It’s no secret that the real estate market and the job market are closely connected to one another. 

For instance, we know that the real estate market has been struggling due to a lack of first-time homebuyers — because the job market is making it difficult for them to have the resources necessary to purchase a home. Because of this reason, the housing market has remained more sluggish than it should in the midst of economic recovery.

In cities across the United States, particularly in large real estate markets, rent prices have been skyrocketing.  We have seen rent increases in many areas of Memphis as well as Dallas and Houston, although rents have not been rising like they have in some large cities across the country.  Many rents are also rising in multi-unit complexes which are seeking to add more and more attractive amenities, but are not shy about raising the rent at the same time.

While many markets are recovering from the recession (some slower than others), the demand for rental units — whether single-family properties or apartments — is still very, very high and shows no signs of slowing down. Whether its residual fear of foreclosure or shifts in our goals and needs in residence, renting is popular.

It seems like there are as many predictions about the recovery of the real estate market as there are stars in the sky. A quick Google search will lead you to opinion after opinion, tackling the issue from all angles. In fact, you’ll find glowingly optimistic predictions in one article and doom saying in another. For real estate investors, how do know who to trust when the same data is being interpreted in vastly different ways?

What if you choose to put your future in an opinion that turns out to be wrong? There’s a lot of risk there.

Everyone has something to say about the real estate market. That’s no surprise, considering local real estate markets vary and can’t really be used to gauge or predict the overall national market.  Watch the national news for five days in a row and you are likely to get five different stories on the real estate market with five different "revelations".  

You’ll hear a lot of conflicting information from plenty of people, and many of them are considered credible in their field and others just claim the mantle of credibility.  So how do you know which headlines to trust?  How do you know when the source of information is real or when, say a magazine, is carrying the water for their advertisers.  It can be very confusing to know where good advice can be found in today's real estate space.

Ah, mortgage rate news. Mortgage rates do, after all, impact the state of the real estate market, nationally and locally. In 2014, mortgage rates have been holding a relatively steady pattern. According to Freddie Mac, the national mortgage rates in the U.S. real estate market have actually decreased a fraction since earlier in April.