Author: Brad Beckett

A recent report from RentCafe says the number of millionaires who rent has tripled, while high-income renters earning $150k + has reached reach 2.6 million – among them is a new ritzy kind of tenant which they call  “the millionaire renter.” “So, what do millionaire renters do for a living? Data shows that the most popular jobs among millionaire renters are in management positions (1,653); followed by securities, commodities and financial services sales agents (519); chief executives and legislators (468); software developers (459); and lawyers, judges, magistrates and other judicial workers (421).” Click here to read the full report at…

A recent report in the Wall Street Journal says travel booking companies such as Airbnb and Expedia have become “unlikely beneficiaries” of the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation.  Huh?  Apparently, Airbnb & Expedia have been investing billions of dollars of their customers’ money for their own profit and, thanks to rising interest rates, the returns on these investments are higher than ever.  Here’s how it works;  travel sites generally collect money from guests the moment that they book. However, they only pass the funds on to the hosts (or hotels) after the guest stay starts, which could be several months…

According to Black Knight’s “first look” report for December, 2022, the national delinquency rate on first lien mortgages increased to 3.08% in December, but finished the year 30 basis points (-9%) below its December 2021 level.  Black Knight says foreclosure starts increased by 15% in December to 26,900 – which was the third consecutive increase, however that figure was still 30% below pre-pandemic levels.  In addition, foreclosure was started on 4.9% of serious delinquencies in December (up from November) but was still 46% below the start rate seen in December 2019 prior to the pandemic. Click here to read the…

With all the recent issues & problems involving parties in short-term rentals, VRBO is taking steps to mitigate this by deploying what it calls a “new unauthorized event prevention technology.”  FOX News is reporting that this new program was responsible for blocking over 500 event-related bookings in the first 12 months of being piloted in the U.S.   According to the report, an algorithm examines length of stay, the timing ahead of a stay, the number of guests, number of beds, property amenities and the weekday of the first night’s stay.  FOX says VRBO offered little details on how it determines…

This Sunday, February 12th, the super deluxe happy fun bowl (aka Super Bowl 57) will be played in Glendale, Arizona.  The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will battle it out to claim the top NFL crown.  Today’s graphic from the U.S. Census Bureau asks if someone from your hometown is playing in the “big game.”  It simply shows the towns where players in Sunday’s game come from.  Be sure to click on the map to make it interactive…  Stay safe and have a Happy Friday!! Hat tip to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. government is reporting that total construction spending in December, 2022 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,809.8 billion, which is 0.4% below November’s revised estimate but is 7.7% higher than one year ago.  Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $857.2 billion in December, which is 0.3% below November’s revised estimate. Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

A recent report on Bloomberg says “Wall Street is losing out” to mom & pop buyers in the current housing slump after they say “big money” spent a fortune snapping up homes.  The article talks with several real estate investors in the Phoenix area about their recent purchases and the path that led them there.  Interestingly, it points several properties that Opendoor was apparently taking a haircut on after overpaying.  Indeed…the quotes below speak volumes: “In November the Tayriens paid $485,000 for what they call “their forever home.” In June the seller, Opendoor, had paid $646,800. That’s a 25% loss…

Last summer we posted about how, despite pleas from frustrated landlords, the Los Angeles City Council voted to extend the city’s emergency declaration allowing their eviction moratorium.  Now, KTTV is reporting that Los Angeles County recently voted to extend eviction protections through March, 2023.  The report says one county supervisor, Kathryn Barger, cast the sole vote against the move and said landlords have suffered enough financial harm  – sometimes by tenants taking advantage of the eviction moratorium to avoid paying rent.  Indeed… “Landlords are saying enough is enough,” she said, calling on the county to develop a plan for phasing…

According to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report, in November 2022, 2.9% of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days or more including those in foreclosure.  This figure represents a 0.7-percentage point decrease in the overall delinquency rate compared with November 2021.  In addition, CoreLogic says while national mortgage delinquencies declined for the 20th straight month on an annual basis, 18 U.S. metro areas saw at least slight increases in late borrower payments, up from six in October and one in September. They say that despite this uptick and slowing home price growth in recent months, most owners…

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI), U.S. house prices 8.2% from November 2021 through November 2022.  House prices were up 0.1% from October to November, 2022.  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 were largely unchanged in the last four months and remained near the peak levels reached over the summer of 2022…While higher mortgage rates have…