I once read a real estate book that said, “If you’re a real estate investor, it’s not a matter if you’re going to be sued, it’s when you’re going to be sued.” Well, I’ve been in the business about 10 years and I’ve dealt with dozens upon dozens of tenants and sellers and I am now being sued for the first time ever.

Here’s why: A few months ago I had a tenant who signed a lease on one of my rental properties. The day the tenant was supposed to move into the property she said the property was uninhabitable and she refused to move in. She wanted her security deposit back, and obviously I did not give it back to her because she was breaching the contract which she had signed.

Now she is suing me for the security deposit along with other “damages” from not being able to move in. After I found out about this I called the woman to try and be reasonable and figure out what’s going on because the last thing I wanted to do was end up in court.

I asked this woman why in the world she would walk through a house and sign a lease on a house which she now deems uninhabitable. Of course, as soon as I asked her this question she quickly changed the subject and could not answer the question.

All she kept saying was that it was uninhabitable.

In case you’re wondering, the property is in fine condition. She took pictures of the property and her definition of uninhabitable means like a speck of dirt on the carpet and walls that have a scuff on them.

I tried to calmly talk to this woman and explain to her that when you sign a lease you are expected to honor it and that obviously she wouldn’t have signed the lease in the first place if the house was so horrible it couldn’t be lived in.

However, it was pointless trying to talk to her and she hung up on me.

Now, I have a court date several weeks away where I have to go show a judge the lease the woman signed after she had done a walk through in the property. By the way, to make this even better, on my lease I have a part where it says “please note any problems or anything you would like fixed” and she left that part blank.

What I believe happened is that the woman decided she no longer wanted to live in the area (since her mailing address is now out of state) and she realized the only way to get out of the lease was to be dishonest and make something up.

It’s a shame that there are such dishonest people in the world, but the majority of folks are good people, and as I mentioned earlier, in 10 years of business this is the first time I’ve ever been sued.

The pain in the butt thing is, I have to waste my time and the courts time driving all the way to the courthouse because of this woman, but that’s the way our legal system works where anyone can sue you for anything.

Also, if you’re worried about getting sued you shouldn’t be. If you always treat people honest and fairly then you should never, ever be worried about having to stand before a judge explaining why something happened. Yes, you may get sued in life, but if you’ve done the right thing you should hopefully be fine.

As for me, I’ll let you know in several weeks what happens after my day in court.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Why I’m Getting Sued by a Tenant

Several days ago I read a great post by Michigan landlord, Dennis Fassett, in the Biggerpockets blog section (article). It would have been hysterical if only it wasn’t so true. He discussed what he called The Boyfriend Disorder. He wrote about what happens when a prospective tenant shows up to view a property and has her boyfriend tagging along. In between the laughs, I cringed.

Having spent two decades as a real estate investor, half of that time as a landlord of properties in a blue-collar mining town, I thought about some of the trouble I’ve experienced along the way. Mind you, I had a plan and procedure to minimize bad tenants – it didn’t matter. Problem tenants seem to have an innate resourcefulness, if only they used it for good instead of evil.

What to Believe?

The first line of defense against bad tenants is your screening process. It starts with a rental application. The information on there is used to do a background and credit check, verify employment, previous rental history, and personal references. With all of that information, what could possibly go wrong? Believe it or not, everything.

A clean criminal background check could just mean that the prospective tenant hasn’t been caught doing anything illegal yet. Credit reports are rarely perfect and tenants usually have a good excuse for whatever is on there. Confirming employment seems straightforward enough, but what if your applicant has arranged with a buddy to lie about his job? Previous landlords may be reluctant to bash a past tenant but they will usually drop hints if you listen carefully. (If you do get a bad report you should immediately be reaching for the giant rubber stamp that says “REJECT.”) Personal references are just about useless; what applicant would put down someone who wouldn’t give a glowing report? All of the above has happened to me at some point.       

Trust Your Gut

I’m not suggesting that you don’t carefully evaluate rental applications, just understand that they aren’t enough. Every one of us has an internal screening device to send us warning signals – ignore them at your own peril. Call it intuition or gut instinct. The feeling in your stomach develops from past experience and you should listen to it. Have you ever been tempted to accept an application from a marginal prospect because a property has been vacant for too long and you absolutely need to get it rented? I have, trust me on this one – don’t do it. Ever get the feeling that the sweet looking couple is lying to you? They usually are, your gut probably picked up subtle signals that your conscious mind has missed. This is a time you should listen to that voice in your head.  

