Real Estate Reads Of The Week
Good morning and happy Friday! Today marks exactly two weeks until CENTURY 21 Global Conference in New Orleans!
Each Friday we share with you the must-read, real estate news of the week. We’ve got everything you need to know to stay on top of breaking industry news and trends.
Grab your coffee and get reading!
“10 Metros With Biggest 1 Year Rise In Real Estate List Prices”
Based on data from Realtor.com, Inman News shares the top 10 metros with the biggest rise in list prices. The top three markets were: Fort Meyers, FL, Shreveport, LA and Washington, D.C. Continue reading . . .
“Mom And Pop Investors Propping Up Home-Buying Market”
Chicagoans Linda and Debra Basili thought about becoming landlords years ago. But even two professional women’s combined salaries were no match for the Windy City’s high housing prices. Then the biggest real estate crash since the Great Depression hit, driving down Chicago home prices by a third in five years. The 54-year-old twins took the leap. Last year, they bought not one but two condominiums near downtown. They found renters within weeks, and the rent more than covers their costs. Mom and pop investors like the Basilis are snapping up homes and condominiums to rent out all over the country. They’re capitalizing on a confluence of events: depressed home prices, rising rents and strong rental demand. A typical plan? Buy cheap. Collect rents to cover costs. Cash out — one day — when home prices recover. Continue reading . . .
“New U.S. Housing Construction Exceeds Forecast in January”
Builders broke ground on more homes than forecast in January, helped by warmer weather and adding to signs the U.S. residential real estate market is stabilizing. Starts rose 1.5 percent to a 699,000 annual rate from December’s 689,000 pace that was stronger than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a rise to 675,000. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, also climbed. Continue reading . . .
“[Survey] High-income Real Estate Agents Lead The Pack On Tech”
Top-earning real estate agents — those who take in $100,000 or more per year — tend to work more hours, close more transactions, favor Apple devices, spend more on marketing and technology, have higher commission splits, and update their websites and social media accounts more often than agents earning between $30,000 and $50,000, according to a survey conducted by InmanNext. The Inman survey, “Diving into the Mind of Today’s ‘Free Agent,’ ” included more than 80 questions covering compensation, transaction activity, spending on technology and marketing, views on the effectiveness of various marketing techniques, brokerage practices, and time spent on a range of business activities. Continue reading . . .
“Why Millennials Rely On Friends’ And Online Strangers’ Advice Equally”
Millennials, also known as Generation Y were born roughly between 1980 and 1995, and while various entities do not share a consensus on the years that start and end the generation, a consensus is forming around consumer behavior of millennials which many outside of the generation have a difficult time understanding, thus communicating with or marketing to this demographic can be complicated. The conundrum that has recently been researched is the notion that millennials trust strangers online as much as they trust recommendations and advice from their friends or even family, and vice versa. Generations that precede millennials often cannot connect to the idea that their trusted advice is constantly questioned by millennials going to Google or Yelp to second guess their answers – but keep reading, that isn’t exactly what happens. Continue reading . . .