Articles

Ready to get your read on? Dive into the article archive to help you build wealth through real estate investing. We feature top subject matter experts exploring every facet of the industry.

Articles

Ready to get your read on? Dive into the article archive to help you build wealth through real estate investing. We feature top subject matter experts exploring every facet of the industry.

4-4-14 corelogic 700 p

Shadow housing inventory continues down hitting lowest level in three years

The number of distressed residential housing properties continues down as the value of the shadow inventory has dropped $70 billion in the past year reflecting the progress states are making on the foreclosure front, according to a new report from CoreLogic. Foreclosures are down 35% year over year. Shadow inventory ...
Housing shortage in key markets will boost prices

Housing shortage in key markets will boost prices

New quarterly data from Local Market Monitor identifies some key markets, including three Texas cities leading the list, that could be prime targets for investors in single family rental properties, according to a release. Topping the list are Fort Worth, Houston and Austin . “The economy has been growing quickly ...
Listhub.com to expand property listings to local MLS publishers starting in Texas

Listhub.com to expand property listings to local MLS publishers starting in Texas

Property listings are going to get wider distribution starting in Texas as a result of an announcement that ListHub.com, a provider of  property listings and performance metrics in real estate, is expanding. Move, Inc., owned by Realtor.com will expand their Real Estate Network (REN)  syndication of property listings to consumer-facing ...
The largest landlords of single-family rental homes form trade group

The largest landlords of single-family rental homes form trade group

The nation's largest group of landlords owing single-family rental homes has formed a new trade group called the National Rental Home Council. Colony American Homes, Invitation Homes, American Homes 4 Rent, and Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust are the founding members of the new group. While small real estate investors own ...
57% of boomers plan to move out of their current home

57% of boomers plan to move out of their current home

A new survey released today says 57 percent of boomers plan to move out of their current home and 70 percent believe the house they retire in will be the best home in which they have ever lived, according to a release from Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate by ...
3-24-14 Bankrate financial security

New survey: People feeling more confident about net worth and finances

People are feeling a little more confident about their personal financial situation, net worth and job security according to the latest survey from Bankrate.com which is good news for real estate investors. The Bankrate Financial Security Index  was up three points in March to 102.2, from 99.3 last month. That ...
3-13-14 zombie 1

Foreclosures drop to lowest level in seven years but zombie properties still a problem

 The foreclosure rate has fallen to the lowest level in more than seven years, but auctions are still up annually in 19 states RealtyTrac said in its latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for February 2014. The report which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — ...
Where landlords still offer city apartments for under $1,000 a month

Where landlords still offer city apartments for under $1,000 a month

Landlords are still offering studio apartments in many cities for around $1,000 a month, according to a new survey from Apartments.com. Even in some of the largest and most expensive cities, rents of around $1,000 a month can be found in nearby neighborhoods or suburbs or by tenants committing to ...
Apartments.com sold to CoStar Group

Apartments.com sold to CoStar Group

Classified Ventures, LLC ("CV"), a leading provider of digital marketing solutions in the automotive and apartment rental categories, has entered into an agreement to sell its Apartments.com business for $585 million in cash to CoStar Group, Inc., a leading provider of commercial real estate research and information services.  The sale ...
Local Market Monitor's analysis of what fourth quarter report means for real estate

Local Market Monitor’s analysis of what fourth quarter report means for real estate

By Ingo Winzer Local Market Monitor Estimates for GDP in the fourth quarter paint a positive picture, even though total growth was at a modest 2.4 percent annual rate after a 4.1 percent third quarter. Most encouraging is that personal spending was a good part of the growth. Last quarter, ...
3-4-14 core logic chart

Home prices up 12% year over year

Home prices across the country increased 12 percent in January of this year compared to January 2013, marking 23 months of consecutive year-over-year increases in home prices nationally, according to a release from CoreLogic. “The last time January month-over-month and year-over-year price appreciation was this strong was at the height ...
Sales of new homes in January highest in five years

Sales of new homes in January highest in five years

Sales of new homes jumped unexpectedly in January despite bad weather in many parts of the country according to the U.S. Census Bureau, to the highest levels since January of 2008. “I’m hopeful the recovery in home sales will get back on track in the next couple of months,” said ...
A letter from Warren Buffett: What you can learn about my real estate investing