Anyone even remotely thinking about becoming a landlord should rent a copy of the movie Pacific Heights. If you still want to proceed after watching that then you may have what it takes. Don’t get me wrong, being a landlord has been very good for me. I’ve learned to handle the ups and downs and can avoid the pitfalls most of the time. If given the opportunity for a “do over” I absolutely would do it again. Now it’s time to meet with a young lady about a rental – I hope she brings her boyfriend!

 I sold my house this week. I got a pretty good price for it, but it made my landlord mad as hell. – Gary Shandling  

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ishane/3509419604/sizes/m/in/photostream/

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

So You Want to be a Landlord? Really?

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of January 28 – February 3, by the numbers:

8.3% – U.S. unemployment in January, the fifth straight month that unemployment has dropped. All together, 243,000 jobs were added in January, 100,000 more than economists had expected.

1.3% – Drop in home prices month-over-month in November according to the new S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index. Prices fell in 19 of 20 cities and are down 3.7% from last year and off 32.8% from the peak.

3.87% – Average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage this week according to Freddie Mac. The rate is down from last weeks average rate of 3.98% and once again sets a record low for mortgage rates, falling below the previous record of 3.88%.

$3,000 – Average saving per year for “underwater” borrowers current on their mortgage under new legislation proposed by the Obama administration. The plan would involve refinancing into loans back by the FHA. The $5 to $10 billion cost of the propsed plan would be paid for by fees on large banks.

$7.4 Million – Sales price for Anna Kournikova’s Miami Beach home. The 6,630 square foot home is located in the exclusive Sunset Island area. The house was purchased by Anna for $5 million back in 2002.

$416 Million – Acquisition cost for 8 retail and residential properties in New York City. The Buyer, SL Green Realty Corp., is New York City’s largest office landlord.

66.0% – Number of homes being occupied by their owners in the fourth quarter of 2011. That percentage is a half-point lower fourth quarter 2010 and is the lowest level of home ownership since 1998.

10.1% – Drop in mortgage originations in December from November. For the year, originations were down 29.3%.

$10.5 Million – Listing price for New England Patriot’s star Tom Brady’s Boston condo. The 5,311 square foot home’s price has been reduced $400,000 from when it was originally listed.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Real Estate News by the Numbers: Week of January 28 – February 3

Today I learned a valuable lesson about the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the flood zone designation from our municipal tax database. I’ve known not to rely on the square footage or even the number of bedrooms listed in the tax assessor’s database, but I’ve always assumed that the flood zone designation was accurate. I have since learned that with FEMA constantly changing the flood hazard maps, a property that may have been designated outside of a floodplain a few years ago may now actually be located within a hazardous boundary.

What does this mean to you as an investor? Buying a property in a high-risk flood zone could mean additional expenses including a flood survey as well as ongoing flood insurance.  In addition to this, it could make the home more difficult to sell at some point in the future as a result of this designation (not to mention the expense and headache associated with a flooded property).  Flood insurance alone can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars a year all the way up to a few thousand a year, depending on the flood zone category. The bottom line is any property purchase should be made with full knowledge and awareness of the property’s flood zone designation.

Going forward, we have implemented a policy in my office to run official flood certifications on any new properties we put under contract. Rather than rely on our local tax database or even some of the free flood zone sites online (which we have also found to be inaccurate), we have partnered with a local lender to run this for us . We also have an insurance agent that can run flood certs as well.  Most investors have a good relationship with either an insurance agent or loan officer that would be willing to help in this area – don’t be afraid to utilize these relationships for this valuable information.

As an aside, if you do discover that a property you have purchased is in a flood plain, consider carefully what kind of flood insurance coverage you want. It may be that your lender requires flood insurance, but doesn’t necessarily dictate how much coverage you need. If this is the case and you feel confident that the property won’t flood, you may be able to elect to cover only the building (not contents), insure for a lesser dollar amount, or carry a higher deductible. In doing so, you can lessen the impact that flood insurance has on your cash flow by obtaining a policy with a smaller yearly premium.

