Congressman Jeb Hansarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee recently introduced new legislation called the Choice Act that calls for moving the country away from the Obama Administration’s financial control law (Dodd-Frank) to a new paradigm in banking, capital markets and financial opportunity. Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal featured a lead editorial about the plan and how it will benefit America. The WSJ says Hensarling’s plan will “promote economic growth and protect taxpayers.” “The Texas Congressman wants a simpler system in which private investors with money at risk decide which assets are safe. Under the Hensarling…
Author: Brad Beckett
Brad Beckett
Director of Education & Outreach, National Real Estate Investors Association
A recent article in USA Today says several real estate experts predict that fallout from the United Kingdom’s vote to break away from the European Union (the so-called Brexit) will not negatively impact the U.S. real estate sector in the same manner as it has affected Britain’s – which has raised uncertainty about market prices. “The fundamentals of U.S. real estate are positive,” said Cedrik Lachance, director of U.S. REIT research at Green Street Advisors, a California-based real estate research firm. “That seems unchanged to us.” The lower rates “could provide a boost for lower-income U.S. buyers” hoping to enter the real…
7 things I Would Tell My Younger Self About Real Estate Investing By Larry Arth Larry Arth started his successful real estate investing career helping his dad fix up rental houses and mowing vacant lots around vacant houses. One day at age 15, he asked about buying a lot where he had been mowing. While his dad was not like Donald Trump’s father, Larry’s dad did help a small amount to help Larry buy that vacant lot. He sold the lot three years later at age 18 and bought a duplex, his first real estate investment. Driving down the road…
HousingWire recently reworked data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to produce this cool infographic showing the 10 Hottest Housing Markets for Millennials. Happy Friday….
The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced new rules to adjust civil penalty amounts for violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules, in effect raising maximum penalties by 78%. The action was taken in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act (passed by Congress in 2015) to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. The law directed agencies to adjust their penalties for inflation each year using a much more straightforward method than previously available, and required agencies to publish “catch up” rules by July 1, 2016 to…
According to the latest Yardi Matrix the average national apartment rental rate rose $10 in June, reaching another all-time high of $1,213. Rents rose 0.9% on a month-over-month basis with the nationwide occupancy rate at 96.1% in June. For the 2nd quarter, rents were up 2.7% (5.6% year-over-year) while rent growth fell 30 basis points in June (year-over-year) and was down 110 basis points from the recent high in October 2015. “The big question of the day has to do with Brexit, or Britain’s vote to exit the European Union, which is roiling global financial markets. We foresee little immediate…
The National Association of Home Builders’ Eye On Housing recently crunched the numbers from the Census Bureau’s quarterly tax data. and found that $525 billion in taxes were paid by property owners over the four quarters ending in Q1 2016. This represents a 4.4% increase ($22 billion) over the previous trailing four quarters – the largest percentage increase in 7 years. Key takeaways: Q1 of 2016 marked the first time since 2010 that four-quarter property tax revenues grew faster than sales tax receipts. Property taxes accounted for 39.3% of state and local tax receipts Individual income taxes represented 28.7% of…
Housing data powerhouse RealtyTrac recently released a special report ranking the best bargain beach towns for Summer 2016 based on median home prices, average summer temperatures, air quality and density of registered criminal offenders. The report analyzed more than 1,400 cities in coastal counties across the nation. Each city was garnered index score from 0 to 500, with 500 being the best possible. “Buying a second home or investment property in a beach town can help families save on summer vacations for years to come and also potentially generate vacation rental income….While real estate close to the ocean tends to…
Corelogic has released their Home Price Index and HPI Forecast for May 2016 showing that home prices are up 5.9%, year over year (which includes distressed sales) as well as increasing 1.3% 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 May 2016 to May 2017, and on a month-over-month basis by 0.8%. “Housing remained an oasis of stability in May with home prices rising year over year between 5 percent and 6 percent for 22 consecutive months,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The consistently…
As we close out the 2nd quarter, historical data is now coming in and it looks like 2015 was a great year for investment home sales. Why? consider that 2015 marked the first year-over-year increase in investment home sales since 2011 (after trending downward), 62% of all investment homes purchased were single family homes, and 2015 saw a 7% increase in investment home sales. Bottom line – it’s always a good time to invest in real estate…just do it wisely. Happy Friday….
