Carole VanSickle Ellis
Regional Spotlight: New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA), is anything but simple. From its 73 “official” neighborhoods that some locals claim do not really exist to its storied history replete with pirates, natural disasters, and one of the country’s first “skyscrapers” (erected in 1807), the city is a beautiful and confusing cultural and architectural ...
A New Room Takes Top Place in Remodeling
A new survey from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) indicates remodeling the bathroom is more important to homeowners than remodeling the kitchen, although both rooms dominate other remodeling projects. The survey, which asked respondents about their remodeling projects in 2017 and what types of changes they made, indicated ...
Building Community in Real Estate
It is not uncommon to hear real estate investors refer to their businesses as “supporting the community.” This statement is highly accurate, given that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that there are nearly 28 million small businesses in the country and, of that 28 million, roughly 10 percent ...
Investor Spotlight: Mark Filler of Apex National Real Estate
Mark Filler, founder and CEO of Apex National Real Estate, has already hit some pretty big milestones in his career. After 20 years in the mortgage business and founding (then selling) multiple national companies, the Harvard law school grad and business partner Chris Shaxted, who has 25,000 new construction homes ...
3 Bathroom Trends Evolving in 2018
Meet the Expert: Katrina Rice is a professional kitchen and bath designer with 84 Lumber’s Kitchen & Bath Design Studio in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania. 84 Lumber’s Kitchen & Bath Design Studios exist in more than 30 of 84 Lumber’s 250 stores nationwide and are staffed by experienced professionals. She is ...
D.C. Congressmen Sleeping on Cots, Can’t Afford Housing
According to a report from the New York Post, some lawmakers are sleeping on cots in their offices in order to save money on renting a D.C. apartment during the times of the year Congress is in session. One representative told the Post, “Washington is too expensive.” He added, “If ...
DocuSign Value Soars After Initial Public Offering
E-signature company DocuSign, which led the charge into digital real estate closings, went public last week. All signs indicate that the company will continue to gain value as more and more real estate professionals realize the value of a digital closing. The company started the initial public offering (IPO) with ...
The Seattle City Council is considering a new tax law that will charge large employers about $500 per employee and dedication three-quarters of the resulting tax revenue toward building just under 2,000 affordable housing units in the city. The remainder would go toward services for the homeless. Although Amazon is ...
First-Time and Lower-Income Homebuyers to Struggle in 2018
With home values rising, inventory shrinking, and a buying population spurred on by rising interest rates, more and more housing markets are skyrocketing in value. Zillow recently warned that home shoppers have nearly 9 percent fewer homes to choose from than they did this time last year and, furthermore, that ...
Northern Nevada Housing Set Records in April
According to data released by the Reno-Sparks Association of Realtors (RSAR) about March 2018, the local housing market shattered records set before the Great Depression for median home prices for single-family homes. RSAR predicted in the same report prices would keep increasing for the remainder of the year. “We have…a ...
When Dennis Cisterna, CEO of Investability Solutions, joined the Altisource Portfolio Solutions offshoot's “one-stop shop” for single-family residential (SFR) investors, he did so with a clear mission in mind. “It should not be difficult to acquire, finance, manage, and structure partnerships in real estate,” Cisterna said. “There is a place ...
Western and Southern States Lead Job Growth So Far This Year
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment numbers are rising in just about every area of the country. However, the Midwest and Northeast showed far less job growth than the West and South over the period between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017. Job numbers are ...
Top 3 Markets for Millennial Homebuyers
Millennial buyers accounted for more than a third of all home purchases in 2017, but the most competitive housing markets in the country do not have much room for them. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), “young home shoppers are relocating to more affordable parts of the country” ...
Freddie Mac to Expand 3% Down Loans for New Homebuyers
Freddie Mac is going into competition with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) for low-down-payment borrowers, but that is not a bad thing for buyers or investors. Freddie Mac’s new HomeOne program can be applied to first-time homebuyers in any geographic location and any income bracket, putting a 3 percent down ...
Mandarin-Speaking Robots to Partner with Chinese Real Estate Website
If you always wanted to work with Chinese real estate investors but had no idea how you would start the conversation, Singou Technology of Macau (STM) and Chinese international real estate website Juwai.com may have some answers for you. Juwai.com announced this week that it will partner with STM to ...
Tumbleweed Buries Southern California Homes
We’ve all heard about the hazards and inconveniences associated with environmental factors like snow, water, and wind, but you might not be quite so familiar with the perils of tumbleweeds. These spiky balls of dried plant material break off in strong winds and blow around, dispersing seeds. Unfortunately for residents ...
Housing Demand Falls 6.5 Percent Thanks to Late Winter Blues
Fewer home sellers requested home tours and wrote offers last month than they, did in the middle of winter, an unusual break in the traditional spring housing “heat” most real estate professionals have come to expect. According to Redfin’s Housing Demand index, which measures how many customers exhibit behaviors that ...
Retail Vacancy Rates Close in on Record Highs
For the past 10 years, CoStar Group, a commercial real estate services firm, has been tracking how much retail space closes each year. Retail properties are used to sell consumer goods and services, but there is a great deal of variety among this type of real estate. Retail real estate ...
Homebuyers Making Offers Sight-Unseen in Traditionally Affordable Markets
Homebuyers are getting desperate for deals – any deals at all – and it is creating a buying frenzy the likes of which has not been seen in many markets in more than a decade, if ever. According to Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist of Veritas Urbis Economics, Spring 2018 could ...
Foreclosure Rates Rising in Texas and Florida as Disaster Moratoria End
March 2018 foreclosure numbers were up 11.56 percent, or by 52,100 foreclosure starts, nationally over February 2018 according to a Black Knight report. Of that increase, Florida and Texas foreclosures were responsible for two-thirds. Of note: Compared to March 2017, foreclosure starts were still down 13.6 percent. Black Knight analysts ...
3 Listing Descriptions that Netted Sellers Double-Digit Advantages in 2017
Every homebuyer has a “wish list” for their future home, but certain items on that list could add nearly 30 percent to your sales price. According to a new report from Zillow, certain listing terms snagged sellers huge premiums on their homes at the closing table. Knowing which items to ...
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) May Drive Millennial Home Sales
If your friends have recently purchased a home, then the odds are good you might start thinking about doing the same. If they’re posting about it on social media, however, you’re probably going to take some action. According to a new survey from Bank of America, about a third of ...
U.S. and U.K. Warn Private Homeowners About Russian Cyberattacks on Smart Devices
The United States and Great Britain have issued a new type of national alert: a warning about cyber attacks on individuals and private property. The two countries issued a joint alert this week indicating that private homeowners should be aware their internet devices are not only susceptible to hacking by ...
2018 Could be the Worst Year Yet for Housing Affordability
Thanks to rising home prices, rising interest rates, and rising demand for housing, housing affordability is likely to plummet over the course of 2018. Housing affordability, which is defined as the median price of a home that a household earning median income can afford using a third of their income ...
Price-Gouging Charges Leveled Against California Landlord
When wildfires destroyed thousands of homes in California last fall, tens of thousands of residents were displaced. As those households began to seek new places to live and to rebuild, many investors flocked to California as well. This is part of the housing/natural disaster cycle: When disaster strikes, real estate ...