For more information on the National Flood Insurance Program, check out the official government website at FloodSmart.gov. But even more importantly, make sure you have the ability to determine the flood zone of a property before you buy it. The last thing a real estate investor wants is a property with unexpected risk and expenses cutting into future profit.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Know The Flood Zone Before You Buy

Please Note this is just an outline of a sample course and I am not selling or promoting anything. I am simply frustrated by the lack of straight forward, simple to understand real estate investing courses.

I was so frustrated that I took some time on my yearly vacation to design an eight-hour program that is aimed toward new real estate investors.  I wanted it to be aimed at new investors and help them get on a path to successful real estate investing.

Let me know what you think.

Section 1: Establish Credibility

Out of the gate, you need to establish the goals of the program, review the instructors history (both pre-crash and post-crash), and discuss what kind of deals they are doing today.  No fact real estate instructors, if they are not doing deals today then they can’t teach today’s students (my opinion).

Section 2: Discuss New Investor Challenges in Today’s Market

Today’s investing market is full of opportunities.  Both success and failure can be had in this market with an investor’s first transaction.

Section 3: Homework

The greatest folly in most of the real estate investing courses I have reviewed is that they try to make real estate investing seem as simple as flipping burgers. Let me be very clear: this business is hard and it takes work. If you don’t have the extra time and commitment, don’t even bother; you can invest passively instead of actively.

I believe that homework is such a critical and overlooked part of the business for new investors that I designed a four-week program with specific goals and activities that should occur every week. The goal is to complete the activities in four weeks, but if they take six or even eight weeks, you will still be light years ahead of most new investors.

Section 4: Investing while holding a Full Time Job

As a full time employee and active real estate investor, I know how hard it is to keep on top of all the moving parts in this business.

I will also discuss our most important metric for evaluating deals.  This one metric allows us to compare investment properties, regardless of condition or type of property.  I will share the specific spreadsheet I use to evaluate deals and discuss the minimum threshold for a deal to be considered.

Section 5: Discuss Difference between Active and Passive Real Estate Investing

Today’s real estate market offers tremendous returns for investors willing to leverage the depressed market conditions.  However, unlike most of the real estate material and books state, you don’t have to be an active real estate investor.  Many people simply don’t have the time or live in a market that doesn’t offer decent returns, and they need to know they have options.  Active Real Estate investing may sell lots of programs, but many people would prefer the options of passive investing.

Section 6: Bonus Material

In order to exceed expectations, I would offer the following material for review:

We would start by reviewing all of our deals over the last 24 months.  We would discuss our expectations going in, the actual results, and review our lessons learned.

We would close the course by highlighting what we expect of the investor and what we hoped they learned after spending time with our material.

By creating the above outline, my goal would simply be to offer the best value in Real Estate material for new investors.

Good Investing

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

If I were designing a Real Estate Investing Course

I was listening to a program recently and the hosts were talking about mentors; specifically about the people in their lifetime that had actually changed their life. What these folks were talking about in most cases was someone that listened to them, valued them, had given them crucial information or a “chance” at something. They went on to say in great detail how that encounter had set them on a specific life changing path.

I started to think back over my life and all the people that had influenced me so profoundly that they shaped who I am today. Who was it that had such power and influence over me that they had actually changed the course of my life? What had I learned from them?

If you do this exercise, you will most likely find many people in your past life that changed you in some way. There will be those folks that will have influenced you to make small changes. There will be others that will have been responsible either directly or indirectly for profound shifts in the direction that your life took.

All of these people and events whether good or bad, end up helping mold you into the person you are today. They can also cause major shifts in the direction of your business.

Changing Course

I used to own rental property until a couple of years ago. I got a late start by most standards, and I never really enjoyed that part of my real estate business. But I just kept plugging along with those few properties that I owned. After all, that’s what you are supposed to do or so I thought.  Every time I thought about buying more houses, I found a reason to wait.

One day I sat and talked with my friend and mentor Mike. Mike has a large portfolio of rental properties himself, and he has built a very successful rental business. I was talking with him about frustration with my tenants and the properties when he said something that changed the course of my life. He said, “Sharon what you have is a painful hobby. You either need to build your portfolio so that it is much larger or get out of the rental business”. At that very moment, I knew what the answer was for me. I just wanted out. In effect, Mike did something for me that I hadn’t been able to do myself; he gave me permission to change course.

