Author: Brad Beckett

Is renting a home starting to look like a better option than buying?  According to a recent report from Florida Atlantic University, record high home prices are being driven upward by rising rents in cities across the country.  With home prices reaching new highs, the latest Beracha, Hardin & Johnson Buy vs. Rent (BH&J) Index says that rents are rising slower than the rate of property price appreciation which they say moves areas into a more rent-friendly direction.  They say that the U.S. as a whole and 15 of 23 cities measured by the BH&J Index are in what they…

ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s largest fused property database, recently released their Q3 2016 U.S. Home Flipping Report showing there were  45,718 single family home flips, representing 5.1% of all single family home & condo sales in the 3rd quarter.  Breaking down this number further shows that 67.9% of these flips were cash purchases – the lowest percentage in eight years.  For the report, a home flip is defined as a property that is sold in an arms-length sale for the second time within a 12-month period.   ATTOM Data Solutions uses publicly recorded sales deed data from…

December is nearly over so that means the crystal balls are coming out for 2017.  This week real estate brokerage Redfin out together their top seven list of housing predictions for 2017.  Enjoy… “Strong buyer interest, better access to credit and a modest increase in the number of homes for sale will allow home sales to grow, but not as much as in 2016.  Home price growth will hold steady. Homes will sell even faster next year, breaking this year’s record as the fastest real estate market.” Redfin’s seven predictions for 2017 are: 1. The housing market will continue to…

This week data powerhouse CoreLogic released their National Foreclosure Report showing that nationwide foreclosure inventory declined 31.5% (year over year).   There were 30k completed foreclosures in October representing a 24.9% decrease from October 2015.  Across the country there were approximately 328k homes in foreclosure, which represent 0.8% of all homes with a mortgage.  The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures were Florida (51k), Michigan (29k), Texas (26k), Ohio (23k) and Georgia (20k).  Together, they account for 36% of completed foreclosures nationally. “Housing and labor markets improved over the past year, setting the stage for further declines in…

In a recent Real Estate News for Investors podcast, Kathy Fettke discusses the new No-Smoking rule in public housing and how it might affect landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers (Housing Choice Vouchers).  Total run-time is less than 5 minutes. Click here to hear more of Kathy’s podcasts on NewsforInvestors.com

We’re always on the lookout for a bargain – no matter what we’re buying in America we’re wired to find the best deal.  So where are the top 10 cities with homes on the market that have seen the most price cuts?  The folks over at Realtor.com ranked the 300 largest metro areas by share of homes for sale that experienced priced reductions over the past year.  This is an interesting list because there are a multitude of reasons why homes could be seeing price reductions. However, good data means better information for that next deal. “A price reduction can…

Attom Data Solutions (parent to RealtyTrac) recently released their Q3 2016 U.S. Home Equity and Underwater Report, which shows that over 13 million U.S. homeowners (23.4%) were equity rich (with a loan-to-value ratio of 50% or lower).  However their report also showed that over 6.1 million homeowners were seriously underwater.  The following infographic from Attom shows where the Home Equity Rich are getting richer and the Home Equity Poor are getting poorer….Happy Friday! Click here to read the full report on RealtyTrac.com.

What are America’s next top food towns?  Our friends over at Realtor.com once again put pen to paper and came up with an awesome list of up and coming cities with unique dining experiences worth a culinary road-trip.  To come up with their list, they took the largest 500 cities in the country, dropped the top 50, and then analyzed the remaining 450 based on number of chef-led restaurants, microbreweries, food markets, small coffee shops and much more.  Some are surprises and some we already knew about (Asheville comes to mind).  Mmmmmm… The next top 10 food towns are: Asheville,…

President-elect Donald Trump recently said he would nominate Dr. Ben Carson to be the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Carson of course accepted and the media frenzy and political commentary has already begun.  One recent piece from the Manhattan Institute’s City-Journal stands out among the crowd.  In “Laying a New Foundation at HUD,” Manhattan Institute Vice president Howard Husock says that “public housing is a paramount example of long-term government dependency.”  He then lays out the five major changes Carson could make right away to improve public housing in America. Charles Tassell, Chief Operating Officer of…

According to the latest Investors Business Daily’s Economic Optimism Index, economic optimism rose 3.4 points to 54.8 – the highest reading in a decade.  The IBD’s Economic Optimism Index is a composite of three major sub-indexes that track views of near-term economic prospects, the outlook for personal finances over the coming six months and views of how well government economic policies are working.  Interestingly, it also shows a clear partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats, especially, whose sentiment is the lowest since October 2008.  Overall, this portends to be good news for the economy! Click here to read the full…