There’s a lot of reading to be done. As we’ve done in the past, we’re bringing you a handful of recent, relevant articles for real estate investors and professionals to pursue this week in lieu of having to hunt down posts worth reading.
As always, we try to keep our selection diverse, covering a broad range of industry topics and recommending reading that investors will find useful and practical.
One would think that with the relatively sluggish recovery of the real estate market in many parts of the country, with both home buying and home building on the low side overall, home improvement would be similarly stunted.
And yet, that’s not the case — a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, property renovations are booming with nearly $300 billion in sales. It could be the highest spending this year since 2007. That’s good news!
When the housing crisis kicked up in 2007, foreclosures became a nationwide fear for American families. Between 2007 and this year, a whopping 5 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. Homeowners grew more and more fearful as neighbors disappeared and property values dropped off. Those foreclosed upon found themselves with ruined credit — making another home purchase impossible as they were turned down for even small loans and credit cards.
Of course, real estate investors took this chance to buy foreclosed properties and slowly, slowly breathe life back into the real estate market. But now, eight years later, where are we?
Sometimes it seems like people like to talk more about millennials than millennials like the talk about themselves. We see opinions such as an overly generalized “they’re all lazy and selfish” and naysayers who see the 18-34 demographic as a threat to the economy. After all, they’re not buying houses. They’re not getting jobs, so some conclude that they’re at fault for our economic woes. On the other end of the spectrum, writers celebrate the drive millennials have to make a mark on the world, both as entrepreneurs and visionaries, while recognizing how the economy has stifled their ability to gain a solid footing in the professional world.
No matter what you may think about millennials, they are the up-and-coming face of our workforce and they want and value things that are different than any generation before them. Real estate investors need to pay attention to how millennials impact the world — because they’re likely to be your number one customer.
Real estate investors and professionals have been collectively buzzing about Houston for some time now. Because Space City weathered the housing bubble better than other comparable markets around the country, projections going into 2015 were very good. Millennials were flocking to this hub for job opportunities, tech and energy careers and a steadily increasing urban life — everything Houston spelled promise.
Winter is over, spring has sprung, and with it comes a new to-do list for taking care of your investment property’s roof. Real Estate Investors around the country are getting ready for warmer days and the opportunity to do some preventative maintenance to their properties. We hope you saw to it that the proverbial hatches were battened down for winter.
Now that the days are warmer, it’s time to venture outside for a fresh round of roof maintenance.
Like its sister city Houston, all signs inDallas are pointing to a great year in real estate. While the Dallas-Fort Worth boom has attracted a little less attention than Houston’s, it’s no less significant. They both felt softer effects from the recession and, now that the economy is picking back up, are at the forefront of recovering markets.
Real Estate is a diverse industry. It spans generations and numerous iterations, ranging from realtors and developers to buy-and-hold investors and the fix n’ flip crowd. Real estate professionals came from all over — but not all of them talk about what they’re doing.
While plenty of folks in real estate have reaped the benefits of online marketing through real estate blogs and social media, many still don’t. For those of us who enjoy reading and following the writings of real estate professionals, it can be hard to find those who are both experts in the field and active online.
Spring is here! Things are warming up around the country little by little, and that means investors should be turning their thoughts to Spring and Summer trends for real estate, particularly when looking for new tenants and buyers. Besides regular maintenance and renovations, perhaps it’s time to consider increasing value through outdoor amenities.
There are plenty of pet people on planet earth. From cats and cockatoos to puppies and chinchillas, people love pets. For real estate investors, however, tenants who bring Fido in tow can post some unique challenges — and costs — for your investments. Many property managers and real estate investors have pet policies that outright say “no”. After all, they shed, the damage furniture and floors, dig up prized petunias and can be quite the liability.