Is there someone in your life that has been responsible for putting you on a path to massive change? If there is, you should celebrate that person.

Paying It Forward

It takes time and patience to mentor a person especially when you are so busy yourself. But it can bring huge rewards both to you and the person you choose to mentor. I always chuckle when real estate investors say, “they’re not about to give away their secrets to their competition”.  There may be some parts of your business that you keep just for yourself but there is just so much to be gained by sharing your knowledge. One of those things gained is that you start to be seen as an expert in your field. Plus, it just feels good to help a struggling investor get started. Who knows, maybe someday you will be the one credited for changing a life.

Enjoy Your Moments

At the close of the program I was listening to, one of the hosts told everyone what she considered to be the most valuable piece of advice her mentor had given her over the years.

This is what she said:

“You need to enjoy this moment in your life – you need to remember each place that you get to. Because, things only happen” the first time once”. 

In other words, take time to enjoy your firsts whether it is the birth of your first child, your first big business break, or another “first” in your life. Quit rushing toward the finish line without enjoying each moment of the journey. Now that’s some great advice.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Life Changing Mentors

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of January 21 – January 27, by the numbers:

$25 Million – Listing price for billionaire Tim Headington’s Miami Beach penthouse. The 11,962 square foot unit is located next door to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s unit.

6.2% – Drop in new U.S. homes sales in 2011 from the previous year. The 302,000 homes sold in 2011 is the lowest since the government started tracking the figure in 1963. Also, in December, new home sales fell 2.2% month-over-month.

20% – Number of all U.S. home sales that were foreclosures in the 3rd quarter of 2011 according to RealtyTrac. The number is a down signficantly from the 3rd quarter of last year when it was at 30%.

2.8% – GDP growth in the 4th quarter of 2011. The number disappointed, as economists had expected 3% growth. Nonetheless, it was the largest quarter of growth in 2011.

30% –  Decline in new originations in November, year-over-year. There were 537,720 originations in November, compared to 724,364 in December 2010.

17% – Increase in net sales orders for home builder Horton in the quarter. The $705.6 million in sales orders, which is a leading indicator for home builders, is a sign that the housing market may slowly be recovering.

3.98% – Average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage this week according to Freddie Mac. The rate is up from last week’s record low of 3.88%.

$4.25 Million – Listing price for “Scarface” director Brian De Palma’s home. The 4,200 square foot mansion is located in Santa Monica, CA.

$400 Million – Amount HUD approved in aid to eight states recovering from 2011 disasters. States receiving aid, from highest award to lowest were New York, North Dakota, Alabama, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, New Jersey.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Real Estate News by the Numbers: Week of January 21 – January 27

It’s  a hurdle most real estate investors run into early in their careers….  How to find real estate agents that understand the “unique” offers investors make to seller’s agents. Whether it’s the idea of buying with seller financing or taking an option on a property, most real estate agents have never heard of these transactions because it is not required curriculum for them to acquire a license. This leaves many investors and agents frustrated trying to determine what each side is actually asking for. Have no fear! A good game plan for making offers will help you acquire more properties with seller financing. Here are a few tips I have found extremely helpful for buying with seller financing.

Identify Currently Available Properties: This might seem like a “Captain Obvious” quote, but the reality is, If you have access to an online multiple listing service and can do a search for a term like “Seller Financing”, “Owner Will Carry”, “Can be Sold on Terms” it’s will prove very valuable. These terms are the gateway to existing listings where the agents are representing properties that can sold with seller financing. You can make offers on these properties with a high likelihood that your offer will be presented to the seller. Beyond that, you may make contact with an agent who understands your interest in buying with financing and knows of other listings coming up, or that have expired.

Prepare the Offer: Even an experienced agent doesn’t know all of the details of most seller financed offers. Be prepared to type up the financing addendum for the agent. In it, you detail all the parameters of your offer that will be presented to the seller. Knowing that over 40% of communication is lost in translation from the outset, you can save time and effort by putting the financing addendum together for the agent.

