You make your money in real estate when you buy, not when you sell. In recent years, commercial real estate prices have boomed. Bubbled might be a better word. Commercial real estate certainly isn’t the only asset class that looks expensive today, but it is the only one that the Fed has put in its cross hairs. Commercial real estate is a reliably cyclical business. In all likelihood, we are much closer to a cyclical top than we are from a cyclical bottom. Limiting your exposure to commercial real estate today isn’t a bad idea, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be preparing for the next … [Read more...]
Surprise: New Report on Housing Starts Misses Estimates
In August, builders began construction on 1.14 million new homes. The numbers didn't hit consensus estimates made by economists polled by Bloomberg, failing to hit even the lowest estimate of 1.17 million starts. The question is whether or not the miss is a blip, or the beginning of a slowdown in a residential housing market that has been pulsing with activity. … [Read more...]
It’s Time to Move Out of Mom’s Basement
At MarketWatch.com today, Quentin Fottrell reports that the number of multi-generational households has been skyrocketing in the last few years. Translation: a bunch of adult Americans are still living in Mom's basement. That's not good for them, or for the economy. Household formation is a great catalyst for economic growth, and more importantly, developing financial independence begins with, well..., independence. Young adults need to break out on their own and attempt to become members of the ownership society. Now, there are demographic trends holding back household formation. For … [Read more...]
Middle Class Left Behind in Current Housing Boom
In The Wall Street Journal, Laura Kusisto reports that prices are now just 2% below their 2006 peak, but those price gains aren't stemming from increased volume demand, but instead from lack of supply. Kusisto writes: Home prices rose in 83% of the nation’s 178 major real-estate markets in the second quarter, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors. Overall prices are now just 2% below the peak reached in July 2006, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. But most of the price gains, economists said, stem from a lack of fresh supply … [Read more...]
Millennials Should be Buyers not Renters
I've written before (here, and here for starters) about the importance of ownership for young people. It's not easy facing massive student loans and the low earnings typical of entry-level jobs, but becoming an owner is a great goal for all Millennials and in fact, every American. But homeownership rates are at the lowest on record. Not for 51 years has ownership been so low. This is a function of the difficulty Millennials are having building family units and buying homes to house them. Bloomberg's Patrick Clark and Suzanne Woolley write that, while Millennials are having trouble … [Read more...]
Millennial Housing Bust
I have written many times here about my initial foray into real estate investing. In my three part series Working Millennials: Rent or Buy Real Estate? (read Part I, Part II and Part III), I encouraged young people to "buy a multi-family type property. It can be a two-family, four-family, you can live in the basement of a brownstone. It doesn’t matter as long as you get in the game. You will unlock the creativity I know you possess. You will beat inertia—a most horrible foe." I want young people to become owners. Ownership is key to the idea of becoming a long-term investor. But of course … [Read more...]
The Monday Melee: Renting vs. Buying
States Where it's Cheaper to Rent than Buy Catey Hill writes at MarketWatch.com that there are 8 states where it's cheaper to rent than to buy a home: It’s cheaper to rent a home versus buying one in just eight states in America, according to an analysis of monthly costs released Monday by GoBankingRates.com. Those states, Hawaii, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Delaware and Oregon, are joined by the District of Columbia. The analysis compared the monthly cost to rent the median-priced single-family home in each state with the monthly cost of owning that same home. The latter … [Read more...]
The Monday Melee: New Housing Reality
Credit Scores Strengthening Banks are licking their lips over the reduction in the number of Americans who are considered sub-prime borrowers. The Wall Street Journal reports: The share of U.S. adults with credit scores that are considered “subprime” fell to 20.7% in April, the sixth consecutive year-over-year decline and the lowest level since at least 2005, when Fair Isaac Corp., or FICO, started tracking the data. The ranks of subprime borrowers swelled during the financial crisis, peaking at 25.5% in 2010 as mortgage payments, credit-card bills and other debts went unpaid. The … [Read more...]
Existing Home Prices Red Hot
The average prices paid in sales of existing homes is nearing it 2006 high (12 month moving average). Historically low Federal Reserve rates and unprecedented quantitative easing have nearly achieved creating a complete rebound in existing home prices. The 12 month moving average of the sales price measure is only 1% below its all-time high. … [Read more...]
Working Millennials: Rent or Buy Real Estate? Part III
Buy of course! As I wrote to you in Parts I, and II the key for you is to be creative and get started: Make the jump from a life of paying “The Man” to one where you pay yourself. A simple concept, yet hard to do. What did I do when I was your age? I made the monumental change in my own mindset—I became determined to pay myself. I bought a multi-family, rented the top two floors and lived on the first with two co-workers from Fidelity Investments. I want you to buy a multi-family type property. It can be a two-family, four-family, you can live in the basement of a brownstone. It … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- …
- 23
- Next Page »