Author: Brad Beckett

Director of Education & Outreach, National Real Estate Investors Association

Who doesn’t love a good backyard bbq?  It’s the one space where we can cut loose, have friends over, turn up the music and fire up the grill!  Of course, leave it to the good folks over at Realtor.com to find out where you’re likely to attend (and possibly throw) the best backyard parties.  Their team crunched the numbers on over 350 metropolitan areas across the country to find the ones with roomy lot sizes, cool outdoor features, high sales of outdoor summer goods (grills, smokers, pool supplies, outdoor furniture, games, etc.) and, of course, lots of sun-filled days. “We are…

Read More

We’re starting to hear more & more not only about the wave of retiring baby boomers but meeting the needs of those seniors living at home.  The folks at howmuch.net recently ran the numbers to show that while costs continue to climb, they are becoming more manageable AND moving toward stay at home care (away from facilities).  These numbers speak loudly as do investors when when they help meet the needs of an aging population choosing to live independently, as long as they can. “While senior care is expensive, there are several choices that provide flexibility. The trend is toward…

Read More

In a recent Rental Property Owner Association podcast, Brian Hamrick interviewed Marty Green, who made millions of dollars Rehabbing and Flipping Houses, and then lost it all during the Great Recession.  “After licking his wounds for about a week,” he started his own property management company and in the process flipped the traditional property management style upside down.  He discusses how he took everything he dislikes about traditional property management and created a company that does things very differently. Marty also shares colorful stories about managing rough properties and confrontations he’s had with past tenants – including a story of…

Read More

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released their latest population estimates that show that America’s median age continues to rise.  In fact, their estimates show the nation’s median age (the age where half of the population is younger and the other half older) rose from 35.3 years on 4/1, 2000, to 37.9 years on 7/1 , 2016.  Residents age 65 and over grew from 35 million (12.4%) in 2000, to 49.2 million (15.2%) people. “The baby-boom generation is largely responsible for this trend,” said Peter Borsella, a demographer in the Population Division. “Baby boomers began turning 65 in 2011 and will…

Read More

Countless news stories have been written about the U.S. federal government’s debt and continued deficit spending….but what about the states?  The folks over at howmuch.net recently pull together data from the Tax Foundation to illustrate how much debt each state caries, per capita.  For comparison, each citizen already has $42,500 on their shoulders from the federal government.  Yikes!  Happy Friday, I think. Hat tip to howmuch.net.

Read More

Where do you get the “biggest bang for your buck” in the nation’s largest housing markets?  Trulia recently put that to the test by examining the nation’s 100 biggest metros to find the neighborhoods that offered the best value for first-time buyers.  They generated a neighborhood value score that takes into account the cost to live in a neighborhood and the level of amenities.  Trulia used listing prices and measured entry-level affordability, then added school information, crime statistics, commuting times and other neighborhood amenities such as restaurants.  Their findings?  They found reasonably priced neighborhoods that offered the best combination of…

Read More

The National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales rose 1.1% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.62 million.  The median existing-home price for all housing types in May was $252,800.  Total housing inventory at the end of May increased 2.1% to 1.96 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 8.4% lower than one year ago and has fallen year-over-year for the past 24 consecutive months. Unsold inventory is sitting at a 4.2-month supply. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said “the job market in most of the country is healthy and the…

Read More

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is calling for action to reduce injuries to seniors living at home.  In a new wide-ranging report, they hope to focus attention on the rapidly growing problems of senior falls and fall prevention.  The report found that while extensive research on specific fall prevention and strategies and their effectiveness exists, there was a significant gap on how to overcome obstacles to improve policies and programs designed to reduce senior falls.  This is definitely a need that real estate investors can help meet in the marketplace. “Approximately one-third of adults age 65 years…

Read More

According to a new report from the National Association of Home Builders, nearly 10.2% of single-family homes started in 2016 qualify as tear-down starts, up from 7.7% in 2015.  The NAHB says that while single-family starts have been relatively flat, (roughly 10% in 2016),  increases in tear-down starts in 2016 reflects the continued recovery of the single-family housing market.  A tear-down start is defined as a home built on a site where a previous structure or evidence of a previous structure was present before the new home was started.  Overall they report that were 79k Single-family Tear-down Starts in 2016. Click…

Read More

The U.S. Government is reporting that privately owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,092,000.  This is 5.5% below April’s estimate and is 2.4% below May. Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 794k; this is 3.9% below April.  The May rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 284k.  Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,168,000. This is 4.9% below April 0.8% lower than May 2016.   Single-family authorizations in May were at a rate of…

Read More