A letter from Warren Buffett: What you can learn about my real estate investing

Warren Buffett tells a personal story about two of his non-stock investments in an article on CNN Money. The story involves two real estate purchases, when and why he bought them, and how they have performed over time. "There is one major difference between my two small investments and an ...
Foreclosure filings up slightly for January

Foreclosure filings up slightly for January

Foreclosures were up slightly in January, but still down 18 percent from January of last year, according to RealtyTrac's  U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. "The monthly increase in January foreclosure activity was somewhat expected after a holiday lull, but the sharp annual increases in some states shows that many states are ...
Mortgage rates post first increase of 2014

Mortgage rates post first increase of 2014

Mortgage rates broke a five-week long streak of declines, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate increasing 4.48 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.33 discount and origination points. The average 15-year fixed mortgage notched higher to 3.53 percent, and ...
Millionaires moving to increase real estate investment in 2014

Millionaires moving to increase real estate investment in 2014

Real estate is the top alternative investment millionaires are considering this year according to a new report from Morgan Stanley. “After a year where the Standard & Poor’s Index rose 30 percent, some millionaires are moving money out of traditional, long-only strategies to find outperformance, and turning toward alternatives such ...
What do the growing number of single-family rentals say about the housing market?

What do the growing number of single-family rentals say about the housing market?

Housing Wire magazine has a headline asking whether real estate investor home sales mask a weak housing market, and whether the hype has gotten ahead of the underlying fundamentals. Also, the article asks what has been the real role of large institutional purchases. Writer Trey Garrison interviews several experts, including ...
2-3-14 RealtyTrac flipping stats

Home “flips” up 16% in 2013 with average gross profit of $62,000

RealtyTrac's latest report for 2013 shows flips were up, but as many serious investors know, still represented only 4.6 percent of all U.S. single-family sales during the year. Their report shows 156,862 single family home flips — where a home is purchased and subsequently sold again within six months — ...
Another company plans offering in bonds secured by single-family rentals

Another company plans offering in bonds secured by single-family rentals

American Homes 4 Rent is joining  the Blackstone Group in providing bonds for investors backed by single-family rental homes, the New York Times and CNBC are reporting. This is part of the growing trend by Wall Street to find a new way to secure debt tied to single family rental ...
1-29-14 ski towns

Best ski resorts for real estate investing

The folks at RealtyTrac have come up with a fun list of the best places to invest in real estate if you would like to own investment property where you ski. So if you are thinking of investing in your favorite mountain town, here are some stats they put together ...
Company bringing build-to-rent to Texas

Company bringing build-to-rent to Texas

American Housing Ventures has acquired 80 acres of agricultural land east of the Austin airport to build single family homes to rent in a growing national trend of build-to-rent ventures that investors are seeing. The company plans to own the homes for the long term and management them, Mark Wolf, ...
Do you know why jumbo mortgages are so cheap?

Do you know why jumbo mortgages are so cheap?

RealtyTrac says jumbo loans are now cheaper than conventional loans. It may not make sense, until you look deeper at what is really going on. In this story, RealtyTrac outlines that what you are seeing is really an effort to prevent marketplace competition. The government wants to shift the mortgage ...
New home builder confidence levels out and is holding steady

New home builder confidence levels out and is holding steady

The newly released report from the National Association of Home Builders says builder confidence in the market for  single-family homes has leveled out and is holding steady after a slight uptick in December. Real estate investors are watching the new build-to-rent trend that is starting to pop up around the ...
American millionaires hold less wealth in real estate than European and Asian investors

American millionaires hold less wealth in real estate than European and Asian investors

A new report from Savillis says American millionaires hold only seven percent of their wealth in real estate while Asian and European millionaires hold four times that amount. The report defined millionaires as having $30 million or more. The American rich have more of their wealth in financial investments and ...
Denver setting new records in home sales and jobs

Denver setting new records in home sales and jobs

The news just keeps getting better for Denver and real estate investors. The latest story from the Denver Post  from a report by Metrolist shows single-family home sales in metro Denver last year beat a record set during the housing boom. There were 42,762 single family homes sold last year, compared ...