Explain the Offer: This one is so critical to those properties you find that are being represented by an agent is not familiar with seller financing. Be ready to provide to an accurate description of the offer to the agent. You have a higher likelihood of having your offer presented if the agent can explain it intelligently to the seller. Even though agents are required to present all qualified offers, you would be surprised how often they will hold off on presenting a seller financing offer if for no other reason than they cannot properly explain it to the seller. Take that stress off the seller’s agent by teaching as much as you can about seller financing.

Pretty simple list huh? When it comes to getting seller financed deals you have to take away as many obstacles as you can. Education, persistence and knowing where to look for deals get easier over time.  It’s said that most people stop just three feet away from gold. Don’t ever give up before you reach your goal!. Even though these tips are common sense, they will get you to the gold!

Photo Courtesy: rasdourian

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Make Agents Your Seller Financing Allies

When I first started out in this business about 10 years ago, I had almost no money. I was desperate for deals and would do almost anything to get a deal. I would run all over the place, I would let seller’s “beat me down” on price and I didn’t have the confidence to stand up to people and get the money I deserved.

Now things are a lot different. I don’t let anyone “beat me down,” I have confidence to get what I deserve, and I will easily walk away from a deal if a seller or anyone else causes me any headaches and becomes a pain in the butt.

How did I get to this point?

Well, obviously, when we start out in this business we don’t know much so it’s natural not to have a ton of confidence. However, over time we gain experience and (hopefully) become successful and make a good amount of money.
What we do with this money determines your level of confidence and your ability to deal with people on your own terms. In other words, you need to have four buckets that you put your money into to ensure that you’re living life the way you want to.

The first bucket is used to pay your bills and your monthly expenses. This includes rent, gas, food, and everything else. There’s no reason that you can’t live on $3,500 a month. If you can’t, you have a spending problem and you need to get rid of cable TV and all those other monthly subscriptions that you don’t need.

The second bucket is for emergency money. I’m conservative, so I like to have a years worth of expenses saved in case an emergency happens. If you can’t afford a year, try and get 3 to 6 months of emergency money saved up. This is a very important bucket to have, because with this money saved, it allows you to do deals on your own terms. If you don’t have any money in the bank you’re operating off of fear and you’ll likely let people walk all over you.

The third bucket is for your retirement.

I’m no financial expert, but this means long term investing in the stock market, bonds, gold and of course real estate. I’d put 10% of my monthly income in this bucket if I were you.

The fourth and final bucket is the most important and the bucket that investors have the hardest trouble utilizing. In short, the fourth bucket is where you re-invest your money into marketing. For instance, if you close a $20,000 wholesale deal, at the very minimum you should invest $2,000 of that money back into marketing, and you can do what you want with the other $18,000.

One of the secrets of my success and of all businesses in general, is that you are always re-investing in your business. If you don’t take a portion of every deals profits and plow it back into the business you will not grow and you’ll eventually go broke.

I can’t emphasize this enough and it drives me nuts when I hear investors being cheap about marketing. In fact, I recently invested $1,300 in a direct mail campaign and a friend of mine couldn’t believe I was “wasting” money like that. I tried to explain to this friend that the $1,300 investment would probably lead to a $10,000-$30,000 deal. And I don’t know about you, but if I could give someone $1,300 and they would give me $10,000 in return, I would do that all day long.

So, if you don’t have your four buckets yet, get working on them because it will make the real estate investing business, and also life, a lot more enjoyable.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Four Money Buckets That Will Lead You to The Good Life

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of January 14 – January 20, by the numbers:

5% – Increase in existing home sales in December. The annual rate of 4.61 million unit sales is an 11 month high.

1.7% – Increase in existing home sales in 2011. ‘“The pattern of home sales in recent months demonstrates a market in recovery,”’ according to Lawrence Yum, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.

2.38 Million – Number of unsold homes on the market in December, the lowest number in nearly 7 years. That represents a 6.2 month supply, and is the lowest supply since April 2006. A 6 month supply is considered ideal.

$4.8 Million - Purchase price of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler’s new home in Maui. The Hawaii home has 3,000 square feet and is located on a quarter-acres.

33% – Amount of home sales in December that were either foreclosures or short sales. Foreclosures accounted for 21% of the total and 12% were short sales. On average, foreclosures sold at a 22% discount and short sales sold at a 13% discount compared to a non-distressed sales in December.

