by rtdosen | Jan 23, 2017 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
By Ryan Dosen (Originally Published by The Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/real-estate/article1277…) Miami’s real estate market may have cooled a bit, but it is poised for long-term success and sustainability. And the world-famous beaches and tropical weather are only part of the equation. Despite a millennial-led nationwide trend to rent and wait on or avoid buying real estate, Miami’s strong Hispanic demographic positions the Magic City with a population that still strongly believes in family and homeownership. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, as of 2015, individuals of Hispanic or Latino origin make up 17.6 percent of the American population. However, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals’ (NAHREP) State of Hispanic Homeownership Report for 2015, Hispanics “have accounted for 56 percent of new household formations over the past five years.” NAHREP’s report also states that in 2015, “Hispanics achieved a net increase of 245,000 owner households, accounting for 69 percent of the total net growth in U.S. homeownership.” So, even though Hispanics make up less than 20 percent of the U.S. population, they account for almost 70 percent of new U.S. home formations, according to this report. These seemingly startling numbers do not come as much of a surprise to NAHREP. In its report, NAHREP cites Fannie Mae’s Oct.-Nov. 2015 National Housing Survey, which revealed that 70 percent of Hispanics believe that homeownership is the best way to build wealth; it also states that 80 percent of Hispanics believe that homeownership represents their best possible investment. The report concludes that Hispanics “envision a home of one’s own as more than an investment: a great place to live and...
by rtdosen | Jan 23, 2017 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
By Ryan Dosen Much has been written and discussed recently regarding millennials and their tendency to wait on the purchase of a home. Some have blamed tighter lending conditions. Others have blamed a difficult job market, underemployment, and/or stubbornly low wages. Another theory is that, having seen the real estate crash of the late 2000s lay waste to lifetimes of hard work and financial discipline for so many, some millennials are gun-shy about making the jump into home ownership. And yet another theory being offered by developers is that there has been a paradigm shift and that millennials are simply looking for something different out of life. Billionaire real estate mogul Jeff Greene has been quoted by The Real Deal, a South Florida real estate news publication, as saying that “millennials are much more interested in experiences than things — they would rather climb a mountain than buy five extra pairs of jeans.” And according to a press release from his company, Josh Delk, vice president of Transwestern Development Co. in Austin, Texas, says the result is that millennials are leading a “growing demand for more efficient, affordable living space that is close to numerous amenities.” Despite earning wages that aren’t keeping pace with rising rents, Delk says that younger generations still “want to live in the middle of restaurants, bars and entertainment areas.” And to lead this type of lifestyle, they are willing to sacrifice space, and often, ownership. For now, they are supposedly choosing social time over the traditional American dream of owning a home. Greene has responded by proposing a 12-story mixed use project in West Palm...
by rtdosen | Aug 8, 2016 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
By Ryan Dosen We’ve made it. Such is the sentiment that washes over many a mind after learning that a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s has decided to set up shop in the neighborhood. It is a commonly held belief that a neighborhood has “arrived” once it has been graced by the presence of one or both of these high-end natural food retailers. The same has been said for the arrival of a Starbucks. The thinking is that the coming of these vendors is an endorsement of a neighborhood’s status as legitimate, desirable, up-and-coming or sufficiently bourgeois. An extension of this line of thought is that there will be increased demand to live in the neighborhood, resulting in higher-than-average home price increases. The Whole Foods Effect Several studies have been done to determine whether the so-called “Whole Foods Effect” or “Starbucks Effect” is real, and whether proximity does actually result in better appreciation for your most important asset. Perhaps the most recent, revealed in a new book titled Zillow Talk: Rewriting The Rules of Real Estate, shines some light on this phenomenon. According to Zillow, one to two years after a Whole Foods opens, the median home near the Whole Foods appreciates 9 percent more than the median home in the same city; one to two years after a Trader Joe’s opens, the median home near the Trader Joe’s appreciates 10 percent more than the median home in the same city. Zillow also tells us that the average home appreciated 71 percent between 1997 and 2014, while homes near a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s appreciated 140 percent...
