Sales Up – Prices Up It’s been an unusual time, for sure, but New Home Sales continue to be strong. Home sales soared on through August, continuing an amazing run. This is likely due in part to buyers seeking a more comfortable home in the midst of this Covid-19 pandemic. But, there are other factors of note, and homebuilders are poised perfectly in many markets. The new homes that are ready to move into and priced right are going quickly. With national sales rising and new home inventory declining, prices will continue to escalate. This is the time to buy. Home sales jumped 24.7% from the month before, according to […]

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Markets that Fit the Millennial Buyer Millennials are gaining home buying market share each year. The largest living generation is aging into prime homeownership years and will drive the housing market going forward. Parker Associates researched the data out there and sifted through the cohort’s preferences to identify the ten most desirable markets. SETTING THE STAGE The actual definition of a Millennial varies by source. Parker Associates is prone to defining the Millennial as a person born between 1980 and 2000. Obviously, there are some variations in these, but that is a good general definition. Right now, the largest share of Millennials is just around 30 years old, contributing to […]

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Making the Place When Blogging It’s not only about writing a blog, it’s about writing a blog that is interesting. People have plenty to read, so make it something they want to read. When writing on a topic, don’t just make it about a topic but make the topic come to life like you would a character in a story. Realize that writing a blog is about conveying some information but also that it has to be something of interest. Think of each blog as a mini-story (or a long one, in some cases). A blogging colleague recently looked at some ways in which the setting of a novel could […]

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Not a Cyclical Recession It is essential to understand that this is not a cyclical recession. It is an economy-wide shutdown depression. The recovery will reflect what government allows us to do and what we decide we are willing to do. It will follow a trajectory like a butterfly flying uphill: basically upwards but slowly and with fits, stops, detours, and starts. The U.S. economy hit bottom in mid-June and is now on a path toward rebuilding a stalled economy. It is useful to remember that the economy was quite strong prior to the virus reaching the U.S. Then the shutdown occurred, first for 14 days and eventually for about […]

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A second COVID-19 surge will only slow, not stop, the economic recovery that is now under way, with most states eager to avoid the total lockdowns that caused U.S. GDP to contract by an estimated 34% in the second quarter. This, according to Kiplinger. But, the delay in getting back to normal will be fatal for many small firms. Most have little in the way of reserves, making it hard to maintain payroll, even with stopgap measures such as the federal Paycheck Protection Program. And, for many PPP loan recipients, those funds have already or will soon run out. Among the most vulnerable small businesses are Restaurants. While sales at […]

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Looking Ahead with the Pandemic The pandemic makes budgeting for 2021 very difficult. Looking ahead involves far more uncertainty than usual. To help, here is the outlook for a range of business costs. The U.S. economy will return to growth after contracting this year. GDP will rise 3.5% in 2021, after declining 5.3% in 2020. But the economy will not reach its pre-COVID-19 level until late 2022. The leisure and hospitality sector will continue to struggle until a vaccine arrives. Lingering economic uncertainty will keep the consumer savings rate at a much higher level than normal, about 15%. Inflation will pick up…1.8% at the end of 2021, up from 1.1% […]

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5G On the Move Despite plenty of uncertainty, the rollout of 5G will continue at a fast clip. Three-quarters of mobile subscriptions in North America will be 5G by 2025, versus less than 1% in 2019, a pace that shows the pandemic won’t thwart momentum. There are over 6,000 commercial 5G deployments in the U.S. so far. Most are in cities, with T-Mobile outpacing AT&T and Verizon. But all three are expanding service swiftly. Watch for a big push for at-home 5G internet. T-Mobile’s 5G home services will be heavily marketed nationwide to compete with wired web providers, for example. A puck-sized hot spot device connects to a nearby cell […]

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Keep Doing It First of all, keep marketing, no matter what. Like they say in show business, “the show must go on” which can also be said to be true for real estate. While the pandemic has changed how the world and your business operate, things haven’t stopped, they’ve only changed. Now that the initial shock has worn off, we can focus on adapting to the new landscape. But, what’s the best way to handle this enormous change? How should you adjust your marketing strategy? And, how do you transition to a virtual world? People are going to continue moving and needing help from real estate agents and broker ages, […]

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Stop Spam WITHOUT Captcha In today’s day and age, if you don’t have a website, it would be shocking. But, if you have a website, you should have a contact form of some kind in order for your customers to reach out to you. As such, you will undoubtedly have encountered spam. Spam can be a killer of time if nothing else. There are so many schemes out there to get you to respond to, that it is unlikely you have not been suckered in to one of them if even just for a moment. There are a number of complex methods out there to overcome Spam which likely is […]

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Fed Rates and Mortgage Rates Make it a Buyers Market Between the Fed Rates expected to stay low and the mortgage rates at all time lows, this is a good time to be buying. Low mortgage rates make it a good time to buy What a difference a year makes. In February 2019, it was reported on how it was increasingly difficult to find a market where it made more sense to buy than rent. Fast forward 16 months and one pandemic later, and it’s safe to say that the rent-versus-buy gap is only shrinking with each passing day. According to realtor.com, over 80% of most large metropolitan areas saw […]

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