Big City, Big Rent? Think Again

Hi Folks,
   Glad to have you back today!

   Quite often, we hear people say that the Rent is too high (we even heard a potential political candidate run on that platform a while back!). Well, yes, Rent can be quite high, but as everything else in life, it's all relative.

   Venessa Wong for Bloomberg Businessweek ran an article titled, "The 10 Worst Cities for Renters", which ran in the Yahoo Real Estate Section, which took a look at how "much" is rent, relatively speaking. In the article, Wong states that over the past few decades, "...rent levels grew faster than renter income.", and that the amount of income, "apportioned to rent" has grown dramatically over the past fifty years. Wong cites research by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which shows that, "In 1960, about one-quarter of renters in the U.S. were at least moderately burdened, including 12 percent with a severe burden", and by 2009. the rate doubled to nearly half of renters with at least a moderate burden, including 26 percent with a severe burden.".What this means, as stated in the article, is that nearly half of renters pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income for rent, including 26 percent that pay more than 50 percent of income.

   Taking this data into account, which are the worst cities for Renters? Wong states that it’s not necessarily the most expensive cities that are to blame (and as you will see, not the biggest cities, either).

   Here is the list of the top 10 metropolitan areas ("toughest U.S. cities for renters"), ranked by the percentage of tenants spending more than half of their income on rent, per the article:

No. 10 Metro: Bridgeport, Conn. - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 30.5%
No. 9 Metro: Toledo, Ohio - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 30.8%
No. 8 Metro: Orlando - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 30.9%
No. 7 Metro: Memphis - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 31.6%
No. 6 Metro: Akron, Ohio - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 31.8%
No. 5 Metro: New Orleans - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 31.8%
No. 4 Metro: New Haven - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 32.7%
No. 3 Metro: Detroit - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 32.8%
No. 2 Metro: McAllen, Tex. - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 33.1%
No. 1 Metro: Miami - Renter households with severe cost burdens: 34.2%

   A quick glance at this list might make you wonder: What about New York City? Los Angeles? Chicago? This might change your perception; as the title suggests, "Big City, Big Rent? Think Again". The forecast in the article mentions that, "increases in rent levels are expected to continue outpacing income growth. Demand for rentals also may continue to grow as the preference for homeownership changes."

   What are your thoughts? Have you calculated rent as a percent of monthly income in your area? What was the percentage and what area did you calculate it for?

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes Blog http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Website http://www.lease2buy.com

TAGS: #rent #realestate #miami #renter

UPDATED: Right Time to Buy? Top Real Estate Investing Markets

Good Morning,


Happy Friday! With the dreaded humidity taking a swan dive here in New York, it should make for a nice and dry weekend...finally !

As we discussed on Wednesday, we had a ton of requests for us to discuss the hottest markets for Real Estate investments. Keep in mind that these requests were NOT for the hottest housing markets for the standard property buyer, however, for the top Real Estate investing markets.

We warn you - this is a long post - but there is valuable information here !

We have turned to some experts in their given regions, and we have summarized these markets below. However, keep in kind that they are not in any specific order, and we would need to compare apples to apples in order to put them in top to bottom order, which for our purposes here, is outside of the scope of this Blog post. However, some corroborating reasons are given along with each city/region listed below.

Detroit: We had two experts weigh in on the Motor City. Dennis Fassett, a local investor, tells us that, "Nice brick houses in the suburbs with three bedrooms, basements, appliances, garages, and fenced yards can be bought for $40-50,000 or even less in some cases depending on the area. And the properties I have bought like that rent for $1000 per month and up. The ROI is off the charts.". Fassett says that he currently has, "11 houses and 43 apartment units here, and two more deals in process, and I'm looking to buy as much as I can while the market stays depressed."

Drew Sygit of The Lending Edge at First Michigan Bank , concurs, and states that, "Detroit the city is pretty hot. Meeting today with an Australian CPA who's clients all want to buy $30-50k properties they can rent for $900/month. We've got more foreign demand than domestic!"

Memphis: We spoke with Ryan L. Hinricher, a Senior Housing Analyst with Investor Nation, and he said that, "In Memphis an investor who's looking for income property can purchase pristine investment homes at or near median home prices of $115,000, which offer a positive cash flow, or properties as low as $5000 in areas typically higher in crime and lower in income for section 8 rental purposes". Hinricher also reminds us that, "Memphis was recently named one of the 5 best housing markets for 2010 by MSN, Realty Tracs best places to find a foreclosure in 2010, US News and World Reports #1 place for real estate steals in 2010, and Smart Moneys 5 markets expected to fare best in 2010. This is primarily because the transportation industry is one of the first to lead an economic recovery.".

Orlando: Phil Peachey, a Realtor with Regal Real Estate Professionals in Orlando, Florida, says that, "I have apartments at present at $20,000 and 4 bed 3 bath homes with pools near Disney for $100,000. These were 3 times the price a couple of years back.", and that, "Savvy investors are snapping these up in large numbers as they know the market has to come back at some time". I have to concur, as we got our start in the Orlando/Central Florida market, and that seems like a perpetually favored region.

St. Louis: Adam Kruse, a St. Louis Realtor of The Hermann London Group, advises that a lot of the investors are making their own rules on the purchase criteria in that city. Kruse says that, "There are areas of St. Louis where people just don't really buy as primary residence, but they buy them all the time to hold for rental",and says that he has a client who advises him to, "Take the purchase price, subtract off the last 2 zeros, double that number, and I want to be able to get that for rent.", and that they have helped him buy at least 15 places with that criteria. (example: purchase price $35,000, rent amount $700+ per month.)

