Real Estate News: Real Estate Investing Podcast

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending October 30th, 2021... the rebound of big city rents, the state and local property tax bonanza, and a tragic reminder to check smoke alarms in rentals. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The latest report on the GDP shows a big slowdown in the third quarter. The Commerce Department says the economy downshifted from 6.7% in the second quarter to just 2% in the third. (1) The slowdown was expected but the Wall Street Journal had anticipated a beefier 2.8%. Economists say we're experiencing slower growth because government stimulus money is drying up while businesses struggle with supply chain issues and the nation continues to deal with the coronavirus. Consumers are working and spending money however, which keeps the economy on the growth side. Consumer spending was up .6% in September. (2) And, the latest unemployment report shows that new state claims dropped to another pandemic low of 281,000. Existing claims also fell, from 2.48 million to 2.24 million. (3) The unemployment rate is currently at 4.8%. Much of that spending went into new homes. New home sales rose in September despite higher price points. The sales rate grew to an annual rate of 14% while the median price rose to a new record high of $408,800. (4) The sales rate hit a six-month high in September, but it's almost 18% lower than it was a year ago. The sale of existing homes went in the opposite direction. The National Association of Realtors says pending sales were down 2.3% in September, and compared to a year ago, they were down 8%. (5) A tight inventory continues to plague buyers, along with rising prices. According to the latest report from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index, national home prices are up 19.8% from a year ago. (6) For those who can buy, they are making those decisions quickly. The National Association of Realtors says that 86% of homes sold in September were on the market for less than a month. (7) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates continue their slow climb skyward. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 5 basis points to 3.14%. The 15-year was up 4 points to 2.37%. (8) In other news making headlines… Big City Rents Are Rebounding Rents are rebounding in the nation's big cities. Realtor.com says that rents in many cities are now "higher" than they were at the beginning of the pandemic. Rents had dropped as tenants fled to less-crowded areas, but they are rebounding in a big way. (10) Realtor.com's monthly rental report shows that rents in the ten largest U.S. tech cities, are now about 6.3% "higher" than they were when the pandemic first hit. The report says that the annual pace of rent growth for all U.S. rentals is about 13.6% right now. And it says there's no sign of it slowing down. Realtor.com's manager of economic research, George Ratiu, says: "With rents continuing to surge to new highs nationwide, including in big tech hubs, September data confirms the U.S. rental market has moved past the recovery phase and is fully back in business." Property Tax Bonanza State and local governments have reaped the rewards of higher home prices. An analysis by the National Association of Home Builders shows that property tax collection is now the highest it's been since 2009. (9) That review shows that homeowners paid $703.5 billion from Q3 of last year to Q2 of this year. That's a 13% increase from the previous year. State and local governments rely heavily on property tax. The NAHB says they get about 38% of their revenue from that tax base. Tragic Lesson about Fire Alarms A story out of Southern California is a tragic reminder to all landlords to make sure smoke detectors are working in all rentals. A fire at a short-term rental in Malibu killed a 22-year-old college student last January, and his father recently filed a lawsuit against the landlords, TripAdvisor, and a TripAdvisor subsidiary for negligence. (11) The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles by Brad Schneider. It claims his son, Grant, was not able to escape the fire because there were not enough smoke detectors in the home, and the ones that were there were not working. That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coming-up-third-quarter-gdp-11635423260?mod=economy-politics 2 -https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coming-up-spending-income-and-pce-inflation-

Zillow has officially announced the end of it's iBuying program, Zillow Offers. The announcement comes just a few weeks after the company said it wouldn't be buying any more homes this year. And then there were reports that Zillow would be offloading thousands of homes at a discount. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. The iBuying frenzy has been growing among several competitors including Zillow, Redfin, Opendoor, Offerpad and others. There was a pause in those programs during the pandemic, but the iBuyers were back in full swing this year. And Zillow was one of the more exuberant ones. Home Price Forecasting But Zillow apparently miscalculated the value of the homes it was buying. The company's financial results show a $304 million write-down for the homes that were purchased for more than it can sell them for. It expects to lose another $240 to $265 million for homes that it is contracted to purchase in the next quarter. CEO Rich Barton told investors: "We've determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated and continuing to scale Zillow Offers would result in too much earnings and balance-sheet volatility." (1) Zillow now expects to wind the home-flipping arm of its business down over several months. That includes a 25% reduction in its workforce, which will impact about 2,000 employees. Zillow's iBuying Binge The company has been on a buying binge. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zillow bought 3,800 homes in the second quarter, and ended the third quarter with an inventory of almost 10,000 homes and another 8,000 homes under contract to buy. It only sold about 3,000 homes, and many were sold at a loss. The Journal says that Zillow also expects to lose between 5% and 7% on the remaining homes. (2) An analyst for KeyBanc looked at the financials for 650 homes in Zillow's inventory. That's about one-fifth of the homes the company owns. As reported by MarketWatch, he found that Zillow was selling two-thirds of them at a discount of 4.5%. Most of the discounted homes that he found are in San Diego; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Las Vegas. (3) Offloading Homes to Investors According to Bloomberg, Zillow is hoping to sell about 7,000 homes to institutional investors for close to $2.8 billion. The report says they will likely be sold to various buyers, and not as a single sale. (4) Barton founded the company 16 years ago. The iBuying arm of the business is relatively new. Barton wanted to hit 5,000 home flips a month and had predicted, last year, that Zillow Offers could generate $20 billion a year. What Went Wrong? Zillow has been an aggressive player in the iBuying market, offering more than competitors. That won Zillow some homes, but in markets that may have cooled off slightly, the anticipated price growth didn't materialize. It sounds a little like the scenario in 2005 when people thought home prices only go up. Right now, they are still going up, but Zillow apparently miscalculated by how much. The New York Times also reports that the company underestimated the risk of holding homes for too long between a purchase and a sale. (5) Zillow had previously said that labor and material shortages were impacting the business. The company couldn't turn them around fast enough. And that's a huge departure from a relatively risk free business model that Zillow was founded on. Barton and Zillow's CFO, Allen Parker, said in a shareholder letter: "Our aim was to become a market maker, not a market risk taker." On a more positive note, there will be thousands of homes hitting the market at a discount from the previous sale price, and possibly of interest to investors both big and small. You'll find links to our sources in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You can also find out more about real estate investing at our website by joining RealWealth for free. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources. That includes experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zillow-group-reports-third-quarter-2021-financial-results--shares-plan-to-wind-down-zillow-offers-operations-301414460.html 2 -https://www.wsj.com/articles/zillow-quits-home-flipping-business-cites-inability-to-forecast-prices-11635883500 3 -https://www.marketwatch.com/story/zillow-stock-dives-after-analyst-highlights-two-thirds-of-homes-bought-are-underwater-11635785293 4 -https://www.ocregister.com/2021/11/01/zillow-to-sell-7000-homes-for-2-8-billion-after-flipping-flop/ 5 -https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/business/zillow-q3-earnings-home-flipping-ibuying.html

Investors were busy in the second quarter of this year. They increased their share of purchased residential properties. But even though they bought more than consumers, they spent less. So where are these great deals? The RealtyTrac report has a few answers. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. RealtyTrac published the results of its analysis with data from its parent company, ATTOM Data Solutions. (1) It found that investor purchases accounted for 15.4% of all U.S. residential purchases in the second quarter of this year. That's up 3.9% from Q2 of last year when investors accounted for 11.5% of all home purchases. (2) If you compare Q2 to Q1 of this year, investor purchases were about the same. Although the numbers show a year-over-year increase, RealtyTrac's executive vice president, Rick Sharga, doesn't believe they represent a significant change of course. But, he says they do disprove the idea that investors are gobbling up too much of the inventory. He says: "Historically investors have always accounted for somewhere between 10% and 15% of residential home purchases, and our data shows that this is still the case today, albeit at the high end of that range. But the data doesn't support the 'Wall Street is buying up Main Street' theme that's been a popular theory for the past year or so." States Attracting the Most Investors Activity So where are investors placing their bets? New Hampshire tops the list, with Delaware, Georgia, Arizona, and Mississippi rounding out the top five. In the second tier is Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Nevada. Investor share ranges from 23.2% of all purchases in New Hampshire to 18.7% of purchases in Nevada. As for the ten states with the lowest share of investor purchases - Vermont tops that list, followed by Alaska, New Mexico, Montana, and Idaho. The other five states include Oregon, West Virginia, Wyoming, Washington, and Iowa. Investor share of purchases in Vermont are less than 1%, while Alaska is 1.9%. The share increases to about 11% for Iowa. Biggest Investor Discounts So what's this about buying more and paying less? RealtyTrac says that in the second quarter, investors paid an average of 29.4% less than your typical consumer. That's on a national basis among 38 states with full reporting data. Investors got a better deal, on average, in 33 out of 38 of those states. For investors, the median price of a home was $205,000. For consumers, it was $290.230. As for the states with the biggest investor discounts, Arkansas was number one. It had the highest investor discount at 76.9%. Michigan was next with a 60% discount to investors. Louisiana and Nebraska were both about 55%. West Virginia and Oklahoma were around 50%. Sharga is quick to point out that investors are not getting special treatment. They are just better shoppers. And, he says: "Another misconception is that investors are overpaying for properties, making it difficult for consumers to compete and artificially driving up prices. But successful investors tend to look for below-market pricing in order to make a profit…" Plus, many buy in cash, which often comes with a discount. In Q2 of this year, 79% of investor purchases were in cash compared to 69% for Q2 of last year. While that figure varies from state-to-state, the report shows that the share was more than 50% in all states, except for Alaska. There's a link to the RealtyTrac report in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You can also find out more about real estate investing at our website by joining RealWealth for free. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources. That includes experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.realtytrac.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2021/10/Oct-21-RealtyTrac-RE-Investor-Purchase-Activity-Press-Release.pdf 2 -https://www.realtytrac.com/blog/realtytrac-investor-purchase-report-fall-2021/

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending October 23rd, 2021... the Fed's new rate hike schedule, a new wave of foreclosures, and a rent growth surprise for some single-family homes. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week with comments from Fed Chief Jerome Powell. It looks like the timeline for interest rate hikes has been pushed up again. Last month, there was more of a debate as to whether it would happen in 2022 or 2023. Powell indicated that conditions for a rate hike would probably be reached next year. That includes the Fed's goal of maximum employment. The inflation requirement has already been met. That's when inflation remains above 2% for a sustained period of time. Powell also said that now is the time to begin tapering the Fed's bond-buying strategy. Policymakers will discuss a tapering plan next month. Jobless claims fell to a fresh pandemic low last week. There were only 290,000 initial claims for state benefits. Continuing claims also fell. They were down 290,000 to 2.48 million. (2) Millions of jobs are going unfilled, however, which is making it difficult for businesses to meet the demand for goods and services. That's also creating supply chain issues that are driving up prices, and inflation. Home buyers are going full steam ahead to lock in deals before mortgage rates rise any higher. The National Association of Realtors say that existing home sales were up 7% from August to September. That's a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.29 million homes. (3) Part of that increase is due to more inventory, but NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says that inventory was quickly gobbled up. On the other side of the housing supply issue, residential construction was down due to those supply chain issues, and a labor shortage. The government says that September home starts were down 1.6% compared to August, and that permits were down 7.7%. Multi-family permits were down the most. They fell 21% while single-family permits were down just 1%. (4) Despite all the headwinds that builders face, the National Association of Home Builders monthly confidence index shows an increase of four points to a reading of 80. Anything over 50 is positive. Although builders have to keep raising prices, they are encouraged that demand and home sales "remain strong." (5) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates rose slightly this last week. Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up four points, to 3.09%. The 15-year was up three points, to 2.33%. (6) In other news making headlines… Foreclosures on the Rise Foreclosure filings jumped higher in September, after pandemic-related moratoriums were lifted. ATTOM Data Solutions released its Q3 foreclosure report which shows that foreclosure filings were up 24% compared to August, and 102% from a year ago. (7) Economists have been predicting a spike in foreclosures, but RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga says: "Despite the increased level of foreclosure activity in September, we're still far below historically normal numbers." He says they are almost 70% lower than they were before the pandemic. And light years away from the number of foreclosures in mid-2009. Foreclosure filings were approaching 600,000 per quarter back then. Currently, there are 45,500 filings for the third quarter of this year. Single-Family Rent Growth Single-family rent growth quadrupled in August. CoreLogic says the year-over-year rate of growth was 9.3%, and represents the fastest annual rent growth in 16 years. (8) The single-family category includes both detached and attached units, such as duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes, row homes, co-ops, and condos. Rent growth spiked the most for detached homes. Annualized rent growth for attached units was 6.4% while the rent for detached homes rose 11.7%. The city with the highest rent growth was Miami. Rents in Miami were up 21.5%. That pushed Phoenix into second place for the first time in almost three years. Rounding out the top five are Las Vegas, Austin, and Dallas. New Forecast for Top Markets in 2022 New forecasts are coming out about next year's hot real estate markets. PwC just released its 2022 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report. The report includes a top-10 list of highly ranked real estate markets for 2022. Several of them are also on our list of recommendations for single-family rentals. Those markets include Tampa/St. Petersburg, Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta. PwC is also recommending those cities, and others, for the construction of new homes. If you have been following RealWealth, you know that we have expanded our focus on existing single-family rentals to also include the construction of new rental homes. Our recommended markets include Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Park City, Utah, and several Florida markets. You can find out mo

If you're selling your home and you have a green thumb, you might want to plant a tree. Or pay someone else to plant one for you. According to a new survey by Trees.com, some real estate agents believe that just "one" healthy tree can increase property values by 30%. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Trees.com started off as a blog in 1997 which has evolved over time into a shopping site for plants and trees, along with plenty of educational material. (1) The survey was done last month with the help of 1,250 licensed real estate agents, and 78% of them said that poor landscaping has a negative impact on the value of a property. The Value of a Well-Positioned Tree When it comes to the best way of upgrading your landscaping, 59% of the agents said "add a tree." 20% of the agents said that one tree will increase the property value by 30%. That's one in five of the agents participating in the survey. If you do the math on a home that's worth $300,000, 30% of that amount is $90,000! Another 40% of the agents estimated the additional value would be 10 to 20% or $30- to $60,000. The remaining 40% estimated a range of between 1 and 5%. Of course, a lot would depend on the tree, and what it looks like in the yard. Aesthetic Charm Washington-state real estate broker, David North, says that trees can add "aesthetic charm" to a home. He told Trees.com: "A tree is one of the most natural and interesting ways to add color, texture and contrast to any home's yard." He says: "The natural beauty of a tree can be especially powerful when it distinguishes one property from others, whether by different shape, color, or size." Ecosystem Upgrade Trees also improve the ecosystem of the property. California real estate broker, Kimo Quance, says they help with "stormwater management, pollution filtering, and soil fertilization. During warmer months, trees are a natural cooling system, providing shade. Then, in colder months, trees that lose their leaves let sunlight filter through to warm the home." They can also help stabilize soil and prevent mudslides, if there's an incline to the property. Landscaping Elements The survey also ranked various landscaping elements, and grass was the most important feature for improving value. It didn't include the estimate value of the grass, but you might surmise that it could rival the added value of trees. Trees were next on the list, followed by flowers, hedges, mulch, and fountains. Hardscaping Features As for the hardscaping features of a property, the agents ranked decks as most important. After that, driveways were second on that list, followed by an outdoor kitchen, artificial grass, a gazebo, and a firepit. Inside Greenery The survey also touched on greenery "inside" the home. 54% of the agents say it's a good idea to have indoor plants as part of the staging, but most of those agents were in the Southern and Western regions of the country. So indoor greenery may be more important in those areas. There's a link to the Trees.com survey results in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You can also find out more about real estate investing at our website by joining RealWealth for free. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources. That includes experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: https://www.trees.com/poor-landscaping-can-decrease-property-value-by-as-much-as-30

It's a big first for cryptocurrency and real estate. The nation's second largest lender says it successfully accepted mortgage payments, in crypto, from a handful of borrowers. It was part of a pilot program by United Wholesale Mortgage that was successful, but is now being put back on the shelf, for a later date. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. UWM announced the good news this last week. It says that it "successfully evaluated and accepted the first-ever cryptocurrency mortgage payment in September and five more… in October." (1) It was the first time that any U.S. lender has accepted cryptocurrency as a home loan payment. UWM CEO Mat Ishbia said in the announcement: "As we said last quarter, we were going to look into accepting cryptocurrency and test it to see if it's a faster, easier and cheaper solution and thanks to our innovative technology team members, the transactions were successful." But he also said that: "Due to the current combination of incremental costs and regulatory uncertainty in the Crypto space, we've concluded we aren't going to extend beyond a pilot at this time." Test-and-Learn Process As it turns out, the program was more of a "test-and-learn" process in preparation for crypto's future use. UWM says it would resume the use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology once it becomes something that will "propel the organization forward." The program allowed for the use of three kinds of crypto including Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin. Ishbia told CNBC that borrowers "liked" the idea and thought it was "cool" but ultimately, the program only attracted six people. Ishbia says: "There was not enough demand at the end of the day to really push the envelope too hard." (2) Investment Tool vs. Currency As CNBC reports, the experiment provides proof that many people view crypto as an investment tool, and not a currency to buy things. At least not yet. Most cryptocurrency users hold on to their virtual coins, hoping for an astronomical return, as some early investors have seen. CNBC calls it the HODL mindset which stands for "hold on for dear life." According to Coinbase, just one Bitcoin is worth more than $60,000. It was first introduced in 2009, but in the last five years, it has gained about 8,600%. Market cap is $1.2 trillion. Ethereum or Ether has also done well. Current price is about $3,800 per coin with a market cap of more than $480 billion. Over five years, that coin has gained about 27,000% in value. Dogecoin began as a joke and became wildly popular when Elon Musk promoted it in a tweet. It's now worth only about $.25 cents per coin, but that also represents more than 100,000% growth. Market cap for Dogecoin is more than $26 billion. Using Crypto Creates Taxable Event So there's money on the table for some investors if they want to "cash in." One problem with doing that however, is that using crypto will create a taxable event. CNBC says the IRS views crypto as property, and the six homeowners who just paid UWM in crypto will likely face a big tax bill. A CoinTracker CPA told CNBC: "The one thing that a lot of people don't realize is that whenever you spend cryptocurrencies to buy a cup of coffee, or any type of consumer item, that triggers a capital gains event." As for UWM's future plans, Ishbia says the lender will be able to turn the program back on when the demand is there. He says: "We know how to do it now." You can find out more by following links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You can also find out more about real estate investing at our website by joining RealWealth for free. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources. That includes experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.uwm.com/about-us/media-resources/press-releases/2021/october-14-2021 2 -https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/14/united-wholesale-mortgage-ditches-its-plan-to-accept-bitcoin-ethereum.html

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending October 16th, 2021… more home loans for the self-employed borrowers, a surge in jumbo loans, and a rise in closing costs. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. Inflation ticked higher again. The government reports a .4% increase for September, mostly due to higher prices for food, gas, and rent. That raises the yearly rate of inflation from 5.3% to 5.4% which is more than double what the Federal Reserve considers "ideal." But the Fed pays more attention to the PCE or Personal Consumption Expenditures index which is lower but still more than double the Fed's target. Economists, along with the Fed, say that means prices will probably remain high into next year. (1) Well-known stock investor Cathie Woods has her own theory on inflation. She's the owner of Ark Invest and a collection of stock funds that lean toward more innovative tech companies and start-ups. She told CNBC that the current migration from expensive cities will help keep inflation in check. She says: "The exodus, or the great migration, is from very high-rent areas of the world to much lower rents." She is moving her own company from New York to St. Petersburg, Florida, to take advantage of a lower cost of living. (2) Consumers don't seem to be that concerned about high prices. U.S. retail sales rose .7% last month. That's after a big gain in August. Economists say Americans have plenty of money to spend from their pandemic savings, and a job market that is paying higher wages. One thing holding them back is a short supply of goods like cars and consumer electronics because of supply chain issues. (3) Initial jobless claims dipped below 300,000 for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. The government reports just 293,000 new state claims. Ongoing claims also dropped to a pandemic low of 2.59 million. The total number of people collecting benefits from eight state and federal programs is 3.65 million. That's after more than 11 million people dropped off the list last month due to the expiration of an emergency federal program. (4) The "quit rate" jumped higher in August, to the highest it's ever been since the government started tracking the number of people leaving their jobs in 2000. This so-called quit rate was up almost 3% to 4.27 million private-sector employees. That's about double what it was during the early part of the pandemic. This recent spike coincides with a spike in coronavirus cases tied to the delta variant. (5) Mortgage Rates Let's check on mortgage rates. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 6 basis points to 3.05%. The 15-year was up 7 points to 2.3%. (6) In other news making headlines... Credit More Available for Self-Employed The credit market is opening up a bit, making it easier to get a home loan. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Credit Availability Index rose 1.5% in September, with most of the growth going to self-employed borrowers. That's great for real estate professionals who are often self-employed. (7) The index benchmark is 100, and the current reading is 125.6. It's the highest it's been since May. The MBA's Joel Kan says: "But, even with increases in seven out of nine months thus far in 2021, total credit availability is still around 30% less than it was in February 2020" which is right before the pandemic struck. Jumbo Loans Surge Due to High Home Prices Lenders are also handing out more jumbo loans because of high home prices. Researchers at Bank of America said in a weekly report that loan originations for jumbo loans are rising to levels we haven't seen since before the 2008 financial crisis. (8) The current limit for a conforming loan is about $548,000. Anything above that is a jumbo loan, although high-priced areas like New York City and San Francisco have higher limits. Several lenders have already announced higher conforming loan limits up to $625,000 for next year. Buyers Paying Higher Closing Costs High home prices are also driving closing costs higher. Residential real estate data firm ClosingCorp said the national average for single-family properties was $6,837 during the first half of this year. That includes taxes, and represents a 12.3% year-over-year increase. Without taxes, the national average is up 10.5% to $3,836. For refinancing loans, closing costs are up about 5% to around $2,400. (8) ClosingCorp's CEO, Bob Jennings, says that even though closing costs are higher, they are not going up as fast as home prices, because lenders are holding those costs down. He says: "Although the average home price increased by nearly $45,000, the closing cost, excluding taxes, on property only increased by $400." That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth fo

Technology is taking big steps in the housing industry with 3D printed homes. Developers are pushing them as "cheaper, stronger, and more efficient" than traditional homes, and the idea is gaining ground. With affordable housing in short supply, energy efficiency becoming a mandate, and the threat of more severe weather-events, 3D printed homes could provide a desirable eco-friendly option. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. A husband and wife team are building a 3D printed home in Tallahassee, Florida, that they expect to put on the market next month. It will be a 3-bedroom, 2-bath 1,440 square foot home with an asking price between $175,000 and $225,000. One of the big benefits for this kind of home in a state like Florida is the strength of the building material. Promoters say they will withstand hurricanes and flooding much better than traditional homes. And, they say these homes will also be more resistant to mold, which is a problem in areas with high humidity. Plus, they can be energy efficient, and built more quickly at a less expensive price point. 3D Printer Looks Like a Car Wash The process involves a printer that looks more like a car wash but squirts out a cement-like mixture in a back-and-forth motion that's dictated by high-tech computer programs. They come in all sizes depending on the size of the building you want to create. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the printers can range in size from about 10 x 10 feet to 100 x 100 feet and cost between a half million and $700,000. (1) The owners of the company printing the home in Tallahassee, Kyndra and James Light, told the Sun Sentinel: "Make no mistake, these houses are not your average test models." They claim: "The finished product is far superior in strength, durability, and efficiency." A 3D-printed home in Riverhead, New York was the first one on the U.S. market. It was listed during the summer for about $300,000. Four other 3D-printed homes in Austin, Texas, were also reportedly ready for occupants over the summer. And a community of 15 eco-friendly 3D-printed homes was supposed to break ground last month in Rancho Mirage, California, near Palm Springs, but developers are working through some regulatory delays. World's First Net Zero 3D Printed Home Community Development company, Palari, and construction technology company, Mighty Buildings, are working together on the Rancho Mirage project. Palari claims to be "reimagining" real estate with "innovative and sustainable building strategies." (2) MIghty Buildings says it will revolutionize home construction with 3D-printing technology. (3) They announced their plan for Rancho Mirage last spring, saying they had secured a 5-acre site and would break ground in September on the world's first 3D printed net zero energy community. (4) According to the Desert Sun, Mighty Buildings had previously built smaller accessory dwelling units with state approval. Co-Founder, Sam Ruben, told the Sun that homes for the Rancho Mirage plan would be larger, with upgraded material that is not yet approved by state officials. He says: "The units we are going to be delivering for Rancho Mirage are utilizing our next-generation material which incorporates fiber reinforcement that adds strength and performance." Ruben says he isn't anticipating a problem with the approval, and the Palari website says that the Rancho Mirage homes will be ready for delivery in spring of next year. In addition to 1,450 square feet of living space, each home will sit on a 10,000 square foot lot. They will each have a swimming pool, and customizable options such as cabanas, hot tubs, fire pits, and outdoor showers. They will also have solar power for a net-zero carbon footprint, and a mid-century modern design. Other Communities Planned for California Palari and Mighty Buildings already have several other projects in the works. The Palari website lists two more for the Palm Springs area including one community in Palm Springs and another in the nearby Desert Hot Springs. Their California project list also includes developments in the San Fernando Valley, the Central Coast, the East Bay, and Napa. You can find out more about those two companies and their plans by following links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. The websites for Palari and Mighty Homes provide information on the printing of single-family homes and ADUs. That includes the sale of homes in their planned communities, along with pricing and options. You can also find out more about real estate investing at our website by joining RealWealth for free. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources. That includes experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button

Manufactured housing appears to be making a comeback. Boosting the supply of prefab homes is a major part of a new government initiative. Factory-built housing is also getting the attention of real estate investors looking for hard-to-get rental homes. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. The Biden Administration announced its Housing America initiative last month. One component of that initiative is to increase the supply of manufactured homes. Other components include things like down payment assistance, the rehabilitation of existing homes, new loan options for manufactured homes, and collaboration with local governments to reduce zoning limitations. (1) Prefab Homes Gaining New Respect The manufactured housing component could be a game changer for a market that has so few affordable options. And with improvements to the manufacturing process, prefab homes are losing the stigma they once had for being inferior to site-built homes. In 2020, a HUD report says: "Factory-built housing has undergone many physical changes that have made it more similar to, and in many ways indistinguishable from, conventional site-built housing… Quality improvements in construction and installation practices have increased durability so that the life expectancy of factory-built housing increasingly is comparable to that of site-built or onsite housing." (2) The Manufactured Housing Institute says essentially the same thing. In a 2021 industry overview, it says: "Today's manufactured homes can deliver outstanding quality and performance at prices that are up to 50 percent less per square foot than conventional site-built homes. These savings allow more and more Americans to own their own homes." (3) That also applies to investors who might want to buy more affordable rental homes. Cost Savings for Prefab Homes So what are the price points for manufactured homes compared to site-built homes? The Institute says the average price of a manufactured home is $81,900. If you break it down to price per square foot, that's about $57 compared to $119 for a site-built home. Average size for a prefab home is about 1,450 square feet. The average for a site-built home is 2,500 square feet, so the price of a prefab home is about ¼ the cost of a site-built home. According to rebusinessonline, manufactured housing accounts for about 5.5% of U.S. homes. They also accounted for 9% of home starts last year. That's about 95,000 homes, which is double the number of prefab homes shipped in 2011. Strong Investment Activity According to Chad Hagwood at Lument, investors are paying attention. He said in an interview for rebusinessonline.com: "The market for investment sales is the strongest it's ever been." He says: "Having been an active participant in this industry for almost two decades. The sales volume, the interest, the activity is unlike anytime I've ever seen." Lumen provides loans for multifamily, affordable housing, and senior housing. (4) Lument recently produced a white paper on the manufactured housing industry. It begins with comments about the need for affordable homes and the "growing popularity of lower density living" and how that's providing a new option for both homeowners and investors. (5) It says: "The combination of robust cash flow growth, particularly in Sunbelt and Western markets, cap rate compression, and liquidity provided by the GSEs makes a compelling case for manufactured housing community acquisitions and refinances." In the section about revenue trends, it says the inventory-weighted average rent of $840 for prefab homes in 31 markets compared favorably to other rentals in the same areas. That includes rents of about $1,100 for C+ to B- apartments, and $1,400 for overall average apartment rents. Pros and Cons Let's take a look at the pros and cons of manufactured housing. According to that HUD report: Modular housing construction is faster and takes place in a climate controlled environment which saves time and avoids unpredictable weather events and damage to materials. Due to improvements in design and quality that make manufactured homes more similar to site-built homes, public perception has gotten better (although it still needs improvement). The trend could build quickly as potential homebuyers, renters, and investors learn more about this type of housing. Getting a loan for a prefab home is also getting easier. Last month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be allowed to purchase loans for single-section manufactured homes. On the other hand: Builders are concerned about switching to factory-built homes because they'd lose workers they may not be able to get back, if needed. Transportation of modules can be expensive. Pre-construction costs could be significantly higher - as much as 50%. Public perception of manufactured homes needs further improvement to prevent NIMBY atti

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending October 9th, 2021... new conforming loan limits, self-touring option for home buyers, and a way to save gas when you're house hunting. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with two economic reports, from this last week, on the job market. The one for unemployment shows that initial state claims were down 38,000 to 326,000. Economists say it's a sign of a strengthening labor market. The unemployment numbers keep dropping and are getting closer to pre-pandemic levels, but we're not quite there yet. Before the pandemic, initial state claims were in the low 200,000s. Ongoing benefits were also down 98,000 this last week, to a seasonally adjusted 2.71 million. (1) The number of people collecting benefits from a total of eight state and federal programs dropped dramatically at the start of the month. They went from 11.3 million last month to just 4.17 million. That's mostly due to the expiration of a special federal program to help people hurt by the pandemic. The other job market report shows that 194,000 jobs were created in September. That's far less than a Wall Street forecast for a half a million new jobs. MarketWatch says the numbers are falling short of expectations because of low employment at public schools. The official unemployment rate did drop almost a half a percentage point. It went from 5.2% in August to 4.8% last month. (2) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates are teasing us again. After a brief rise above 3%, Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped down two basis points, to 2.99%. The 15-year was down five basis points to 2.23%. (3) In other news making headlines… Average Mortgage Amount Creeps Higher Low mortgage rates can help offset higher home prices, but they aren't totally preventing loan amounts from rising. The average amount that homeowners are borrowing has risen to $410,000. That's according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. (4) The MBA's Joen Kan says: "Applications for larger loan amounts continue to outpace lower-balance loans." In July, they had risen at an annual rate of 19%. There are more homes coming into the market right now, but inventory is still much tighter than it was a year ago, and that's putting a lot of pressure on prices. Higher Loan Limits for Pricier Homes Two big lenders are responding to the need for larger loans by raising their conforming loan limit caps. PennyMac and United Wholesale Mortgage announced this last week, that they are raising their caps to $625,000. (5) That's about $75,000 more than the 2021 conforming loan limit of about 550,000 set by the FHFA. The FHFA is also expected to increase that amount for 2022, with an announcement sometime next month. Redfin's New Self-Tour Feature Redfin is expanding it's "Direct Access" program to 22 U.S. markets. This feature allows buyers to unlock vacant homes with the Redfin app, and tour those homes without an agent. This will give buyers a faster way to look at homes they might want to buy. (6) ADT security is supplying the smart locks and sensors that allow buyers to enter the homes. They also keep track of who's entering and exiting. Once the homes are sold, buyers can keep that equipment. Redfin's Bridget Frey says: "In this hot market, more than a third of homes are finding a buyer within the first week, and buyers are hustling to see new homes as quickly as possible." Newly added markets for the self-touring feature include: Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Orange County California. Google Maps Intros New Eco-Friendly Tool You might be able to save on gas as you tour all those homes by using Google Maps. The company has introduced a new eco-friendly tool that shows you which route is more fuel-efficient. (7) When the fastest route and the most eco-friendly route have a similar ETA, Google Maps will default to the eco-friendly one. Fuel consumption is estimated according to the incline of the road, traffic congestion, and traffic patterns. That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-jobless-claims-sink-38-000-to-326-000-in-sign-of-improving-labor-market-11633610565?mod=economy-politics 2 -https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-adds-just-194-000-jobs-in-september-as-delta-worsens-labor-shortage-11633697488?mod=mw_latestnews 3 -http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/ 4 -https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2021/10/01/a

The build-to-rent trend is creating intense competition for land. There are reports that land brokers are getting a growing number of calls from investor groups who want to build single-family rental communities. And there's a limited amount of suitable tracts of land, so competition is fierce. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Forbes just published an article on this build-to-rent "land rush." It says that for every veteran buyer, land brokers are getting 50 calls from groups who are new to this residential construction niche. BTR "Land Rush" Because there just aren't enough existing homes on the market to meet investor demand, the build-to-rent trend is gaining traction. And that has off a stampede of sorts, for land. Forbes says that "a site that is well-suited for build-to-rent will typically get between 10 and 25 offers." This is also a new situation for land brokers. They have traditionally sold to developers who build homes to sell to the public. But now they are catering to investors who want land for single-family rentals. One land broker told Forbes that between 5% and 10% of his land sales today are for new single-family rental communities. And he says that percentage is growing month after month. In fact, he says he expects those numbers to "double or triple in the next couple of years." And it isn't just the big institutional groups pouring money into this market. The majority of them are smaller lesser-known groups, although the deep pocket investor groups do snag headlines. The Forbes article was written by housing economist, Brad Hunter, who helps investors and builders with site-specific market data and analysis. He says the BTR groups also have different preferences for the kinds of communities they want to build. They range from low-density communities with just 4 to 5 rental homes per acre to high-density strategies with 11 to 12 homes per acre. But he says, a density that's in the middle of that range is most popular. BTR Investors vs. Homebuilders This BTR "land rush" is creating a lot of competition with traditional homebuilders, because of skyrocketing rental returns. Rents are rising in large and small markets across the country, and that's providing a strong motive for BTR investors. Because they are well-funded, Hunter says that BTR investors are often able to outbid homebuilders. And, they are gaining more traction in markets where rents are rising the fastest. He says demand for BFR land is rising the fastest in bigger metros like Augusta, Savannah, San Antonio, and St. Paul. He also says there's also growing demand in smaller cities St. Cloud, Pensacola, and Port Charlotte in Florida. In addition to a limit on land, local ordinances are holding some investors back because there's just more demand than local zoning laws will allow. Some of that is due to a general bias against rentals and local officials who are worried about how voters will react. Because of a perception that renters won't make good neighbors, the NIMBY syndrome is strong in many areas. Hunter says that perception is changing however, because a lot of today's renters are highly paid professionals who don't want to be homeowners and prefer to rent. Despite those headwinds, demand is there for single-family rental homes. According to Hunter and his company, Hunter Housing Economics, there are five things driving this demand. Top Five Reasons for BTR Demand 1 - Household formation rates are pushing past 1.6 million per year 2 - Millennials want to raise their kids in the suburbs with good schools 3 - High rate of dog ownership and desire for yard space 4 - Remote work has created a demand for home office space 5 - Home prices are too high for young families to buy their own homes Hunter says: "The potential for growth is enormous." His company sees production ramping up over the next five years, with an increase in BTR starts each year. By 2025, Hunter's company is predicting 180,000 starts, with demand still outpacing production. You'll find links to the Forbes article in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You can also learn more about single-family rentals at our website by joining RealWealth for free. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources. That includes experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Link: 1 -https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradhunter/2021/09/09/the-built-for-rent-land-rush-is-intensifying-here-are-five-drivers/?sh=16cc3ae5560c 2 -https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2021/09/13/the-race-is-on-for-built-for-rent-land

Real estate investors have experienced some big swings in the market over the past decade. We've gone from dirt cheap foreclosures after the housing meltdown, to more difficult investing opportunities today. According to a new survey, that's discouraging many small scale real estate investors, but difficult doesn't mean impossible. It means you need to be flexible, adaptable, and smart about your choices. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Real-estate data company RealtyTrac conducted an investor sentiment survey among 300 real estate investors from across the country. (1) It shows that 48% of them feel that the investing environment is worse or even "much" worse than it was just one year ago. And it wasn't that much better a year ago. The same survey shows that 45% felt that way in 2020 during the first year of the pandemic. RealtyTrac defines small scale mom-and-pop investors as those who buy one to 10 properties a year. That includes people who flip homes and those why buy and hold them as rentals. RealtyTrack says 90% of the 19 million single-family rental properties in the U.S. are owned by smaller investors. It also says there are thousands of people flipping homes at a rate of about one a month, although they are facing more competition from iBuyers like Opendoor, Offerpad, and Zillow. Investor Sentiment Survey This is the second year in a row for the RealtyTrac Investor Sentiment Survey. RealtyTrac says that last year's survey was evenly split between flippers and buy-and-hold investors. This year, there were more buy-and-hold rental property investors. Researchers say that could be the result of market conditions which are reducing home-flipping returns. Previous research by RealtyTrac's parent company ATTOM Data Solutions shows that the typical gross-flipping profit was $67,000 in the second quarter of this year. That's a 33.5% return on investment compared to a 40.6% ROI for Q2 in 2020. It's also the lowest ROI for flippers since 2011. (2) RealtyTrac's survey found that real estate investors are most concerned about high home prices. That concern replaced lack of inventory as the biggest worry in last year's survey. Lack of inventory is now second on the list of concerns. Investors are also worried about the cost of materials and labor along with competition from regular homebuyers. RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga says: "Investors are more optimistic about the future than they are about current market conditions. But they do worry about inflation -- about 81% of the investors surveyed were concerned about inflation causing material and labor costs to rise, making affordability an issue for prospective homebuyers and renters, and increasing the costs of financing." The survey also asked investors about their foreclosure expectations once government protections expire. About 30% of them expect foreclosures to return to a historical level of about 1% while 33% expect them to increase, but remain below the levels we saw during the Great Recession. Real Estate Investors Need to Shift Focus The survey title suggests that "Real Estate Investors Have Soured on the Current Market." I think a better title might be: "Real Estate Investors Need to Shift their Focus." At least that's what we are doing at RealWealth. The market is changing, again. It's something that the market will always do, so investors need to be flexible and adapt to new conditions. The last ten or so years have been easy for real estate investors. We had a housing crash and dirt cheap prices. But those prices have been rising for a decade. So what now? Yes, it's harder to get inventory. One of our property providers says that foreclosure auctions have completely stopped so she's trying to build new homes for buy-and-hold rental investors, although that has its own challenges. We are in a new market cycle, so investors need to be more creative. In California, new laws have neutralized the idea of single-family zoning. You can now subdivide a single-family property into a duplex, or even a four-plex if the lot is big enough. Investors could live in one, and rent the rest. Short-term rentals could also work, if local laws allow them.California also allows in-law units or ADUs on single-family properties which is another way for property owners to create rentals. Creative Investing for Today's Market More creative investors might want to look at ways to help aging baby boomers who need assisted living, or younger professional who need a place to decompress. One of my friends is now turning high-end homes into rehab centers for individuals who need a get-away place to recuperate. Empty hotels could provide an interesting opportunity for apartment conversions. What should you look for? As you know, homes are selling quickly, but that's not 100%. You can look for higher-priced homes that have been sitting on the market for too long and negotiate the price ta

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending October 2nd, 2021... we'll look at inflation frustration for the Fed, a mortgage rate surprise, and a new checklist for today's homebuyers. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week, and new predictions about inflation. Fed Chief Jerome Powell says that inflation has been worse than expected because of supply-chain bottlenecks, but he still expects prices to settle back down next year, once those supply-chain issues are resolved. He said during a forum with central bank leaders: "It's frustrating to see the supply chain problems not getting better, in fact they are probably getting worse." (1) The annual rate of inflation is about 4.2% right now, according to the Fed's preferred PCE index. The more popular CPI is about the same. It is currently at 4.3%. When you remove energy and food, the CPI is about 3%. The Fed likes to see the inflation rate at around 2%. (2) New jobless claims hit a two-month high this last week thanks to a surge in California and Michigan. The government says new state claims were up 11,000 to 362,000. The California numbers are due to the processing of a claims backlog while the Michigan case load is likely due to a surge in delta infections. (3) Housing is one segment of the economy that hasn't slowed down. The National Association of Realtors reports that pending sales surged unexpectedly in August. NAR says pending home sales were up 8.1% compared with July. Economists had expected an increase of less than half a percent. NAR'S chief economist, Lawrence Yun, says: "Rising inventory and moderating price conditions are bringing buyers back to the market." (4) Builders continue to run into headwinds because of expensive building materials, and a shortage of labor and land. The Commerce Department says that overall construction spending was flat in August. It says that an increase in public spending was offset by a decline in residential spending. It was down .7% for single-family construction and .8% for multi-families. (5) Meanwhile, home prices continue their march skyward. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index shows a year-over-year increase of 19.7% in July. That represents the fourth month in a row for record home price growth. The 20-city index is even higher with a 19.9% year-over-year reading. (6) There are mixed reports from consumers on the state of the economy. The consumer confidence index dropped several points, to a seven-month low while the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey rose slightly. (7) (8) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates for all kinds of loans have risen due to a jump in the 10-year Treasury yield. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate loan rose 13 basis points to 3.1%. The 15-year was also up 13 basis points to 2.28%. (9) In other news making headlines… New Homes Are Bigger with More Bedrooms Homes are getting larger with more bedrooms, thanks to a demand for more space. The National Association of Homebuilders says the share of single-family homes with four or more bedrooms rose from 42% in 2018 to 45% in 2020. (10) A desire for multigenerational homes is also driving the increase. The NAHB says about 16% of buyers expressed a desire for that kind of home last year, compared to just 11% the year before. Homebuyers Consider Disaster Risk Another important consideration for homebuyers is the risk of a natural disaster. According to a survey conducted by realtor.com, three in four homebuyers say they assess the risk of a disaster when choosing a location. (11) Tornadoes have created the most concern, with severe cold or winter storms close behind. Floods come next, followed by hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, droughts, and sinkholes. While 39% said they are worried about tornadoes, only 8% said they are worried about sinkholes. Home With More Light Are Healthier Homebuyers may want to consider how much natural light they get in a home, and the benefit of "smart windows." A new study shows that people who live in a home with smart windows experience less stress and anxiety, and sleep better at night. (12) Smart windows have technology that allows them to automatically adjust the tint, to allow for a maximum amount of light throughout the day. The study was done by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health which tracked people with smart windows, and compared the result to people with standard windows. The result shows a delay in the production of melatonin for people with standard windows. That kept them from falling asleep as quickly, and from getting as much sleep overall. Researchers say the people with smart windows not only slept better, but experienced less stress and anxiety. That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Y

