National apartment listing site ABODO recently reported that the median nationwide rent price for one-bedroom units in December rose slightly to $1,025 (up .57%) with two-bedroom units coming in again at $1,279 (up .08%).  ABODO uses over 1 million listings across the United States to calculate the median 1-bedroom rent price by city, state, and nation and then track the month-over-month percentage change. To avoid small sample sizes, they restrict their analysis to cities meeting minimum population and property count thresholds.

Click here to read the full report at Abodo.com.

Now that Amazon has revealed the three locations of their second headquarters (aka HQ2), the folks over at ATTOM Data zeroed-in on those locations (New York, Washington, D.C., and Nashville) to analyze their markets vis a vis the new Opportunity Zones created by Congress last year.  Interestingly they found that homes located in Opportunity Zones nationwide and in each of these three markets consistently were sold at a discount but also have appreciated more quickly over the past five years compared to homes outside of the Opportunity Zones.  Their analysis looked at housing characteristics, such as home values and price appreciation for 7.4 million residential properties and 259k home sales in over 3k Opportunity Zones.

“The new Opportunity Zones created by the tax reform legislation passed in December 2017 provide real estate investors with prime, tax-incentivized investing opportunities, particularly if they can find zones that are in the path of progress,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. “The newly announced Amazon HQ2 markets certainly qualify as being in the path of progress.”

Click here to read the full report at Attomdata.com.

Earlier this year a realtor in Houston, Texas enticed buyers with “free tacos” with the purchase of a home.  Now we’ve come across another “innovative” realtor in the same market that used half-naked models to help promote a listed property.  According to the Houston Chronicle, with the approval of the homeowner, the realtor posted photos of scantily-clad fitness models posing throughout the home.  Of course as the complaints started rolling in they were promptly removed.  However the models helped garner over 20k views within the first 24 hours of its posting. The report also quoted the realtor as saying she’s always been known as the “potty mouth” real estate agent with an edge.  Indeed…

“The tattooed models are shown performing normal household tasks like changing a light bulb or cooking. The photos helped her book six showings the day after they went live, she said…She took photos of the models throughout the home to show a more realistic scenario of a young couple walking around partially clothed…”

Houston Chronicle: Photo Courtesy Of Kristin Gyldenege

Click here to read the full story at the Houston Chronicle.

Hat top top FortuneBuilders.

According to the latest Yardi Matrix, U.S. multifamily rents were flat for the second straight month in October, dropping $1 to $1,420, while year-over-year growth was unchanged at 3.3%.  In addition they expect that the full-year rent increase for 2018 will remain near the year-to-date figure of 3.3%, with occupancy rates stable at current high levels.

Click here to read the full report at Yardi.com.

Where are the best “small cities” in America?  Recently WalletHub put pen to paper and compared over 1,200 American cities with populations between 25k and 100k using 40 indicators of livability.  These include things such cost of living, housing costs, home ownership, income, school quality, restaurants per capita, coffee shops per capita and many more.  Indeed…be sure to click on the interactive map below.

“Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few of its advantages. Granted, these little urban areas demand some tradeoffs, too, such as fewer restaurant options or shorter business hours.”

WalletHub’s top 20 cities are:

1. Leawood, KS
2. Carmel, IN
3. Princeton, NJ
4. Brentwood, TN
5. Milton, MA
6. Needham, MA
7. Los Altos, CA
8. Littleton, CO
9. Newton, MA
10. West Fargo, ND
11. Arlington, MA
12. Melrose, MA
13. Fishers, IN
14. Wellesley, MA
15. Mason, OH
16. Franklin, TN
17. Southlake, TX
18. Highland Park, IL
19. Westport, CT
20. Kirkland, WA

Click here to read the full list on WalletHub.com.

According to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey, the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one to four unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.47% of all loans outstanding at the end of the Q3 of 2018.  The delinquency rate was up 11 basis points from the previous quarter, but down 41 basis points from one year ago. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started dropped one basis point from the last quarter to 0.23% – representing the lowest level since the Q4 of 1985.

“Despite the small uptick this quarter, the healthy economy is overall supporting low mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure inventories,” said Marina Walsh, Vice President of Industry Analysis at MBA. “Unemployment is at its lowest level since 1969, wages have grown 3.1 percent year-over-year – the biggest jump in almost a decade – and job growth is averaging over 212,000 jobs per month thus far.”

Click here to read the full release at the Mortgage Bankers.

As any landlord can tell you, bed bugs are no stranger to a real estate investor’s world.  Pest fighters Terminix remind us that with one of the busiest travel days of the year approaching travelers need to be mindful about the risks of picking up bed bugs while out and about. To that end they put together their top 25 cities where “bed bugs are crawling.”  To come up with their list, they looked at service data from over 300 Terminix branches across the country with the highest number of bed-bug control services.

‘Contrary to their name, these bloodsucking insects can be found in many household objects, including curtain rods and even behind baseboards or switch plates. The bugs are also expert hitchhikers and can spread by being on or in consumers’ belongings as they go about their daily activities using mass transit, staying in hotels and moving around the country through airports.’

Investors across America know that early detection is the key to stopping an infestation.  And, the best way to detect bed bugs is with Clearvue traps.  Their simple to use devices provide the most effective detection & protection against the growing threat of bed bugs on the market today.

Click here to read the full report at Terminix.com.

According to the Wall Street Journal (reposted on Realtor.com), rising construction costs and a tight labor market are slowing a nearly decade long apartment boom, which analysts say is easing a burgeoning glut at the top end of the market that has been forming across the country.  Data show that multifamily building permits have fallen each month since March, which experts suggest is a sign that there could be less new apartment construction over the next two years – which is the normal time to build an apartment property.

“It appears we’re beginning to see some early signs of relief in supply, as both permits and starts have been declining in our markets for most of the year,” Timothy Naughton, chief executive of apartment developer AvalonBay Communities Inc., told analysts on a conference call last month.

wsj.com

Click here to read the full story on Realtor.com.

According to ATTOM Data’s latest Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, nearly 1.5 million (1,447,906) single family homes & condos were vacant at the end of Q3 2018, representing 1.52% of all homes nationwide.  This number is down from 1.58% in 2017.  In addition the report found that there were over 10k vacant “zombie” foreclosures  nationwide at the end of Q3 2018, which represent 3.38% of all homes actively in the foreclosure process. They also report that the zombie foreclosure rate was down from 4.18% one year ago.

“The number of vacant foreclosures is now less than one-fourth of the more than 44,000 in 2013 when we first began tracking these zombie homes,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

click on the map for more detail

Click here to read the full report on attomdata.com.