With two months left in the year, four Coachella Valley real estate professionals shared their thoughts about the highlights and disappointments of 2010 and prospects for 2011 with Desert Sun reporter Mike Perrault. View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other Web sites are becoming crucial marketing tools. View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
RISMEDIA, October 30, 2010—More and more people are investing in vacation homes today. And no wonder: between unbelievable real estate prices, low interest rates, and a rapidly growing base of potential customers, vacationers who’d rather stay in a charming beach cottage or woodsy cabin rather than a hotel room—there’s never been a better time to buy. But here are the real questions to consider before you purchase a vacation home: Is the lifestyle that comes with owning and managing a vacation rental home right for you? Do you have the right personality for the job?
Christine Karpinski, director of Owner Community for HomeAway, a leading online vacation home rental marketplace, and author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment urges homeowners to ask themselves a serious of questions to determine whether they should consider buying a vacation rental.
Am I patient? It’s important to recognize that your vacation rental is not going to be a “get-rich-quick” opportunity. The most profitable vacation rental owners are patient and keep their focus on the long-term potential for profiting from their homes.
Do I have five extra hours a week to spare? That’s about how long it takes to manage your property during peak season—a job that involves answering inquiries, taking reservations, managing staff, and so forth.
Am I willing to do business on a week-by-week basis (rather than year-by-year)?
Managing a vacation rental is nothing like being a full-time landlord. You won’t have tenants with year-long leases. In fact, for the most part, your guests will be gone in a week or so. Every week presents a new opportunity to be successful and impress new guests. You have to be ready to meet that challenge head-on.
Am I detail-oriented? You need to be, if you’re going to be a good vacation homeowner. Guests expect a certain level of quality. Be prepared to regularly visit your property to make sure your on-site staff is keeping it in excellent shape and to freshen it up as needed.
Can I follow a marketing plan? Fortunately, you don’t have to be a professional marketer to follow simple instructions. Just as fortunately, the days of old-school newspaper advertising are over. These days there are many easy ways to market your vacation rental property.
Am I responsive? You have to grab opportunities right away. Potential renters will more than likely inquire about more than one property, and in order to be the owner who closes the deal, you have to act like any great entrepreneur and be the first to return the call.
Am I personable? Building trust is a huge factor in the vacation rental industry. Making people comfortable when they are renting your home is a must.
Am I a good people manager? If you’re a long-distance vacation rental owner, you must be prepared to hire and manage a productive “staff”—which means housekeepers, lawn care people, plumbers, and so forth. Building a great staff and making sure they understand what you want to achieve with each guest will ease your anxiety and make your renting experience truly enjoyable.
Am I okay with managing from a distance? For many people, their vacation property is hours (and many miles) away from their primary residence. As long as you have the right on-site staff in place, it is easy to manage your vacation property from far away.
“Being a vacation rental property owner isn’t for everyone,” says Karpinski. “However, for many people, it’s a fantastic way to invest money, earn extra income, make new friends, and truly experience different parts of the country.”
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.
Have you heard about RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN)? RREIN is an elite network of leading real estate companies dedicated to providing consumers and their agents with leading real estate information, and committed to the belief that Information Share Equals Market Share. Having only launched this past June 2010, the RREIN network is already comprised of 40 leading brokerages, which make up 575 offices, 30,000 agents, 167,000 closings and represents over $41 billion in transactions. How can RREIN help your recruiting efforts and differentiate your company today? For more information, email rrein@rismedia.com.
Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.
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NYC Network Real Estate Expo reads as an “all you need to know about real estate in New York.” View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
RISMEDIA, October 29, 2010—(MCT)—Sales of new homes climbed 6.6% in September 2010, figures released by the federal government showed, representing the second straight month of gains, but still well below the pace when a tax credit existed. Sales of new single-family homes rose 6.6% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 307,000, which is stronger than the 300,000 that economists expected in a MarketWatch-compiled poll.
A recent report showed sales of existing homes were also stronger than expected, rising 10%, and the two reports lend support to some economists who believe housing demand hit a bottom in late summer.
“After dropping precipitously following the expiration of the first-time home buyer tax credit, it looks as though new home sales have stabilized,” said Nicholas Tenev, an economist at Barclays Capital. “We expect a gradual recovery over the coming months.”
Still, the pace of new-home sales is 21.5% below the same level of last year. The pace of new-home sales is also considerably below the 414,000 rate in April, when the market was buoyed by a tax credit that has since expired.
There’s also still plenty of supply, with the government estimating supply of eight months of unsold homes, though that’s down from 8.6 months in August. The stock of unsold houses fell 1% from August and dropped 19% from Sept. 2009.
“With little new construction going on, inventories of unsold new homes at least aren’t a problem even with sales at a depressed level, with the number of new homes for sale extending a run of record lows,” said David Greenlaw, an economist at Morgan Stanley.
The median sales price rose 1.5% from August and 3.3% from Sept. 2009 to $223,800—about 30% above the median price of an existing home.
The margin of error for new-home sales is a considerable plus or minus 16.9%.
September’s housing market was only partly affected by a foreclosure moratorium of some leading lenders, which gathered pace in October.
New-home sales, by definition, wouldn’t be affected by foreclosure disputes and in fact could benefit by virtue of purchasers getting “clean” title when buying new properties.
