Author: Brad Beckett

We recently posted about a new report saying that more people are choosing to rent rather than buy.  With that in mind, in Trulia’s latest Rent vs. Buy Report they have an interesting twist;  They examined the discount of renting with a roommate and what that means in terms whether or not buying a starter home is a better financial decision.  Their answer?  It depends on where you live. “Since we started keeping track in 2012, it’s been a better deal to buy than rent in America’s largest housing markets – and for much of that time it hasn’t been…

Are Lower Bids better than Higher Bids? by Larry Goins Every investor knows that you need to get a good price on something if you want to make a profit.  This is such common knowledge it seems strange that so many investors are afraid of making low offers.  In my experience, low offers are always the best.  They might not be accepted every time but they are the source of my best deals.  I’ll tell you why. One of the things that I have learned is that the lower the price of the property the lower percentage of list price…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price increased in November to $1,032 for a one-bedroom apartment – a 1.37% increase since the beginning of the year.  The top three cities with the largest rent increases were: Cleveland, OH (6.5%); Indianapolis, IN (5.4%); and Denver, CO (4.4%).   Decreases going into October were:  Norfolk, VA (-6%), Columbus, OH (-5.9%) and Newark, NJ (-4.4%).  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 Chicago Tribune recently ran a story featuring the Chicago Area Real Estate Investors Association (one of three groups in the Chicagoland area affiliated with National REIA) and how they work with emerging investors.  Real estate investing is a great way to build wealth and prepare for the future.  Your local real estate investor association is a great place to start….click here to find one near you. “By apprenticing himself to more experienced local investors and getting smarter about estimating return from higher-quality properties, Walhood got the hang of it. He now manages a portfolio of 47 rental units and…

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that total construction spending in September was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,21 trillion, 0.3% above August’s revised number and 2% higher than September, 2016. Through August, construction spending amounted to $917 billion, 4.3% more than the same period in 2016. Click here to read the full report on Census.gov.

Black Knight Financial Services recently released their August, 2017 Home Price Index (HPI) report that says that U.S. home prices were up 6.24% year over year in August and up 0.24% for the month.  The HPI value for August was $282k.   Among the findings;  Ten of the 20 largest states and 14 of the 40 largest metros hit new home price peaks in August 2017, representing smaller shares of each group than in recent months​.  The Black Knight HPI utilizes repeat sales data from the nation’s largest public records data set, as well as its market-leading, loan-level mortgage performance data,…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for November showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,175 and $1,391 for a 2-bedroom apartment.  San Francisco continues to dominate their National Rent Index of 100 cities at $3,420/$4500 with Ft. Wayne, Indiana rounding out the bottom at $470/$550.  Zumper analyzes rental data from over 1 million active listings across the United States. Data is aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population, providing a comprehensive view of the current state of the market. The report…

What are the 8 ways to get greater “joy” from your home?  Wait, what?  No,  Even better….let’s talk about 8 ways to get some good ROI from a remodeling project at your recent flip.  The National Association of Realtors recent 2017 Remodeling Impact Report outlined many places where you can achieve some ROI from an upgrade.  Happy Friday! Hat tip to the NAR.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recently released their annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report that contains their outlook for the real estate & land use industry for 2018.  Their market outlooks are based on an extensive survey, multiple interviews, and individual market focus groups.  Indeed……Be sure to zero-in on their “markets to watch.” “Fortunately, a sudden drop in altitude does not seem to be in the offing. Instead, our survey respondents, focus groups, and interviewees expect a long glide path for the economy and for the industry—the extension of the current cycle for 2018 and perhaps beyond. A tailwind of demand is…

The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 6.1% annual gain for August, 2017.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 5.3% and their 20-City Composite posted a 5.9% year-over-year gain.  Seattle once again led the way with a 13.2% year-over-year price increase, followed by Las Vegas at 8.6%, and San Diego with a 7.8% increase.  Nine U.S. cities reported greater price increases in the year ending August 2017 versus the year ending July 2017. “Home price increases appear to be unstoppable,” says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee…