Author: Brad Beckett

Color….it makes it all pop!  It’s what you first see, and it’s probably what you remember about a property – good or bad.  The folks over at Home Depot put together this quick & easy guide to color theory and effective use of a color wheel for those painting projects.  Who knew that red can increase muscle reaction time, raise your blood pressure and stimulate risk taking?  Or that yellow and orange stimulate the appetite.  Happy Friday…. Click here to read more on the Home Depot Blog

A couple of months ago we posted about the seller who wouldn’t move out, as strange as that was we’ve now we’ve now learned about a Florida woman that bought a house that was built on the wrong lot. According to the news report, the homeowner purchased her house in 2009 from a now-defunct builder who apparently built the house on the wrong lot instead of the adjacent one that she actually purchased! Interestingly, the survey company hired for the home’s closing failed to discover the error as well. Now, 7 years later, and to the homeowner’s complete surprise, the lot’s…

Are there a growing number of renters who choose to rent, versus buy, even though financially they would have no problem purchasing a home?  We already know that homeownership rates are at historic lows as more & more Americans are choosing to rent (for various reasons).  Recently, new research from Zillow looked at renters in America’s 35 largest housing markets to determine their distribution.  They analyzed the self-reported credit scores and incomes of renters actively searching for a home during the first half of 2016 to assess which large housing markets have the most highly qualified renters. Key takeaways: Housing…

We’ve seen that student housing can a be very lucrative investment.  However, not all markets are created equal.  The data-crunchers over at Axiometrics recently reported the top 10 highest and lowest student housing rent-growths for this fall.  Nationally, the average rent was $618 per bed per month for Fall 2016….Interestingly, the rent varies depending on the distant from campus. “The strongest university markets are not necessarily those with the most new supply, nor necessarily the largest universities. While the following schools might not have Power 5 athletic programs or the most degree offerings, their student housing is showing the strongest…

The Commerce Department reported this week that privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,211,000. This is 2.1% above the revised June estimate of 1,186,000 and is 5.6% above the July 2015 rate of 1,147,000.  Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 770k – this number  is 0.5% above the revised June figure of 766k. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 433k. Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,152,000.  This is 0.1% below…

New research from the Pew Research Center says that a record number of Americans are living in multigenerational family households.  They report that in 2014, 60.6 million people, or 19% of the U.S. population, lived with multiple generations, all under one roof.   Multigenerational living is defined as a household that includes two or more adult generations, or one that includes grandparents and grandchildren.  The most common type of multigenerational household consists of two adult generations, such as parents and their adult children.   That group composed of 29.7 million people in 2014. Click here to read more at PewReaserch.org.

Last week we posted about the 3.3 million HELOC’s that were schedule to reset over the next few years.  Now we’re starting to see some of the data come in about those lines of credit.  According to a recent article on Realtor.com (which was also in the WSJ) the bill is coming due for many of those homeowners with payments increasing by hundreds of dollars per month due to these resets.  Interestingly, some banks have started taking additional steps to lessen risk by no longer permitting interest-only payments on new HELOC’s. “While delinquencies for Helocs are rising, charge-offs…

The Mortgage Bankers Association recently reported that delinquency rates for mortgage loans on one to four-unit residential properties fell to their lowest level since 2006, while foreclosure rates fell to their lowest level in 16 years.  The data was part of the their 2nd quarter National Delinquency Survey which showed that the delinquency rate fell 11 basis points to 4.66% of all loans outstanding.  The percentage of loans with started foreclosure actions fell to 0.32% – the lowest since 2000. “The mortgage delinquency rate tracks closely with the nation’s improving unemployment rate. In the second quarter, the mortgage delinquency rate…

Almost a year ago we reported the same thing;  Bankrate.com’s annual survey of the best way to invest money that you wouldn’t need for more than 10 years once again puts real estate at the very top.  The results show that 25% Americans chose Real Estate, 23% Cash, 16% Gold, 16% Stocks, 5% Bonds, 9% said they don’t know and 6% said something else.  Indeed……..Happy Friday… “Houses are tangible. You can physically see and feel the product. So you know where your money is going: It’s going into that house…With stocks, you have no clue where your money is going.” …

The National Association of Realtors are reporting that home prices continued their meteoric rise across the country with the median existing single-family home price reaching $240,700 in the 2nd quarter of 2016 – up 4.9% from the second quarter of 2015.  The honor of the highest median home price in the nation goes to San Jose, CA which now tops $1 million.  In case you were wondering, San Francisco wasn’t too far behind coming in at $885,600.  Overall, total existing national home sales rose 3.8% to a seasonally annual rate of 5.50 million in the second quarter of 2016 –  4.2%…