Home Prices Increase 8.4% Year Over Year, Highest Among Large Metros “While growth in home sales has stalled due to a lack of inventory during the last few…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price increased in October to $1,020 for a one-bedroom apartment – literally a .39% increase year to date.  The top three cities with the largest rent increases were: Cleveland, OH (9.9%); Santa Ana, CA (8.2%); and Colorado Springs, CO (6.4%).   Decreases going into October were:  Newark, NJ (-6%), Norfolk, VA (-5.9%) and Houston, TX (-5.1%).  ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and then track the month-over-month percentage change.  To avoid small sample…

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that total construction spending in August was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,21 trillion, 0.5% above July’s revised number and 2.5% higher than August, 2016. Through August, construction spending amounted to $806.2 billion, 4.7% more than the same period in 2016. Click here to read the full report.

How are people distributed in America’s urban areas?  A recent Mortgage Bankers Association “Chart of the Week” took a closer look and found that just under a quarter of US households live in relatively dense urban areas and they are twice as likely to live in multifamily housing (compared to suburbanites).   As for diversity in urban housing markets, 33% are Hispanic (17% nationally), 17% Black (12% nationally), 10% Asian (5% nationally) and 3% non-Hispanic, non-White racial and ethnic groups (3% nationally).  Thirty-eight percent of the population in urban housing markets identifies as non-Hispanic White. “Every community and housing market in…

If you going to exit the stage it’s always best to do it on your terms (unlike Terek and Christina) –  which is exactly what Chip & Joanna Gaines are doing with their hit TV show Fixer Upper.  With that being said, Season 5 will be the last for Fixer Upper and that’s okay with the always s0-happy couple.  According to Realtor.com, they’re “just plain pooped” and are ready to move on to the next chapter of their lives.  “Though our ‘Fixer Upper’ chapter is coming to a close, we aren’t done with Waco. We aren’t done renovating homes. We…

For the most part, every state capital has a beautiful statehouse and a requisite garden of government growing nearby (which one could argue requires constant pruning).  However, not all state capitals are places that draw residents or are places, for that matter, where you’d want to live.  With that in mind, the folks over at smartasset recently put pen to paper and came up with the best state capitals in which to live.  To get their list, they looked at five “livability factors” in order to come up with their list;  disposable income, unemployment rate, the rate of dining &…

What kind of return can you expect from various remodeling projects?  The National Association of Realtors recently released their 2017 Remodeling Impact Report where they explore this as well as the reasons people undertake remodeling projects, the success of these remodels and, interestingly, how much happiness it brings them.  The return on the bottom-line, whether it’s a fix-n-flip or a rental property that you’d like to squeeze more income from, the ROI paramount for most investors.  That being said, this report contains some good data and insight into current trends and ROI from various projects. “Realtors understand which remodeling projects…

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported that sales of new single-family houses in August, 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560k.  This number is 3.4%  below July’s revised rate and is 1.2%  lower than one year ago.  The median sales price in August was $300,200 and the average sales price was $368,100.  There was an estimated 284k new houses for sale representing a 6.1 months supply at the current sales rate. Click here to read the full report.