Kathy Fettke
Kathy Fettke’s Mid-Year Real Estate Market Update
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Real Estate Syndications Gain Momentum in 2018
These past few years, real estate media headlines have been filled with two words likely familiar to most investors: “syndication” and its cousin, “crowdfunding.” While syndications have been around for decades, crowdfunding is a more recent phenomenon, introduced by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act in 2012. Both syndications ...
The Truth About “Totally Passive” Income from Syndications
Back in 2010, a long-time developer asked if I could raise $3 million to acquire a foreclosed subdivision worth about $15 million. At the time, I had been helping California investors find foreclosures nationwide. Pooling funds to buy a foreclosed subdivision was something completely new to my network and to ...
Case Study: A Unique Master-Planned Subdivision Investment
The U.S. population is growing, households are forming, and yet, there is a shortage of residential housing. This supply/demand imbalance is driving property values up, creating a unique opportunity for developers. However, builders are still gun-shy after the housing meltdown of 2008. As such, many are avoiding the development of ...
California Draws Battle Lines in Rent Control Conflict
The battle lines have been drawn in the war over California rent control. Tenant advocates announced recently they have enough signatures for a ballot initiative to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act, which could open the floodgates for extreme rent control in California and put some landlords right out of business. Why ...
Waste DNA Testing, Key to Solving Pet Owner Issues
Dog-friendly rentals are in big demand, and landlords are coming up with some great amenities for their four-legged tenants. But, despite the good behavior of most tenants and dogs, some pet owners don’t pick up after their pets. Tenants either don’t see it, or ignore it, and it’s left for ...
Reform Boon for Commercial Real Estate
Starting this week, new tax rules will usher in the New Year with a big win for residential and commercial real estate investors. It’s still too early to know the full impact of the legislation, but many tax professionals say real estate investors and other property owners have hit the ...
Coinbase Victory for BitCoin Users
Digital currency marketplace, Coinbase, is celebrating a partial victory in its fight to keep Uncle Sam out of customer accounts. A broad ranging request for user account information has been reduced to a fraction of the original request with far fewer pieces of information. Crypto leader Bitcoin has grabbed the ...
Home Flipping Profits Decrease
If you are a home flipper, you may be finding that your profits are shrinking. The latest Home Flipping Report from ATTOM Data Solutions shows a decrease in returns to their lowest level in two years. The quarter three report shows, single family homes and condos that were flipped in ...
Denver’s Green Roof Initiative
It was a hotly contested ballot initiative in Denver, but environmentalists won their battle for “green rooftops” in the last election. The Green Roof Initiative passed with 54 percent of the vote, and was certified on November 24. Although Denver is not the first city to adopt a mandate for ...
5 REI Biases that can Destroy Wealth
What if investors’ brains are wired to make the wrong decisions in real estate? A new research paper released by Fidelity International indicates we could be the victims of our own neural connections – at least when it comes to certain built-in biases about how risk, rewards, and geography affect ...
Facebook Rental Listings: Real Estate Game Changer?
Home listing sites like Zillow and Redfin may be shaking in their cloud-based data boots. They will be facing what could be a towering social media competitor. Facebook is going full-speed ahead with rental listings in its marketplace section. And plans on a significant expansion into the for-sale market. If ...
Winterize Your Properties Before It’s Too Late
With the winter season approaching, property owners and managers should make sure their rentals and properties are ready for some bad weather. Freezing temperatures along with cold rain and snow can create a lot of trouble if you’re not prepared. It’s also a great time to check in with tenants ...
Vintage “Kit Homes” Back in Style
If you were around a hundred years ago, the idea of ordering a “kit home” was common. You could pick out the style you want from a catalogue and have all the materials delivered to your future doorstep. They were cheap back then, but today, those homes are commanding high ...
Big Boom in Baby Boomer Renters
Baby boomers set the housing market on fire when they came of age, but times have changed. Now, they are flocking in droves to an easier lifestyle than one of homeownership. RentCafé looked at Census figures to come up with a snapshot of the renting world. It found that people ...
Driverless Cars to Transform Real Estate Landscape
Driverless cars may seem like a novelty to many of us, but almost two dozen companies are racing to get them on the road in the next few years. It’s still a stretch of the imagination to visualize them as a common mode of transportation but if and when that ...
MIT’s First “Smart” Country Test
A small country in Europe has become a living laboratory for MIT researchers working on what they call “urban innovation.” They are collaborating with city planners, residents, and local companies to interactively test the effects of urban planning decisions and new technologies like driverless cars and ultra-lightweight, three-wheeled autonomous vehicles ...
How to Become an Accredited Investor
Summary: Understanding the purpose of the accredited investor designation is important for you and your investing business. This article walks through how to determine if you’re an accredited investor, your net worth’s contribution to investor accreditation, and how you can still invest in private placements if you are not yet ...
Rent Control Breeds Crime – MIT Research Study
MIT researchers are adding to the debate on rent control with a new paper on the relationship between rent control and crime. While many people feel rent control keeps people off the streets and away from a life of crime, this study found that by eliminating rent control, the city of ...
Hyperloop Could Hyper-Value Real Estate
Disruptive technologies are changing the face of the globe, and one that could revolutionize transportation would also be a monumental game changer for real estate. The high-speed Hyperloop system would make it possible to commute from distant locations that could suddenly skyrocket in value. The Hyperloop is a futuristic system ...
Foreclosures Up from Reverse Mortgages
The federal government is raising the premiums and lowering the loan limits on its reverse-mortgage program. It may sound like a take-away for seniors, but according to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the changes are needed to protect the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) entire insurance fund. The HUD says ...
How Tax Reform Could Affect U.S. Homeownership
Will President Trump’s tax reform proposal put a major dent in the housing market? Some experts say by doubling the standard deduction, the mortgage interest deduction will lose relevance because taxpayers won’t bother to itemize, and that will, in turn, discourage people from buying homes. But are tax savings the ...
Running the Numbers on a Vacation Rental Home
If you’ve always wanted a vacation home but couldn’t afford one, you’ve probably considered obtaining that property via the Airbnb model: buying your vacation property and leasing it out as a short-term rental when you’re not using it in order to cover ownership costs. While this is a fantastic investment ...
Harvey’s Impact on Real Estate Investors in Houston
Damage caused by Hurricane Harvey is leaving homeowners and investors calculating their losses. But for some, there is a potential for gains. While flooded properties in Houston are likely to drop in value, real estate experts are predicting prices and rents will rise in areas that were not affected by ...
Low Housing Inventory = Opportunity
It’s become a regular headline: low housing inventory is responsible for fewer sales. With slow but steady economic growth, low unemployment, consumer optimism, and strong demand for housing, it seems builders would be scrambling to get new homes on the market. However, sales of new inventory is still about a ...