California: Griff Straw, President of Solidifi, a technology-based appraisal management company, tell us that in California, "Coastal areas continue to offer good opportunities for investors, especially in California, where San Diego has been among the strongest areas in the country. The more remote coastal areas like Oxnard, north of Los Angeles, are less of a sure thing for shorter term appreciation, but may offer potential.

Some Additional Areas that show promise for the Real Estate investor have been identified by Alfred Miller President of Private Lending Solutions, LLC. Miller has, "identified the discount and cash flow properties as well. These are investor friendly markets". The markets he mentioned are Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (Texas), Houston (Texas), Tulsa (Oklahoma), San Antonio (Texas), Salt Lake City (Utah), Phoenix (Arizona), Indianapolis-Carmel (Indiana), Denver-Aurora (Colorado), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma), and Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord (North Carolina/South Carolina)

We hope that this list will be of significant help to you. We welcome your comments on any and all of the cities mentioned above.

Have a Great Weekend, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !


UPDATED: Top 5 Blog post for 2010 (For more information, CLICK HERE)

Dad's Day, Secrets Winner, and Big Housing Numbers...

Happy Monday to All,

A Happy Belated Father's Day to all of you Dads out there. Our son is not at the "tie-buying" age, yet, but he is still in the "make-a-present-for-daddy" stage, which is absolutely wonderful. The walls of my office are decorated with his masterpieces and it adds color to every day. I know you're too young to read this Blog, but thanks buddy !

Now, on Friday, we announced our contest question; "What city did we begin investing in when we first started our business?". To all of the people who answered correctly and won their free copy of, "Secrets of Rent to Own", Thank You! Now, for the answer to that question, the winners of the contest checked out the "About Us" section (http://www.lease2buy.com/rent-to-own-homes.php), and you found out that the answer was Orlando, Florida.

We officially opened the doors of HomeRun Homes/Lease2Buy.com on June 8, 2002, so we are now officially into our 9th Year. We will continue on with more contests and giveaways, so make sure to tune in here. Want to make life even easier for yourself? Choose one of the "Follow" options on the right-hand side of the page !

This is going to be a very big week in terms of Housing Market data. Today, the Loan Performance Housing Price Index numbers will be released. On Tuesday, some hefty data will be released: NAR Existing Home Sales and the FHFA Monthly House Price Index. As if these major factors weren't enough, New Residential Sales will be released on Wednesday. This is quite a contrast to last week, which was a lot quieter in terms of Housing.

We will check back with you on Wednesday to take a look at what these numbers were, what they mean for you and I, and to take a look at how they can or will impact the Rent to Own Homes market.


Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

Great Real Estate Deals, Home Staging, Rehabbing....

Hi All,

Happy Wednesday to everyone.

It's been an exciting week at the HomeRun Homes campus, and to all of you who have thanked us for bringing you such a deluge of quality responses to your Ads...you are quite welcome. Our goal is to bring traffic to our website so buyers or sellers can find you, and you can Find a Rent to Own Home or Sell a Rent to Own Home. Basically, we are just doing our job, since we work for you!

We wanted to re-emphasize a fantastic article, called: "7 Cities With Great Real Estate Deals", which runs down some of the hottest returning markets. If you read through the article, you'll see that there are a lot of unpolished gems out there. Further, you will see our name mentioned in the article for Atlanta, and also for Orlando, Florida (and Central Florida), since we believe that these are two of the hottest markets right now.

This leads me to the next item, which is that our 8-Year anniversary is around the corner. We originally got our start buying and rehabbing homes in Central Florida (Read our full background here: http://www.lease2buy.com/rent-to-own-homes.php). One of the first homes we renovated is this one:



We will tell you more about this in the coming weeks, as our June anniversary approaches, along with some fantastic offers...stay tuned for your exclusive opportunities to be announced here in our company Blog!

The last item that we wanted to discuss is Home-Staging, which has gained quite a bit of momentum in the recent market. For example, I have a neighbor who was stuck in his home for 8 months, he could not sell, and he was not in a position to Rent to Own the home. I had a Home-Staging company get in touch with him, and they came in and revamped his entire home. During his next Open House, he got a few offers, and he is actually in contract now. This is a handy service. Are you a Home Stager? If so, please tell us more about your work.


Have a Great Day, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !

US Cities, Secrets of Rent to Own, and Joy

Happy Monday to All,

We hope you had a productive weekend.

First, we would like to thank all of the winners of the Free Copy of "Secrets of Rent to Own", and we hope you enjoy reading it and putting what you learn into action! For those of you who missed out, you can check out this handy guide, "Secrets of Rent to Own", at this link: http://www.lease2buy.com/rent2ownbook.php

If you would like to be included for a personal Pre-Blog notification of further contests and give-aways, please send an E-mail to homebuyer@lease2buy.com with the Subject Line, "This Blog-Reader wants in !"

On the flip side, we saw an interesting article worth mentioning, that discussed U.S. Cities In Free Fall, and I, personally, was amazed to see only Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville in the top 5. Orlando/Central FL was not in the top 5, and I found this actually encouraging. I don't know - I am open to your comments on this one. No matter what they say, there are deals to be had, and in some of these areas, there are pockets of recovery - again, I am open to comments on that as well.

On that note, I hope everyone has a great week. Be sure to choose "FOLLOW" us (Right Hand Column of this page) to be notified of new Blog updates, new contests, new information (and all around joy...OK, well, LOL on the "joy" part).

Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning