Author: Brad Beckett

The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that mortgage applications decreased 2.7% for the week ending March 17th (measured weekly).   Refinancing’s share of the mortgage applications was 45.1%, slightly lower than previous weeks.  However, the share of ARM’s (adjustable-rate mortgages) increased to 9% of total applications – representing their highest rate since October, 2014.  The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($424,100 or less) remained unchanged at 4.46%, with points increasing to 0.41 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. Click here to read the full release on MBA.org.

We’ve posted a lot about the millennial generation over the past couple years.   They’re an important demographic that investors would be wise to keep their eye on.  Recently, apartment listing site ABODO did a deep-diver into some of the numbers to come up with the top cities across the country where millennials still live at home.  Using data from the federal government, they found that millennials (compared with all other generations) are most likely to be living with their parents than any other living situation.  Furthermore, they say that they’re “the largest, most educated generation in history” – so, are…

As seasoned investors know, sometimes flips don’t always go as planned.  That’s true even for reality TV stars like Tarek & Christina El Moussa, the stars of HGTV’s Flip or Flop.  Realtor.com is reporting that one of their recent flips didn’t go down the golden highway as they had planned and they have ended up with a pretty expensive flop.  According to the story the couple paid $900,000 (without seeing the inside) for a 1,700 square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home and have sunk over $281k in it (new roof, driveway, electrical, plumbing and more) just to bring up to market standards. …

What Makes HUD Homes so Great? By Larry Goins HUD Homes can be a wonderful investment if you can play your cards right.  Some people avoid these properties simply because they don’t understand what makes HUD homes so great.  I’m going to give you a few clear reasons why I think these properties are a tremendous resource for investors.  Let’s start at the beginning. Finding them The list of HUD homes for sale is readily available to anyone, even without a real estate license. This makes your job of finding suitable properties to look into easier in the first…

Trulia is reporting that homeowners association (HOA) fees have been steadily rising across the country for the past decade.  Starting in 2005, they report that the average monthly HOA fee was $250 but by 2015 that number had risen to $331 – an increase of 32.4%!  Interestingly, this increase exceeds inflation by 5.9%.  Trulia attributes these rising fees to the ever-increasing age of properties, which require more maintenance & upkeep. “For the uninitiated, homeowners association fees are required monthly fees that help cover the cost of maintaining a community’s common spaces such as a gym, pool or activity room, landscaping…

St. Patrick’s Day is that one holiday of the year when everyone is green.  But what is the real story behind this holiday?  The folks over mortgage insurer MGIC put together this fun, fact-filled infographic about the holiday that seemingly everyone loves.  Who would have guessed that 11 million pints of beer are consumed on that day??? Hat tip to MGIC for the infographic.

The U.S. Government is reporting that housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,288,000.  This is 3% above January’s estimate and is 6.2% higher than one year ago.  Single-family housing starts were at a rate of 872k, which is 6.5% higher than January ‘s number. February’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 396k.  Building permits for privately owned housing came in at 1.2 million, which is 6.2% lower than January’s number, but is 4.4% higher than one year ago.  Single-family authorizations in February were at a rate of 832k, which…

With March Madness starting this week, the folks over at Redfin put together the top 10 “Best Places to live if you love March Madness.”   They took a look at cities all across the country and zeroed-in on the following attributes:  are they a host city for games; do they have nearby teams in the lineup;  have they had final four teams in the past; the number of bars in the city;  and the average home price.  They came up with a pretty good list – most of which are centered in the Midwest. The cities are: Philadelphia, PA…

A TV station in Richmond, Virginia is reporting that a family’s home was recently foreclosed on and sold at auction after a bank invoked a “death default provision” on the loan even though the mortgage was kept current by the family – months after the death of their father.  Apparently, when the family patriarch signed the mortgage agreement (decades ago), it included a rare death default provision that called for full payment of the balance of the loan, in full, upon his death.  The family says they were unaware of this clause and kept paying the mortgage over a period…

Using data from the Census bureau, WalletHub is reporting that the average American household pays $2,149 annually in property taxes and in the 27 states with vehicle property taxes, an additional $402.  To that end, they put together a comprehensive list of all 50 states (and DC) comparing their tax burden using real estate and vehicle property taxes.  For real-estate property tax rates, they divided the “median real-estate tax payment” by the “median home price” in each state. Next they used the resulting rates to obtain the dollar amount paid as real-estate tax on a house worth $178,600, the median…