Author: Brad Beckett

We have seen a lot of stories about squatters lately, however, as you can imagine, scammers are working all the angles to steal money & assets from unsuspecting victims.  Recently, in Kansas City, KS, an elderly couple was scammed out of a nearby parcel of land they were planning to sell.  They only found out that someone had already “sold” it when they spoke with a realtor about selling the asset. “The empty lot is in the same neighborhood where they own a home, but the Werohas had no idea the land was being sold because no “For Sale” sign…

According to the ADP National Employment Report for May, 2024, private employers added 152k jobs in May, a slowdown in growth led by a steep decline in manufacturing.  In addition, leisure and hospitality also showed weaker hiring.  The ADP National Employment Report is an independent and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on the aggregated and anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees. “Job gains and pay growth are slowing going into the second half of the year…The labor market is solid, but we’re monitoring notable pockets of weakness tied to both producers and consumers.” …

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 272k in May, 2024 with the unemployment rate rising to 4%.  Like a broken record, employment in the government sector continued to climb with the BLS reporting that it increased by 43k, close to the average monthly gain of 52k over the past 12 months. Click here to read the full report at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Toronto Life magazine recently had an interesting story about a couple seeking a larger home for their growing family who bought a house in a hot neighborhood that seemingly look great, just needed some work, but ultimately turned out to be a 5-year nightmare.  It’s a good read and has several valuable lessons about doing your due diligence before buying a property – trendy neighborhood or not. It was a crumbling Parkdale rooming house, populated by drug users and squatters and available on the cheap. We were cash-strapped, desperate to move and hemmed in by a hot market. Five years,…

Eighty years ago yesterday, on June 6, 1944, Operation Overlord (aka D-Day) was launched with nearly 160,000 allied troops (led by the United States) invading occupied France – marking the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Today’s infographic from Encyclopedia Britannica gives us a quick snapshot of that momentous day.  As you know, a significant & growing number of those men are no longer with us, as well the entire World War Two generation.  If you’re fortunate enough to encounter one of them, shake their hand and thank them for their bravery, their commitment, and for the freedoms we…

According to the latest CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), U.S. single-family home rental prices rose by 3.4% year over year in March, 2024 with the median monthly cost for a U.S. three-bedroom home coming in at $2,052.  They also say that major coastal job hubs continued to lead the U.S. for annual rent growth – Seattle, New York and Boston once again took the top three spots. “U.S. single-family rent growth strengthened overall in March, though some weaknesses are revealed in the latest numbers…And for the first time in 14 years, single-family, attached properties posted a year-over-year decline. The continued…

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in April, 2024 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,099 billion, which is 0.1% lower than March’s revised number.  However, April’s revised estimate is 10% higher than one year ago.  Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $890.4 billion in April, which is 0.1% higher than March’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Rental information site Zumper recently released their latest monthly National Rent Report for May, 2024.  According to their data, median rent for 1-bedroom apartments was $1,504 (up 1.2%) and $1,865 (up 1.2%) for two-bedrooms. Be sure to check out their entire list of the top 100 metro areas. “May marks the first time we’ve seen national monthly growth rates of over 1% since October 2022…This notable rise in rent coupled with the current persisting inflation suggests that there will be even more pressure put on the CPI in the coming months and rate cuts by the Fed may be pushed…

The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 6.5% annual increase for March, 2024.  Their 10-City Composite increased 8.2% and their 20-City Composite increased 7.4%, year-over-year. Click here to read the full report at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), home prices home prices rose 6.6%  between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024.  In addition, FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index for April was up 0.1% from March.  The FHFA HPI is the nation’s only collection of public, freely available house price indexes that measure changes in single-family home values based on data from all 50 states and over 400 American cities that extend back to the mid-1970s. “U.S. house prices continued to grow at a steady pace in the first quarter…Over the last six consecutive quarters, the low…