Carole VanSickle Ellis
Consumer Optimism Declines Week Before Christmas
The week before Christmas is a make-or-break period of time for many retailers, so it’s not surprising that many economists became concerned in mid-December when the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers indicated the American public is feeling slightly less optimistic heading into the final sprint before the holiday season ...
Economic Confidence on the Rise in December
According to figures released by the Conference Board last week, Americans are more confidence about the economy and labor market than they have been in the last 17 years. The confidence index rose to 129.5 last month, while the board’s consumer expectations index rose to 113.3. This is the highest ...
2018 is Time to Sell According to Poll
Nearly a third of all homeowners told analysts at Trulia that they believe 2018 is “a better time to sell” than 2017. Leading those analysts to conclude that national housing inventory woes might be alleviated in the coming 12 months. “At a 17-percentage-point differential, the home-selling sentiment is the second-highest ...
Moratorium on Foreclosures for Christmas
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced the second week in December that both GSEs would, as is traditional, place a hold on holiday evictions lasting from December 18, 2017, to January 2, 2018. The suspension applies not just to single-family homes, but also duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes. The moratorium will ...
Nike Relocates Away from Trump Tower Retail Space
Despite being in possession of a five-year lease on prime retail real estate in Manhattan’s premier retail corridor, Nike recently announced that it would relocate its Niketown store five blocks away from the current location. The company has refused to disclose the reason for the move, but reporters at Crain’s ...
Federal Tax Reform: 3 States that Could be Hit Hard
Late last week, the U.S. Senate passed a sweeping federal tax reform bill that has been highly controversial and was approved wholly along party lines, with all but one republican senator voting for the bill and all democrat senators voting against it. Among other things, the bill will affect state ...
Bitcoin Enters the Real Estate Sector
Most real estate investors probably think about bitcoin mainly in terms of whether they are going to invest in the currency before it hits its next record high or wait until the volatile cryptocurrency tanks (at least temporarily) before getting in. However, an increasing number of landlords, sellers, and other ...
Creative Down Payment Options REIs Need to Know About
According to multiple surveys by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), many would-be homebuyers are opting not to explore their options in the housing market because they believe that they cannot afford the down payment associated with buying a home. While this view is largely inaccurate, the prevailing notion that ...
3 Things About Investing in Detroit to Know in 2018
The Motor City may offer single family rental (SFR) investors the best of all possible worlds in 2018. If you know how to gain the upper hand in the housing market that is. According to Corey Hanker, managing partner at Fortus Partners, these days, “It’s investor advantage in Detroit!” Hanker, ...
Single-Family Rentals Look Bright for 2018
According to a panel of six premier experts in the investment industry, 2018 is going to be a good year for single-family rentals (SFR). Although, as always, the local market is everything. During the opening session of IMN’s 6th Annual SFR Investment Forum (West) on December 3, 2017, in Scottsdale, ...
Staying True to the Mission: The American Dream
“Just about everyone's American Dream is to own their own single-family house. If they can’t own it, then they want to rent it,” says Bruce McNeilage, co-founder and CEO of Kinloch Partners, Kinloch Homes, LLC, and Harpeth Development, LLC. If you think his corporate titles are lengthy, wait until you see ...
Hurricane-Hit Florida Market Already Rebounding
Despite being hit hard by Hurricane Irma in September, the Naples, Florida, housing market closed out October 2017 on a positive note with sales increasing about one percent over the same time the previous year. Naples’ October 2017 Market The Naples Area Board of Realtors (NABOR) reported, “October could have ...
Judge Rules Colorado Firm Did Not Defraud During Housing Market Crisis
When the housing market crashed, Castle Law Group, Colorado’s largest foreclosure law firm, took advantage of the situation by “inflating costs of posting legal notices…conspiring with companies that did the work and its own competitors to fix the price at far more than what it actually cost,” alleged the Colorado ...
Breaking and Entering Over Possible Lead Paint?
If you own rental properties in New York City, you might want to tell your tenants to leave the doors unlocked this week. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) might be breaking in if you do not. The NYC Department of Investigation revealed early last week that NYCHA has ...
China Real Estate Finds Room to Grow Underground
Hong Kong is considering something pretty unusual to help deal with a massive shortage of real estate for development and housing: an “underground excavation.” While you might cringe at the idea of living underground as something out of a dystopian novel, the Chinese government is taking a practical approach to ...
Get in on the Farmland Phenomenon
Over the past decade, international investors have doubled down on a certain type of real estate. In fact, they have purchased so much of this particular type of land just since 2004 that cross-border ownership in this sector accounts for an area roughly the size of the state of Tennessee ...
Tax Changes Could Hurt Second-Home Market
How would it affect your real estate investing if you could not deduct the mortgage interest on the property loan off your taxes each year? If you purchased one or more of your investment properties using a traditional mortgage loan, then keep reading. Looming changes to the U.S. tax code ...
Tap Your Holiday Spirit, Offer Solutions
Successful real estate investors tend to focus on offering solutions. Sometimes, those solutions are straightforward, such as buying a home from a distressed homeowner or helping a burned-out landlord exit ownership of a chronically troublesome rental property. If you can clearly convey to any potential lead, business partner, buyer, or ...
Fed’s Changing of the Guards Could Effect REIs
When President Trump announced he would break with precedent and nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome “Jay” Powell to replace current Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in early 2018, he was keeping a much-publicized campaign promise to “fire” Yellen. During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the Federal Reserve for keeping ...
3 Simple Seasonal Staging Tips
As the leaves change from green to orange, red, and gold and the words “pumpkin spice” begin appearing on packaging of everything from lattes to pop tarts, we know that fall is in the air. In our own homes, we may crack out the cinnamon brooms, the football-themed front-door decor, and start ...
Homeownership Rates Rise Slightly in Mid-2017
Homeownership rates are slowly crawling upward. But fewer than two-thirds of the nation’s households owned their own homes at the end of Q3 2017 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Rates climbed slightly between the second and third quarters of this year, from 63.7 percent at the end of June ...
This Paint Color Could Add Thousands to Your Selling Price
If you’re feeling a little blue this holiday season, that could be great news for your home values. According to Zillow’s 2017 Paint Color Analysis the right shade of blue in your bathroom could add more than $5,000 to your sales price, while light blue kitchens and bedrooms net sellers ...
5 Fastest-Growing Cities in America
Two Texas cities dominated WalletHub’s most recent list of “fastest-growing cities in America,” and cities in Florida, Idaho, and Washington state made the list as well. Before you pack up your bags, your bandit signs, and your investment capital and head south or west, take a moment to read the ...
HOA Liens Create Huge Stumbling Blocks
Homeowners Associations (HOA) can be a great thing for a neighborhood. These associations charge monthly or annual fees and, in return, perform certain maintenance-related duties. To include caring for neighborhood amenities, and work with the homeowners in the neighborhood to keep all properties looking well-kept and, to varying degrees, consistent ...
Serial Squatters are a Nightmare for Landlords
A couple who appeared to be the perfect potential tenants have turned out to be nightmare renters. They’ve taken more than one North Texas landlord for a ride. In their most recent escapade, they moved into a home, bounced their first rent check, and then proceeded to drag the eviction ...