If you've been wondering just how many renters are moving to the suburbs, there's a new report that will give you a really good idea. RentCafe says that, over the past decade, dozens of suburbs have transitioned from a majority of homeowners to a majority of renters. And it's projecting that dozens more will follow in the next five years. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. RentCafe looked at data for 1,105 suburbs in the nation's 50 largest metros, and found that in 242 of those suburbs, renters outnumber homeowners. (1) But of those 242 renter-dominated suburbs, 103 suburbs transitioned to a renter majority in just the last ten years. It also says that 57 more are likely to do so over the next five years. Renters Migrating Toward the Suburbs RentCafe says that: "During the past decade, the migration toward the suburbs developed fast." It says: "The number of suburban areas where renters are the majority grew by a staggering 69%." While 103 suburbs transitioned to a renter majority in the last ten years, only four suburbs went in the opposite direction, where homeowners became the majority over renters. Millikin University associate sociology professor, Dr. Kenneth Laundra, told RentCafe that the modern day suburb is much different that the "Baby Boomer fantasyland" it was years ago. He says: "We have reimagined the American dream for a modern, more diverse society where people are having fewer children and getting married much later in life (if at all), and where most good job/career opportunities require one to be flexible." The Commercial Observer captured the spirit of that idea in a blog about the RentCafe report. The subtitle says: "The American Dream may no longer be about buying a home, but renting one." (2) That blog pointed out that the largest 50 suburbs gained 4.7 million people in the last ten years, and 79% of them were renters. That brought the approximate total number of suburban renters up to 21 million people, which is an increase of 3.7 million. During that same time frame, homeownership in those same suburbs only went up 3%. Census data also provides an interesting snapshot of the suburban renter demographic. It shows that almost two out of every five suburban residents are renters. That's an average of 39% of the people who live in the suburbs of our largest cities. Most of those renters are Millennials or Gen Zs who are interested in more affordable housing and a flexible lifestyle. The Commercial Observer reports that 55% of suburban renters are younger than 45 years old with a median income of about $50,000. Top Three Metros for Suburban Renter Growth The RentCafe report shows that 38% of the transitioning suburbs are found in three of the largest metros -- Miami, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. One of the most famous L.A. suburbs is on that list. Due to a steady increase in renters over the last ten years, the data shows that 51% of the people who now live in Beverly Hills are renting their homes. According to RentCafe, the median income in Beverly Hills is about $81,000. The suburb attracting the most renters to the D.C. area is Merrifield, Virginia. RentCafe says the renter population there is 87% higher than it was a decade ago. Of the 103 suburbs that transitioned, Merrifield now has the largest share of renters at 64%. It also has the highest median income at $98,000. In the Miami area, the suburb that has become heavily dominated by renters is Doral, near the airport. The renter population grew 83% there, making it the third-largest area for renters in the nation. RentCafe says that some of its popularity may be due to its rank by Go.Verizon as the third-best small city to start a small business. Rent Growth In Other States While suburbs in California, Washington, D.C., and Florida captured many of these renters, there are many in other states that experienced rapid growth of their suburban renter population. The share of renters in Maple Heights, Ohio, Southeast of Cleveland, grew by 87%. Eastpoint, Michigan outside of Detroit, is close behind Maple Heights for renter growth at 83%. Among those expected to flip in the coming years, RentCafe says there will be more in California and Florida, but also "quite a few in Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, and Ohio." If you'd like to see a list of the suburbs that have flipped or will likely flip in the next five years, check for links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com You can also join RealWealth for free at our website. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental

Demand is going through the roof for rentals in the Tampa Bay region, and so are the rents. According to one data firm, the hot housing market and a steady stream of new residents have pushed apartment rents up 22% since the beginning of this year. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Real estate data firm CoStar says that rents are moving higher because of an influx of new residents, and without enough rentals to meet that demand, there are no signs of a rent-growth slowdown. USF Financial Professor Lei Wedge explained the situation to local News Channel 8. (1) He listed four basic reasons that rents are moving higher so quickly. He says: 1 - There are lots of people moving to Tampa every day, and when people can't afford to buy, they are "rushing into the rental market." 2 - There are more renters in the market than the supply of rentals. 3 - Because "home values are going up like crazy," investors are buying more expensive properties and charging higher rents for a certain rate of return. 4 - Long-time landlords are following suit, and raising their rents to match the higher rents offered by investors. Tampa Bay Home Prices About a month ago, Axios wrote about Tampa Bay's hot real estate market. It says home values in this area are "rising faster than any other metro in the country" because inventory is too low to meet demand. Tampa real estate agent, Justin Ricke, told Axios that some homes are getting as many as 30 offers, and that homes are selling almost as quickly as they are listed. He says: "You can put a house on the market Thursday, and if you market it correctly, get multiple offers by Sunday, have a decision by Monday." Axios says that closed and pending sales were down in July across a five-county Tampa Bay area, including Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas, Pasco, and Sarasota Counties. That's according to MLS data. It says if the trend were to continue it could be a sign that the market is cooling off, but the article also points out that "slowdowns are typical for this time of year." Inventory is also a major factor. Because it is too low to meet demand, there would only be "so much cooling off of the market" as too many people go after too few homes. Tampa Bay's Median Home Price So what's the median price for the area? Data from Florida Realtors show the median for that five-county area is $373,000. That's up from around $308,000 in July of last year. The months supply of homes in July was only about "one month" for each of those five counties. That represents a 65% drop in inventory for Manatee and Sarasota Counties, and a 30 to 40% drop for the others. Stats show that homes went under contract in six days or less, on average, and that most single-family homes get the asking price or higher. This climb in home prices and rents is also making it difficult for many people to afford a home or a rental. Ricke says he's getting calls constantly from people looking for an affordable place to live. If you are an investor, wondering how this could play out for you, RealWealth has its own data on the market. Recent posts on the Southwest Florida market include a podcast called: "Demographics & Hot Markets with Our Florida Expert." That's available under the Learn Tab at newsforinvestors.com. You'll also find a webinar replay on the Tampa area that you can access here as a RealWealth member through the Investor Portal. It's free to join and will also give you access to experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and sample pro-formas for rental properties in markets across the U.S. That's it for this episode. Please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/tampa-rent-prices-up-22-percent-in-2021-data-shows/ 2 -https://www.axios.com/tampa-bay-real-estate-market-outlook-home-sales-93f33ec1-30a9-4115-a502-f1728302ecc3.html

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending September 25th, 2021... what the Fed is saying about rate hikes, tax changes that could deflate your self-directed IRA, and ultra-white paint that could replace your AC. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week, and a Fed meeting on monetary policy. The Fed's senior policymakers are now saying they could raise interest rates sooner than they expected. They had previously anticipated higher rates in 2023, but are now saying they could raise the short-term rate by a quarter point, sometime next year. Higher interest rates will help control inflation which is currently running around 4%, or "double" what the Fed would like to see. (1) New claims for unemployment benefits jumped to a one-month high of 351,000. The surge is due to a backlog of claims in California. They apparently piled up as California worked on new technology to improve efficiency and prevent fraud. Weekly claims had hit a pandemic low in early September of 312,000. (2) Housing starts and new permits were both up in August as builders ramped up their residential construction activity. The Census Bureau reports that housing starts were up 3.9% compared to July, and 17.4% compared to August of last year. Permits were up 6% month-over-month, and 13.5% for the year. But this surge in activity was mostly for the construction of multi-families. (3) Realtor.com reports that multi-family demand is being driven by renters and remote workers who are moving back to the cities. (4) Confidence among builders is also moving higher. NAR says its September confidence index increased one point to 76. That's after a three-month decline. NAR's chief economist Robert Dietz says: "The single-family building market has moved off the unsustainably hot pace of construction of last fall and has reached a still hot but more stable level of activity." (5) All that construction activity has resulted in an increase in new home sales. The government says new home sales rose 1.5% to an annual rate of 740,000. There's currently a 6.1 months supply of new homes on the market, with a median price of $391,000. (6) Existing home sales were down in August as buyers scoff at high prices and a lack of affordable inventory. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales were down 2% to a seasonally-adjusted 5.88 million. Compared to August of last year, they were down 1.5%. NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, says: "Although there was a decline in home purchases, potential buyers are out and about searching, but much more measured about their financial limits and simply waiting for more inventory." (7) The good news: inventory is rising. MarketWatch reports that it's up about 16% since a low point last winter. Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates are still idling below the 3% level. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose just 2 basis points last week, to 2.88%. The 15-year was up 3 points to 2.15%. (8) In other news making headlines… Tax Law Changes Threaten SDIRA Investments Congress is considering some tax law changes that could ban real estate deals from self-directed IRAs. The proposals are aimed at the super wealthy who realize enormous gains with this kind of investment, but the changes could potentially impact everyone who uses a self-directed IRA for their real estate deals. (9) Supporters of this legislation say that current rules allow for private-placement deals. SEC rules state that only "accredited investors" can participate in those deals which means those investors must have a net worth of a million dollars or more, or earn more than $200,000 a year. Legislation supporters say that retirement accounts should be used for investments that are available to everyone, like publicly-traded stocks, not just accredited investors. Bill critics say there are many mom and pop investors who are also trying to increase their wealth with these kinds of deals and the legislation would devastate many retirement portfolios for people who are not super wealthy. Michael Hadley of the firm Davis & Harman told MarketWatch: "These accounts belong to retirement savers. They understand the investments they are most comfortable with. We don't believe the government should be picking and choosing." If this legislation is approved, self-directed IRA holders would have two years to remove those kinds of investments from their portfolios. If you don't like the sound of this proposal, you should contact your representatives in Congress and let them know. Could Ultra-White Paint Replace Your AC? Scientists at Perdue University are working on a way to cool your home with white paint. They say this ultra-white paint can reflect more than 98% of sunlight, and that surfaces coated with this paint are "cooled below the surrounding temperature without consuming power." (10) Their

It's a big deal in a state where homeowners have fiercely fought any changes to single-family neighborhoods. California Governor Gavin Newsom is catching up on his "to do" list after the recall election, and just signed two important pieces of housing legislation. One is SB 9 which eliminates single-family zoning in most neighborhoods across the state. The other is SB 10 which makes it easier for cities to build multi-family apartment buildings in some areas. (1) Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Senate Bill 9 is especially significant after years of homeowner opposition to previous efforts to increase housing density in single-family neighborhoods. This bill allows for single-family parcels to be split in two, and duplexes to be built on each half, which allows for a total of four units on one lot. The other bill will streamline the approval process for the development of multi-family housing near transit and urban infill areas. The Single-Family Mindset The bill that ends single-family zoning is especially significant. It's a housing concept that is deeply entrenched in the minds of homeowners and housing codes across the U.S., not just California. The so-called "single-family neighborhood" has created the suburbs as we know them today. Single-family zoning has also been used as a racial barrier for people who can't afford bigger homes with bigger yards. And with higher home prices, the gap is growing between those who can afford to buy homes and those who can't. In California, the median price for a home has gone up more than 21% in the past year to more than $700,000. That's according to Zillow. (2) Those two bills along with Senate Bill 8 are part of Governor Newsom's California Comeback Plan. SB 8 extends the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 to jumpstart more housing production, and the Comeback Plan is a five-point plan to address major issues in a post-pandemic world. California's Comeback Plan The first leg of that plan is the state's effort to help people hit hard by COVID-19. Other parts of the plan include housing affordability and homelessness, upgrading schools as gateways for opportunity, addressing climate change and making the state more resilient against wildfires, and creating infrastructure that will take the state into the next century. SB 9 and 10 are part of the housing affordability leg. As Newsom says: "The housing affordability crisis is undermining the California Dream for families across the state, and threatens our long-term growth and prosperity." SB 9 Do's and Don'ts So what does all this mean for you if you are a single-family homeowner? Currently, the law allows two units on a single-family lot. You can have a stand-alone home along with an accessory dwelling unit no larger than 500 square feet. This new law will allow up to four units on the same amount of land. But there are plenty of guidelines. For example, if someone wants to split their lot in two, each new lot must be at least 1,200 square feet. Properties that have been listed as historic landmarks cannot be altered by this law. Also, any new unit created under this law CANNOT be used as a short-term rental. That's defined as a unit that's rented for less than 30 days, so more than 30 days is okay. (3) According to the Daily Democrat, anyone who wants to build a duplex or split their property to build two duplexes must also plan to live in one of the units for at least three years. That applies to both homeowners and landlords. The law makes it difficult for local districts to deny a valid development application. Local officials can reject a proposal if the project would have a "specific adverse impact" on "public health and safety, or the physical environment" and there are no other options for eliminating that adverse impact. As for size and design, upzoning projects would still need to adhere to local standards. Will It Solve the Housing Gap? Will this make a huge difference in California's housing gap? According to a recent study by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, 5.4% of California's single-family lots could be developed under SB 9. That could potentially create an additional 714,000 homes. But that's still far short of the 3.5 million homes that Newsom wants to create in just another four years, by 2025. If you'd like to read more about this legislation, check for links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You can also join RealWealth for free at our website. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 -https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/09/16/governor-newsom-signs-

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending September 18th, 2021… inflation eases up overall, but rents and building materials soar, while mortgage rates hold steady. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from the past week. Concerns about inflation have eased up a bit. Prices rose at their slowest pace in August since about seven months ago. The consumer price index was up .3% which brought the annual rate down a tenth of a percent to 5.3%. The core rate, which strips out prices for food and gas, was only up .1% to an annual rate of 4%. That's down from 4.3% in June. MarketWatch economists say that could be a sign that the recent price surge is peaking. (1) There's been a lot of debate about the risk of higher inflation and whether it will remain above the 2% mark. The Federal Reserve isn't worried. It expects prices to come back down toward that 2% level sometime next year. Jobless claims rose last week because of Hurricane Ida, but they are still near a pandemic low. The U.S. Department of Labor says initial jobless claims for state benefits were up about 20,000 to 320,000. The pandemic low point is 318,000. Continuing claims also fell to a seasonally adjusted 2.67 million. That "is" a pandemic low. (2) Consumers were spending money in August which is a sign of strength for the U.S. economy. The Census Bureau reports that retail sales were up .7%, although MarketWatch says that higher prices could account for at least part of that increase. (3) The numbers are not as strong as they were in the spring, but consumers are buying different things right now. In the spring, they were stocking up on goods. Now they are spending more on things like restaurants and travel. Retail sales numbers are 15% higher than August of last year. Consumers are expressing a slightly higher level of confidence in the U.S. economy than they did over the summer. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey shows a reading of 71 for September. (4) In August, it was 70.3. MarketWatch says that people are still worried about their financial situations, including higher prices. They are also feeling pessimistic about the purchase of homes, vehicles, and large appliances, which are all in short supply. Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates haven't moved much for two months. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage went down just 2 basis points to 2.86% this last week. The 15-year dropped a little more. It was down 7 basis points to 2.12%. (5) Freddie Mac says the holding pattern is the result of a slowdown in the economic recovery. But it says other factors are in play, such as increased migration, the remote work trend, the use of automation, and a focus on a more energy efficient economy, which, it says, will probably lead to increased economic growth. In other news making headlines… Rents Soaring in Cities Across the Country It isn't just home prices that are shooting skyward. Rents are increasing even faster than home prices. A new Redfin report says that August rents hit a national year-over-year growth rate of 11.5%. That's the first double-digit rate of rent growth ever and represents a median rent of $1,633, or about $169 more per month for renters. (6) If you look at apartments of different sizes, the median is $1,338 for a studio, $1,524 for a 1-bedroom, and $1,828 for a 2-bedroom. Cities seeing the most rent growth are Tampa, Florida; Riverside, California; Miami, Florida, and Phoenix, Arizona. Rents in all four of those metros were more than 25% higher on a year-over-year basis. Lumber Costs Lower, But Other Costs Rise Builders are getting a break on lumber prices, but the cost for other materials is climbing. According to government data, home building materials have risen 19% in the past year. At one point last spring, lumber prices had topped $1,500 for a thousand board feet, but they have come back down and are now closer to $400. But there's a long list of materials that have gotten a lot more expensive. (7) The National Association of Home Builders says that steel mill products have gone up the most, followed by building paper and building board mill products, asphalt, plastic water pipe, fertilizer materials, laminated veneer lumber, and other materials used frequently by the building industry. Prices for steel mill products are up 81% year-over-year. Those price increases are pushing new home prices higher. In July, the median sales price of a home was $390,500. That's an 18.4% increase from July of last year. That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced invest

It wasn't too long ago that housing experts were predicting the demise of the garage, because of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, and a desire to live "car free." Many people have also turned their garages into additional living space. But now, with electric vehicles becoming more popular, EV owners want a place to safely charge their cars overnight and that's making the garage, once again, a more indispensable part of our homes. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Having an electric car is still an expensive purchase for many people, but for those who can afford one right now, it's important to have a convenient and secure way to charge it up. That's not going to be a charging station blocks or miles away. Most people will want a charging station at home, so the car can power-up while they are sleeping. The Wall Street Journal acknowledged this new trend in an article called "Electric-Car Charging Stations Give the Home Garage a Powerful Upgrade." (1) Powerful At-Home Charging Stations But it isn't just the importance of "having" a garage. Charging an electric vehicle quickly also requires high-powered outlets and outlets that can charge different kinds of electric vehicles. The Journal reports that EV-owners are installing charging stations that range from "simple, 200- or 240-volt outlets to... elaborate systems that incorporate solar panels and battery walls." In one example, the Journal cited a bi-coastal family with a 220-volt outlet and charger in Massachusetts, and a Tesla roof tile solar system in California with a Tesla powerwall and 2-foot by 4-foot batteries in California. That's not typical, of course. People who own an all-electric vehicle are also in the minority. Pew Research shows that only about 3% of vehicles in the U.S. are EVs, but we could see a big increase in green-energy vehicles in just the next eight years. An executive order signed by President Biden would increase the use of electric, hydrogen, and plug-in hybrids to 50% by 2030. Nation Need Charging Station Network The biggest obstacles to hitting that goal include the cost of e-vehicles and the lack of charging stations. Having a charging station in the garage is great for local trips, but the nation needs a more robust network of charging stations along public roads and highways. As reported by Axios, the U.S. currently has 104,000 public charging "plugs" for electric vehicles. (2) But only 18% of those plugs will charge your vehicle in an hour or less. Those fast charging plugs are called "Level 3" or "DC Fast Chargers." Axios cited an analysis by Mobilyze.ai which found that only about 10% of U.S. households have easy access to the plugs that are currently available. An easy access plug would be within a quarter mile from your home. The study counted 18.5 electric vehicles for every available plug. It suggests that one charger is needed for every 10 to 15 vehicles. The distribution of plugs is also uneven, with more plugs in wealthier areas. As more people buy electric vehicles, more plugs will be needed across all communities. Biden's call for the use of electric vehicles also comes with a call for at least a half a million more plugs. Minimum At-Home Charging Requirement MyEV.com says that a garage isn't necessary for at-home charging, so long as you have a dedicated area to park, and an external electric outlet. (3) The outlet might be mounted to an outside wall of the building, or a pole. According to MyEv.com, installation could cost between 500 and $1,200. If it's a 240-volt plug, you'll get a Level 2 charge. Depending on the battery, that could give you a full charge in 8 to 24 hours. Some batteries might only take 4 hours, according to this source. A Level 1 charge would use your typical 100-volt house current, and of course, take much longer to charge. The optimal system would be a Level 3 charge. MyEV.com says a Level 3 charger can bring an EV battery up to 80% of its capacity in just 30 minutes. While a Level 2 charge is still free in many places, a fast charge might cost you about 30-cents a minute. Joining a network could get you a discount. EVgo offers a 10% discount for members with a rate of 31-cents a minute. If you don't want to join a network, check out PlugShare.com for a map of charging stations. Tesla also provides a global network of fast charging stations. (4) With more than 25,000 Superchargers, it claims to operate the largest global, fast charging network in the world. You'll find links to more information in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I

Contractors have been struggling with a worker shortage that began with the Great Recession, and then was made worse by the pandemic. If one worker on the job site gets sick with the virus, the entire project can be stalled for at least 2 weeks. And now, things are becoming even more complicated as more clients are wanting all workers on their property to be vaccinated. But many available workers are pushing back. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Getting the job done has been tough for contractors dealing with supply chain shortages, rising prices for the materials, and permitting issues. Add to it that the number of new coronavirus cases hit a 7-day daily average of 166,000 on September 1st. According to data in the New York Times, the case count has come down a bit since then but is still above 152,000. Some healthcare professionals are predicting another surge this month because of the Labor Day holiday and social gatherings, while others are saying that the Delta variant moves fast and furious and will be gone as quickly as it came. Chicago-based developer, Josh Stark, told Construction Dive that worries about the high case count right now could further impact construction and the slow supply chain recovery that's been haunting the industry. He says that we're seeing suppliers come back online, but if those cases turn into more hospitalizations or deaths, then those businesses might have to shut down again. Vaccine Hesitancy Among Construction Workers While many different companies nationwide are mandating certain precautions for workers, including vaccinations for those who want to go back to work in the office, Construction Dive reports that more than 40% of construction workers say they will not get vaccinated. A construction safety nonprofit out of Maryland called The Center for Construction Research and Training says that vaccine hesitancy among construction workers runs much higher than other occupations. A graph in the article shows most occupations are dealing with a vaccine hesitancy percentage of 15% which is about 25% less than the construction's 40%. This is a problem for contractors who have clients demanding that anyone who steps foot on their property be vaccinated. Kyle Peacock of the San Francisco-based Peacock Construction says he started getting vaccine mandates from his customers in just the last few weeks. He says: "All of our healthcare clients are doing it, but we've also had a couple office tenants that said they're only going to let vaccinated people into their offices." Job Site Mandates for Vaccinated Workers There are some vaccinated workers who only want to work with other vaccinated employees, which is creating concerns about a labor shortage that could worsen in the coming months. Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors told Construction Dive that employment levels are already below their pre-pandemic peak in 36 states. An opinion piece in Construction Dive by a New York-based contractor says the industry is already dealing with high prices for materials, appliances that are difficult to find, and a shortage of workers. And now, the construction industry has to add a Covid-problem-solving issue to his list. He says: "Construction workers are, at their core, a hardy, headstrong, self-sufficient group." And he added that "They leave their homes daily and travel substantial distances, carpooling and ride-sharing. They stop at delis, lumber stores and home goods stores." That makes them more exposed to the potential of catching the virus and spreading it than those working from home. Risk of Further Impact to Worker Shortage There are many, many strong opinions as to why people should or should not get the vaccine, and why the do or don't want it. We won't go into those reasons here. What's important for real estate investors to understand is how this situation may affect our industry. If 40% of construction workers are not planning to get vaccinated, will there be a further shortage of workers over the next few months or years if more job sites require it? Fewer workers would put more downward pressure on an already short supply because fewer homes could be completed without workers. If demand for housing continues, but supply stays low, prices will likely continue to rise. If you'd like to read more about this issue in the Construction Dive articles, check for links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. 1 -https://www.constructiondive.

