Author: Brad Beckett

For the first time ever, New York City’s assessed property values have exceed the $1 trillion mark.  The city’s finance department reported last week that the total market value of taxable property rose 10.6% to $1.072 trillion for FY 2017.  Much of the surge is due to the exceptionally strong real estate market in the borough of Brooklyn, which is seeing a renaissance in demand. “Higher assessments mean higher taxes — and the average bill for single-family homes is expected to go up $187 to $5,138,”  as reported in the New York Post. Indeed…. Read more: “NYC property values surpass…

Inman is reporting that if Zillow and Airbnb had a baby it would be realstir, which launched its “try before you buy” platform last week allowing potential buyers to enter short-term rentals of their properties.  It’s an interesting concept that realstir promotes by saying  “Get to know your new home before you make an offer.” And, in case you were wondering, RealStir copyrighted their phrase. Some key takeaways: Realstir allows homebuyers to ask sellers — through their agents — if they can stay for a few nights to test out listings. Agents can pay to advertise on realstir.com. Sellers are…

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently released their 2016 forecasts for the housing market and the economy.  The following infographic gives an overview of their predictions for this year. Everyone has a crystal ball…..Happy Friday. Click here to read the full report.

Often we in America  take our freedoms for granted but when it comes to people in other countries, especially Communist China things are still radically quite different – and real estate investing is no different.  The Mortgage Professionals of America recently reported that in 2014 alone, Chinese citizens spent an estimated $28 billion on homes in the United States. Obviously this incredible sum being spent on properties has not gone unnoticed by real estate brokers.  Additionally, the MPA says that right after Canadian investors, Chinese nationals are among the largest investing populations in U.S. soil. People feel like, from the…

The New York Times is reporting, that for the first time ever, the federal government is going to require real estate companies in two distinct areas of the country to disclose names behind all-cash transactions in real estate deals.  The measure, supposedly temporary, will target properties purchased in New York City and Miami-Dade County, Florida in cash meeting certain thresholds.  In NYC  buyers in sales of more than $3 million are to be reported and in Miami-Dade County it’s on sales greater than $1 million.   The premise for these efforts is based on reducing crime & money laundering, however it…

Cash is indeed King….RealtyTrac is reporting that in November, the share of cash sales of homes & condos in the US jumped to 38.1% – the highest level since March 2013 when 38,8% of all sales were cash.  The data was obtained from publicly recorded sales deeds from across the nation. “The jump in cash sales is likely a knee-jerk reaction to the new documentation and disclosure rules for mortgages that took effect in October, making it even more difficult for buyers using financing to compete with cash buyers in the already competitive housing market,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president…

This week property information provider CoreLogic released their November 2015 Foreclosure Report which shows that foreclosure inventory declined by 21.8% and completed foreclosures declined by 18.8% compared with November 2014.  The number of completed foreclosures decreased year over year from 41k in November 2014 to 33k in November 2015.  The number of completed foreclosures in November 2015 was down 71.6% from the peak of 117,657 in September 2010. Some key takeaways: The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in November 2015 were Florida (83k), Michigan (51k), Texas (29k), California (24k) and Georgia…

Arch MI recently released their Housing & Mortgage Market Review  where they report the average likelihood of US home price declines remains low, at 6%.  However their report does indicate trouble in eight of the of states that compose the “energy patch” where the continuing drop in the price of oil puts them at a higher risk for a housing crisis.  The eight states are, in order of highest risk: North Dakota (46%), Wyoming (37%), Alaska (33%), West Virgina (33%), New Mexico (31%), Oklahoma (28%), Louisiana (28%) and Texas (26%). Click here to read the full report on Arch MI.…

DSNews has an interesting article citing a recent report from the Urban Institute about HUD’s Distressed Asset Stabilization Program that calls it a “Win-Win for Borrowers, Investors and HUD.”   The DASP program was instituted in 2010 in response to the massive amount of foreclosures resulting from the housing crisis as a way to sell distressed and/or nonperforming loans to investors. Some takeaways: “researchers from the Urban Institute concluded that all parties—HUD, the borrowers, and investors—stand to benefit when distressed loans are sold through DASP” “The authors of the paper, Laurie Goodman (Director of Housing Finance Policy Center with Urban Institute)…

Whether your flipping a house for a quick sale or upgrading properties in your portfolio, one acronym always paramount in your decision-making formula – ROI (return on investment).  This week, tip-site LifeHacker presented a chart on home renovation that lists the top 5 ROI renovation projects as well as others that improve the bottom line.  Happy Friday….. Click here to read The Best and Worst Projects for Increasing Your Home’s Return on Investment, LifeHacker 1/4/16