Author: Brad Beckett

Is Facebook getting into the landlording business?  Gizmodo is reporting that the social media giant is proposing to build 1500+ housing units as part of the planned expansion of their headquarter in Menlo Park, California.  The proposed units will not just be restricted to Facebook employees, but also available to members of the general public.   Their mixed-income development plan calls for 15% of the units going to low to middle income families.  Silicon Valley has been experience a housing shortage for years and is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Understandably, skeptics abound: “Facebook has…

As the Democrats meet in Philadelphia this week to nominate Hillary Clinton for President, there is an undercurrent of distrust for disruptive technologies like Uber and Airbnb.  While Airbnb estimated that over 5k people would utilize their service this week for the Democratic National Convention, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) recently called on the Federal Trade Commission to probe Airbnb-type rentals.  A letter to the FTC that she-co-authored, said “We are concerned that short-term rentals may be exacerbating housing shortages and driving up the cost of housing in our communities.”  Meanwhile Airbnb is hoping to earn goodwill from the party through…

This week Black Knight Financial Services released their May 2016 Home Price Index (HPI) report that said that U.S. home prices were up 1.1%  for the Month and up 5.4% Year-Over-Year.  The Black Knight HPI utilizes repeat sales data from the nation’s largest public records data set, as well as its market-leading, loan-level mortgage performance data, to produce one of the most complete and accurate measures of home prices available for both disclosure and non-disclosure states. Key takeaways: – At $263K, the U.S. HPI is up 31.7%  from the market’s bottom and is just 1.8% off the June 2006 peak…

What are the best cities to invest in real estate on a budget?  Of course everyone has a budget they have to work with – even Donald Trump.    Recently Realtor.com (using data from HomeUnion) crunched the numbers to find the top ten markets for first-year home price appreciation as well as the best first-year return on rental properties.  The data drew on single-family homes priced $232,500 and under, representing the median price of existing homes at the time of the survey. “The timing is right to invest in real estate: Median prices on existing (and not newly built) homes are…

Bankrate.com is reporting that seventeen states are planning to hold sales-tax holidays for the back-to-school season starting as early as this week.  Most tax-free items are clothing and school supplies however some states include school-related purchases such as computers and other accessories.  The rules vary from state to state as do the dates – with the soonest starting July 29th and the last one finishing on August 20th. Participating states are: Alabama Arkansas Connecticut Florida Georgia Iowa Louisana Maryland Mississippi Missouri New Mexico Ohio Oklahoma Tennessee Texas South Carolina Virginia Click here to read the full story as well as…

Keeping mosquitos away is a summertime struggle and an aggravating ritual.  And with the Zika virus in the news lately the insect’s threat level has been justifiably raised.  In that spirit, our friends over at The Home Depot put together this handy chart with some tips on how to best keep the mosquitos in check so you can enjoy your summer, mosquito-bite free.  Happy Friday… Click here to read more at HomeDepot.com

Bankrate.com recently combed through the data on nearly 200 US cities to identify the best and worst places to retire.  Their criteria;  cost of living, crime rate, walkability, health care quality, state and local tax burden, personal well-being for seniors, weather, and the cultural vitality.  The best city was Arlington, VA.  The worst?  Niagra Falls, NY. Here is a portion of their chart showing the top 10 locations out of nearly 200 cities: Click here to see the full chart and story on Bankrate.com

Earlier this week we posted about a California city performing warrantless searches under the guise of  rental inspections, now Forbes is reporting that the Institute for Justice is also raising the alarm about the Fourth Amendment rights of renters.  The article points out, due in part to a nearly 50-year old Supreme Court decision, cities and towns across America are literally snooping on renters without having to obtain warrants.  This is a dangerous slippery-slope that needs to be monitored and properly addressed.  Groups such as the Institute for Justice and the Pacific Legal Foundation are taking up the fight. “Not…

According to new data from the U.S. government, privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,153,000.  This is 1.5% above the revised May rate of 1,136,000, but is 13.6% below the June 2015 estimate of 1,334,000.  Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 738,000; this is 1% above the revised May figure of 731k.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 384,000 in June. Privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,189,000. This is…

Rental information site Zumper released their latest National Rent Report which now ranks the largest 100 cities in the nation according to the price of a one and two bedroom apartment.  Their reports analyze rental data from over 1 million active listings across the United States, which are aggregated on a monthly basis to calculate median asking rents for the top 100 metro areas by population.  No surprises for the top price-fetching cities, however the entire comprehensive list is worth a look. Click here to read more on Zumper.com