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending September 11th, 2021... a record high for home equity, a drop in Zombie foreclosures, and the house flippers' hunt for homes. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. It was a short week because of Labor Day, with not much economic news after that. The weekly unemployment report shows that initial state claims fell to a new pandemic low of 310,000. The average number of claims before the pandemic was just 90,000 less, at 220,000 per week. (1) Continuing claims were also down to almost 12 million for state benefits and 7 other state and federal programs. That number had risen above 30 million during the pandemic. Last week was also the last full week for many of those benefits. Bank of the West chief economist estimates that 7.5 million people will drop off the unemployment list, and another 3 million will see their benefits cut by $300 a week. Economists are watching to see if the loss of benefits sends more people back to work, and helps ease the worker shortage that many companies are experiencing. They are also expecting a possible rise in claims because of Hurricane Ida. And there are plenty of jobs available. The Labor Department reported an all-time high of 10.9 million job openings in July. It's the fifth month in a row that job openings broke that record. (2) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates are still idling below 3%. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up just 1 basis point last week, to 2.88%. The 15-year was also up 1 basis point, to 2.19%. Freddie Mac chief economist, Sam Khater, blames it on the current wave of new COVID cases. He says it led to "weaker employment, lower spending and declining consumer confidence." But he says that lower rates are also giving consumers "more time to find the homes they are looking to purchase." (3) In other news making headlines... New Home Equity Record Homeowners are reaping the benefits of higher home values. Black Knight says that housing equity has hit a new record high after surging 40% compared to a year ago. It analyzes equity among mortgage holders, and says the average mortgage holder now has $173,000 in equity. That's up about $20,000 from the first quarter of this year. (4) Black Knight Data Analyst, Ben Graboske, says recent growth is the strongest growth he's ever seen. He also says 98% of the homeowners who are in forbearance have at least 10% equity in their homes. That should help them avoid foreclosure, as foreclosure moratoriums are lifted. Zombie Foreclosures Nearly Non-Existent Higher levels of home equity, along with the moratoriums, have led to a big drop in zombie foreclosures. That's when a foreclosure process stalls after a homeowner defaults on mortgage payments and abandons the home. The house ends up sitting vacant, in foreclosure limbo. (5) A report from ATTOM Data Solutions on third-quarter vacant properties and zombie foreclosures shows that 1.3 million homes are vacant in the U.S. That's about 1 in every 74 homes. The number of homes that have fallen into zombie status is just 1 in every 13,000 homes for a total of about 7,500 homes. ATTOM'S chief product officer, Todd Teta, says: "Vacant properties in foreclosure, and the resulting potential for neighborhood decay, continue to be a non-issue overall in most of the country." He says: "But that could easily change over the coming months as lenders are now free to take back properties from delinquent homeowners." He says the foreclosure issue will depend on individual banks, and how aggressively they pursue foreclosures once the moratoriums are gone. Fixer-Upper Homes Are Scarce Will we see more inventory in the near future as the housing market adjusts to a post-pandemic economy? Right now, it's tough on house flippers and businesses that rely on renovating older homes and foreclosures. There's inventory out there but the competition is tough. According to an ATTOM report, just 2.7% of homes sales were flips during the first quarter of this year. (6) That's the lowest percentage of flips in about 20 years. House renovator, Ed Stock, told the Wall Street Journal that he expects to do just 15 flips this year. In 2014, at the height of the foreclosure crisis, he did 53 flips. He says: "Investors like me, we're like ants on a sugar hill all fighting for the same projects." It is possible to find inventory however. And it's a whole lot easier when you are part of an investing network, like RealWealth. As a member of our network, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. It's free to join at newsforinvestors.com, and free to make use of our resources. That's it for today. Che

Los Angeles is fast-tracking its green energy plan. The City Council approved a plan for 100% renewable energy by 2035. That's inline with President Biden's goal, and a decade sooner than LA's previous plan. The City Council decision comes after a comprehensive study that looked at everything from greenhouse gas emissions, public health, and cost versus benefit analysis to electricity demand, rooftop solar, and other renewable energy options. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. LA hopes to "set the stage for the country" and the rest of the world with LA100. (1) The transition would create about 9,500 clean energy jobs and cost between 57 and $87 billion, but according to LADWP General Manager Martin Adams, much of the investment would also coincide with infrastructure replacement that is already on the city's "to do" list. He says: "When this study started three-and-a-half years ago… the idea was to be where we want to be by 2045. So we have now shaved a decade off that timetable and we know we have a roadmap that will get us to 100% clean energy by 2035." Adams says the city is going to "take this very seriously and make this happen." And Councilman Mitch O'Farrell says that "LA100 is not a utopian gesture. It is a work plan for a world in trouble." Code Red for Humanity This comes as California firefighters are once again battling three massive wildfires, and just a few weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report called "Code Red for Humanity." (2) The report states that global warming is "unequivocally caused by human activities" and warns that the average world temperature will likely hit a dangerous threshold within the next 20 years. That threshold is about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than a pre-industrial average and is generally viewed as the hottest that humanity could handle. Climate scientists say average temperatures are already 2 degrees hotter, and we are already seeing the impact of that with more extreme weather-related events and wildfires. LA100 Renewable Energy Study Los Angeles partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to complete the study. (3) It shows that LA can hit an 84 to 100% clean energy goal by 2035 with a 76 to 100% decline in greenhouse gases. Results show the economic disruption would be minimal compared to the creation of jobs, economic output, public health benefits, and greenhouse gas reductions. The transition will require the shutting down of gas-operated power plants, and the massive adoption of solar and wind energy along with measures to improve energy efficiency, and energy storage. One big change will be the need for rooftop solar on homes and multi-unit buildings. The report says that the city has more than 13 gigawatts of solar rooftop potential. Private homes and multi-family buildings account for more than half of that potential, but off-site green energy production and energy storage will be needed to supply enough electricity to multi-unit buildings. LA100 Equity Strategies Another aspect of the plan is to make sure that everyone shares in the benefits, despite income levels. Policy officials say that will require "intentionally designed policies and programs" to ensure a fair distribution of the green energy benefits. A study on "Equity Strategies" was launched in July. (4) It looks at: 1 - Access to these green energy programs 2 - Local power grid upgrades 3 - Assistance for renter participation in these programs 4 - Charging stations for electric vehicles, and 5 - Impacts to housing and transportation, among several other issues. Adams says: "As LADWP expands these programs and adds many more, we must ensure that customers who are impacted by poor air quality, and have the least ability to afford higher electric bills, are able to benefit from the clean energy transformation." The announcement puts Los Angeles in the forefront of a nationwide effort to address climate change. The LA County website has a chart that shows how many days a year the county hits temperatures over 95 degrees, and a forecast for an increase in those ultra-hot days if we don't take action to slow climate change now. (5) If you'd like to read more about this, check for links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 - https://www.dailynews.com/2021/09/01/la-votes-for-100-renewable-energy-by-2035-a-decade-sooner-than-planned/ 2 - https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/un-sounds-clarion-call-over-ir

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending September 4th, 2021... new FHFA rules on the foreclosure bidding process, the for-sale homes needed for a "normal" market, and the renters who don't think they will ever be homeowners. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The number of people applying for unemployment has dropped again. The Department of Labor reported that 340,000 people filed for state claims last week. That's a decline of 14,000 from the week before and the lowest it's been since the start of the pandemic. Continuing claims are also down, to a total of 2.75 million, and the total for all 8 state and federal programs is 12.2 million. That's down from 30 million at the peak of the pandemic. (1) More disappointing is the August report on hiring. The Wall Street Journal had estimated an additional 720,000 jobs, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a disappointing 235,000 new jobs. That's the lowest number we've seen in more than a half a year. Job growth suffered the biggest decline in the retail sector. New government jobs were also down, along with jobs in the construction industry. The official unemployment rate is currently 5.2%, but of course that doesn't include people who are not looking for a job. (2) Meanwhile, home prices recorded a third month of record-high price growth. The latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index is up 18.6% in June, on an annual basis. The 20-city index is ever higher, at 19.1%. S&P DJI investing strategist Craig Lazzara says the data is consistent with the hypothesis that the pandemic drove buyers from urban areas to the suburbs. (3) Pending home sales dipped a little in July. The National Association of Realtors says they were down 1.8%. MarketWatch economists had expected a slight increase. NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun says: "The market may be starting to cool slightly, but at the moment there is not enough supply to match the demand." (4) Consumers are also feeling more anxious about the economy. The Conference Board says that consumer confidence fell to a six-month low of 113.8 in August. The worry list includes inflation and the spread of the Delta variant, although there's some evidence that Covid caseloads have peaked in some of the hardest hit areas. (5) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates are holding steady. Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stayed the same this last week at 2.87%. The 15-year was up one basis point to 2.18%. (6) In other news making headlines… New Rules on Foreclosure Bidding Process Owner-occupants are getting more time to buy foreclosures before investors are allowed to big on them. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that it is extending the amount of time that owners have to view and buy foreclosures from 20 days to 30 days. It's part of the First Look Program first launched in 2009 to help promote owner occupancy and stabilize neighborhoods. The FHFA's acting director, Sandra Thompson says: "Extending the amount of time owner-occupants have to bid on an REO property, without competition, is especially important for neighborhood preservation while the supply of homes for sale is severely limited." Housing Gap is 1.5 Homes Short of Normal The housing market needs another 1.5 million for-sale homes to help fill the inventory gap. Analysts at Morgan Stanley say that would get us back to a housing market "normal." That applies to both the resale market and the building market. (7) Morgan Stanley strategists say that inventory is lagging about three years behind demand. And the number of homes needed could be as high as 5 million, depending on how you add it all up. That imbalance is reflected in the rate of home price growth, although DataTrek analyst Nicholas Colas says: "While house prices are certainly trending above long-run growth rates, they are not yet as elevated as 2005 on an 8-year trailing appreciation basis." Renters Who Say They'll Always Be Renters Many renters hope to someday buy their own homes, but according to a LendingTree survey, half of them don't think that will ever happen. (8) LendingTree surveyed 2,500 people and 83% said they'd prefer to own their own homes, but 48% said they have doubts about their ability to buy. So what's keeping them from buying a home? More than half said they can't afford a down payment. About a third said home prices are too high or their credit scores are not good enough. A quarter of them said they don't have a stable job right now or they are not sure "where" to settle down. Some of the other reasons include student loan debt and plans to get married first. That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Port

Airbnb is stepping in to help Afghan refugees now pouring into the U.S. It's offering free housing to 20,000 of them with the help of Airbnb hosts. The temporary lodging will be paid for by Airbnb's non-profit arm, Airbnb.org, along with contributions from Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky and donations made to Airbnb.org's Refugee Fund. (1) Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Airbnb has been helping disaster victims since Hurricane Sandy hit New York City in 2012. Sandy was one of the worst hurricanes in history and displaced thousands of people. At the time, an Airbnb host asked the company if she could offer her place for free to a few of the victims. The idea was well received, and Airbnb quickly coordinated an effort to get other hosts to do the same. More than 1,000 hosts helped out. Housing Help for Disaster Victims Since then, Airbnb says that hosts have provided temporary accommodations to more than 75,000 people, including victims and relief workers. In 2015, Airbnb helped victims of the Nepal earthquake. In 2016, it was Pulse nightclub shooting victims in Florida. In 2017, Airbnb made its disaster housing help official with the Open Homes program. During that same year, it offered help to victims Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, and the Mexico City earthquake. In 2018, it began helping people traveling long distances for medical treatment, and provided housing for victims of the Camp and Woolsey Wildfires in California. In 2019, victims of the Australia bushfires received help. And in 2020, Airbnb made it possible for hosts to provide housing for COVID-19 healthcare workers and first responders. It was in December of last year that Airbnb announced the formation of the non-profit Airbnb.org. (2) Chesky Mobilizes Help on Twitter This year, Airbnb is mobilizing to help Afghan refugees. Brian Chesky appealed for help from hosts on Twitter. He said in a tweet on August 24th: "Starting today, Airbnb will begin housing 20,000 Afghan refugees globally for free." He also acknowledged hosts by saying: "While we will be paying for these stays, we could not do this without the generosity of our Hosts." He didn't say how long Airbnb would pay for these stays. An article in Time suggested it would be one to two weeks, while housing organizations find longer-term accommodations for refugees. (3) One of those organizations is HIAS, which stands for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. It's a Jewish American non-profit that was founded in 1881 to help Jewish refugees, but has evolved over time. It now provides help to refugees of all faiths and ethnicities worldwide who fear for their lives because of war, persecution, or violence. (4) Cathryn Miller-Wilson of HIAS Pennsylvania told Time that her organization gets a stipend from the U.S. government to get refugees into housing right away. When Airbnb hosts help out, the organization can save some of that stipend and use it to pay for longer-term rentals. Hosts Offer Homes at Charitable Rates Airbnb bookings are made by that host organization after hosts volunteer their properties. They can offer their homes for free, or they can choose charitable rates which are paid for by Airbnb, Chesky, and the Refugee Fund. Airbnb also waives its service fee. Time reports that Uber and Lyft are also helping refugees by donating ride credits to the International Rescue Committee or IRC. Uncommon Goods is also donating $2 each time a shopper chooses IRC when they are checking out. That money will be used to pay for other kinds of support that the refugees may need. If you'd like to learn more about this charitable effort, look for links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro-formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 - https://news.airbnb.com/afghan-refugees/ 2 - https://www.airbnb.org/about 3 - https://time.com/6093393/airbnb-afghanistan-refugees/ 4 - https://www.hias.org/who/history

The eviction moratorium roller coaster continues. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the moratorium, saying: "it is up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether the public interest merits further action here." And now, three federal agencies are asking state and local governments to implement eviction moratoriums or extend the ones they currently have. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. The Supreme Court issued an eight-page ruling on August 26th. (1) Realtor associations and landlords in Alabama and Georgia had sued, saying the CDC had gone beyond the reach of its authority. Scotus Rules Against Moratorium In the ruling, the justices said: "The moratorium has put the applicants, along with millions of landlords across the country, at risk of irreparable harm by depriving them of rent payments with no guarantee of eventual recovery. Despite the CDC's determination that landlords should bear a significant financial cost of the pandemic, many landlords have modest means. And preventing them from evicting tenants who breach their leases intrudes on one of the most fundamental elements of property ownership—the right to exclude." (2) But they went beyond that saying that rental assistance funding has been made available but very little of it has been distributed. So what's the problem? According to the ruling: "The Government has had three additional months to distribute rental-assistance funds to help ease the transition away from the moratorium." Congress has also had time to put together new legislation, but has failed to do so. And now the moratorium is set to expire on October 3rd. Where Are the Rental Relief Funds? Why have emergency rental funds not already been distributed as landlords suffer the brunt of the moratorium? We reached out to Director of Business Intelligence, Doug Ressler, at Yardi Matrix about the delay. He told us: "In most of the country: As of Aug. 26, state and local programs had (received) a little more than $5 billion of more than $46 billion in federal rent relief money out the door. Only about 10% of that money has reached renters and landlords. It's slowed from the federal government to states and counties and cities. There are over 500 different State and City programs and procedures. Some are doing a good job. They've gotten more than half the first round of money out the door. Others are having issues and have provided less than 5% of the monies available." States, Cities Asked to Implement Moratoriums Now, there's a call for moratoriums at the state, city, and local court levels. (3) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Marcia Fudge, the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, and Attorney General, Justice Merrick Garland sent a letter to state and local governments about the eviction moratorium. They say they are working together and with other agencies to "make rental assistance available to households in need." And they are asking for help in several ways. They want state and local governments to: 1 - Enact eviction moratoriums for the rest of the health emergency. 2 - Encourage local courts to make it a requirement that landlords apply for Emergency Rental Assistance before they begin eviction proceedings. 3 - Prevent eviction proceedings to continue while the ERAs are being considered. 4 - Use ERA and other emergency funding to pay for tenant legal representation and eviction-diversion strategies. 5 - Help tenants through this whole process. California has already extended its moratorium. According to the Rental Housing Journal, some judges are "slow-walking" eviction cases, while this situation plays out. In a perfect world, rental relief funds would be coming through at a much faster pace, and both tenants and landlords would be getting relief, right now. Evictions are never something a landlord wants to do. But the moratorium strategy is not working -- for landlords. Something else needs to be done to address the issue of back-rent, and continued lack of rent payments from some tenants. It's Time for a New Rent Relief Strategy President of the California Rental Association, Christine Kevane LaMarca, feels that legislators are not recognizing the financial burden that's crushing some housing providers. In reference to the extension of California's eviction moratorium, she told the Rental Housing Journal: "The state continues to extend the eviction moratorium with no distinction between residents who cannot afford to pay due to the pandemic and residents who can afford to pay their rent but are using the moratorium to violate their rental agreements." (4) These moratoriums have been going on for close to a year-and-a-half. President of the National Apartment Association, Bob Pinnegar, told the Journal: "The government must move past failed policies and begin to seriously address the nation's debt tsunami, which is crippling both renters and housing providers al

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending August 28th, 2021... which lender will let you pay in Bitcoin, why a Covid-19 vaccine will get you a discount on closing costs, and the rising popularity of patios, for outdoor living. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We have economic news from this past week, but first, big news on the latest federal eviction moratorium. If you haven't heard, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked that mandate after a new legal challenge by the Alabama Association of Realtors and a group of landlords. The plaintiffs argued that the CDC doesn't have the authority to issue this kind of mandate. The justices agreed, saying the policy should've come from lawmakers, and not the CDC. (1) As Newsweek reports, progressive members of Congress are now considering legislation that would reinstate the moratorium, as the nation continues to deal with the pandemic. (2) So the battle continues. Members of the Federal Reserve met virtually for their annual Jackson Hole Symposium, and discussed the need to pull in the reigns on its bond-buying policy. (3) After the meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a majority of Fed officials, including himself, believe that tapering should begin this year. He has been saying that the economy needs to make "substantial further progress" before the Fed would cut back on its stimulus policy, and he said for the first time in his speech, that that test has now been met. An announcement on "when" tapering might begin is expected in September. Meantime, the inflation rate has now hit a 30-year high, according to the PCE Index. That stands for Personal Consumption Expenditure index. It's the one that the Fed pays close attention to. It was up .04% in July and brings the annual rate of inflation to 4.2%. (4) That's lower than the Consumer Price Index or CPI, which shows an annual rate of 5.4%. (5) Both are much higher than the Fed's 2% inflation target. A revised report on second quarter GDP shows the economy grew at an annualized rate of 6.6%. That's up from 6.5%. (6) The number of new weekly jobless claims rose for the first time in more than a month. The Labor Department says they were up 4,000 to about 353,000 for last week. Claims have been falling overall but have still not returned to pre-pandemic levels of about 220,000 per week. If you add all the people with ongoing claims, the total is about 12 million. That's down from a high of 30 million toward the beginning of the pandemic. (7) On to real estate: New home sales reversed a three-month decline, with a 1% increase for July. If that rate continued for an entire year, the sales total would hit 708,000. Currently, the median price for a home is $390,500. (8) Existing home sales are also higher in July. The National Association of Realtors says they were up 2% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million homes. The increase in sales is being attributed to an increase in inventory. The median price for an existing home is now $359,900, or 17.9% more than it was a year ago. (9) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates are still idling below the 3% level. Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up 1 basis point to 2.87%. The 15-year was also up just one basis point to 2.17%. (10) In other news making headlines… Paying Home Loans with Bitcoin United Wholesale Mortgage made a big announcement about Bitcoin. It says that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency payments for home loans. UWM is the 2nd-largest lender in the U.S. The plan to accept crypto for payments is the first for the national mortgage industry. (11) Lender Discount for the Vaccinated What appears to be another industry first, is an announcement by Neat Loans to offer a discount to borrowers who are vaccinated against Covid-19. It would apply to $500 on closing costs for residential and refinancing loans. The concern is that an unvaccinated person would be more likely to get sick and be out of work, making it difficult to keep up with mortgage payments. Borrowers who are unable to get the vaccine for health or religious reasons, would also qualify for the discount. (12) Patio Popularity is Skyrocketing New data shows that the popularity of patios jumped another notch higher in 2020. The National Association of Homebuilders reports that the share of new homes with patios rose to 61.4%. It's the first time that number has ever been higher than 60%. At the beginning of the Great Recession, it got as low as 44.8%, but has been continually increasing since then, with a big jump in 2020. It rose from 59.6% to the current 61.4%. You'll also find more homes with patios in warmer Western and Southern states. (13) That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor

