Author: Brad Beckett

On this site last Fall, we reported that The U.S. Department of Labor  issued a notice of proposed rule-making and request for comments to regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that covered who is exempt from overtime pay within certain categories of employees.   Well, the day of reckoning has finally arrived. Today President Obama and the U.S. Department of Labor announced the publication of the Department’s final rule updating overtime regulations.  The new rules go into effect December 1, 2016. The text below was taken directly from the DOL’s website. Final Rule: Overtime Defining and Delimiting…

A recent editorial in the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard newspaper spells out the perils of a fraudulent property manager who defrauded over 350 real estate investors who trusted him with managing their properties while he absconded their money.  He is currently awaiting sentencing on two counts of federal wire fraud, however according to the article the lawsuits are piling up. “Shockley has admitted that for years he defrauded and lied to clients who paid him to manage their rental properties. Many of his 350 clients were small investors, holders of at most a few rental units that offered some financial security.  Shockley…

According to new data released today by the U.S. federal government, housing starts were up 6.6% in April compared to March.  However, April’s number is 1.7% less than one year ago.  April’s starts stood at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1,172,000.  Building permits for April were 3.6% higher than March coming in at 1,116,000.  However this number is 5.3% lower than one year ago. Click here to read the full release.

Today, May 16th, marks the day when the new rules for equity crowdfunding go into effect.  So, Entrepreneur.com decided to kick off the event with a new video series called “Crowdfund with Cat” – featuring Cat Clifford.  In this first episode Cat speaks Alon Hillel-Tuch, one of co-founders of crowdfunding platform RocketHub, where they discuss why equity crowdfunding is much different than donation-based crowdfunding. Click here to read more on Entrepreneur.com

The New York Times recently reported that NY state regulators subpoenaed several investment NY firms involved with seller-financing.   The paper suggested that a “revival in seller-financed deals for marketing inexpensive homes to lower-income people” drew the attention of the New York State Department of Financial Services and the investigation is preliminary. In addition, the NY Times article also noted that the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB) recently “began an informal inquiry into seller-financing arrangements” and has assigned two lawyers to “research the seller-financing market and determine whether the terms of some deals violate federal truth-in-lending laws.” Click here to…

The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that the percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were initiated was .35%, down one basis point from last quarter and 10 basis points lower than this time last year.  In addition, the data reveal that the foreclosure starts rate were at their lowest level since Q2 of 2000.  The delinquency rate for mortgages on 1-4 unit properties remained unchanged from last quarter at 4.77% of all outstanding loans.  This is the lowest rate since Q3 of 2006 and 77 basis points lower than one year ago. “The delinquency rate of 4.77 percent has…

There is no doubt that crowdfunding will have an incredible impact on the way real estate deals get done in the future.  We’ve featured many posts about the subject here at REI2Day.  Today’s infographic suggests seven things to consider before investing in a real estate crowdfunding project.  To learn more about crowdfunding, visit the Real Estate Investment & Funding Association (REIFA).  Hat tip to Propcy for the graphic.  Happy Friday!!

The Washington Post is reporting that the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has acknowledged problems associated with its attempt last fall to add more transparency to the home loan closing process and is now seeking public input on how to fix them.  Title companies and real estate agents have complained about the confusion and inconsistency brought on by these new “Know Before You Owe” rules, which took effect last Fall.  Reform proposals will be published in the Federal Register and comments from the public will be considered (how nice of them). Then, at some point, the CFPB will issue…

This week real estate data powerhouse CoreLogic released their March 2016 National Foreclosure Report which shows national foreclosure inventory declined by 23.2% and completed foreclosures declined by 14.9%, both numbers year-over-year.  The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 42k in March 2015 to 36k in March 2016, representing a decrease of 69.7% from the peak of 117,782 in September 2010. The national foreclosure inventory stood at 427k homes, representing 1.1% of all homes with a mortgage.  March’s foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since October 2007. Click here to read the full report…

This August, data-powerhouse CoreLogic plans to launch what it calls Trestle; “the ultimate listing data management and property information tool for brokers, technology providers, and multiple listing organizations.”  Drawing information from over 300 MLS’s, (and their own data), CoreLogic is setting up a virtual data marketplace targeting  brokers, technology providers and multiple listing organizations. ‘Whether you are a broker looking for unique content to give your website a competitive edge, a technology provider coding the next killer app, or a multiple listing organization supporting numerous subscribers and data relationships, Trestle by CoreLogic simplifies, unifies and transform the marketplace through which…