Dec
4
REAL ESTATE VERSUS S&P 500
The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries maintains an index of returns on institutional real estate investments and recently reported that the annual returns have averaged 12.7% over the last 10 years. This compares very favorably to the S&P 500 index over the same ten year time period of 8.4%. We believe that individual investors should be able to achieve similar returns if they are buying and managing properties wisely.
Dec
3
WORRY, DON’T PANIC
The article below was published recently by Torto Wheaton Research, the research arm of CB Richard Ellis. They are a well respected research organization in the real estate area. This article was written by Joh Southard, SVP, Director of Research & Chief Economist WORRY, DON’T PANIC Commercial real estate faces more challenges today than it has for several years. That said, however, the recent failures of the residential real estate market have led to far too much innuendo that commercial real estate is “next.” For those less familiar with the […]
Nov
23
APARTMENT RENTS UP UP UP
APARTMENT RENTS UP UP UP Well it is happening. Just as it does nearly every time. When the housing market slumps and money for housing purchases is scarce, the demand for multi-family rental units increases. With that increase in demand the rents rise and vacancy rates fall. People who would like to purchase homes simply can’t get qualified. There are a great deal of foreclosures to be purchased but a large percentage of would be buyers simply can’t get the money to make the purchase. They have very […]
Nov
21
PLACES WHERE HOUSING IS HOT
PLACES WHERE HOUSING IS HOT Forbes reported yesterday on 10 markets where housing is hot and where the “bubbleâ€? effect hasnot been felt significantly. The list with annual price increases through the second quarter of 2007includes:  Salt Lake City, UT    +21%  Binghamton, NY    +20%  Salem, OR     +17%  Farmington, NM    +14%  Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ +13%  Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX   +12%  Reading, PA     +11%  Glens Falls, NY    +11%  Spokane, WA    +10%  Cumberland, MD-WV   + 9% The author suggests several reasons for these markets performing differently than many other areasof the country. One is that these markets avoided the “get-rich real estate frenzy of recent […]