Tiny homes can be a great option for the minimalist lifestyle and affordability, but don't let the cost of insurance take you by surprise. A new study shows a huge difference in the cost of tiny home insurance depending on where you live and the risks associated with that location. It's still cheaper overall to insure a tiny home than it is a larger home, but insurance will take a bigger bite out of your housing budget if you live in a high-risk area. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Tiny Home Insurance Cost Analysis ValuePenguin did a cost analysis that compared insurance for tiny homes and larger homes across the nation. (1) Tiny homes are generally around 400 square feet in size. ValuePenguin compared those to homes with 2,100 square feet. It found that on a national level, the average cost of insurance for a standard-sized home is 106% more expensive than it is for a tiny home. So tiny home owners are saving money on insurance, but will also be paying more than other tiny home owners if they live in certain states. The analysis found that the most expensive state for tiny home insurance is Oklahoma, due to the risk of natural disasters like tornadoes and severe storms. If you have a tiny home there, it will cost an average of 242% more to insure that tiny home than it would on average in the U.S. That said, ValuePenguin says it will still be 68% less costly to insure that tiny home than it would be for a larger home, in Oklahoma. Tennessee, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado are also among the least affordable states for tiny home insurance. And rounding out the top ten states for high-cost tiny home insurance are Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and South Dakota. But regular homeowners insurance is also expensive in these areas due to the frequency of natural disasters. So tiny home owners may be saving money compared to their big-home neighbors, but not compared to tiny home owners in other low-risk states. Reducing the Cost of Tiny Home Insurance Value Penguin suggests one way to reduce the cost is to opt for a percentage-based deductible. Choosing a 2% deductible might cost slightly more if natural disaster strikes, but the premiums will be lower than, say, a $500 deductible. It's worth checking those figures if you are in the market for tiny home insurance, and it appears that a growing number of millennials and baby boomers are doing just that. In a tiny home market update by porch.com, it says that millennials are drawn to tiny homes because they are less expensive, offer location flexibility for remote work, and are eco-friendly. (2) Baby boomers also see an advantage to the tiny home as they downsize from long-time family homes, to something cheaper and easier to maintain. Zoning laws are also changing in places like California, to accommodate the tiny home or what is known as an Accessory Dwelling Unit or ADU. And companies like Boxabl are working on the manufacturing of pre-fabricated, fully equipped tiny homes that can be easily transported to their destinations, and set-up within an hour, like pop-up greeting cards. We just did a story on Elon Musk downsizing to a Boxabl casita. It's episode number 1091, if you'd like to check that out. The porch.com analysis also shows where it's the cheapest to buy a tiny home. North Dakota is at the top of that list, where the average tiny home is about $28,000. But if you go by the price per square foot, it's Arkansas at $109 per square foot. North Dakota is fourth on the list for the price per square foot at $150. Boxabl casitas are just under $50,000. You can check out the data in more depth by following links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal, where you can connect with a network of resources including experienced investment counselors, rental property providers, property managers, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more - and they aren't on the referral list unless they come recommended by the members of Real Wealth Network. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 - https://www.valuepenguin.com/most-and-least-expensive-states-tiny-houses 2 - https://porch.com/advice/state-of-tiny-home-market

Real estate guru Robert Kiyosaki isn't placing ALL his eggs in the real estate basket. He's recommending Bitcoin as a way to protect yourself against the death of the dollar. The Rich Dad, Poor Dad author believes that the dollar is going to fail, and when it does, it will "crash the whole economic system." (1) Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Thanks for joining me and don't forget to hit the subscribe button for our podcast. Kiyosaki has been tweeting a lot lately about Bitcoin. He just tweeted: "BITCOIN to $50,000. Great news for Bitcoin holders. Bad news for mom and pop. The primary reason I invest in Bitcoin, gold, & silver is because I do not trust our leaders, the Fed, Treasury, nor the stock market. Unfortunately mom and pop who save money do. Take care." According to Benzinga, he pointed out in an email that "Bitcoin is up over 200% from last year" and that other cryptocurrencies are also up significantly. He asks his readers if that sounds like crypto is dead and says what is going to die is the dollar. He's even suggesting that the whole economy will go down with it. Outside the Economic System He is suggesting that people protect themself with a form of currency, like Bitcoin, that is "outside the economic system." But he says it's important to choose cryptocurrencies that are decentralized, so they cannot be regulated by any government agencies or officials. His book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is well-known among real estate investors. It has been a New York Times bestseller and has sold tens of millions of copies in more than 50 languages in more than 100 countries. The book tells the story of two realities — the rich dad who built wealth as an savvy entrepreneur and real estate investor and the poor dad who struggled at a full-time job and never gained financial security. Hard Assets Will Hold Value Kiyosaki encourages financial literacy, and has recommended hard assets, like real estate, along with precious metals, and now cryptocurrencies. These assets would hold their value if the economy does collapse. As Kiyosaki would argue, they would also hold their value much better during times of inflation. (2) And there's a lot of uncertainty in that department right now. The Consumer Price Index has risen to an annual rate of 5.4%, after another .5% increase in July. (3) If you remove food and energy from the mix, the annual rate of inflation is slightly lower at 4.3%. But that's still well above the Fed's target rate of 2% and the economic conditions driving prices higher have not resolved. If you've gone shopping for food, or a home, or a car, or gas to put in your car, you'll have noticed how much prices have risen. The Fed acknowledges that inflation has been more persistent than it expected, but is still expecting prices to settle back down when things like supply chain shortages resolve, the labor market reaches full employment, and the economy gets back to normal. Dollar vs. Bitcoin The government has been printing a lot of money to keep the economy afloat. According to Kiyosaki and many economists, it's going to be tough to impossible to pay it all back. On the other hand, Bitcoin is limited in supply so it cannot be diluted by making more and more Bitcoin. As the Bicoinist writes "only 21 million BTC can or will ever exist." That makes it more stable that a currency that can be manufactured at will, like the dollar. This is why Kiyosaki is so big on Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies. What's a good buy-in price? I'm not here to give investment advice, but like any kind of investment, you buy on the dips. Right now Bitcoin is rallying off a recent low. It hit a low point of $31,000 in July and is now approaching the $50,000 mark, once again. (4) Real Estate for Financial Stability I am not personally recommending Bitcoin as an investment. You'll have to discuss that with your financial advisor. I am a firm believer in the value of real estate as a way to build wealth. Like Bitcoin and precious metal, there is a finite amount of real estate in the world. It's a hard asset that might fluctuate in value, but will always be worth something substantial so long as there are human beings on this earth. If you'd like to learn more about that kind of investing, you can join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property proformas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. You'll find links to our sources for this episode in the show notes. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 - https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/21/08/22277486/bitcoin-and-dogecoin-will-rise-as-us-dollar-is-dying-rich-dad-poor-dad-author-robert-kiyos 2 - https://bitcoinist.com/why-this-finance-author-advoc

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending August 21st, 2021... we'll look at second quarter home prices, a big surge in rents for single-family homes, and a softening demand for vacation homes. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The Fed released the minutes of its last big meeting in July and acknowledged what many economists have been saying, that the current surge in U.S. inflation could continue into next year. That's mostly due to a shortage of labor and materials as the nation deals with the latest wave of the pandemic. MarketWatch reports that the Fed's July summary mentioned the delta variant six times after not one mention of the virus in June. The Fed previously said that high prices might last a little longer, but in this summary, Fed officials also acknowledged that the "spread of the delta variant may temporarily delay the full reopening of the economy and restrain hiring and labor supply." And that could put more pressure on prices. (1) On a more positive note, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard doesn't believe that the spread of the delta variant will derail the economy. He told MarketWatch: "The economy has clearly adapted to the pandemic situation." He says both businesses and consumers have found ways to deal with it. (2) According to published reports, there's growing support among Fed officials to begin the tapering process. The Wall Street Journal says that public statements from those officials suggest an announcement could be made next month, with a reduction in bond-buying activity beginning a month or two later. (3) The latest unemployment report shows that initial claims have reached a new pandemic low. They were down to 348,000 for the week ending August 14th, which supports the idea that the economy will weather this new outbreak. We'll know more next month when many people are expected to return to work as extended unemployment benefits run out, kids return to school, and the coronavirus is hopefully under better control. (4) Supply chain issues are still impacting home builders. The Census Bureau reported a 7% decrease in housing starts last month. Housingwire says the news is not all bad because housing starts are still 12% higher than last year and the number of single-family homes under construction is the highest since 2007. (5) But home builder confidence has dropped. The National Association of Homebuilders say the monthly confidence index fell five points in August, to a reading of 75. That's the lowest it's been in more than a year, mostly because of supply chain issues and high home prices. (6) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates didn't move much last week. Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was down 1 basis point to 2.86%. The 15-year was up 1 basis point to 2.16%. (7) In other news making headlines… Home Prices Up Again in Q2 Home prices pushed higher in the second quarter due to overwhelming demand and a short supply of homes. The National Association of Realtors says the sales price for the median single-family existing home was $357,900. That's up 22.9% year-over-year. (8) Looking at metros, NAR says that prices were higher in 182 of the 183 metros it analyzes. And in 94% of those metros, the median price was more than 10% higher. Metros with the strongest price growth have been in the South and West. The top gainer was Pittsfield, Massachusetts which is not in either of those regions. Second and third on the list of gainers was Austin, Texas and Naples, Florida. The only metro that posted a decline was Springfield, Illinois. That said, the overall market has cooled off a bit. NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun says: "The housing market looks to move from 'super-hot' to 'warm,' with markedly slower price gains. Single-Family Rents Push Higher Strong demand for single-family rentals has also continued, and that's pushing rents higher. CoreLogic says U.S. single-family rents are up 7.5% year-over-year in June. That's five times higher than rent growth in June of last year. But rent growth is not the same across all price points with the fastest rent growth at the upper end. (9) Demand for single-family rentals really took off during the pandemic, and it hasn't slowed down. CoreLogic says they are overwhelmingly preferred by would-be homebuyers who have been either priced out of the market or can't find a home to buy. The 7.5% increase includes detached homes, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes, row-houses, condos, and co-ops. If you look at the rent growth for "just' detached single-family homes, it was 10.5% year-over-year in June and just 4.6% for "attached" rentals. Demand Slows for Second Homes The pandemic also produced a surge in demand for second homes, but Redfin says that trend has died down quite a bit. The real estate website says second-home demand fell 21% in July compare

Transcript 00:00:00 Intro Music [Speaker] Kathy Fettke The housing market appears to be settling down a bit as we head into the Fall. Home price growth is stabilizing and buyers are facing a bit less competition. According to Redfin, the percentage of deals tangled up in bidding wars last month dropped to the lowest level since January. (1) Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Redfin is reporting a steady decrease in buyers submitting competitive bids. Competition peaked in April when 74.1% of the offers written by Redfin agents faced competition. In June, competition dropped to about 66.5%. And last month, in July, only 60.1% of the offers went head-to-head with other buyers. Redfin calls it a bidding war when a buyer faces at least one competing offer. Homebuying Conditions Have Improved Redfin says that homebuying conditions have improved over the summer. It says that prices are stabilizing due to an increase in supply. That's giving buyers more options to choose from, and less competition. It's also the end of summer when buyers are typically busy with other things, like getting their kids back to school. Redfin agent, Scott Mercer, from the Sacramento area says: "Competition has started to slow in the last three weeks. We're now seeing five to eight offers on homes instead of 25, and they're coming in $5,000 to $10,000 above the listing price instead of $50,000 to $60,000." He says they've even started including appraisal contingencies, which many were previously waiving as a way to make their offer more attractive to sellers. Demand Still Outpacing Supply Demand is still outpacing supply, however, so prices continue to rise but instead of double-digit price growth, we're now seeing single-digit price growth. Realtor.com's Weekly Housing Trends report for the second week in August shows that the median listing price grew 8.6% compared to last year. That's half of what it was in April when the annualized home price growth was 17.2%. (2) Realtor.com expects to see even lower prices as we move into the fall and winter season, but that only means we won't see new record highs. Inventory is still on the low side which helps push prices higher, but there's also an increase in listings. Redfin's Weekly Trends report shows a 3% increase in new listings. It's the 17th time in 20 weeks that listings have gone higher. But the quantity of new listings is still lower than 2019, when the market had a more normal number of homes for sale. So the inventory gap is shrinking but it hasn't gone away. Realtor.com says year-over-year total listings are down 28%. Homes are also selling fast. Time on the market is just 17 days compared to 38 days in 2019. Supply of Homes The months supply of homes is another good housing market indicator. A report from RE/MAX shows just 1.3 months of supply in July, although inventory rose 4%. That's also 29% lower than it was in July of last year. (3) RE/MAX President Nick Bailey says: "Some buyers have stepped away in light of high prices, seller expectations, multiple offers and intense competition, but new listings are still selling quickly. Clearly, the demand is still there. The market should continue to run hot, especially if interest rates remain low, prices stabilize a bit, and more sellers jump in to take advantage." (3) That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal, where you can connect with a network of resources including experienced investment counselors, rental property providers, property managers, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more - and they aren't on the referral list unless they come recommended by the members of Real Wealth Network. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 - https://www.redfin.com/news/real-estate-bidding-wars-july-2021/ 2 - https://www.realtor.com/research/tag/home-prices/ 3 - https://dsnews.com/daily-dose/08-17-2021/housing-inventory-grows-month-over-month-in-july

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending August 14th, 2021… where lot values are surging, how rent payments can help new home buyers, and a contest for tiny home designs. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. If you like our podcast, please subscribe and leave us a review. Economic News We begin today's episode with economic news from this past week. Two inflation reports show that prices are still heading higher. The consumer price index was up .5% in July. That's down from .9% in June which prompted some economists to say that inflation is moderating. But the yearly rate is 5.4% which is the same as June, and well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. The core rate is a bit lower. That omits prices for energy and food. It was up .4% to a yearly rate of 4.3% which is slightly lower than the June rate. (1) Although the numbers show that inflation is backing off a little, it's still a whole lot higher than it was last year. The consumer price index was running at 1% annually while the core rate was about 1.6%. And… a report on wholesale prices also came out last week, and that's running hot. It shows the cost of goods rose .6% in July, mostly because of higher energy prices. Wholesale food prices were down 2.1% however. The producer price index also has a core rate which strips out food, energy, and trade margins. That was up .9% and boosted the core rate of wholesale inflation to 6.1%. MarketWatch says that's one of the highest wholesale inflation levels in several decades. (2) Economists say inflation could settle back down when everyone returns to work and supply chain bottlenecks are eliminated, but as MarketWatch reports, many feel that higher inflation may be here to stay. Fed Chief Jerome Powell has also acknowledged that inflation could run hotter than the Fed expected for a longer period of time. (3) The latest unemployment report shows that fewer people are asking for benefits, and fewer people are collecting them. The Labor Department says that initial claims dropped 12,000 to 375,000 last week. That's still higher than a pandemic low of 368,000 that occurred last month. But continuing claims were also down and they hit a new pandemic low of 2.87 million. If you tally up all the state and federal programs available, there are a total of 12.1 million people collecting unemployment checks or about 10 million more than there were before the Covid outbreak. (4) One of the more stunning reports from last week is from the University of Michigan. It shows that consumer sentiment took a nose dive in August to a reading of 70.2. That's down from 81.2 in July, and is now the lowest reading in a decade. That means it's lower right now than it was during any other month of the pandemic. MarketWatch economists believe that people are worried about inflation and a virus that may not go away anytime soon. (5) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates did a small u-turn last week. They had been slowly sinking lower, but Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 10 basis points. The average is now at 2.87%. The 15-year was up 5 basis points to 2.15%. (6) In other news making headlines... Lot Values Are Surging Lot values are surging. An analysis by the National Association of Builders shows that lot values for single-family homes that broke ground last year, have appreciated 18% to a record high of $53,000. That's close to the lot value record in 2005-2006, before the housing meltdown. Lots were going for $43,000 back then but that's equal to about $55,000 in today's dollars. (7) Lots are most expensive in New England at about $120,000 or more, but due to zoning laws, they are also usually much larger making them less expensive per acre. In the West, the median lot value is $203,000 but those lots are smaller making them the most expensive lots of all. In the Mountain region, the median value is $73,000. In the West South Central region, the median value is about $60,000 which is the least expensive but is also double what they were valued at just eight years ago. New Underwriting Bonus for Homebuyers On-time rent payments could help renters get a home loan. Fannie Mae announced that rent payment history can be used during the underwriting process. That will help people who don't have enough credit history to qualify for a loan. (8) FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said in a press release: "There is absolutely no reason timely payment of monthly housing expenses shouldn't be included in underwriting calculations." Lenders will have to get permission from mortgage applicants to check bank statements for rent payments. The new underwriting feature will be available starting September 18th. Tiny Home Design Contest Salt Lake City is holding a contest for the design of tiny homes. The city is soliciting designs for a master-planned tiny home community for the homeless. But all the submitted designs will be put into a library that can be used by homeowners and city officials. (9) The

Transcript 00:00:00 Intro Music [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: The second-richest man in the world has traveled to space and returned home to a 375-foot tiny home. Tesla founder Elon Musk followed through with a promise to downsize his life. He sold off almost all his mansions and physical possessions and recently moved into a tiny pop-up home in Boca Chica, Texas, where his company SpaceX is located. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Thanks for joining me and don't forget to hit the subscribe button for our podcast. Musk's new home is made by Las Vegas start-up Boxabl, which calls the tiny home a "casita." (1) The 375-square foot space is divided pretty equally into a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom with spacious nine-and-a-half foot ceilings. Boxable delivers the casita in a large box that can be towed behind a big rig or even a pick-up truck. To be more precise, it folds down to just eight-and-a-half feet wide making it possible to transport within normal shipping parameters. Easy Transport of Boxabl Homes Once it arrives at its destination, the sides fold down and the walls pop-up to connect to the ceiling and voila, you have a home with plenty of windows, full-sized appliances, a spacious bathroom, lots of storage, and built-in heat and air conditioning. Boxabl co-founder Galiano Tiramani says it can be set up in just one hour. All this for a very affordable price. For the basic casita, like the one Elon Musk bought, you'd pay just under $50,000. (2) Tiramani feels that Boxabl will succeed where other home pre-fabricators have failed because Boxabl solved several problems, such as shipping. You've seen pre-fab homes being slowly and precariously transported as extra-wide loads on top of big rig trailers. When you order a Boxable, it can be transported as a normal-sized load. In addition to truck delivery, he also expects to transport a hundred at a time by train or a thousand by ship. Improved Building Materials Boxabl is also developing different manufacturing methods with different building materials. Tiramani says the improvements will make it easier to mass produce these units at a lower price point. He says that home construction is still in the pre-factory stage. They are being built by hand so it's slow and expensive, while just about everything else we buy has been built in a factory. That speeds up the manufacturing process and brings the price down. By solving the transportation problem and improving the manufacturing process. He also says they have re-engineered the units with materials that "outperform on energy ratings, fire resistance, wind resistance, and more." (3) Those materials are also more compatible with an assembly line manufacturing process. Tiramani says that Boxable is building a huge factory right now in Las Vegas. He expects it to be up and running in 11 months and producing three to five-thousand units a year. Boxabl believes it can change the future of housing by making it more accessible and more affordable without sacrificing quality and durability. The website says Boxabl homes are "obsessively designed to the highest standards of quality, strength, and sustainability to last for generations." Plans for a Worldwide Rollout For now, Boxable is targeting the backyard ADU market in California, since new laws have made it much easier for homeowners to put an ADU on their property. But the company has big plans to expand. Tiramani says the company will roll out custom modules that stack and connect to create any kind of building that you can imagine from a small casita to a large multi-family anywhere in the world. Boxabl has drawings on the website showing a variety of these casita-sized units. Instead of a small kitchen in one corner of one unit, you might have a larger family-sized kitchen that's connected to living room, bedroom, and bathroom units. One drawing shows a unit with a staircase that can be used to connect to a unit that is stacked on top to form a second story. A video shows customizable exteriors as well. The Elon Musk Effect Getting Elon Musk on board is a big deal. He's known for living large, but in this case, he's creating a buzz because he's living so small. Curbed reports that Boxable courted Musk for more than a year, hoping that just one tweet from Musk will open the flood gates of enthusiasm for this product. (4) As it stands, Boxable claims to have $1 billion in reservations from 20,000 customers, and 40,000 people on a waitlist. It also claims to have a $10 million contract with the federal government. Boxabl says this concept will save builders time and money, and lower the cost of a home by about 30%. Boxabl says its mission is to significantly lower the cost of homeownership for everyone. Check the show notes for links to the Boxabl website and stories about Elon Musk. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a membe

