Author: Brad Beckett

Corelogic is reporting that distressed sales accounted for 10% of homes sold nationally in March AND they expected them to return to Pre-Crisis Share in 2018.  Distressed sales, which include REO & short sales, accounted for 9.9% of total U.S. home sales in March ’16, down 2.7 percentage points from March ’15 and down 1.7 percentage points from February ’16. Key takeaways: Of total sales in March 2016, distressed sales accounted for 9.9% and real estate-owned (REO) sales accounted for 6.8% The REO sales share was 21.1 percentage points below its peak of 27.9% in January 2009 Distressed sales shares…

Today is the first day of summer so let’s take a quick look at the 10 Hottest Real Estate Markets for Summer 2016.  Inman is reporting that total listings and list prices are on the rise all over the country and, as recent data have shown, homes aren’t staying on the market for very long.  That’s why they’re saying “these cities’ home values are strengthening, along with their economy.” The hotest markets are: San Francisco Denver St. Louis Boston Sacramento Dallas Seattle Portland, OR Atlanta Charlotte, NC Click here to read the full story on Inman.com.

This Sunday, June 16th is Father’s Day and what better way to celebrate than to help Dad build the ultimate Man Cave….Today’s infographic from the Home Depot breaks it down for us….As always, stay sfae and have a Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to the Home Depot!

Real estate information & home-related marketplace site Zillow recently announced that it was fine-tuning its Zestimate algorithm to boost accuracy and improve its median error rate from 8% to 6%.  Zestimates are published on more than 100 million homes across the country based on 7.5 million statistical and machine learning models that examine hundreds of data points on each individual home.  To calculate their Zestimate, Zillow uses data from county & tax assessor records as well as direct feeds from hundreds of multiple listing services and brokerages. “Since we launched the Zestimate 10 years ago, we have been continually working…

The folks over at WalletHub recently crunched the numbers to come up with what they see as the Safest States in America.  Their analysis is based on 25 key “safety” metrics such as number of the assaults per capita, the unemployment rate and even estimated losses from climate disasters (this isn’t your typical list based only on local crime data) that were boiled down into five separate categories – Home & Community Safety, Financial Safety, Road Safety, Workplace Safety, and Safety from Natural Disasters.  Be sure to visit their site to peruse the entire list and re-sort the data for…

This week data powerhouse CoreLogic released their April 2016 National Foreclosure Report showing that nationwide foreclosure inventory declined by 23.4% with completed foreclosures declining by 15.8%, compared with April 2015.  The actual number of completed foreclosures decreased from 43k in April 2015 to 37k in April 2016 – representing a 68.9% decrease from its peak of 117,813 in September 2010.  In addition, the nationwide foreclosure inventory was approximately 406k homes (1.1% of all home with a mortgage and the lowest since 9/07) compared to 530k in April 2015. “The number of homeowners who have negative equity has fallen by two-thirds…

A couple of months ago we shared a story about a serial-scammer in Indianapolis who owes $1000’s to individual landlords and is facing numerous eviction lawsuits.  Now we’ve found one with a totally different twist;  TV station WKRN is reporting that a lady in Nashville recently purchased a home that was for-sale-by-owner, the transaction went through without a hitch, she closed, but because there wasn’t anything in the sales agreement requiring the seller to vacate the premises, he refused to leave!!! The problem is that Holloway closed on her home on June 1, and there isn’t an amendment saying he…

According to the latest CoreLogic Storm Surge Report, 6.8 million homes in the United State are at risk of hurricane storm damage, representing $1.5 trillion in reconstruction value.  The 2016 report provides valuable insight into the number of homes at risk of storm surge by state and Core Based Statistical Area as well as the reconstruction cost value for all at-risk homes.  It is important to remember that storm surge flooding is one of the primary causes of hurricane-related property damage along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. “Using more granular-level data has given us an even clearer picture of which…

The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article about how educated, relatively high-earning workers are flocking to urban neighborhoods at a rate not seen since the 1970’s. This is an interesting phenomenon that indirectly highlights the issue of either allowing urban areas to decay (spiraling downward) or encourage their gentrification and be reborn economically adding value to the entire community through increased property values & stability (but with displacement of the poor). “The movement is injecting new life into tired urban cores, prompting renovation of older residential and commercial buildings while spurring new real estate developments as well as…

Some of these ideas might seem simple, but in our busy day-to-day lives we generate a lot of clutter – especially in our work spaces.  Over time that clutter eventually eats into efficiency which, over time, will impact your bottom line.  Our good friends over at Office Depot / Office Max put together this great graphic laying out some simple ideas to help you stay organized from your desktop to cyberspace.  Happy Friday!