by rtdosen | Dec 18, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Fed Sees Housing Improvement & Raises Rates By Ryan Dosen The Federal Reserve announced earlier this week that it is raising its key short-term interest rate for the first time in over 10 years. Amid the financial crisis of the late 2000s, the Fed dropped its key rate to zero. The rate has stayed at zero since 2008 as we have waited for our economy to return to normalcy. Now that the Great Recession is past, unemployment is down, and the economy has improved, we will be seeing “gradual” interest rate increases. The rate increases are a sign that the Fed believes in the realness of the recovery; but the fact that the increases will be “gradual” confirms the delicate nature of our improving economy. The Federal Funds Rate The Fed sets the federal funds rate, which is the interest rate at which a depository institution lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight. The target federal funds rate has been set at 0 to ¼ percent for many years, but the target rate is now being bumped up to ¼ to ½ percent. As the cost of borrowing money between banks increases, the interest rates that consumers have to pay banks for loans generally follows suit. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen says that “only gradual increases” in the federal funds rate are expected. According to Bloomberg Business, the vote for rate hikes was unanimous and Fed policy makers are implying four ¼ point increases in the target range next year. The Fed’s View on the Economy Yellen says that “the economic recovery has...
by rtdosen | Dec 18, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Foreclosure Starts Hit Lowest Level in Over 10 Years By Ryan Dosen ‘Tis the season for giving. Unless you’re a bank. If you’re a bank, you may give out some loans, but in that case you’re not truly giving anything away. And you may actually wind up being a Grinch and taking back some homes. The good news is that while banks aren’t exactly in the giving spirit, they are initiating foreclosures far less than they have been wont to do. RealtyTrac, a “leading source for comprehensive housing data,” just released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2015 and the numbers are encouraging. While the actual number of homes being repossessed is up, the number of foreclosure starts has fallen to its lowest level in over 10 years. The steadily shrinking pace of foreclosure starts is yet another encouraging sign for the improving health of our real estate market. RealtyTrac’s Foreclosure Market Report According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions) were reported on 104,111 U.S. properties in November. This number represents a 10 percent month-over-month decrease and more than a 7 percent year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity. RealtyTrac says that “the 10 percent monthly decrease in overall foreclosure activity was caused largely by a 15 percent monthly drop in foreclosure starts, with 41,208 properties starting the foreclosure process for the first time in November.” This 15 percent drop left foreclosure starts at their lowest level since May 2005. RealtyTrac’s report also tells us that national foreclosure starts have now decreased year-over-year for 5 consecutive months, with monthly decreases in foreclosure starts occurring 7...
by rtdosen | Dec 8, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Multifamily Leading Surge in New Home Construction By Ryan Dosen New home sales are spiking and builders are investing more and more money to supply an increasing demand for housing. This trend continues not only nationally, but also locally. Local builders, forced to scale back operations after the real estate collapse of the late 2000s, are seeing market conditions improving and inventories remaining low. They are now buying up land, ramping up operations, and looking forward to a very promising near term for new home construction. New Home Sales Rise 10.7 Percent The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently reported that the sales of newly built, single-family homes jumped 10.7 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 495,000 units. Builders seem to have seen this coming and they continue to buy more land and build more homes. Tom Woods, chairman of the NAHB and a home builder from Blue Springs, MO, says that “our builders are reporting continued optimism in the housing market, and are adding inventory in anticipation of future business.” And for new homes, year-over-year growth is even more impressive. David Crowe, NAHB’s Chief Economist, revealed that “sales this year are running 15.7 percent ahead of 2014.” Crowe also says that “with a firming job market, affordable home prices, and rising pent-up demand, today’s report is another indicator that the housing market continues to move on a modest upward trajectory.” Multifamily Construction Leading the Surge The NAHB also reports that total private residential construction spending for October increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $399 billion. A month-over-month breakdown of...
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