Transcript 00:00:00 Intro [Speaker] Kathy Fettke In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending August 7th, 2021... another single-family eviction moratorium, legislation to extend Opportunity Zones, and sellers who use spy cams at showings. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The job market picked up speed in July with the creation of 943,000 new positions. Most of those jobs are for leisure and hospitality, but a large portion were also government jobs. According to MarketWatch, July's hiring spree is the largest in about a year. It also helped reduce the unemployment rate from 5.9% in June to 5.4% in July. (1) The weekly unemployment report also shows that fewer people applied for benefits. Initial state claims dropped to 385,000 for the last week of July. That's the lowest number we've since the start of the pandemic. Continuing claims are down to 2.93 million. (2) If you add all the benefits that people are collecting from eight state and federal programs, the total is 12.98 million. For reference, that's still a very big number. Total weekly claims before the pandemic were less than 2 million. Home prices continue skyrocketing. According to CoreLogic, the annual rate of growth hit 17.2% in July. That's up from 15.9% in May. It's also the largest increase in price growth since 1979. (3) CoreLogic CEO Frank Martel says that "home prices have been rising in the mid-single digits for some years now. The recent surge to double-digit price jumps reflect the convergence of exceptional demand and persistent low supply." Home builders are putting more money into residential construction. The Commerce Department says it was up 1.1% in June to an annual rate of $1.55 trillion. The overall outlay for all kinds of construction was just .1%. (4) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates sank a little bit lower last week. Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was down 3 basis points to 2.77%. The 15-year stayed the same at 2.1%. This is great news for people who need to refinance. The rates are drifting lower in step with the 10-year Treasury yield because investors are worried about the Delta variant of COVID-19. (5) In other news making headlines... Eviction Ban Extension for SFRs The FHA announced a new eviction ban extension for single-family homes going through foreclosure. The CDC ban expired on July 31st. This new ban extends the moratorium another two months, through the end of September. (6) Under this order, mortgage servicers for FHA-backed loans may continue with a foreclosure process but they can't evict anyone who lives in the home, including owner occupants and tenants. Opportunity Zone Extension The Opportunity Zone program may get an extension past its current 2026 deadline. A group of representatives announced legislation called The Growth and Opportunities Act. California Representative Michelle Steel issued the press release. She says: "The beauty of America is that everyone has the opportunity to build their own American dream. Opportunity Zones are an important tool that give more people the resources they need to grow this dream." (7) Opportunity Zones encourage investment in distressed communities with tax incentives. There are currently more than 8,760 Qualified Opportunity Zones across the U.S.. This legislation would open the program to new Qualified Opportunity Zones every ten years. It would also restart a tax incentive timeline in January of 2027. Sellers Use Spy Cams for Showings Now here's something that might put you on guard next time you go to an open house. A new Lending Tree study says that almost one-third of all sellers use spy cams during a showing. (8) Survey participants offered several reasons for doing it. Almost half said they want to understand what home buyers like and dislike about the home. A little more than a third said they wanted to get information that would be useful during negotiations. And almost a quarter were doing it to spy on their agent, to see what he said about the home. Many were also monitoring their homes for safety reasons. The survey found that owners were using doorbell and security cameras for the most part. Some also used baby monitors and nanny cams. Sellers Taking the Kitchen Sink AND the Toilets Sellers are also doing something else you might not expect. Many are taking fixtures, appliances, and even backyard fruit trees with them. The New York Times reports that expensive toilets are at the top of the seller's "take it with them" list. High-end appliances are also disappearing with the seller. This is mostly happening because of the appliance shortage, and concerns about getting what sellers need for their new homes. (9) One realtor told the Times that people selling a $2 million home dug up a pair of fruit trees for sentimental reasons, and left two big holes in the back yard. Another realtor involved with the purchase of a $15.5 million home

Transcript 00:00:00 Intro [Speaker] Kathy Fettke Doing an office exclusive on your home may not get you top dollar. There's a new study that shows homes listed on the MLS sell for substantially more than those that are sold off the MLS. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Thanks for joining me and don't forget to hit the subscribe button for our podcast. We recently did a podcast on private listings, which are also known as pocket or whisper listings, because they seem to be growing more popular. It covered the pros and cons of keeping your home off the MLS for both buyers, sellers, and brokers. While some sellers like to sell privately to keep their identities, situations, or belongings private, it's really the brokers who benefit. By selling privately, the broker may share the information, and the commission, with another broker, But in many cases, the seller's broker will earn the entire buyer/seller commission. Private listings impact buyers also because they might not be aware that these homes are for sale. Bright Study So what does this new study tell us? It found that homes listed on the MLS sell faster and have a median sale price that is 17% higher than homes sold privately. (1) And 17% is significant. The median price for listed homes is $310,000 and just $265,000 for unlisted homes. That's a $45,000 difference. The study was done by Bright MLS and covers an area along the mid-Atlantic area from Pennsylvania to Virginia. It included data from more than 442,000 home sales in a two-year period from January 2019 to December 2020. Bright also broke the study down by home size and found that mid-sized homes with 12 to 16-hundred square feet sold for almost 27% more if they were listed. Slightly larger homes up to 2150 square feet had a 12% advantage on the MLS. Why Are Sellers Going Private? The Bright report says that some sellers believe that demand is so high, they don't need the MLS to get the highest price for their properties. According to this study, that's not true. CEO Brian Donnelley says: "We have always known the power of the MLS network, and past studies have shown that homes shared cooperatively on the MLS sold for more. We're proud to confirm without extensive data that promoting homes through our MLS delivers significant value over other methods." (2) Private Sale Methods There are several methods for selling a home without the MLS or a broker's help including "For Sale by Owner" which is abbreviated FSBO. The seller is the one that does the advertising and the legwork, without any help from an agent. There's also the iBuyer method which involves a real estate investing company that will make cash offers on homes so sellers can move quickly on buying another home. The iBuyer may do a few improvements and then resell the home. Office exclusives are the ones we've been talking about when a seller makes an arrangement with a brokerage to sell the home without any public advertising or MLS listing. It's only marketed by that broker. Getting Your Home Sold Fast The Bright report says that office exclusives don't work well for many sellers. It says that office exclusives take a combined average of 31 days to go under contract while those on the MLS take 11. And, it found that 63% of the office exclusives wind up on the MLS. Real estate economist Elliot Eisenberg was also part of the study. He says: "There's a perception that selling outside the multiple listing service, either with an agent or as a For Sale By Owner, can save time and money for the consumer. " He says the study clearly shows otherwise for getting both top dollar, and a fast sale. Check the show notes for a link to the report. And please remember to hit the subscribe button, and leave a review! You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal where you can view sample property pro formas and connect with our network of resources, including experienced investment counselors, property teams, lenders, 1031 exchange facilitators, attorneys, CPAs and more. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links: 1 - https://assets.ctfassets.net/1g8q1frp41ix/69PEVCSSUVfYRCqrSpKKEd/35da1493a4976e721947ccbbbe4c44d8/Bright_MLS_On-Off_MLS_Study.pdf 2 - https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2021/08/03/mls-finds-that-listed-homes-sell-for-17-more

Transcript 00:00:00 Intro Kathy Fettke [Speaker] In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending July 31st, 2021… an inflation surprise for the Fed Chief, where single-family rents are growing the most, and a pet's influence on home buying decisions. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. Fed Chief Jerome Powell uttered words that many economists had predicted -- inflation has risen higher and faster than he expected. But he still believes that prices will settle back down. As to when it will happen, he says that inflation will probably return closer to the central bank's 2% mark in the next year… or so. There was "no" change to the Fed's bond-buying strategy, or short-term interest rates. (1) The unemployment lines were a little shorter last week. Initial jobless claims were down 24,000 to 400,000. That's after a surge that brought them to a two-month high. The previous increase was partially due to the shutdown of auto manufacturing plants for retooling during the last few weeks of July. The total number of continuous claims from all state and federal programs is still above 13 million. (2) Consumer spending was up as Americans took long overdue vacations and services they avoided during the pandemic. The government reported a 1% increase in spending for the month of June. (3) But some of that spending is due to higher prices as inflation ticks up. Prices were up 5.4% year-over-year in June. If you exclude food and energy, they were up 4.5%. (4) Turning now to real estate, new home sales slid 6.6% in June. That's the lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic. Buyers have been discouraged by increasingly higher prices, and a diminishing supply of affordable homes. New homes sales had surged to an annual rate of 1 million at the beginning of the year, but they are now down to a rate of 676,000. (5) Pending home sales for existing homes also fell in June, but not as much. The National Association of Realtors says they were down 1.9% nationally. They were up in the Midwest and the Northeast, but declined in the West and South. (6) So what about those high home prices? Case-Shiller says the national composite index hit a new record in May for the second month in a row. It was up 16.6% year-over-year. That's up from 15% in April. The 20-city index shows an even higher increase of 17% in May. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported similar results. That index shows a record 18% increase for the year. (7) There are mixed results on consumer confidence. The Consumer Confidence Board says the index edged up a bit in July because consumers are feeling good about the lifting of Covid restrictions, although the Delta variant is threatening our newfound freedom. (8) A survey on consumer sentiment by the University of Michigan shows that consumers are more pessimistic. That index fell from a reading of 85.5 to 81.2, in part due to worries about inflation. (9) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates didn't move much. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up 2 basis points to 2.8%. The 15-year was down by the same amount to 2.1%. (10) In other news making headlines... Single-Family Rent Growth Single-family rents have been soaring in many parts of the country. Core Logic's latest update shows the national year-over-year increase for May was 6.6%. That's up from 1.7% in May of last year.CoreLogic economist Molly Boesel says: "Strong job and income growth, as well as fierce competition for for-sale housing, is fueling demand for single-family rentals." (11) Rents in Phoenix have gone up the most. Those rents are up 14%. Tucson was second highest with a gain of 11.1%. Las Vegas was third, with a 10.7% year-over-year increase. CoreLogic also broke the data down into price tiers. At the lower levels where rent is 75% or less than the regional median, rents were only up 4.6%. The increases grow larger for the higher-priced SFRs. Rents for homes that were 125% of the regional median or more, were up 7.9%. Eviction Moratorium Deadline The eviction moratorium expired on July 31st despite last ditch efforts by some members of Congress to get an extension. The moratorium was initially imposed by the CDC, and the Supreme Court ruled that it could remain in place until the end of July, but after that, it could only be extended by Congress. (12) Democrats scrambled on Friday to get enough votes for an extension, but that legislation was rejected, and the House adjourned for August recess. President Biden has asked state and local governments to "immediately disburse" rental assistance funds to help renters, and their landlords. Pets As Home Buyer Priority There's new evidence that home-buying decisions are largely based on the needs of pets. A Home.com survey found that 68% of homeowners said they had moved to a new home to accommodate their pets. Of the renters who bought a home, two thirds did so because they wanted to

For the full transcript, click on the Notes tab on the podcast player for this episode on our website: www.NewsForInvestors.com. Transcript 00:00:00 Intro Music [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: With all the talk about the housing gap, you might think it's because we have very strong population growth. But in reality, the opposite is true. The birth rate has dropped again, and population growth is close to zero. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Please take a moment to subscribe to our podcast. It helps us rank, and helps people find us! This episode is all about the status of the U.S. birth rate and population growth, because it's so important to the present and future health of our economy. The economy needs to growth and for that to happen we need workers. A low growth rate now, means fewer workers in the coming years. Status on Birth Rate, Population Growth The U.S. has experienced a low birth rate for about a decade, and continues to dip below a threshold needed to replace people who are dying. The official U.S. birth rate for 2020 is 1.64 which is the average number of children born to women of childbearing age. The threshold amount is 2.1. And that's bringing total population growth down. (1) As reported by the Wall Street Journal, preliminary figures show that the population growth rate was just .35% in the fiscal year that ended on July 1st, 2020. (2) Demographers are expecting that figure to remain flat, or near flat, for the current year. Some also say there's a chance our population could shrink. Why This is Important As I mentioned, population growth is an important part of the labor market, and the strength of the nation's economy. Demographers say they are not overly concerned about one bad year, because the growth rate usually bounces back in step with the economy. But after a peak in 2007 and the subsequent recession, they say the birth rate never recovered and has been drifting down since then. Economists Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine say many young women avoided pregnancy because of the pandemic and economic uncertainty. They expect that to result in 300,000 fewer births this year. Data has already become available showing a decline during the first quarter of the year, compared to last year. Before the pandemic, the decline was partially due to millennials postponing their family plans, women placing more importance on their careers, and financial issues stemming from the Great Recession. Covid-19 only compounded the situation. U.S. vs. Other Countries A researcher at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Nicholas Eberstadt, says that despite all those impacts on the U.S. population, we are actually doing much better than other countries, such as China, Russia, and nations in the European Union. He says the big wild card for the U.S., right now, is immigration. Brookings Institution demographer, William Frey, agrees with Eberstadt. He told the Journal that he doesn't think population growth will turn negative, thanks, in part, to immigration. Over the last ten years, demographers say that immigration has boosted population by 30 to 50%. It has dropped due to recent restrictions, but at least some of those restrictions are being lifted by the current administration. And that could help offset the lower birth rate. Other Issues Impacting Population Growth The U.S. should also see a boost in the numbers as fewer people die of Covid-19. But the Journal cites other issues that are putting pressure on mortality. One is a rise in drug-overdose deaths, along with an increase in homicides. Some chronic diseases are also lowering life expectancy, which is also happening because of the pandemic. As for birth rate demographics, the Journal says that "every type of U.S. county, from the most urban to the most rural, on average saw a decrease in the number of births per death in the second half of the 2010s compared with the first half." That's according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The situation is more pronounced in rural areas however, where there are fewer jobs, less housing, and hard-to-find child care options that growing families need. As for worldwide population growth, I'll close with a few interesting statistics from Pew Research. According to a 2019 report, world population has been increasing by 1 to 2% per year, and has grown from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 7.7 billion today. But the fertility rate is falling. It cites a 2.5 fertility rate in 2019 that is expected to drop to 1.9 in 2100, which is below the replacement threshold of 2.1. Africa is the only country that's expected to have strong population growth throughout this period of time. Asia is second. Population growth in Europe and Latin America is expected to decline. Pew Research says that people migrating to the U.S. will contribute the most to U.S. population growth in the coming decades. It's projecting the U.S. that 85 million people will migrate to the U.S. during the remainder of t

For the full transcript, click on the Notes tab on the podcast player for this episode on our website: www.NewsForInvestors.com. Transcript 00:00:00 [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: Americans behind on their mortgage payments are facing the end of a long pandemic-induced foreclosure ban. The moratorium officially ends on July 31st for federally-backed mortgages, and with forbearance programs also coming to an end, the government is offering new options to keep borrowers from losing their homes. Hi I'm Kathy Fettkie and this is Real Estate News for Investors. The pandemic left millions of Americans unemployed and struggling to pay their mortgages. Many went into forbearance programs that allowed them to put their payments on pause. Black Knight says the number of loans in forbearance peaked last August and September at about 4.4% of all active mortgages. But those numbers have been dropping over recent months. Forbearance Volume Drops to about 2 Million According to the latest survey by The Mortgage Bankers Association, servicers are reporting that forbearance volume has dropped for at least 19 weeks in a row. As of July 4th, it fell another 11 basis points to about 3.76% of all active mortgages. That's about 1.9 million homeowners who are currently in forbearance plans. (1) A large portion of the loans are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The MBA says that the share of government-backed loans in forbearance dropped 8 basis points to 1.91%. And it's the second week in a row that those loans dipped below 2%. The MBA's chief economist, Mike Fratantoni, says that forbearance rates have been coming down quickly since April, and that delinquency rates were also lower in June -- meaning that many borrowers are getting their finances and mortgage payments back on track. But he also says that: "Borrowers who are exiting forbearance now are likely to have been in relief for over a year, with almost 60% of borrowers in forbearance for longer than 12 months." You may remember that borrowers could get up to 18 months of forbearance. These delinquent borrowers must now get back to making payments, or risk losing their homes because they will no longer be protected by a foreclosure moratorium once their exit forbearance. The foreclosure moratorium was extended one last time in June, for an additional month, until the end of July. The forbearance enrollment window was also extended three months, until the end of September, so some borrowers may still have many months of forbearance protection ahead of them. But to help borrowers who are currently exiting forbearance programs, the government is offering new options. Government Offers Help for Borrowers One is a loan modification and payment reduction plan. (2) Homeowners with loans backed by the FHA, the FHFA, the VA, and the USDA will be able to extend the length of their loans with lower interest rates. This help will be offered to borrowers who are still impacted by COVID-19. That's defined as homeowners who are "looking for work, re-training, having trouble catching up on back taxes and insurance, or are continuing to experience hardship for another reason." Loan modification options will also differ depending on the agency. (3) For a loan backed by Fannie and Freddie, borrowers will be able to lower their principal and interest payments by 25%. That will include interest at the current market rate with a new 30-year loan term. For a USDA loan, borrowers will get a 20% reduction with reduced rates, longer terms, and something called a "mortgage recovery advance." That has to do with repaying previously missed payments. Borrowers with a VA loan, will be able to get a reduction of 20% or more by spreading the payments over 40 years instead of 30. That could reduce monthly payments, but will probably add more total interest to the loan. Ginnie May is also working on a new securities pool that will give all the agencies the flexibility to extend mortgage terms to four decades. But that pool won't be up and running until later this year. The FHFA has also killed the controversial "adverse market fee." That was a 50-basis-point fee added to refinancing loans during the pandemic. (4) The FHFA began charging that fee last year to cover higher costs and risks during the pandemic. Critics claim it was imposed to help raise capital for Fannie and Freddie during last year's refinancing boom. It is being eliminated as of next month. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also offering some homeowner protection. It is telling lenders that before any foreclosure proceedings can take place, they have to reach out to borrowers to see if they qualify for a loan modification or a lower interest rate. The next few months could be a bumpy ride for some delinquent borrowers, but it appears they will have some options. You can read more about some of these changes by following links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You'll also find a link to join our RealWealth network of investors

For the full transcript, click on the Notes tab on the podcast player for this episode on our website: www.NewsForInvestors.com. Transcript 00:00:00 Intro Music [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending July 24th, 2021… why refi's are getting cheaper, what investors are doing with this hot market, and how homeowners are making money from their backyard swimming pools. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week, and a jump in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits. Initial jobless claims were up 51,000 to 419,000 in the last week. It's the highest level in two months, but the increase is "not" due to the pandemic. As MarketWatch reports, claims were higher in auto manufacturing states like Michigan, Kentucky and Texas because plants are shut down during the summer for retooling. (1) Existing home sales rebounded in June. They had been heading lower for four months due to the tight inventory, but there's been an increase in listings, and that's boosting home sales. Inventory levels are currently at 2.6 months of supply. That's up from 2.5 in May. It takes about 17 days, on average, for homes to sell. (2) Builders are also increasing their output. June housing starts hit their highest level since March. They were up 6.3% from May to June, and are up 29% year-over-year. Permits were down a bit however. They dipped 5% from May but are still 23% higher year-over-year. (3) That dip in permits may reflect a dip in home-builder confidence. The monthly index fell one point in July to a reading of 80. Anything over 50 is a positive sign of builder confidence. The National Association of Homebuilders says builder confidence has dropped somewhat because of a shortage of workers, construction materials and buildable lots. (4) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates dipped quite a bit this last week. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was down 10 basis points to 2.78%. The 15-year was also down 10 points to 2.12%. The report says that rates have dropped because of concerns about the Delta variant of the Covid virus, which is putting pressure on Treasury yields. And when Treasury yields drop, so do mortgage rates. (5) In other news making headlines… Bye-Bye to Dreaded Refinancing Fee A controversial fee added to refinancing loans during the pandemic has been eliminated, and that will lower the cost of most refi's. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that, starting in August, lenders will not be required to pay an adverse market fee of 50 basis points to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That fee has been, of course, passed on to borrowers. (6) The FHFA began charging that fee last year to cover higher costs and risks during the pandemic. Critics claim it was imposed to help raise capital during last year's refinancing boom. The GSEs have done well throughout the pandemic. As Housingwire reports, Fannie Mae reported $5 billion in net income for the first quarter of this year while Freddie Mac reported $2.8 billion. Investors Pouring into the Rental Market The number of homes purchased by investors set a new record in the second quarter. A Redfin study shows that investors bought almost 68,000 U.S. homes worth a record $48.5 billion. That's a 15.1% increase from the first quarter, and a 106.7% increase from the same quarter last year. (7) Redfin says that investors are buying about one in every six homes, and that multi-family properties are still the most popular. But it says single-family homes and condos are gaining ground. Redfin senior economist, Sheharyar Bokhari, says: "Investors see soaring home prices as an opportunity. With housing values consistently on the rise, solid returns are pretty much guaranteed -- especially when you're an investor who has access to extremely cheap debt." But it's interesting to note that about 75% of the investor purchases were financed with all cash. That's the highest level of all-cash investor home purchases since 2018. It's also much higher than the national average of 30% for all buyers, although that represented a big increase from last year, as well. (8) Airbnb for Backyard Pools If you can't rent your home to short-term guests, what about your backyard pool? That's apparently what some people have discovered as a way to earn extra cash. Realtor.com reports that "homeowners are listing their underused private pools online to rent them out for a few hours" and the trend is being called "Airbnb for backyard pools." Realtor mentions one pool rental site called Swimply. It has about 13,000 pool owners signed up in about 125 markets. And reservations are reportedly "booming." That's it for today. Check the show notes for links. And please remember to subscribe to our podcasts and leave a review if you like what you hear. You can also join RealWealth for free at newsforinvestors.com. As a member, you have access to the Investor Portal w