4.1% – Decrease in home starts in December compared to November. On a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 657,000 units were constructed in December.

$35 Million – Listing price for Joe Montana’s Napa Valley estate. The 9,700 square foot home sits on 35 acres and is for sale at a significant discount from the original $49 million price tag.

3.88% – Average rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage this week according to Freddie Mac. The rate is an all time record low, falling slightly below last week’s record rate of 3.89%.

$750 Million – Price tag for a new residential development in Long Island City, New York. The project, when completed will have over 1,700 units.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Real Estate News by the Numbers: Week of January 14 – January 20

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of January 7 – January 13, by the numbers:

1.9 Million – Number of homes that entered the foreclosure process in 2011 according to RealtyTrac Inc. It’s the lowest number since 2007. However, a big reason for the drop was legal and documentation delays in wake of the “robo-signing” incidents.

$3 Million – Price paid for Regis Philbin’s Greenwich, Connecticut home. The 6,000 squre foot home was listed for $3.8 million.

$630 Million – Purchase price for Columbus Square, a five building apartment high-rise complex located in Manhattan’s upper west side. The complex was purchased in a joint venture between UDR Inc. and MetLife Inc.

5.9% – Increase in consumer sentiment in early January from late December according to Reuters/University of Michigan’s latest index. The 74.0 reading was higher than the 72.0 reading economists expected.

4.5% – Increase in mortgage applications for the week ending January 6th from the previous week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The increase takes into account adjustments for the New Year’s Day holiday.

$400 Million - Investment that GI Partners is making in Waypoint Real Estate Group to acquire single-family REOs in bulk and rent them out to tenants. Wayward plans to purchase $1 billion in distressed real estate over the next 2 years.

3.89% – Average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage this week according to Freddie Mac. The rate is at an all-time low, falling below the previous 3.91% record rate reached three weeks ago.

$82 Billion – Amount of foreign investment in the U.S. real estate market in 2010. The number is up significantly from 2009, when foreigners invested $66 billion in the U.S real estate market.

$1 Million – Amount the New York Attorney General’s office will spend to give legal help to New Yorkers in foreclosure or facing an imminent threat. The $1 million ”comes from New York’s $22 million share of a 2006 settlement with Ameriquest Mortgage Co. after an investigation found predatory lending practices like misrepresenting mortgage terms, excessive origination fees and inflating appraisals.”

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Real Estate News by the Numbers: Week of January 7 – January 13

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of December 31 – January 6, by the numbers:

$2.34 Billion – Amount of money the Carlyle Group has raised for its sixth US real estate fund. It will use the fund to invest in residential, senior living, retail, hospitality and office properties in major US cities.

2.7% – Increase in mortgage delinquencies in November from October according to Mortgage Monitor. It’s the first time in 22 months that delinquencies went up.

$1.945 Million – List price for an Alaskan home that includes a private island. The home sits on Alaska’s Baronof Island and includes a 180 foot walkway to a guest house located on a separate Bart Island.

15.1% – Return in the 4th quarter of 2011 for real estate investment trusts. It’s the best performance for REIT stocks since the 3rd quarter of 2009 and the opposite performance of the 3rd quarter this year, when stocks declined 15%, according to the Dow Jones All REIT Index.

6% – Drop in Manhattan home prices in the 4th quarter of 2011 compared to the third quarter. The median price was $855,000 in the quarter, down from  $911,333 in the previous quarter.

11% – Increase in FHA delinquencies in November from August. The FHA’s reserve fund is now down to 0.24% ($2.6 billion) of all insured loans. “‘It’s highly likely that the FHA will need a taxpayer bailout over the next three to five years,’ said Joseph Gyourko, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.”

3.91% – Average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage this past week according to Freddie Mac. The rate is down from last week and matches the record low rate from two weeks ago.

200,000 – Number of jobs added to the US economy in December 2011. The number was well above the average growth rate of the 131,000 job per month added  from January to November. Also, the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.5%, down significantly from the 9.4% rate a year ago.

$1.5 Million – List price for Renee Zellweger’s Connecticut estate. The 4,287 square foot home sits on 38.79 acres and was built in 1770.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Real Estate News by the Numbers: Week of December 31 – January 6