At least Memphis is in a growth market. The tech sector seems to be booming.
What is your market doing?
Source: Multi-Family Executive
Read more here.
Real Estate News
Ordinary Americans Priced Out Of Housing
I wonder where all of this “Institutional Buying” of single family properties is eventually going to end up?
“If there was any doubt that the US housing “recovery” is anything but the latest speculative play by deep-pocketed (namely those who already have access to cheap funding) investors, who are now engaged in rotating cash gains out of capital markets and into real estate, on their way hoping to flip newly-acquired properties to other wealthy investors, then the most recent, September, RealtyTrac report will put that to rest.”
Are we creating a nation of renters? Is that a good thing?
Read the rest here.
It’s Not As Easy As They Thought
Being a landlord is no walk in the park. Yes, there are many benefits which I have touted here, however, it is not as easy as it first appears. Looks like the big boys may be about to find this out.
“Most rental houses in the U.S. are owned by individuals, or small, local businesses. Culpepper’s landlord is part of a new breed: a Wall Street-backed investment company with billions of dollars at its disposal. Over the past two years, Colony American and its two biggest competitors, Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, have spent more than $12 billion buying and renovating at least 75,000 homes in order to rent them out.
This new incursion by hedge funds and private equity groups into the American single-family home rental market is unprecedented, and is proving disastrous for many of the tens of thousands of families who are moving into these newly converted rental homes. In recent weeks, HuffPost spoke with more than a dozen current tenants, along with former employees who recently left the real estate companies. Though it’s not uncommon for tenants to complain about their landlords, many who had rented before described their current experience as the worst they’ve ever had.”
Read the rest here.
Every Landlord’s Nightmare!
The following story describes every landlord’s nightmare. You have to read it to believe it.
Smarter Landlords screen their tenants and verify everything they say. Save yourself the time, aggravation, frustration and money, screen your tenants or risk something similar happening to you.
He looks like an attorney in his crisp gray suit, white shirt and red patterned tie.
Not only does he dress the part, Mark Newton knows the law. In fact, an exhaustive Star-Ledger review of his court filings shows that for at least 19 years he has made Superior, chancery, federal and municipal courtrooms his virtual offices, representing himself in hundreds of court battles — though he has no license to practice law.
His specialty? Avoiding eviction. And he is relentlessly effective.
Read the rest of the article here.
H/T to Josh at Biggerpockets.com
Tax Appeal Deadline July 31
The deadline to file an appeal with the Shelby County, TN Board of Equalization is rapidly approaching. If you want to challenge your recent property appraisal by the Shelby County Assessor’s Office, you have until July 31st to file. I will be filing appeals for several properties.
You can download the forms you need and file online here.
A word of caution though, if you file online you will not get a receipt. There will be no record that you have filed. I would recommend printing out your forms from the link above and actually taking them in person to the office to get a receipt. You do not want to “get lost in the mail” so to speak.
Chruch Foreclosures Soar And Other Real Estate News
More than a 1/3 of all home sales are now foreclosure sales.
Even churches are now not immune from the real estate crisis.
Investors are buying up all of those foreclosures, because the prices have dropped by half since 2006.
Here is a very smart 14 year old. Where would I be today if I had started investing that early!
Landlords Are Sitting Pretty and Other News Items
If you have an extra billion or so lying around, you can pick up some really good deals from Uncle Sam.
Even if you do not have that much to invest you may want to get in the game since home prices have not been this low since 2002/2003.
Landlords are beginning to figure it out and may of them are sitting pretty!
Renting is Better 100% of the Time & Other News Stories
As a landlord I have to like it when Yahoo reports that renting is better than owning 100% of the time!
It is also fun to watch the spin for a housing market recovery.
Home Sales Jump! The housing market is recovering!
Well, maybe we spoke too soon.
The housing market is really comatose. No, it’s more zombie like.
Meanwhile there are plans to downsize Freddie and Fannie. And there are plans for more bailouts, this time by the USDA.
The bottom line is properties are cheap, money is cheap and renting is good. Now is the time to buy.
Real Estate News – February 17
It appears upon closer inspection that the robo-settlement is just another tax payer bailout of the big banks. See here and here. I can’t wait for the spin on this one.
With their latest bailout under their belts, banks are beginning to foreclose again.
Housing starts were up! That sounds good if you only count the past couple of years.
Think 
we got problems? Check out this ghost town in Spain created by their own housing bubble bust.
Real Estate News This Week
Here is a round up of real estate related news stories I found interesting this week.
- Home sales in Memphis, TN were either up by 8% or 12% for the month of January depending on who you talked to. Either way they were up!
- The foreclosure crisis has decreased home ownership rates across the US. Less homeowners means more renters. The market is waking up to this fact. Keep your eyes open for a possible multi-family price bubble in the future.
- Banks may have finally figured out that short sales are a good way to dispose of some inventory. Perhaps now investors will actually be able to complete short sales!
- Commercial real estate is overbuilt. The times are changing and businesses like Amazon.com are leading the way.
- A quick take on the robo-signing deal. A good deal?
- Now that the robo-signing deal is done, people may not get to live for free anymore and will actually have to pay their mortgages or rents. That may suck as much as $50 billion out of the retail economy.
- Big money is looking to start buying up all those foreclosed single family homes and rent them out.
“The new loan program would likely be only available for deals of $100 million or more.”
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The world’s tallest building is now a distressed property. The folks here called it way back in 2007.
Anything else catch your eye this week? Send me a message and let me know.