Audio Transcript 00:00:00 Music Intro [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: Competition is so fierce among homebuyers, that we're seeing a surge in all-cash offers. A new Redfin study shows that all cash-offers are up almost 5% nationwide in the last year. There are also a host of start-ups that help buyers make cash offers and they are expanding. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. The Redfin study found that all-cash offers rose from 25.3% last year to 30% this year. (1) Redfin used county records dating back to January 2001 for this study. You may remember the last big surge happened during the recession when cash offers grew to as much as 34.1% in 2011 and 2012. We're not quite there yet, but the lack of inventory is making the market much more competitive. Surge in Cash Offers Many of those cash offers were from investors, but in today's market, people buying their own homes are coming up with cash. A Redfin real estate agent in Idaho says she been seeing more cash offers over the last year than she's ever seen in her career. Shauna Pendleton says: "I just sold a $700,000 home to a cash buyer last week. The entire $700,000 came from his E*Trade account." She says another way that buyers are getting the cash they need is by selling their homes in expensive cities and moving to places where home prices are lower. That's a strategy that's become popular because so many people can work remotely. Pendleton says: "Affluent homeowners in Seattle, Portland and parts of California are selling their homes for $1 million or $2 million. Then they're coming to Boise, where they're buying houses that are twice the size for half the price." There's also been an increase in all-cash offers from investors who are coming back into the market after the initial pandemic slowdown. Redfin says there was a 2.7% increase in home purchases by investors during the first quarter of this year. But coming up with the cash isn't always easy, especially when you have to sell your home to get the cash you need to buy a new one. Not having that liquidity is a big a disadvantage when there's a lot of home-buying competition. Redfin says that about two-thirds of the offers written by Redfin agents wind up in a bidding war. iBuyers Help Buyers Compete That's created a market for companies that will help homebuyers by paying them cash for their homes so they can buy a new home before they have to move out of the old one. There are several so-called iBuyers in this space such as Opendoor, Ribbon, Accept.inc and Flyhomes. Flyhomes just announced a huge expansion of its business with $150 million in funding from venture capitalists. (2) It's a five-year-old start-up that plans to double its workforce and move into new markets. It's currently operating in some big markets including Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Oregon, and Boston. (3) Buyers working with Flyhomes must get pre-underwritten so they know how much of a home they can buy. The company will then provide a short-term loan so the buyer can buy the new home. Once the old home sells, Flyhomes will refinance the short-term loan into a long-term loan. Any proceeds from the sale will go toward the down payment. Flyhomes does have a brokerage that can finance the long-term loan. The website shows some sample rates for someone with excellent credit, and the rates for a 30-year fixed were below 3%. The company also offers a sales guarantee for the old home. If it doesn't sell within 90 days, the buyer will have the option to sell it to Flyhomes, or leave it on the market. Accept.inc also raised millions of dollars to expand. It recently announced $90 million in funding and currently operates in Colorado. (4) But the company considered the leader in this iBuyer category is Opendoor. (5) It was founded in 2014 and operates in 41 major metros across the country. It offers a similar service to buy homes and provide financing to homebuyers. Ribbon is also similar. It operates in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, and Florida. (5) Pros & Cons of Cash Offers One thing to remember is that sellers don't always want a cash buyer. Some may need time to close on a new home, and prepare to mov. A buyer who's getting a mortgage might be a better option in that case. Sellers may also get a higher price if they go with the buyer who needs a loan, but much will depend on the details of the offer. Those drawbacks aside, there are several reasons why sellers like cash offers. MarketWatch lists five reasons why they can benefit sellers. (7) 1 - There's a higher chance that the deal will go through. 2 - The sale takes place more quickly. 3 - There are usually fewer contingencies. 4 - Closings are less complicated. 5 - Appraisals are not required. A decision on whether to accept a cash offer will probably be based on the offers. Although a majority of offers are now over list price, a significantly higher offer from a buyer seeking a loan

Transcript 00:00:00 music [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: The MLS isn't the only place to find homes for sale. There are studies that show more and more sellers are opting for exclusive listings, and that is limiting buyer options. Also known as "pocket" or "whisper" listings, buyers might want to work with an agent who has them. But beware, pocket listings are best for the broker, and not always the best option for buyers and sellers. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. There are many reasons for the current shortage of homes for sale. The pandemic delayed many seller plans to list their homes. The record low mortgage rates encouraged many to refinance with dirt cheap loans and remodel instead of moving. Many baby boomers are choosing to "age in place" which keeps those homes off the market. And there's been a housing gap, in general, for many years. But there are headlines out there that blame another phenomenon. According to the Washington Post, many real estate experts say there's been an increase in these so-called pocket listings, which keeps them out of the public view. (1) Increase in Pocket Listings Also known as office exclusives and private listings, these homes are not listed publicly on the MLS. They are marketed privately to potential buyers and other agents and brokerages. A realtor in the D.C. area told the Post: "We're seeing an increase in the number of office exclusives, and I'm not a fan of them from the consumer perspective." But he says an increase in buyers makes it possible to attract more of them to these private listings, even though they don't really benefit the buyer. They are not that great for the seller either, but they are good for brokers who can earn the entire commission for both seller and buyer. So there's incentive for the broker to encourage private listings. Why Sellers Choose Pocket Listings Sellers may also have a few good reasons to choose this strategy, and one big one for not choosing it. Moving.com offers some pros and cons. (2) 1 - Sellers may want to test the market and see if buyers are interested. 2 - Sellers may want to test a price especially if they aren't willing to negotiate. 3 - Sellers may want to keep their real estate transactions private and avoid an open house. 4 - Sellers don't want their home to languish on the MLS and be viewed as a problem. On the downside, sellers will have fewer buyers considering the purchase of a home. That could mean less competition, fewer people to bid up the price, and fewer offers to choose from. Not Much Benefit for Buyers For the buyer, pocket listings make it harder to find those homes. Many sellers also choose pocket listings because they don't want to negotiate, but in today's market, that could actually hurt sellers since a majority of them are offering more than the listing price. Another drawback with pocket listings is their potential to create a bias in the market, because real estate agents may end up marketing homes to certain people. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman says: "Study after study shows that pocket listings disproportionately exclude people of color." He cites housing market researcher Elizabeth Korver-Glenn who told him that a ban on pocket listings would help close the race gap in homeownership. Her research shows that many brokers will market private listings to their own connections, and those connections will reflect their own ethnicity and background. That would naturally create racial subdivisions in the marketplace. Kelman told the Post: "We have to ask sellers to be part of supporting the Fair Housing Act." But some agents feel that a policy by the National Association of Realtors that's meant to prevent private listings, actually encourages them. NAR passed the Clear Cooperation Policy in 2019. It requires MLS members to list homes one day after they have been marketed in any way to the public. But it also gives sellers the option to keep their homes off the MLS. And apparently, those sellers have grown in number. Redfin data shows that the number of homes sold as pocket listings rose 67% since November of 2019. They accounted for 2.4% of the market then, and currently account for about 4%. But some experts dispute that data saying that homes may be selling so fast, they don't make it to the MLS. Compass Promotes Private Listings The Post reports that Compass real estate has been the most aggressive brokerage to promote private listings. It even has a page on its website that's dedicated to this approach, called "Compass Private Exclusive." It lists a bunch of reasons why sellers might want to be more discreet about selling their homes. Those reasons include moving for a new job, a change in family circumstances such as a marriage or a divorce, health issues, a desire to avoid open house events and interior photos for security reasons or to keep personal belongings private. These are just a few examples. Some say private listings are not a big problem for sellers if they kno

Audio Transcript: 00:00:00 Intro Music [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending July 17th, 2021... what the Fed says about the June inflation report, why there's been a surge in listings, and where homebuyer love letters are now banned. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week, and an unexpected bump in the consumer price index. The government reported a .9% increase in prices for June. According to MarketWatch, that's the largest monthly increase since 2008, mostly due to higher prices for used cars. But prices are also climbing for food, energy, clothing, plane tickets and hotels. The June bump brings the 12-month rate up to 5.4%. The core rate, which eliminates prices for food and energy, was also up .9%, but the 12-month rate is less. It currently stands at 4.5%. (1) Fed Chief Jerome Powell told members of Congress that inflation has risen faster and higher than the central bank expected, but he still thinks it's a temporary situation. He told the House Financial Services panel that prices will probably remain elevated in the coming months before they moderate. He cited three reasons. They include "base effects" because we are comparing current readings to last year in the midst of the pandemic, supply chain issues, and production bottlenecks. (2) The Fed plans to keep interest rates where they are for the time being and continue with the monthly bond purchases. The number of people collecting unemployment continues to dwindle. Initial jobless claims were down to 360,000 last week, which is a new pandemic low. And the total number of people collecting benefits from any program offered by state and federal governments is 13.8 million. (3) Consumers are worried about rising prices and the job market. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to a six-month low in July, from 85.5 to 80.8. That's not a horrible number, but it shows that consumer sentiment hasn't climbed back to pre-pandemic levels. (4) That hasn't stopped consumers from shopping and dining at restaurants however. Retail sales were up .6% in June, which beat forecasts, and are now up 18% for the past year. That's better than they were before the pandemic. (5) Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates are down again this week. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped 2 basis points week to 2.88%. The 15-year was also down 2 basis points and is now an average of 2.22%. The 30-year hit a recent peak of 3.18% in April. (6) In other news making headlines... More Homes Hit the Market Sellers are finally making an appearance. According to Redfin, There was a jump in new listings last month. They were up 4% year-over-year in June, and 3% from June of 2019. Homeowners with plans to sell had been holding off during the pandemic. (7) They were concerned about having people in their homes as well as being able to find a new one. CNBC reports that vaccines are giving them confidence about health concerns and an increase in inventory is encouraging them to go through with their plans. Apartment Rents Surge Higher The latest monthly rent report from Zumper shows that rents are rising across the country. It shows the median national rent for a one-bedroom apartment was up 4.9% in June to $1,315 a month. The median for a two-bedroom was $1,644. (8) The report says: "Rents are on the rise in a major way. Nationally, rents jumped at a staggering rate, and the cities that experienced the biggest drops in rents during the pandemic are now starting to trend in the opposite direction." Buyer Love Letters Banned in Oregon A new state law in Oregon prohibits homebuyers from sending love letters to sellers. Buyers try to endear themselves to sellers with warm and fuzzy stories about how much they love the home along with information about themselves. They may sound harmless enough, but the Oregon law prevents real estate agents from delivering those letters to sellers. The National Association of Realtors has been warning agents that they are putting themselves at risk by getting involved with love letters in any state. It said in a blog last year: "These letters can actually pose fair housing risks because they often contain personal information and reveal characteristics of the buyer, such as race, religion, or familial status." NAR says that agents should refuse all love letters from buyers. Oregon is the first state to ban them. (9) Most Desirable Dream Home Features Outdoor space has risen to the top of a list of priorities for the American dream home. A Buildworld survey shows that 66.3% of the participants want a garden more than anything else. Second on the list is a garage, and third on the list is natural light. In step with the idea of minimalism, having lots of storage is 15th on the list. (10) You can check for links to our sources in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. You'll also find a link to join ou

Transcript: [Intro music 00:00:00] Kathy Fettke [Speaker]: It looks like the sellers are coming out of hiding. Redfin is reporting an increase in listings, and a new survey by Fannie Mae shows that more and more people feel that "now" is a good time to sell. (1) But there are also signs of a pullback among homebuyers. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. It's been a sellers' market throughout the pandemic, as buyers compete for a dwindling supply of existing homes. But now that the pandemic is easing and home prices have hit record highs, sellers are more motivated to put their homes up for sale. New Listings Jumped in June Redfin says new listings jumped 4% in June, compared to June of last year. That's the biggest increase since 2019, before the pandemic. But the total number of active listings is still well below levels they were at a year ago. CNBC reports they are off by 32%. But that's also the smallest year-over-year drop since February. (2) A monthly Fannie Mae survey shows strong seller optimism. 77% of the participants said "now" is a great time to sell. Home prices have reached record highs, and sellers want to capture some of that appreciation. According to CoreLogic, prices were up 15.4% year-over-year in May. They are expected to continue rising, but not as fast. CoreLogic is predicting another 3.4% gain by May of next year. Many homes also sell well above their listing prices as buyers make high offers and compete with other buyers. In June, 55% sold above the listing price compared to 27% in June of last year. But it's that kind of price growth that is also pushing some buyers out of the market. The same Fannie Mae survey shows that 64% think it's a bad time to buy. CoreLogic CEO, Frank Martell says: "First-time buyers are hitting a wall in many places around the country as the pace of home-price rises outpace the benefits of lower borrowing costs. Younger and first-time buyers, including younger millennials, are faced with the challenge of having sufficient savings for a down payment, closing costs and cash reserves." While sellers are revving their engines, some buyers are downshifting. The pullback is showing up in the pending sales report. Redfin says: "Pending sales posted their smallest year-over-year increase in almost a year, and fell twice as fast month-over-month as they did during this same time in 2009." The Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index is based on requests for home tours and other agent services. It recently fell 1.2% week-over-week. There was also a similar drop in mortgage applications. Redfin's Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather says: "Many buyers have backed away from the housing market and are waiting until more and better homes are listed." He says: "They don't have the same sense of urgency that they did at the beginning of the year." Sellers Have the Upper Hand But even with a pullback in demand, the experts say it's still a seller's market. According to Fannie Mae's chief economist, Doug Duncan, sellers will continue to have the upper hand. He says: "Despite the pessimism in home buying conditions, we expect demand for housing to persist at an elevated level through the rest of the year." He attributes that to mortgage rates that are still hovering below 3%, along with consumer confidence about the job market and household income. You'll find links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. Click here to join RealWealth now, it's free and only takes a minute! If you like what you hear, subscribe to our show. And don't forget to give us a thumbs up or a stellar review on whatever podcast platform you are using. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. [Closing music] [End 00:03:52] Links: 1. https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-new-listings-pass-2019/ 2. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/12/homebuyers-finally-get-a-break-as-new-listings-rise-and-mortgage-rates-drop.html?&qsearchterm=catching%20a%20break

Transcript: [Speaker] Kathy Fettke: In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending July 10th, 2021... what lenders are saying about a mortgage slowdown, why ARMs are suddenly attractive, and which cities are attracting people who are relocating. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The latest unemployment report shows a slight rise in new claims, but the total number of claims continues to fall. As of June 19th, the number of people collecting benefits was 14.2 million. Economists expect that number to fall faster in September when extra unemployment benefits expire and people are forced to go back to work. (1) And there should be plenty of jobs available. The Labor Department's latest report on job openings shows a record 9.2 million. That's exactly double the number of job openings from a low point during the pandemic, and the third month in a row that openings have set a record. (2) In addition to people sitting on the sidelines, many workers are quitting as they seek better jobs. The data shows that 4 million people quit two months ago. Most of them want better paychecks. Many may also want new work scenarios that reflect some of the changes we've seen during the pandemic, such as the ability to work remotely. Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates have moved lower again this last week. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was down 8 basis points to 2.9%. The 15-year dropped 6 points to 2.2%. The dips follow a drop in the U.S. Treasury yields. (3) In other news making headlines... Mortgage Applications Are Down Lenders are seeing fewer home loan applications despite that drop in mortgage rates. The Mortgage Bankers Association says that applications for new loans were down 1% for the week, and 14% from last year. Refinance loans dropped 2% for the week, and are 8% lower than last year. (4) The MBA's Joel Kan says: "Swift home price growth across much of the country, driven by insufficient housing supply, is weighing on the purchase market and is pushing average loan amounts higher." Adjustable Rate Loans The adjustable-rate mortgage appears to be making a comeback, as a way for some borrowers to keep loan payments low. So-called ARMs became very unpopular during the housing crisis when home values tanked and loans readjusted to higher interest rates. The current surge in home prices has triggered new interest in getting a loan that starts off with lower payments. (5) According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, applications for ARMs have gone up 12.5% year-over-year. The initial savings is currently about a half percent. Realtor.com reports that the average rate for a 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage was 2.54% on July 1st, and 2.98% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Those loans typically readjust to a new interest rate after 5 or 10 years. Lumber Price Drop Lags for Builders Lumber prices have now dropped about 50% from a peak in early May, but those lower prices have not yet reached builders. (6) The National Association of Builders say there can be a "long lag time" for price reductions to work their way through the supply chain. NAHB Economist David Logan says: "As the price declines began grabbing headlines, the price of lumber packages quoted to builders held at record highs." He attributes this lag to dealers who have inventory purchased for higher prices. The lumber supply chain has several stages. It begins with the cutting of timber that is then sent to a sawmill. From there it goes to a wholesaler who distributes it to a retailer. The builder finally gets the product as an end user. Prices for new-build homes have continued to rise. The NAHB says the median price was $374,400 in May. That's an 18% increase from May of last year. Construction Worker Shortage Home prices are also being driven higher by the construction worker shortage. The Associated Builders and Contractors group says the industry has only recovered about 80% of the 1 million skilled technicians that it lost during the pandemic. (7) The association says the industry is short 430,000 for this year, and will need another 1 million trained construction workers over the next two years. Metros Benefitting from Pandemic Relocations There's a new report from Lending Tree on the top 50 metros attracting homebuyers who are relocating. The list shows the desirability of those cities. Many of them are also on our own list for single-family rentals. I would like to share some of those cities. They include Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando, in Florida. Atlanta is on that list, along with Indianapolis, Charlotte, Dallas, Columbus, Houston, and Cincinnati. Those are among the top 25. There are plenty more along with details on how the migration patterns have increased from year-to-year. (8) You'll find links in the show notes at newsforinvestors.com. If you like what you hear, subscribe to our show. And don't forget to give us

Transcript: Kathy Fettke: The U.S. needs millions of homes to meet the current demand for housing, and is depending on builders who can't find enough workers to do the job. According to one source, the industry needs to hire 1.5 million more construction workers from now through the year 2023. So where have all the workers gone? Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. The construction industry is in hyper-drive right now to satisfy a critical demand for new housing and for upgrades to existing homes. More people are working from home making "home" a much more important part of our lives. It's a perfect time for builders to expand their businesses but they are limited by the number of workers available. Where Are All the Construction Workers? Solar installer, Matthew Messer, is the owner of New York Solar Maintenance. And he says he's out in the field working seven days a week because business is booming and he can't get enough help. He told CNN: "The phone is ringing off the hook. I am expanding as quickly as I can, but right now that's governed by the amount of skilled technicians I can bring in." (1) The Associated Builders and Contractors issued press release saying that construction companies need to hire 430,000 more workers in 2021 than they had in 2020. And almost one million more workers over the next two years. The analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows that every $1 billion spent on construction spending generates an average of 5,700 construction jobs. Three Growth Scenarios ABC also used data from economic consulting firm, Markstein Advisors, which shows a construction industry workforce of almost 8 million last year. (2) And with an estimated $1.45 trillion in construction spending in 2021, the firm determined that another 430,000 workers are needed. The analysis included three growth scenarios, and the one with the highest growth rate calls for many more workers. The first is a "base case" scenario and is thought to be the most likely to occur. That is based on $1.43 trillion in construction spending last year, a 1.3% growth rate for 2021, 3.5% in 2022, and 4.5% in 2023. That's an average of 3.1% per year. When it's applied to the size of the workforce in 2020, the result is an employment demand for 430,000 more workers in 2021, and a total of 1.28 million for all three years. In the second scenario, ABC considered a slower growth rate of 1.3% per year. That resulted in a three-year demand for 816,000 more workers. And in the third scenario, ABC calculated employment demand for a high growth rate scenario. The average growth was 8.1% which resulted in the need for almost 2 million more workers during that three-year time span. Some of the factors that ABC considered in this analysis include higher costs for building materials and labor, along with several other variables. They include: A shift toward high-end residential construction which costs more but doesn't require that many more worker hours The adoption of labor-saving technology due to the worker shortage More efficient scheduling of workers and better logistics for building materials Increased use of prefabricated pieces that reduce the amount of labor that's needed And, the folding of smaller, less efficient construction companies. Employers Offer Higher Wages The analysis was also based on 2020 wages, which are going up in an attempt to attract workers. In the CNN article, Messer says he offered $18 to $22 an hour but no one applied for those jobs. He boosted that to $23 an hour, and still -- nothing. He says: "I increased it to $25 and they're starting to trickle in right now. It was a dramatic increase, but in order to grow the business, I need technicians." Although the pandemic had an impact on the labor shortage within the construction industry, the housing crisis in 2008 and the recession that followed had much more of an impact. According to the Journal of Light Construction and the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 60% of the workers that were displaced during that crisis, also left the industry for good. That helped create the labor shortage, combined with what the Bureau says is a "persistent drop in the hiring of younger workers into construction jobs." (3) Attracting Young People to the Industry One big change in school curriculum that works against the industry is the lack of "shop classes" that were once so popular. As CNN points out, they were part of the normal class offerings in high schools across the country. Now they are "few and far between." ABC is working on boosting interest in a construction career. Bellman says: "We want to go out to every area where we can attract top talent. Once we get them into the industry, we're educating and upskilling." Bellman says the idea is to increase retention. ABC says the organization and its contractor members invest a total of $1.5 billion a year in workforce development initiatives that include job training. CEO Michael Bel

