1. There has been a great deal of speculation since Amazon released they would be looking at a location for HQ2. They now have a trillion dollar market value and as you can imagine, Amazon’s HQ2’s Potential To Transform A Housing Market is huge. Forbes wrote this week, “Jeff Bezos has promised to announce which U.S. city will be home to Amazon’s HQ2, by year-end. As realtor.com sees it, the location Amazon chooses will impact the local housing market there for years.” I feel a bit sad for the 250+ cities who will not be chosen and still spending a great deal of money with hopes of getting picked by Amazon. 🙁
2. WEEKEND SANCTUARY
Looking for a second home? Realtor.com jus posted The 10 Most Profitable Markets for Vacation Homes: Chill Out, Then Cash In. “To find the country’s most profitable vacation-home markets, we looked at the 500 largest metropolitan areas* where second homes made up at least 12% of all of the properties. Then we focused on all of the homes that sold over the past 12 months and compared the most recent sale prices to their previous ones, going back as far as 2008. The profit was defined as the difference between the two sales.” There may be a couple of places you recognize, maybe a couple you don’t.
3. THE BUBBLE INDEX
Have you ever heard of the Bubble Index? Jeff Desjardins from the Visual Capitalist creates and curates visuals on business and investing. If you’re interested in what’s going on in the world from a real estate bubble perspective, head over to see The World’s Biggest Real Estate Bubbles in 2018. “Large amounts of easy money have fueled real estate bubbles in the world’s major cities – and the Swiss investment bank now sees the property markets in six global cities as being at risk.” Can you guess what cities are at risk?
4. TAKE A HIKE
“The average rate on the 30-year fixed loan sat just below 4 percent a year ago, after dropping below 3.5 percent in 2016. It just crossed the 5 percent mark, according to Mortgage News Daily. That is the first time in eight years, and it is poised to move higher. Five percent may still be historically cheap, but higher rates, combined with other challenges facing today’s housing market could cause potential buyers to pull back.” Read the entire CNBC article; Mortgage rates jump past 5%, signaling more home price cuts ahead. What effect will the rate increases have in your neck of the woods?
5. MAJOR MINOR
Are you in the throws of a home inspection? When the Home Inspection’s Complete? Here’s What You Must Ask Afterward. Realtor.com posted an article this week with four questions you should ask your home inspector after he’s done with his/her inspection. “Know the right questions to ask a home inspector afterward, though, and this can help put that report into perspective.”
6. CLOSET FAN
Okay, okay, I admit it. I loved watching the Brady Bunch when I was a kid so I had to include this article for all the other closet fans out there. Country Living just reported The Actress Who Played the Original Marcia Brady Wanted to Buy the ‘Brady Bunch’ House. It was a bidding war and Marcia (Maureen) didn’t get the house, sad but true. I’ll let you read the story to find out who won the bidding war and how much they paid for the house.
7. LEAN INTO THE UNCERTAINTY
Curbed just listed the Urban Land Institute’s Top ten emerging trends that will shape real estate in 2019. “Will technology offer more opportunity and enhance competition and efficiency, or help consolidate the industry and drive out smaller players? How will shifts in demographics and shopping patterns challenge current investment practices? Will the U.S. ever get a grip on its housing affordability issues?” We know there are so many factors involved, but the bottom line there is an affordable housing crisis is real.
8. DREAM A LITTLE
Hurry up before my wife sees this property. Tuscany Real Estate just listed this Chianti Vineyard Property for sale. They say it’s “An excellent opportunity to purchase a well established wine estate with 15 hectares of vineyard (14 of which are registered as Chianti Classico DOCG), 10 hectares of olive grove and 10.5 hectares of mixed use land. This Chianti wine estate includes several buildings, used either as accommodation or production facilities. Some of which would benefit from updating/renovation.” Want more information? I may have an inside edge with the listing agent.
9. IT’S HOT IN THE SOUTH
Boston Magazine just posted an article of their own about some of the hotter real estate markets in the States. Go figure, Boston Was Named One of the Top 10 Real Estate Markets to Watch in 2019. Although the article does point out “The majority of the markets to watch are concentrated in the South. That’s because companies are moving there to take advantage of the region’s growing workforce. People are migrating South for its lower costs of living, and the jobs are coming to them.” Do you have any feelings you want to share about any of the cities listed?
10. SCARRY DESIGN
Okay, it’s inevitable, Halloween is coming. Houzz just published an article “To conjure up a few low-effort, high-impact holiday design choices that will make your house feel frightening or festive, we looked back over the Halloween stories our editorial team carved out in years past and gathered up a goody bag of our favorite tips and inspirations.” Read 12 Halloween Decor Ideas to Scare and Delight. Maybe there will be something in there for you.
Have a great weekend!
