Author: Brad Beckett

According to United Van Lines 2016 Movers Study, South Dakota has overtaken Oregon (which held the top spot for the previous three years) as the nation’s “Top Moving Destination.” Vermont is number two followed by Oregon.  This data was part of United Van Lines’ 40th Annual National Movers Study, which tracks customers’ state-to-state migration patterns over the previous year.  Interestingly, retirees are continuing to move to the Mountain and Pacific West, with one in four indicating that they chose to move there for retirement reasons.  United Van Lines has been tracking state-by-state migration patterns annually since 1977.  Their study is…

Data powerhouse CoreLogic recently released their National Foreclosure Report for December 2016 showing that nationwide foreclosure inventory declined 30% and completed foreclosures declined by 40% compared with December 2015.  The number of completed foreclosures in December was 21k, versus 36k one year ago.  Notably this number represents a decrease of 82% from September 2010’s peak of 118,336.  Nationwide there were approximately 329k homes in foreclosure representing 0.8% of all homes with a mortgage – compared with 467k (1.2%) in December 2015.  In addition, the five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in December…

Real estate investment management firm HomeUnion recently released their 2017 National Single-Family Rental Research (SFR) Report which says that 2017 will be a good year with an “unprecedented demand” for single-family rentals.  Their comprehensive study ranks 31 metro areas based on market conditions, rental demand, prices, and other criteria.  Most interesting, they’ve identified metros by an Opportunity Ranking that provides a strong balance of supply& demand fundamentals while offering favorable entry prices and limited threats. “The outlook remains positive for 2017…supply and demand for rental properties nationwide will result in another solid year for investors. The economic recovery will continue to…

According to their latest U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, ATTOM Data Solutions is reporting that as of the end of 2016 there were over 5.4 million homes seriously underwater in the United States – which is about a million less than one year ago. They represent 9.6% of all U.S. properties with a mortgage and are at the lowest level since ATTOM began tracking in 2012.  The states with highest share of seriously underwater properties were Nevada (19.5%); Illinois (16.6%); Ohio (16.3%); Missouri (14.6%); and Louisiana (14.5%). “Since home prices bottomed out nationwide in the first quarter of 2012,…

Either you’re hot or your not, right?  The folks over at Realtor.com recently put together their list of America’s 10 Hottest Suburban Neighborhoods where people are moving, seeking more affordable and family-friendly living.  In fact, they point our that in some of the country’s top metro areas the suburbs are actually growing faster than their urban core.  To come up with their list they looked at a plethora of data from every zip code in the nation’s 50 largest metro areas. “Most high-growth urban areas just don’t have enough land, so prices are higher and homeownership is typically lower…It’s tempting…

A real estate investor from Pennsylvania’s Diversified Real Estate Investor Group (DIG) has won the annual Ugliest House of the Year 2016 contest for a renovation he did on a 1945 two-story home, according to a release put out by HomeVestors. Tom Beerley, a HomeVestors franchisee in Pennsylvania, won the ugly house contest with his entry, a 1945 two-story run-down home with trash piled throughout. The homeowner’s financial problems had led to the cancellation of trash services, creating hoarding living conditions. Other issues of the once beautiful home included exposed beams, a damaged ceiling, and no running water. Eventually the…

Information powerhouse CoreLogic recently released their monthly U.S. Home Price Insights (HPI) Report that shows home prices are up 7.2% in December (year over year) and up 0.8% from November 2016.   In addition, CoreLogic’s HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 4.7% through December 2017, and increase monthly by 0.1%.  The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state. “Last year ended with a bang with home prices up over…

What are the Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends for 2017?  The folks over at digital marketing & communications firm Liana came up with a pretty good list as we begin trudging through 2017.  The number one item?  Live streaming….are you ready to go live???   Happy Friday! Click here to read more at lianacms.com.

Where does your state rank according to its “well-being?”   For what it’s worth, the folks over at Gallup recently released their annual Well-being Index for 2016 where they interviewed over 177k adults throughout the year in all 50 states across America’s.  Hawaii was the top state with an index score of 65.2 while West Virginia was the least with an index score of 58.9. Overall the Well-Being Index score for the whole country was 62.1 in 2016.  The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents…

Home advisor is reporting that Harvard’s Joint Center for housing Studies recently released their Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity that showed spending on home improvement (remodeling, repairs etc.) jumped 11.3% between 2014-15 and estimated that it rose 6.9% in 2016.  In addition, they predict a 6.7% increase for 2017. “The rise in home values has boosted people’s perception of their own financial well-being, and has also increased their ability to take out home-equity-based loans if they need them for home improvement projects.” Click here to read the full story on Homeadvisor.com.