Author: Brad Beckett

Across the country, the remodeling business is a big right now, just ask The Home Depot.  Recently, property data provider BuildFax released a study detailing remodeling activity over the last several years as well as identifying potential trends.  They use three unique perspectives;  historical, national, and regional to provide their overview.  Interestingly, they say 2016 saw changes in remodeling’s growth rate and spending that could have a serious impact on the business. Some key takeaways: • Since 2011, home remodeling has increased by an annualized 5% per year on average • Residential remodeling increased 4.3% last year, which is a…

Where are the most affordable places to buy a summer vacation home?  ATTOM Data Solutions (parent of RealtyTrac) recently ranked 100 cities that won’t “break the bank” or leave you shortchanged.  Interestingly, the top 10 summer vacation home bargain markets were found in four states; Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida and Maryland) – all of which have median home prices below $275k.  The number one place?  Crossville, Tennessee….with a median home sales price of $87,500. Click here to read the full report on Realtytrac.com.

Rental information site Zumper recently released their National Rent Report for July showing that the median national rent for 1-bedroom apartment was $1,149 and $1,367 for a 2-bedroom apartment.  San Francisco continues to dominate their National Rent Index of 100 cities at $3,350/$4500 with Toledo, Ohio rounding out the bottom at $450/$560.  Be sure to take look at their entire data set which 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…

What are the best & worst states to make a living?  The folks over at MoneyRates.com ran the numbers and ranked our fifty states based on these five factors;  cost of living, workplace safety, state tax burdens, median wages and unemployment rates.  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to MoneyRates.com.

Great Photos Help Sell Real Estate by James F. Brown The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is absolutely true. Great photos can help sell properties. But bad ones can drive potential buyers away before they even tour a property. Too many sellers and their agents give short shrift to photos. With just a little care and thought, anyone can take attractive real estate photos that entice buyers.  Here are some tips for taking those photos: Plan your photo shoot. Think about what you want the photos to accomplish, what impression they’ll make on a potential buyer.…

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index Report, home prices across the country rose 6.6% year over year for May and are up 1.2% from April.  In addition, Corelogic predicts that home prices will increase by 5.3% on a year-over-year basis through May 2018. Key takeaways: Price Appreciation Outstripping Income Growth in Many Markets Many Markets Still Lack Adequate Inventory Tight Inventory Impacting Rental Markets “While the market is consistently generating home price growth, sales activity is being hindered by a lack of inventory across many markets. This tight inventory is also impacting the rental market where overall single-family…

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that total construction spending in May was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.2 trillion, which is 4.5% higher than May 2016.  Private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $509.6 billion in May, 0.6% below April’s number.  Nonresidential private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $433.6 billion in May, 0.7% below April’s estimate. Click here to read the full release.

A new report from RealPage and Axiometrics says apartment demand surged to a near-record volume in Q2 2017, saying essentially that occupancy is full and the annual pace of rent growth has stabilized.  The report says apartment occupancy as of mid-year stood at 95% (which they say is essentially full performance).  Rents for new-resident leases rose 1.8% during the second quarter.  Nationally, monthly rent now averages $1,339. “Today’s strong demand for apartments reflects the combination of solid job formation, continued limited loss of renters to home purchase, and widespread availability of appealing new apartments,” said Greg Willett, chief economist for…

With inventories at record lows and home prices edging higher Realtor.com recently put out a list of the 20 hottest markets so far this summer.  They looked at the nation’s biggest metro markets to determine which are buzzing with activity – in particular the number of listings at their time on the market. Red-hot California shamelessly dominates the list, however there are seven cities in the Midwest. “The housing market has now gone 24 months in a row seeing inventory drop on a yearly basis, the longest streak in over two decades,” said Javier Vivas, manager of economic research at…

As the oldest millennials are entering their mid-30’s they find themselves front & center in the U.S. housing market due to being the largest living generation of adults in America, today.  But, are they finally moving from being predominate renters to homeowners?  A recent study from apartment rental site ABODO looks at their buying patterns to see where they’re actually buying homes and where they’re not, as well as other interesting factors & data about this shape-shifting generation.  Either way, we’re pretty sure this won’t be the last post on the matter. Some takeaways: Nationally, 32.1% of Millennials are homeowners…