Author: Brad Beckett

The AP recently reported that the Cleveland city officials are considering legislation that would regulate, limit and tax short-term rentals arranged through sharing websites such as Airbnb.  The short-term rental legislation was introduced with eyes on this summer’s Republican National Convention, which the Ohio city is hosting.  Hearings are expected to be held this month on the issue. The short-term rental legislation was introduced in early January. It would update the city’s zoning code to permit short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods, cap a host’s ability to rent at 91 days per year, set basic standards and apply a 3 percent…

There has been a lot of good discussion lately about investing in the self-storage business.  In fact, The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story extolling the values of the biggest provider of self-storage units, Public Storage – telling readers that “This still is a good place to store some cash.” Indeed…..This week the Houston Chronicle featured an excerpted interview with Ari Rastegar, who’s Dallas-based company Rastegar Capital owns 10 self-storage properties in the Houston area.  It’s a very interesting piece and worth a quick read. Q: Why do you like self-storage? A: When you have the big house and…

RealtyTrac recently released their Q1 2016 U.S. Residential Property Vacancy Analysis which showed that out of nearly 85 million residential properties (with 1 to 4 units), more than 1.3 million (1.6%) were vacant at the beginning of February 2016, down 9.3%  from the last residential property vacancy analysis in the third quarter of 2015. Of note is Flint, Michigan where 87% of the vacant homes are investment properties.  Nationally Investment properties accounted for 76.7% of all vacant properties.  Yikes! Click here to read more on RealtyTrac.

According to a recent survey from Bankrate.com many Americans say they arren’t ready to buy a home – even though rents are steadily rising across the country.  The results show that 35% simply don’t want to buy a house, with 29% saying they cannot afford a down-payment. Interestingly: Among all ages, 35% of non-homeowners don’t want a house yet. That’s the reason given by 44% of millennials (ages 18-29), 28% of non-owners ages 30 to 49, 29% of those ages 50 to 64, and 30% of those 65 and older. Click here to read the full story on Bankrate.com

Having a presence on the internet today is as important as placing an ad in the yellow part of the printed phone book was 20 years ago.  However, with today’s ever-increasing use of mobile devices (over 64% of Americans own a smartphone) it is vitally important to make sure your website is optimized for viewing a mobile phone. One quick and easy to check is use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test.  This test analyzes a web address (URL ) and then reports if the page has a mobile-friendly design. Depending on how your website is designed, there are many tools available…

Focus on Kitchens and Bathrooms to Maximize ROI By Cameron Mickey, National Pro Manager, The Home Depot When looking at home upgrades, every real estate investor is trying to find the optimal balance between cost and ROI. When considering your options for interior improvements, two of the first rooms you should look at are the kitchen and bathroom. According to Remodeling’s 2015 Cost vs. Value Report, minor kitchen remodels yield a 79 percent return on investment, the best of any room in the house. Bathrooms also yield a strong return of 70 percent. Updating a kitchen can range from small…

Last Fall we featured data showing the fastest growing counties in the nation.  That makes for an interesting correlation with where the aging of America is taking place.   Recently, the NAHB’s HousingEconomics.com reported that currently, in the United States, there are over 48 million households (roughly 42%) headed by someone aged 55 or over. Some key takeaways: In every state, the 55+ category accounts for over 34% of all households. In every county, 55+ category accounts for over 20% of all households. In 99% of the counties, 55+ accounts for over 30%. At the high end, 112 counties have…

How typical is your household when it comes to a few basic characteristics?  Define typical…..well, anyway, the folks at FannieMae put together the following infographic based on data from the American Housing Survey.   My question is, if 99.9% of us are using gas or electric as our cooking fuel, what is this elusive .1% using???  Charcoal?  Happy Friday.

According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as of the end of December 2015, total household indebtedness was over $12 trillion, an increase of $51 billion (0.4%) from the previous quarter.  Overall, December’s number remains 4.4% below 2008’s peak balance of nearly $14 trillion.  Mortgage balances (the largest component of household debt) remained flat during the fourth quarter at $8.25 trillion. Click here to read the full report “QUARTERLY REPORT ON HOUSEHOLD DEBT AND CREDIT, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

The federal government recently released new residential construction data for January 2016 that show that housing starts fell 3.8% compared to December, 2015.  However, they were still 1.8% higher than January 2015’s rate and still remain above the 1 million mark.  Housing starts for multi-families dropped 2.5%, compared to December.  Bad weather is mostly to blame as many construction projects were delayed/disrupted. Click here to read the full release from the US Department of Commerce.