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Real Estate Market

Real Estate Market

Is The Housing Market Overheating . . . Again?

by Peter Giardini | October 27, 2009

It seems that in these past two weeks, we have experienced a tremendous increase in relatively negative news regarding the real estate market.  Usually I just chalk up all this negativity to the media working hard to score a few extra bucks.  However, this time I am choosing to not be so hard on the [...]

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Real Estate Market

Kennewick, The Stolen Salmon & Why Real Estate Is Booming There

by Charles Feldman | October 21, 2009

First of all, I should tell you that I do not have the faintest notion why those dudes stole the freaking salmon from a fish hatchery in Kennewick, Washington! I can only tell you that, according to the Kennewick website, the dude allegedly stole the entire salmon. Doesn’t say if he was hungry or trying to sell the fish on the black market (is there a black market for salmon???) or whether he was, perhaps, romantically involved in some way with the big fish. Look, we are talking about Kennewick, Washington, so anything pretty much goes.

Now what brought me to the official Kennewick website in the first place, you may ask? (That’s okay. If you didn’t ask it, I just did.)

I’ll get to that in a minute. But first…for those not familiar with Kennewick, Washington (and I’m guessing that’s like 99% of you, right?) it is a city of almost 66 thousand people (and an unknown number of salmon I’m guessing) that is about a three and a half hour drive from Seattle.

In the winter, the temperature rarely drops below 44 degrees and in the summer seldom climbs much above 88. Except when it does.

The city is in Benton County which fits very nicely into the southeastern portion of this northwestern state.

And, did I tell you that Forbes ranks it number two in job growth for the entire United States? (Suppose that could mean it has just added two new jobs!)

Now I am getting to the interesting part.

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Housing

Why Exercising Could Make You a Wealthier Investor

by Jason Hanson | October 7, 2009

I hate running. I pretty much hate any form of exercise. I have no problem doing my real estate work, but when it comes to working out, I’ll admit I’m very lazy and lack discipline.

I remember many of my mentors telling me how important it was to exercise on a daily basis and how exercising was often the first thing they did in the morning. I’ve also read the same thing in many books written by successful people. I recall one successful entrepreneur/writer saying that no matter what, he does three things every single day: 1) He writes 2) He promotes his business 3) He exercises.

This is What Happens When You Get Older

I’ve heard this advice for years and I just ignored it and didn’t think it had anything to do with success. Well, I must be getting older because a few weeks ago I started feeling run down and I didn’t have as much energy as I used to. Come 9:00 at night I’d be ready to pass out, even though I had just sat at my computer all day and hadn’t had a stressful or rigorous day.

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Real Estate Market

Maryland and Virginia Real Estate Markets Show Promise

by Brendan O'Brien | October 5, 2009

Welcome to Virginia. Stay a while. Stay FOREVERLast week, I started looking into the Washington, DC Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which consists of the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and parts of Maryland. Given the growth in the federal budget over the last few years, I wasn’t surprised to see that the DC MSA was “the most educated and affluent metropolitan area in the United States,” according to Wikipedia.

The District of Columbia itself has made great strides in recent years, including greatly reducing the rate of violent crime. You may recall that it was known as America’s murder capital during the crack-filled 1990s. However, the city’s unemployment rate is actually fairly high, at 11.1%.

Maryland and Virginia, on the other hand, are very prosperous. Both are among the most economically successful states in the country.

Maryland’s Doing Pretty Well…

Maryland, DC’s (mostly) northeastern neighbor, has seen fairly consistent population increases and has a well-below-average unemployment rate of 7.2%. It actually has the highest median household income of any state, although this can be deceiving – the cost of living is also very high there. (The second highest median household income is in New Jersey, which is not currently an economic paradise.)

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Real Estate Market

How is the Washington, DC Real Estate Market?

by Brendan O'Brien | September 26, 2009

Washington DC real estate marketNote to readers: I’ve been criticized for some blunt statements about real estate markets in the past.  You can disagree with me, but I ask that you not doubt my integrity.  I have no real estate interests outside New Hampshire and am not representing anyone.

When I started researching the Washington, DC real estate market, I was impressed by the stability of institutional markets in general and astonished by the growing disparity between federal government and private industry employment.  Put bluntly, the federal government has become the best employer in America.  It is the most stable, with a headcount that grows annually and essentially guaranteed salary increases.  It also offers the best benefits and salaries, except for the very top (the government’s CEO, President Barack Obama, makes $400,000 per year – a nice paycheck, but lower than that for almost any CEO in the Fortune 500).

As you might imagine, having the biggest employer in the country in your back yard is a good thing.  When that employer can always be counted on for a raise, that helps.  Partly as a result of that, the DC real estate market is looking pretty darned good.