Audio Transcript: Kathy Fettke: The housing market has been booming, but not for everyone. Many Americans are struggling financially as the economy recovers from the pandemic. High home prices are impacting both homebuyers and renters, and we could see a wave of foreclosures and evictions when pandemic moratoriums expire. Those are just a few of the challenges mentioned in "The State of the Nation's Housing 2021." It's put together by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is the Real Estate News for Investors. Home sales have been soaring in the past year. Many Americans have been on a home-buying binge as the country shifts to a post-COVID reality. Existing home sales were up 20% year-over-year from September of last year through February, and new home sales were even higher. They rose 30% year-over-year from June of last year through February. Home Sales and Prices Are Soaring Existing homes have been hobbled by a historically tight supply that grew worse during the pandemic because sellers didn't want to list their homes. The Harvard study shows that the existing home inventory shrank 30% on average from June of 2020 to February of 2021, to just 1.05 million homes. That drove the months of supply down from a low 3.9% on average in 2019 to 3.1 months last year. It even dipped below 2 months briefly, before the end of last year. And 6 months is considered normal. That kind of demand for homes has pushed prices consistently higher. The S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index shows that home prices were up 13.2% year-over-year in March. That's up from 4.2% in the first quarter of last year, and 3.5% in 2019. Some people have worried about a price bubble, similar to what happened before the Great Recession, but conditions are different now than they were then. It's not as easy to get a loan now, so homebuyers are better qualified with more equity in their homes. Interest rates are also lower, giving homebuyers more purchasing power, and a greater desire to "buy now." Builders have been producing more homes, to help meet demand. Single-family housing starts topped a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.0 million last August. That rate of production has continued since then. If it continues through August of this year, it will be the first year that single-family starts have been above the one million level since 2007. Homeownership Rises, But Not for All The report says that homeownership rates remain "on an upward trajectory" but not for everyone, because of rapidly rising home prices. For many, home prices are rising much faster than their salaries. The price-to-income ratio last year was 4.4, nationally. Twenty years ago, it was less than 3 in a majority of the 100 largest U.S. metros, and higher than 5 in just a few. Last year, it was less than 3 in just 16 of those big metros and higher than 5 in 23 of them. Many homeowners and renters are also facing the risk of foreclosure or eviction as pandemic moratoriums are lifted. The number of homeowners in forbearance programs has dropped considerably but the report says that the future is uncertain for 2.3 million borrowers. They are still in forbearance and have not yet resumed their mortgage payments, at the time of this report. It isn't just the job losses, but the loss of loved ones who helped maintain the family and pay the bills. Renters Impacted by the Pandemic The situation is similar for many renters. Millions of renters lost their jobs at the beginning of the pandemic. The Household Pulse Survey shows 51% of renter households had lost income because of the pandemic by March of this year, but that situation is very different from region to region. The report says the Southeast has the highest number of renters who owe their landlords, with Mississippi topping that list at 27%. Delaware and Louisiana follow at 25%. The areas with the lowest number of renters who need to "catch up" are farther west in the Midwest and Mountain regions. The report mentions Idaho, North Dakota, Montana, and Utah. Just 12% were behind on their payments early this year. Near-Term Housing Outlook The report offers a near term outlook at opposite ends of the spectrum for many American households. There are those with good-quality housing and secure employment along with millions more who are struggling. It expects that dichotomy to continue despite the economic recovery. It also expects demand for homeownership to remain high, especially among younger buyers, and it says that inventory issues could ease up as more sellers come on the market. That could put a damper on home price growth, but builders also need to keep pumping new homes into the market to keep prices affordable. It expects some of the housing market changes that happened during the pandemic to be temporary, including the drop in demand for high-end urban rentals. But the demand for suburban homes among buyers and renters may be here to stay, especially for those who co

Transcript: In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending on the 4th of July, 2021... what the U.S. Supreme Court decided about the CDC eviction moratorium, the surprising drop in price for lumber, and a new credit card that helps you get money for the down payment. Hi, I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The latest unemployment report shows that fewer people are applying for benefits, probably because the COVID-era benefits are being phased out. The Labor Department says that 364,000 people applied for benefits. That's 50,000 less than the week before. Initial claims are now below the half million mark. The total number of people collecting benefits from all eight state and federal programs is 14.7 million, which is another pandemic low. (1) There are plenty of job openings for people looking for work. Companies pumped 850,000 new positions into the market in June. That's the biggest hiring increase in 10 months, according to MarketWatch, but economists say employment levels are still a long way from pre-pandemic levels. Most of these new positions are for jobs that correspond to the reopening, like those for restaurants, hotels, and stores. (2) The official unemployment rate is at 5.9%. Economists say the true rate is probably two or three percentage points higher than that. The percentage of people over 16 who are able to work is 61.6%. That's known as the labor participation rate. It's the same now as it was in October. Home prices are rising at an eye-popping rate. The S&P Case-Schiller nationwide index rose from 13.3% year-over-year in May to 14.6% in April. The 10-city index shows a bigger jump, from 12.9% to 14.4%. The cities with the biggest gains were Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle. A representative for the Index says the gain for the nationwide index is the highest reading in more than 30 years. (3) Homebuyers were busy in May. The National Association of Realtors reported an unexpected 8% increase in pending home sales, compared to April. CNBC says that economists expected a 1% decline, but instead, contract signings rose to levels we haven't seen since 2005. (4) NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said in a statement: "May's strong increase in transactions -- following April's decline, as well as a sudden erosion in home affordability -- was indeed a surprise." (5) Construction spending was lower in May, overall, due to non-residential projects, but spending was higher among home builders. The Commerce Department says that spending for residential construction was up .2%, and is up a total of 28.2% year-over-year. Not surprisingly, spending for office construction is down substantially. The government says it's down 23.3% for the past year. (6) Consumer confidence is flying high. The Conference Board says it jumped up from 120 in May to 127.3 in June. That's the highest level of confidence since the COVID-19 ravaged the country. (7) Economists say it's because the pandemic is dying down, government stimulus, and a recovering job market. But they say, many consumers are still worried about the risk of inflation. Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates dipped back down this last week. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped 4 basis points to 2.98%. It had risen above the 3% level previously. The 15-year also dropped 8 basis points to 2.26%. (8) In other news making headlines... SCOTUS Upholds Eviction Ban The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a request to block the CDC's eviction ban. In a 5 to 4 decision, Chief Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with their liberal counterparts to keep the moratorium in place. Kavanaugh wrote in the decision: "Because the CDC plans to end the moratorium in only a few weeks, on July 31st, and because those few weeks will allow for additional and more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance funds, I vote at this time to deny the application to vacate the District Court's stay of its order." (9) The decision was a disappointment to real estate agents in Georgia and Alabama, who were the plaintiffs, and the National Association of Realtors who reportedly funded their legal challenge. The plaintiffs had argued that the CDC moratorium "shifted the pandemic's financial burdens from the nation's 30 to 40 million renters to its 10 to 11 million landlords. NAR says that landlords have been losing more than $13 billion a month during the moratorium. Lumber Prices Continue to Fall Lumber prices are coming down quickly after a frightening peak in early May. They had risen as high as a jaw-dropping $1,700 for a thousand board feet, but have been coming down since then. The latest report shows that lumber futures tumbled 40% in June. That's the biggest monthly drop on record. And that prices are now down to about $700 for a thousand board feet. That's still more than double what they were a year ago, but the big drop in

Transcript: Installing solar panels on your home could give you a big boost in value. A new study from Porch.com shows that the average solar-powered home is worth $680,000 which is almost 50% more than the average home in a given area. But it also depends on where you live. Hi I'm Kathy Fettke and this is Real Estate News for Investors. Porch.com tallied the number of listings and the average sales prices for the top 500 most populated U.S. cities. It then eliminated the cities that didn't have at least five solar-powered homes for sale. That left 175 cities in 29 states, and the District of Columbia. (1) It also surveyed homeowners to ask them about home prices in their areas, and how much more solar-powered homes were going for. But the difference in the added value was substantial from city to city. Wide Range in Added Value Pensacola, Florida had the biggest increase in value for homes with solar. The average is $615,000 which is three-and-a-half times the average home price in that area. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Billings, Montana. It was the only city where homes with solar panels were worth less than homes that had them. The average home in Billings costs $286,000, while the ones with solar average just $170,000, according to this study. The state where solar-powered homes are the most expensive is California, because home prices are so high to begin with. But in some cities, solar did add a substantial amount of value to an already higher-priced home. For example, in the city of Concord, solar increased the value by 113%, on average. In Fresno, it was 89%. But in Santa Monica, the difference in value was negligible, at just 1%. Twenty-five California cities were included in this analysis and were spread across that spectrum. Studies Show Varied Results Other important studies on this topic include one from the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California. It was done in 2015 and found that solar panels add $4 per watt to the value of your home. As reported by the Solar Nerd, if you have a 6 kW system, the value of your home could increase by $24,000. That's an attractive number because in 2015, the average cost of a solar system was "less" than $4 per watt. (2) The study authors the higher value may be due to buyers who are willing to pay a little extra for solar because it's environmentally friendly. They call it a "green cachet" or the "Prius effect." That study dug into 12 years of data and almost 23,000 homes in 8 states. It also made adjustments to the results to account for different features of the homes, such as square footage, number of bedrooms, and the location of the homes. Zillow conducted a study in 2019 and found the premium for a solar home was 4.1%. That adds about $10,000 onto the value of a home in the median price range. In San Francisco, a home typically sells for around $1.45 million. The added value for that home would be about $60,000. That study also adjusted for various attributes of the home. (3) According to Homelight, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy states that solar will likely increase the value of your home, and that buyers are willing to pay about $15,000 more for a home with an average-sized solar system. (4) As you can see, there are wildly different figures for the value of solar-powered homes. And not everyone agrees that they are an attractive feature for all homebuyers. A Contrarian Viewpoint In Sacramento County, real estate agent, Michael Miller, told Homelight that: "Some people value solar, but it's on a case-by-case basis." That's mostly because the seller doesn't actually own their solar systems. He says: "A seller may own the solar outright, but in other cases, they may be involved in a lease where a third party owns the equipment. In other scenarios, the seller may have purchased the equipment with a loan." And that would create a lien on the property. Miller says some buyers tend to steer clear of solar-powered homes involving a lease or a lien. He also believes that as more people adopt solar, we may see a standard develop on the added value. And that of course, people like the energy savings that solar power provides. But, one thing noted by the Porch.com researchers is that even though prices for solar panels are coming down, they are typically found on more expensive homes. You'll find links to these studies in the show notes at NewsForInvestors.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Click here to join RealWealth now, it's free and only takes a minute! Links: 1 - https://porch.com/advice/solar-power-homes-study 2 - https://www.thesolarnerd.com/blog/do-solar-panels-add-value-to-your-home/ 3 - https://www.zillow.com/research/solar-panels-house-sell-more-23798/ 4 - https://www.homelight.com/blog/buyer-do-solar-panels-increase-property-value/

The Miami condo collapse has got a lot of people wondering about the safety and integrity of their own buildings. The 12-story oceanside condo partially collapsed while people were sleeping. At the time of this podcast, 18 people are confirmed dead and 145 are still missing. As crews continue their search through the rubble, there are reports that the building was in dire need of repair. There were 136 condos at the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South building. More than 50 of them collapsed on June 24th at 1:30 a.m. Eyewitness Accounts of the Collapse The investigations are only beginning to get underway, but there's growing evidence that the building's pool deck had a major design flaw, and the concrete under that slab was in bad shape. A Tik Tok video may reveal a lot about what happened. Adriana Armiento took the video from across the street. It shows the entrance to the condo garage just moments before the building came down. You can see what looks like huge chunks of concrete on the floor and water pouring out of the ceiling. The post says: "The basement was the first to collapse!" (1) Another resident told the Washington Post that she ran to the lobby to tell a security guard about a loud boom, and that part of the surface-level parking area and the pool deck had collapsed into the underground garage. She then ran back to her condo to get her two children and the three of them escaped just minutes before the building became a pile of rubble. (2) Condo Warned about Problems in 2018 The condo association had been warned by an engineer in 2018, at the start of a 40-year certification process. But residents spent the next two-and-a-half years negotiating whether millions of dollars in repairs were truly needed. Frank Morabito was hired by the association to get a jump start on the certification process. According to ABC News, Morabito's initial inspection found "significant cracks and breaks in the concrete." (3) The report mentioned a major design flaw to the pool deck area, and the failure of waterproofing under the pool deck which was "causing major structural damage" to the concrete below. He also warned that repairs were needed "to ensure the safety of the residents and the public." Residents Debated the Need for Repairs That set the stage for a lot of negotiating among residents and board members about the cost of repairs. At first, the price tag was about $7 million. By waiting, the price tag had recently grown to more than double that amount. In the meantime, the issues grew worse, and the need for repairs became more critical. In April, the board president wrote to residents about the urgent need for repairs. USA Today got ahold of the letter. (4) In it, Jean Wodnicki described a situation that you might expect when condo owners are told about expensive repairs. She said: "We have discussed, debated, and argued for years now." And she speculated that that would continue. But, she also sent details about the extent of the repair work in an attempt to convince residents that pricey owner assessments were justified. She explained that much of the work would be structural repairs to the concrete but also warned that because so much of the damage was underground, that crews would have to pull up almost all of the ground-level slab. She also said that crews may discover even more problems once the damaged areas are exposed and inspected. Roof Repairs Has Recently Begun According to the Real Deal, work on the roof began in April. That work was given priority because of the start of the hurricane season on June 1st. Some people have speculated that heavy equipment on the roof helped destabilize the building, but an attorney for the association doesn't agree. Donna Berger told the Real Deal: "A building doesn't fall down because you work on a roof or because there are 16 cracks in the stucco." (5) There's also speculation that shifting sand under the condo may have contributed to the problems. The part that collapsed faced the ocean. And a study at the Florida International University had found that the building was sinking about 2 millimeters a year in the 1990s. That study didn't raise much of an alarm, apparently. Conclusions won't be known for quite some time. For now, our hearts go out to the people who are missing and their loved ones. We'll have a few links to our sources in the show notes. Thanks for listening. I'm Kathy Fettke. Links 1 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/30/florida-condo-building-collapse-live-updates/ 2 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/building-experts-miami-condo-collapse/ 3 - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/condo-board-president-warned-deterioration-need-repairs-months-collapse-n1272583 4 - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/06/28/miami-condo-deterioration-worsening-april-letter-says/7790478002/ 5 - https://therealdeal.com/miami/2021/06/25/details-emerge-in-search-for-cause-of-fatal-surfside-condo-collapse/

In this Real Estate News Brief for the week ending June 26th, 2021... mortgage rates are back above 3%, forbearance programs are dwindling, and California renters could get their back rent paid off. Economic News We begin with economic news from this past week. The latest report on inflation shows the PCE index rose 3.4% in May, compared to a year earlier. (1) That's the largest annual increase in almost 30 years, according to CNBC. The Personal Consumption Expenditures index tracks changes in the price of goods and services. It's considered a more wide-reaching index than the Consumer Price Index, and is the one used by the Federal Reserve. The weekly unemployment report shows the job recovery may be hitting a speed bump. (2) The Labor Department says that initial jobless claims only fell 7,000, and are still above 400,000. MarketWatch says that Wall Street economists had expected a much bigger drop in new claims. The total number of people collecting unemployment from state and federal programs was 14.8 million as of June 5th. Consumer spending has settled down from a reopening surge in recent months. The government says it was about the same last month as it was in April, but spending is still higher than it was before the pandemic. MarketWatch says it's increasing enough to "keep the economy humming." (3) Turning now to the housing market, economists say that new home sales were disappointing. The Census Bureau says they were down 5.9% in May compared to the month before. (4) But even with that drop, they are still up more than 9% from May of 2020. Realtor.com says about 20% of builders are putting limits on production because of high lumber and material prices and a labor shortage. Lumber prices have started to come down, however. (5) Existing home sales are also down. They were down .9% in May, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.8 million. But they are still 45% higher than they were a year ago. (6) Although economists say the pandemic-inspired home buying frenzy may be cooling off, they don't expect a huge drop in demand. Michael Gregory of BMO Capital Markets told MarketWatch that "demand should remain warm" because of low mortgage rates, millennials moving ahead with home buying plans, and pandemic savings that are helping people come up with a down payment. Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates moved back above the 3% mark. Freddie Mac says the annual 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up 9 basis points, to 3.02%. The 15-year moved up 10 basis points to 2.34%. Freddie Mac economists expecte that rates will continue to move higher, but gradually. (7) In other news making headlines... Housing Affordability Falls Housing affordability has fallen in all four regions of the U.S. thanks to higher home prices. Realtor.com says the median family income has dropped about $7,000 to $88,500 while mortgage payments have risen. NAR's index shows they have gone up 16% year-over-year. The average was $1020 in April of 2020 and it's now $1,184. (8) As a percent of income, mortgage payments accounted for 13.7% of a family's paycheck last year. This year, they account for about 16%. NAR's research data specialist, Michael Hyman, says the combination of higher prices and smaller paychecks "is not a good combination for a potential home buyer." Forbearances Dip Below 4% Some homeowners are getting their mortgage payments back on track. The Mortgage Bankers Association says that forbearances have dipped below 4% for the first time in a year. (9) According to an association survey, they fell 11 basis points last week, to 3.93%. The report also shows that new forbearance requests have dropped to an extremely low level. California Extends Eviction Ban But Will Pay Back Rent California landlords may appreciate this next story. Governor Gavin Newsom and lawmakers announced a plan to extend the moratorium through September, and pay 100% of all back rent for eligible tenants. (10) The current moratorium is set to expire on June 30th, which is the same day that Federal eviction protections expire. The agreement between Newsom and the leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, could be approved as early as Monday, June 28th. Senate President Pro Tem, Toni Atkins, says the goal is to avoid mass evictions. Atkins said in a statement that the "housing situation in California was a crisis before COVID, and the pandemic has only made it worse." New Record for Digital Real Estate Real estate that only exists in cyberspace is gaining ground as an investment option, although it's considered to be very speculative and volatile. Realtor.com reports that a chunk of digital real estate in the online world of Decentraland sold for almost a million dollars. This kind of real estate is bought and sold with a type of cryptocurrency called nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and is based on a blockchain. In a news release for an NFT Summit that took place recently, it says: "From music to sports, real estate to digital fashion, art to collectibles: non-fu

Single-family rents are increasing at their fastest rate in almost 15 years. A new CoreLogic report shows that rent growth for single-family homes was up 5.9% year-over-year in April. That's the fastest rate of growth since 2006, before the housing meltdown and the Great Recession. Demand for detached homes has mushroomed because of the pandemic. Many Americans want more space inside their home as well as a place to go outside for fresh air. Remote work has also allowed for a migration to smaller cities and more remote locations. There's also a lack of affordable for-sale homes to satisfy demand at lower income levels. All those factors are pushing people into rentals, and with that kind of demand, rents are moving higher. CoreLogic's Single-Family Rent Index CoreLogic's Single-Family Rent Index tracks SFRs. (1) That includes detached homes and single-family homes that are attached to other single-family homes, like condominiums. It analyzes the same group of homes over time to come up with a reading on rent growth. The index shows that rent growth for detached homes is three times the rate of rent growth for units that are attached to other units. It also shows that rent growth for all kinds of units is now higher than it was before the pandemic. CoreLogic economist, Molly Boesel, says: "While rent growth dipped significantly last April at the start of the pandemic, rising affordability issues and supply shortages in the for-sale housing market and ongoing demographic pressure from aging millennials have continued to place upward pressure on the single-family rental market." She also sees these factors continuing and "leading to strong rent growth this year." Uneven Rent Growth Rate The growth rate is somewhat uneven, however, between the low and high-priced rentals. CoreLogic says the difference is due to the uneven pace of the job recovery, which it refers to as a "K-shaped" recovery. It defines the low-priced tier as less than 75% of the regional median, and the high-priced tier as more than 125% of the local median. Looking at the different price tiers: The rate of growth at the low end was 3.9% year-over-year in April. That's up from 3.2% a year earlier. At the high end, the rate of growth was 6.1% compared to 2.2% in April of last year. That high-end increase is the fastest we've seen since May of 2006. Rent Growth Highest for Detached SFRS CoreLogic also analyzed the difference in rent growth for the various single-family property types. In addition to condos, those attached properties include duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes, row-houses, and co-ops. CoreLogic found that rent growth for all tiers of detached homes accelerated most rapidly, at 7.9% year-over-year. The reading was just 2.2% for other kinds of single-family homes. The report also shows the highest rent growth in lower-density cities that are attracting more renters. Phoenix tops that list with 12.2% rent growth. Tucson is a close second at 10.6%. Las Vegas, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Charlotte, Detroit, San Diego, and Houston round out the top ten. Supply & Demand Dynamic The CEO of one of the nation's biggest institutional landlords, Dallas Tanner of Invitation Homes, says that he expects the current dynamic in the rental market to continue. During an interview with CNBC, he said: "You do not see anything in the numbers that suggest the supply and demand factors are going to change dramatically overnight." (2) He says with some 65 million millennials making major life decisions like buying or renting a home, he doesn't expect a decrease in the need for housing. Although he views the housing market as healthy, he says we're not building enough new homes each year to meet demand. According to St. Louis Fed, builders are producing about 1.5 million new units each year. (3) Tanner compared that to the late 1990s, and says the most urgent need right now is for more "more quality housing... across all spectrums." Links: 1 - https://www.corelogic.com/intelligence/inaccessibility-in-for-sale-housing-pushes-up-demand-for-single-family-rentals/ 2 - https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/18/invitation-homes-ceo-says-hes-not-worried-about-a-housing-bubble.html 3 - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST