Author: Brad Beckett

A recent Mortgage Bankers Association “Chart of the Week” illustrated how low inventories of homes for sale are putting upward pressure on home prices.  Last week’s chart emphasizes that if the March pace of sales persists and inventory is not replenished, current inventory will run out in about 4 months. Recently, home sales have been rising as inventory is declining. “Prior to January of 2017, months supply has not been this low since January of 2005 just prior to the peak of existing home sales, when the nature of demand and credit conditions were quite different.  The average months supply…

We’ve posted about the tax burden in each state and recently we revealed which U.S. states lack a sales tax.  Now we’re looking at those few states without an income tax.  The folks at smartasset put together a nice list of those states and how they generate their revenue.  One thing’s for certain….No matter where you go, the government will have to be fed. “While avoiding state income taxes may seem appealing, there’s often a catch. Some states tax consumers more heavily when they pay for things like groceries and gas. Others – like Wyoming and Alaska – levy high…

Bloomberg is reporting that mortgage giants Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac may soon be offering financing for buyers of manufactured homes.  They report that this move is part of an effort by the govt-backed firms to reach out to low-income buyers seeking affordable housing options.   In addition, as a condition of their 2008 bailout, they were required to develop plans to serve three target areas:  manufactured housing, rural housing and affordable housing preservation.  The draft plans released in early May will be open to public comment and subject to review by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) before taking effect…

Last week we saw a list of the 20 best college towns to buy investment property. This week we’re seeing data from Axiometrics showing continued strength in the student housing market as more investors have developed additional assets at universities across the nation.   This Fall, about 47k beds are scheduled to be delivered.  Interestingly, since 2011 over 330k new beds have come online. Click here to read more at Axiometrics.com.

An Illinois homeowner has filed a lawsuit against Zillow claiming that its Zestimate tool has repeatedly undervalued her property and hinder its sale.  According to a report in the Washington Post; the lawsuit may be the first of its kind and alleges that despite Zillow’s denial that Zestimates constitute “appraisals,” the fact that they offer market-value estimates and “are promoted as a tool for potential buyers to use in assessing [the] market value of a given property,” shows that they meet the definition of an appraisal under state law. The suit alleges that Zillow should be licensed to perform appraisals…

Local Market Monitor (a National REIA preferred vendor) recently released their National Economic Outlook for May, 2017 where they share their thoughts on developments in some of the important sub-sectors of the U.S. economy. National Economic Outlook – May 2017 May 12, 2017 By Ingo Winzer I noted last month that the number of jobs in the retail sector, while still higher than  a year ago, is only growing very slowly. Statistics from April point to the same disconcerting conclusion, so we’ll now examine more closely what’s going on here. There are two important reasons: when people buy less stuff,…

Data powerhouse CoreLogic is reporting that in February, 5% of all mortgages were in some stage of delinquency – down from 5.5% from one year ago.  In addition, loans that were 30-59 days past due (early-stage delinquencies) were 2.1% and the share of mortgages 60-89 days past due was at 0.7%.  Both of these two figures are virtually unchanged from a year ago. Key takeaways: Early-stage delinquencies were unchanged from a year ago The current-to 30-day transition rate increased in February 2017 from a year earlier The New York City metro area had the highest delinquency rate at 7.6% San…

We’ve shared several posts lately about taxes and their impact on our economy. Today’s infographic from the U.S. Census Bureau highlights selected major state’s sales taxes where each makes up a large portion of the state’s total tax revenue.  Happy Friday!!

We’ve had several posts about investing in student housing and in areas with colleges & universities.  Recently, Redfin put together their list of the 20 best college towns in which to buy an investment property.  They compiled their list using schools on the U.S. News and World Report National Universities Rankings and their own data (walk score, list prices, etc).  The bottom-line;  these are the most affordable college towns with schools that also offer low tuition and a high-quality education. “It’s always great to invest in a location where there is a large pool of tenants, which is exactly what…

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for May showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,169 and $1,390 for a 2-bedroom apartment.  San Francisco continues to dominate their National Rent Index of 100 cities at $3,370/$4500 with Toledo, Ohio rounding out the bottom at $480/$580. “As we head into peak moving season, renters will be up against a higher apartment turnover rate,” said Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades. Click here to read the full report on Zumper.com.