Author: Brad Beckett

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development announced this week a new rule that will “reduce burden on state and local housing agencies and private landlords,” streamline a host of requirements and provide greater flexibility for agencies administering rental assistance programs. The new streamlined rule applies to local housing agencies administering Public Housing and the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) programs as well as private landlords under contract through HUD’s Multifamily Housing Programs.  In addition, the rule relaxes regulations on state and local units of government administering tenant-based rental assistance programs through HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Housing Opportunities…

Forbes is reporting that troubles for mortgage servicing giant Ocwen Financial continue to mount.  As recent as January, Ocwen was fined by the SEC for $2 million for misstating financial results “by using a flawed, undisclosed methodology to value complex mortgage assets,” now we’re learning that Ocwen has disclosed a new SEC probe into its operations. On Monday, Ocwen reported a $247 million annual loss and saw revenues tumble 17.5% as the company tries to deleverage and recover from an onslaught of scrutiny by regulators into its servicing practices and financial arrangements with related entities, Altisource Portfolio Solutions, Altisource Residential, Altisource Asset Management,…

The most recent CoreLogic US Home Price Index Report says that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 6.9% in January compared with January 2015 and increased by 1.3% in January compared with December 2015.  The data, released this week, also predicted that home prices will increase by 5.5% on a year-over-year basis from January 2016 to January 2017, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase 0.5% from January 2016 to February 2016. Click here to read the full report on CoreLogic. Click here to read CoreLogic’s media release

The Washington Post featured an article this week about a subject real estate investors have been talking about for quite a while – self-directed retirement accounts.  In the piece, the author, an agent & investor herself, says the “the nauseating drop” in the value of her retirement accounts made her think about investing in what she knew well and understands – real estate. “Self-directed IRAs are not for everyone…..it is best for those who know real estate or have a real estate expert to guide them.” Click here to read: Even with risks, more investors are giving self-directed IRAs a…

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…