Editorial Staff
Meet our expert real estate investors who blog to help other investors
Each week we bring you fresh helpful, useful advice from expert veteran real estate investor-bloggers in our featured blog posts area. These real estate investing experts are hands-on in the field everyday working with fellow investors to grow real estate investing businesses. In case you have not seen them featured ...
Test your real estate investing knowledge with our quiz
Each week we test your real estate investing knowledge with our quiz to let you have some fun and perhaps learn more about real estate investing. How many single-family home sales in the last year were flips? What is a gross rent multiplier? How many investors identify themselves as part-time ...
By Susan Thomas Springer Jeff Ball's education and career prepared him to be successful in just about any sector. In college, Ball studied economics and theology and earned a law degree and an MBA. Add to that a position in banking and tech, as Global Head of Semiconductor Investment Banking ...
New study says owning costs more than renting
By Erik Franks John Burns Real Estate Consulting In most areas of the country, homeownership costs more than renting. Many economists with calculators claim the opposite, but the calculations and conclusions are often highly misleading. As is often the case, the devil is in the details. We recently reviewed one ...
Median home price in July at highest level since September 2008 new study says
Sales of properties in-foreclosure and cash sales were down from a year ago to multi-year lows while year-to-date U.S. home sales in 2015 are at an eight-year high, according to a new study from RealtyTrac.com. Data also showed the U.S. median home price in July was at an 82-month high ...
Foreclosures up 7 percent in July as banks flush distressed properties and bubble-era loans
Foreclosure filings in July 2015 were up 7 percent from the previous month and up 14 percent from a year ago, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.com. July was the fifth consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in overall foreclosure activity after 53 consecutive months of decreases. “The increase ...
Future uncertain for Chinese homebuying in U.S. in new home communities
By John Burns Real Estate Consulting Chinese homebuyers comprise roughly 2% of U.S. housing demand—and far more than that in the gateway metro areas with excellent airport access. According to the National Association of Realtors, 16% of international homebuyers come from China and spent $29 billion last year, surpassing Canada, ...
Is buying a foreclosure smart for a first-time real estate investor or home buyer?
The real estate investing question of the week: Is buying a foreclosure smart for a first-time real estate investor or home buyer? Bruce Feldman’s Answer: Yes, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. The truth is that it really doesn't matter. The fact that a home has been ...
Home loan originations up 23 percent year over year new study says
Home loans originated on single-family homes and condos in the second quarter of 2015 were up 23 percent from a year ago, to the highest level since the third quarter of 2013, according to a new study from RealtyTrac.com. Highlights report show the loan types and how much each one ...
Real estate investors and real estate agents: a Win-Win for both
By Doug Clark Zillow for Pros Blog There are two groups of real estate professionals out there who might not realize how mutually beneficial their relationship can be: Agents, who are skilled at helping clients navigate all aspects of the buying and selling process, and investors, who are skilled at ...
Is owning a rental property worth the headache?
Q: Real estate investing: Is owning a rental property worth the headache? Especially if you aren’t a do-it-yourselfer? A: From Linda Day Harrison: Everything we do to build wealth should be analyzed using a cost/benefit analysis from an opportunity cost perspective, not by asking yourself whether the effort will be ...
The number of home flips is declining as available foreclosures decline, but profits are increasing, along with the time it takes to complete a flip, a new study from RealtyTrac.com shows. “Despite the rise in flipping returns in the second quarter, home flippers should proceed with caution in the next six ...
By John Burns Real Estate Consulting Builders and developers will now start building more detached homes for rent. For years, home builders have ignored 10 percent of housing demand, allowing resale homes to fill the demand. As shown below, 12.7 million of today’s 120 million households rent a detached home ...
Underwater homes have hit a plateau of 13 percent as home price appreciation slows
There were 7,443,580 U.S. residential properties that were seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — at the end of the second quarter 2015, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.com. This represents ...
How much “hassle” is it owning rental property?
Real estate investing question of the week: How much “hassle” is it owning rental property? Answer by Kenneth LaVoie: This is a little more than needed to answer your question. It is basically my story, and what I'd do differently. To answer your question simply, "The amount of hassle is ...
Investor-driven sales continue decline as traditional buyers join the market
Distressed sales, cash sales and institutional investor sales in June were all down from a year ago to multi-year lows even as sales to first-time homebuyers and other buyers using FHA loans increased compared to a year ago in June and reached a two-year high in the second quarter, according ...
Foreclosures fall to 10-year low, but some markets still slow to work through the system
Foreclosures continued to fall in the first half of 2015, dropping to a 10-year low across the U.S. and further tightening available housing inventory, according to a new study from RealtyTrac.com. While foreclosures are now in some cases below pre-housing-crisis levels, some specific markets still have a higher than normal ...
3 tips for successful lifestyle real estate investing
By The Zillow Team There are three main categories of buying homes as a real estate investment: Cash flow investing — for people whose primary goal is rental income. Equity growth investing — for people whose primary goal is property appreciation. Lifestyle investing — for people whose goals include cash ...
Are rising rental rates by landlords encouraging renters to move?
By John Burns Rents in the highest-quality apartments rose 4.4% last year, including an 8.0% jump in one West Coast portfolio. With a very high occupancy level (95.8%) and job growth exceeding construction levels in almost every major market in the country, landlords will continue to raise rents throughout the ...
A new buy-to-rent study from RealtyTrac.com shows the average potential annual gross rental yield still is holding strong, and only down slightly from a year ago. “In most areas of the country it is still a great time to buy residential property as rentals, given the continuing slide in homeownership ...
Real estate investing trends so far in 2015 and what is ahead for the rest of the year
Our veteran real estate investors and bloggers have some opinions on the trends that have been happening so far in 2015 for real estate investors. Here they review those trends and then give some thoughts on what they see for the rest of 2015. 3 market trends in 2015 for the ...
Housing sales moving from investor-driven “cash is king” to more traditional buyers, new report says
The all-cash share of U.S. home purchases in May dropped to the lowest level since November 2009, with institutional investor purchases dropping to a 15-year low, a new report from RealtyTrac.com shows. The cash sales share in May was close to its long-term average going back to January 2000 of ...
Best and worst markets for low down payment buyers and what it means for real estate investors
A new analysis of low-down payment buyers, such as first-time homebuyers, and boomerang buyers from RealtyTrac.com and Down Payment Resource ranks 370 counties across the U.S. in terms of affordability and accessibility for these types of buyers and what it means for real estate investors. “This report helps investors identify ...
Foreclosure filings by banks jump to a 19-month high
Foreclosure filings were reported on 126,868 U.S. properties in May 2015, up one percent from the previous month but up 16 percent from a year ago to a 19-month high, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. The U.S. foreclosure rate in May was one in every 1,041 housing units ...
Logjam at the low end of the housing market is caused by negative equity that is too deep
While the U.S. negative equity rate is dropping, more than four million homeowners still owe the bank at least 20 percent more than their homes were worth, according to a release of the latest report from Zillow real estate research. "It's great news that the level of negative equity is ...
