Author: Brad Beckett

An often overlooked area of any home or rental property might just be the dryer vent.  According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are about 2,900 dryer fires every year resulting in over $35 million in property loss.  What’s the leading cause of those fires? Failure to clean their vents.  Once these vents get clogged with lint it not only takes longer to dry clothes (increasing electricity costs) but greatly increases the odds of a fire.  Bottom line, landlords; make sure this is on your routine punch list. Key Facts: 2,900 home clothes dryer fires are reported each year and…

National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price increased in September to $1,018 for a one-bedroom apartment.  Nationally, Cleveland, Ohio saw the greatest increase in rent over the month of August, with median one-bedroom rents jumping 12.8%, from $619 to $698.  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 sizes, they restrict their analysis to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds. Click here to read the full report…

Well it’s finally here…the ceremonial end of Summer.  Monday is Labor day so here’s a quick infographic with some statistics about the U.S. labor force, courtesy of MoneyTips……Happy Labor Day Weekend! Hat tip to MoneyTips.com.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 5.8% annual gain for June, 2017.  Their 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 4.9% and their 20-City Composite posted a 5.0% year-over-year gain.  Seattle once again led the way with a 13.4% year-over-year price increase, followed by Portland at 8.2%, and Dallas with a 7.7% increase.  Nine U.S. cities reported greater price increases in the year ending June 2017 versus the year ending May 2017. “The trend of increasing home prices is continuing,” says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P…

Black Knight Financial Services recently released their June, 2017 Home Price Index (HPI) reporting that U.S. home prices were up 6.2% year over year in June and up 0.9% for the month.  The HPI value for June was $281k – once again a new high!  In addition, home prices in twelve of the nation’s 20 largest states reached new highs;  Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.  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,…

Disaster Recovery By Jeff Watson As I write this post, the disaster in Texas due to hurricane Harvey continues to unfold. It is causing major devastation, the impact of which will be felt for years to come. I recently spoke to a client of mine who has over 30 years of experience in the property and casualty adjusting arena. He shared with me some important initial steps that homeowners in any sort of disaster should immediately enact. Once there is damage to your property, you need to file a claim with your homeowner’s insurance carrier immediately. Unless your homeowner’s policy…

A recent article on Builder.com addressed the issue of legalized drug use, and in particular, “as more states decriminalize pot, how do companies address marijuana use by employees?”  Good question…Especially as more & more real estate investors venture into this field of investing while many others may have employees who choose to legally partake.  Interestingly, according to government statistics, over 22 million Americans used marijuana (in some form) in the past 30 days.  Wow… “An increase in drug usage affects one of builders’ biggest pain points: the labor shortage. There was a time when there were enough people looking for…

The Wall Street Journal (reprinted on Realtor.com) says that “rising home prices are getting borrowers comfortable again with the idea of tapping their homes for cash” and that HELOC’s (home-equity lines of credit) are back!  They say this reflects growing consumer confidence and that it could benefit the economy as homeowners get extra money to spend.   Home-equity lines of credit are similar to credit cards (the line of credit is based on the amount of equity) except that the house is being used as collateral.  Or in the case of a “cash-out refi,” borrowers can refinance their existing mortgage into…

Freddie Mac’s most recent monthly outlook says that the limited supply of houses has created a highly competitive housing market which keeping the share of cash sales significantly higher than its historical norm and affecting mortgage originations. Key takeaways: Housing starts were lower than anticipated during the second quarter of this year Cash sales in June accounted for around 18% of all home sales, which is well above the historical average of 10% If cash sales remain near 20%, that could translate to $172 billion less in mortgage originations than would occur if the cash share was at its historical…

A recent Investment Community of the Rockies (ICOR) podcast speaks with Gene Gaurino about the Top 4 Questions You Should be Asking About Assisted Living Residences.  Gene is known as the “Godfather of Assisted Living Residences” and is the founder and president of Residential Assisted Living Academy.  He will also be speaking in mid-September at ICOR’s annual Real Estate Expo. Click here to listen to more ICOR podcasts.