(c) 2010, MarketWatch.com Inc.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.
Have you heard about RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN)? RREIN is an elite network of leading real estate companies dedicated to providing consumers and their agents with leading real estate information, and committed to the belief that Information Share Equals Market Share. Having only launched this past June 2010, the RREIN network is already comprised of 40 leading brokerages, which make up 575 offices, 30,000 agents, 167,000 closings and represents over $41 billion in transactions. How can RREIN help your recruiting efforts and differentiate your company today? For more information, email rrein@rismedia.com.
Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.
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67 WALL STREET, New York – October 27, 2010 – The Wall Street Transcript has recently re-published its REITs Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This Special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952 … View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
Orlando, Fla. October 27, 2010 Brian Snyder, wholesale property investment expert and entrepreneur, recently released a book co-written with Ron LeGrand and other leading real estate experts across the country. The new book, published by CelebrityPress, is titled The New Masters of Real Estate: Getting Deals Done in the New Economy.The New Masters of Real Estate was released… View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
AMB Property recently unveiled a new research report on the outlook for the U.S. industrial real estate market. View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
RISMEDIA, October 26, 2010—Existing-home sales rose again in September 2010, affirming that a sales recovery has begun, according to the National Association of Realtors. Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, jumped 10.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.53 million in September from a downwardly revised 4.12 million in August, but remain 19.1% below the 5.60 million-unit pace in September 2009 when first-time buyers were ramping up in advance of the initial deadline for the tax credit last November.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the housing market is in the early stages of recovery. “A housing recovery is taking place, but will be choppy at times depending on the duration and impact of a foreclosure moratorium. But the overall direction should be a gradual rising trend in home sales with buyers responding to historically low mortgage interest rates and very favorable affordability conditions,” he said.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low 4.35% in September from 4.43% in August; the rate was 5.06% in September 2009.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $171,700 in September, which is 2.4% below a year ago. Distressed homes accounted for 35% of sales in September compared with 34% in August; they were 29% in September 2009.
NAR President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz., said opportunities abound in the current market. “A decade ago, mortgage rates were almost double what they are today, and they’re about one-and-a-half percentage points lower than the peak of the housing boom in 2005,” she said. “In addition, home prices are running about 22 percent less than five years ago when they were bid up by the biggest housing rush on record.”
To illustrate the jump in housing affordability, the median monthly mortgage payment for a recently purchased home is several hundred dollars less than it was five years ago. “In fact, the median monthly mortgage payment in many areas is less than people are paying for rent,” Golder said.
Housing affordability conditions today are 60 percentage points higher than during the housing boom, so it has become a very strong buyers’ market, especially for families with long-term plans. “The savings today’s buyers are receiving are not a one-time benefit. Buyers with fixed-rate mortgages will save money every year they are living in their home—this is truly an example of how homeownership builds wealth over the long term,” Golder added.
Total housing inventory at the end of September fell 1.9% to 4.04 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 10.7-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 12.0-month supply in August. Raw, unsold inventory is 11.7% below the record of 4.58 million in July 2008.
“Vacant homes and homes where mortgages have not been paid for an extended number of months need to be cleared from the market as quickly as possible, with a new set of buyers helping the recovery along a healthy path,” Yun said. “Inventory remains elevated and continues to favor buyers over sellers. A normal seasonal decline in inventory is expected through the upcoming months.”
A parallel NAR practitioner survey shows first-time buyers purchased 32% of homes in September, almost unchanged from 31% in August. Investors were at an 18% market share in September, down from 21% in August; the balance of purchases were by repeat buyers. All-cash sales were at 29% in September compared with 28% in August.
Single-family home sales increased 10.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.97 million in September from a pace of 3.61 million in August, but are 19.5% below the 4.93 million level in September 2009. The median existing single-family home price was $172,600 in September, down 1.9% from a year ago.
Existing condominium and co-op sales rose 9.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000 in September from 510,000 in August, but are 16.2% lower than the 668,000-unit level one year ago. The median existing condo price was $165,400 in September, down 6.2% from September 2009.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast increased 10.1% to an annual pace of 760,000 in September but are 20.8% below September 2009. The median price in the Northeast was $239,200, which is 1.4% below a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest jumped 14.5% in September to a level of 950,000 but are 26.4% below a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $139,700, down 5.2% from September 2009.
In the South, existing-home sales rose 10.6% to an annual pace of 1.77 million in September but are 14.9% lower than September 2009. The median price in the South was $149,500, down 2.6% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West increased 5.0% to an annual level of 1.05 million in September but are 16.7% below a year ago. The median price in the West was $213,600, which is 4.9% lower than September 2009.
For more information, visit www.realtor.org.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.
Have you heard about RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN)? RREIN is an elite network of leading real estate companies dedicated to providing consumers and their agents with leading real estate information, and committed to the belief that Information Share Equals Market Share. Having only launched this past June 2010, the RREIN network is already comprised of 30 leading brokerages, which make up 525 offices, 30,000 agents, 160,000 closings and represents over $40 billion in transactions. How can RREIN help your recruiting efforts and differentiate your company today? For more information, email rrein@rismedia.com.
Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.
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Consumers can now pick and choose which services they want from an agent and no-frills realtors can now list on MLS. View full post on real estate – Yahoo! News Search Results