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Real Estate Market

Big Institutions Mean (Mostly) Stable Rental Markets

by Brendan O'Brien | September 8, 2009

02c General Hospital - Entrance (E)Many landlords are attracted to markets with a large institutional presence because they offer stability. Hospitals, universities and government agencies rarely make major cuts in employment, and they very rarely close. That means your prospective tenants are not likely to leave.

This also used to be the case for military bases. Years ago, career soldiers could build very comfortable nest eggs by buying a home in every base where they were stationed, and keeping it when they were transferred. They would always be able to find other soldiers to rent their homes. That’s changed to some extent because of the number of base closings over the last couple of decades. However, the largest bases will remain active for many years.

Are these markets really stable?

Big institutions almost never make up more than half of the employment in any market, meaning those markets are still subject to other private industry employment losses and gains.

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Real Estate Market

A Tale of Two Real Estate Cities

by Richard Warren | September 7, 2009

It was the worst of times and it was even worse than that. A recent Case-Shiller housing report finally showed some hopeful signs recently. The report showed that housing prices for the second quarter of this year were up for the first time in three years for 18 of the 20 markets that were tracked. The two that were down? Detroit and Las Vegas.

The two markets were very much the same, yet so different. The same in that they are still showing price declines but the future outlook for each is like night and day.

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Foreclosures

Network Your Way to Real Estate Success!

by Stephani Davis | August 20, 2009

One of the best ways to get your feet wet if you are a beginning investor or wholesaler is to get out and start networking with other like-minded individuals in your market.

When I was first getting started in my wholesaling career, I was a networking Ninja.  My first year I made it my mission to get out and meet as many players in my market as I possibly could, and to introduce myself and let everyone know who I was and what I was trying to do.  Some weeks I was going to real estate investor meetings five days out of seven.   I was there like clockwork, handing out my business cards and getting to know who the movers and shakers were.

Even though I was scared to death at first, I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone and start plugging myself into the investor pipeline.  I took somewhat of a  “fake it ’til you make it” approach, and even though I didn’t really have a lot of experience under my belt, I decided that I was going to jump in and rub elbows with the big boys anyway.   I read in a book somewhere that you become who you hang around, and so I made the decision that I was going to start hanging around like-minded, successful individuals.

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Economy

HUD Raises Limits on Negative Balances for Real Estate Refinance through HARP

by Steve Heideman | July 7, 2009

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this past week extended the Home Affordable Refinance Program to borrowers who are up to 25 percent upside-down on mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The previous threshold was 105 percent, or owing 5 percent more than the value of the home.
To qualify for refinancing under [...]

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Commentary

Where to Search for Commercial Real Estate Online

by Ted Karsch | June 12, 2009

Loopnet.com – Loopnet is probably the largest and most well-known commercial real estate listing site. They claim to have over 630,000 active commercial real estate listings on their website. It costs $24.95 a month for visitors to have access to all of the property listings. The free membership for visitors allows full search capability, however, [...]

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Blogs

Pity The Retail Seller

by Richard Warren | May 25, 2009

Home sales in many markets are dominated by bank REOs, or Real Estate Owned as foreclosures are called after they have gone back to the bank. Generally these REOs will sell below market and can be a great deal for the buyer. However in areas that have an overabundance of REOs they do not sell [...]

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Commercial Real Estate

Apartment Building Foreclosures Create a Buyers Market for Apartment Buildings

by Ted Karsch | May 19, 2009

Many apartment buildings are now facing foreclosure because of falling prices, stricter underwriting guidelines and 5 year mortgages becoming due. For the astute buyer of apartment buildings these apartment building foreclosures could represent an investment windfall.

Image via Wikipedia

As a glaring symbol of the burst bubble in national residential real estate prices, the National Association of [...]

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Blogs

When A Lender Reneges On A Pre-Approval

by Richard Warren | April 27, 2009

                                          
It has become common for builders and real estate agents to require a pre-qualification or pre-approval from a lender prior to working with them on the purchase of a home. This is done so that the builder or agent doesn’t spend a lot of time with someone who will not be able to get a [...]

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Economy

Obama’s Making Home Affordable Plan Update

by Steve Heideman | April 20, 2009

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Sean Donovan was on Bloomberg this morning discussing the state of housing and the Obama Making Home Affordable Plan. There are some signs that the program is starting to work.”I think we have a good balance of carrots and sticks” said Donovan when asked about banks and servicers working [...]

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Economy

Latest Real Estate Market Data Showing a Whisper of a Bottom

by Steve Heideman | March 23, 2009

Existing home sales rose 5.1%  in Feburary to a stronger than expected pace of 4.72 million units.  This is the latest in a series of tiny whispers or as Larry Kudlow calls them “mustard seeds”  that we may indeed be in a bottoming process. The other signs include:

Homebuilders are breaking ground on new homes again
First-time jobless [...]

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