Author: Brad Beckett

Real Estate brokerage Redfin recently ran the numbers from over 1 million homes across 14 metro areas to determine how “Walk Scores” affects home sale prices.  In particular, they were looking for the value of one point using that scale.  They found that increasing a home’s Walk Score by just one point can increase the price of a home by an average of $3250, or 0.9%.  Interestingly, the results greatly differed by metro areas. “56 percent of millennials and 46 percent of boomers prefer walkable communities with a range of housing amidst local businesses and public services. And like everything…

ATTOM Data Solutions (parent company of RealtyTrac) recently released their 2016 Schools and Housing Report, which shows that homes in zip codes with at least one good elementary school have higher values and stronger long-term appreciation than those in zip codes without any good elementary schools.  The report analyzed data from nearly 19k elementary schools in over 4k zip codes with a combined 45.9 million single family homes & condos.  A good school is defined as any with an overall test score at least one-third above the state average….Happy Friday! “While good schools are one of the top items on…

9 out-of-the-box questions and tactics multi-family investors should consider using By Richard Montgomery Summary: Investing in multi-family housing and apartments requires extra investigation, sometimes called due diligence by attorneys. This extra investigation and these questions are beyond what a real estate investor may do normally for a typical commercial real estate investment. As a real estate investor, once you go beyond multi-family rentals such as duplexes or fourplexes, you enter the commercial real estate area.   Here are 9 out-of-the-box questions you should be asking, or at least consider asking, before you purchase that multi-family or apartment building. DEAR MONTY:…

According to the latest Yardi Matrix the average national apartment rental rate rose $4 in July, reaching another all-time high of $1,217.  Rents were up 4.6% year to date and were up 5.5% year-over-year.  The leaders in year-over-year rent growth are Sacramento, Seattle, Los Angeles; Portland (Oregon) and California’s Inland Empire. “July’s numbers show that the big picture about the multifamily market continues to be positive. Rent growth of 5.5% is a very solid foundation, and the vast majority of metros across the country are seeing healthy rent growth by historical standards. Although it is beginning to weaken in a…

Interesting data comes in all shapes and forms and can be a good (or bad) industry indicator as well as a pulse on the economy.  Remodeling Magazine is reporting that new research from the Freedonia Group says that nationwide demand for residential windows and doors will rise 6.0% per year and become a $25.6 billion market by 2020.   The report said residential window & door demand in 2015 was $19.06 billion, reflecting an annual growth of 5.9% since 2010.  Who knew doors & windows could be this exciting? “Through 2020, continued growth in new housing construction is projected to drive…

Corelogic has released their Home Price Index and HPI Forecast for June 2016 showing that home prices are up 5.7%, year over year (which includes distressed sales) as well as increasing 1.1% month over month.  In addition,  CoreLogic’s HPI Forecast predicts that home prices will increase by 5.3% on a year-over-year basis from June 2016 to June 2017, and on a month-over-month basis by 0.6%. “Mortgage rates dipped in June to their lowest level in more than three years, supporting home purchases….Local markets with strong economic growth have generally had stronger home-price growth. Among large metropolitan areas, Denver had the lowest…

Last Friday, President Obama signed The Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act of 2016 which is the first comprehensive update to the nation’s low-income housing programs in 18 years as well as requiring the FHA to reform their condo financing regulations and make low-down-payment FHA loans more available to moderate-income buyers.   Both the House and the Senate passed the legislation unanimously.  This bill has been in the works for 10 years.  And while the bill was not earth shattering, it could be a signal that Republicans and Democrats are open to more housing reform bills – especially considering its unanimous…

Yes, you read the subject line correctly.  Citing a recent study from NYU, Harvard and Facebook, CNBC is reporting that decisions people make about buying property are heavily influenced by their participation in social networks – in particular Facebook.  According to the report, if someone’s Facebook friends experience increases in their house price, they are more likely themselves to invest in property over the next couple years.  Talk about peer-pressure, the study suggested a significant impact on local housing markets, in aggregate.  The report looked at home pricing and volume data from 831 counties (covering 1998 to 2012) as well…

We’ve seen some pretty interesting data from personal saving and comparison website WalletHub.  Recently they analyzed & ranked 150 of America’s largest cities for their rental attractiveness and quality of life to come up with the Best & Worst Cities for Renters.  They utilized 15 key metrics ranging from historical rental-price changes, cost of living and jobs availability drawn from a variety of public & private data resources. Top 10 cities: Scottsdale, AZ Overland Park, KS Chandler, AZ Tempe, AZ Gilbert, AZ Plano, TX Las Vegas, NV Peoria, AZ Phoenix, AZ Tampa, FL Bottom 10 cities: Los Angeles, CA Moreno…

Corelogic is reporting that cash sales represented 31.6% of all home sales in April 2016.  This figure is 2.8 percentage points less than April 2015.  On a month-over-month basis, the cash sales share fell by 1.6 percentage points in April 2016 compared with March 2016. For the first four months of 2016, the cash sales share averaged 33.9%, the lowest start to any year since 2008. The cash sales share peaked in January 2011 when cash transactions accounted for 46.6% of total home sales nationally. Click here to read the full report on CoreLogic.