1. Okay, it’s President’s week here in the United States. What better way can we celebrate U.S. history and real estate simultaneously? My wife will especially love this piece; she absolutely loves both.Yankee Doodle! We Salute 9 Homes From America’s Revolutionary Era. Realtor.com suggests “American history is alive in the buildings that our forefathers—and mothers—left behind. To honor Presidents Day, we’re highlighting nine homes built before and during the Revolutionary War.” Take a look at some of these homes and make sure you click through to see more photos and information about each location.
2. WAKE UP CALL
Study Says People Aren’t Using Real Estate Agents, for Bad Reasons, says Apartment Therapy. “The benefits of using an agent are well-documented, but it seems like an alarming amount of people haven’t gotten the memo. According to a new report from the home-improvement networking website Porch, a sizable portion of people across age groups are choosing not to work with a real estate agent while buying a home.” It all boils down to money. There are many folks out there who think they can save money and represent themselves better than any agent. I believe a top agent in your specific market area will negotiate with your best interests in mind ultimately saving you time and money.
3. BOX IT UP
I have always been attracted to storage spaces large and small. SoftBank’s latest big real estate bet is in a start-up that’s taking on the physical storage industry. The CNBC article stated that “SoftBank said Wednesday it led a $200 million funding round in Clutter, which provides storage services, including the picking up and dropping off of a customer’s items. The cash infusion values Clutter, post-investment, at $600 million.” I believe this multi-billion dollar a year business is a very concrete, viable model. After all, who likes packing up and moving their stuff?
4. QUICK CLOSE
Housing Wire reports “loanDepot announced its new digital mortgage, which it says can identify significant time and cost-savings for borrowers in seven minutes. The lender claims its digital mortgage, mello smartloan, can close a loan in just eight days. loanDepot predicts up to 55% of new applicants will be eligible to use its digital mortgage, and could see lower overhead costs. The company invested $80 million in the creation of its new technology that powers the smartloan.” That is a quick close compared to the market average of approximately 43 days. Read, loanDepot releases tech to close mortgages in 8 days.
5. STICKER SHOCK
The NYT reports the Housing Is Already in a Slump. So It (Probably) Can’t Cause a Recession. There are “clues to suggest that the economy is on firmer footing than the increasingly pessimistic forecasts make it seem. The gist is this: The United States may or may not enter a recession this year, but if it does, housing is unlikely to be the cause, because it never really recovered in the first place.” At the end of last year, high real estate prices, combined with rising interest rates, put off many buyers. Since interest rates have fallen this year, it will be very interesting to see what happens as the year progresses.
6. A REAL ESTATE TSUNAMI
“America’s largest-ever generations, millennials and baby boomers, are entering their prime home-buying years at the same time!” Realtor.com set out to find The Top 10 U.S. Cities to Buy Your Starter Home—or Your Forever Home. Are you curious to see where the top cities are located?
7. IT’S ALL FRENCH TO ME
“In January, the total dollar value of real estate transactions in Vancouver fell to C$1.7 billion ($1.3 billion) on a seasonally adjusted basis, the weakest level since 2013 and down 42 percent from a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the Canadian Real Estate Association. Meanwhile, the value of transactions in Montreal reached C$1.63 billion to start the year, an increase of 18 percent from last January. Montreal — which has much cheaper homes, but more transactions — hasn’t been this close to Vancouver since 2008.” Read Bloomberg’s story, Montreal’s Real-Estate Market Is About to Eclipse Vancouver’s to understand why it’s happening now.
8. LONG ISLAND CITY OUTLOOK
CNBC interviewed an agent who started out selling real estate in Long Island City, New York who has a very clear point of view on Amazon’s recent decision to “ditching” New York. ‘Million Dollar Listing’ agent Ryan Serhant: Buyers are ‘freaking out’ about Amazon ditching NYC. “We put, I think, 15 different apartments into contract, purely speculative, based on the Amazon move,” says luxury real estate agent Ryan Serhant. “All 15 of those buyers called yesterday, freaking out, saying, ‘Should I pull my deposit?'” he says. “Amazon coming, I think, was a great thing,” says Serhant of Nest Seekers International. “All they wanted to do was bring jobs.” What do you think? Will New York politicians and residents regret their decisions?
9. INVESTORS BEWARE… REALLY!
“A Philadelphia real estate investor says a home he was scoping out came with an unadvertised surprise — a stairway booby-trapped with a swinging knife.” The New York Post reported late last week how a Real estate investor finds home booby-trapped with swinging knife. Watch the disturbing video clip that tells the story.
10. CHINAUSTRALIA
A news source has stated: “Last year Chinese developers acquired a third of all residential development sites in Australia.” News.com.au asks the question, “Is communist China taking over Australia? Australia is selling off natural resources, farmland and property to China at a “crazy” rate — putting us at risk of becoming the “24th province” of the East Asian behemoth.” You’ll see a short video here regarding Fears one million Aussie homes could soon be owned by foreign buyers.
