Bankers Life and Casualty Company’s Center for a Secure Retirement completed a study to ascertain the best places for retirees to live in 2011.  They included 50 metropolitan areas in the study and ranked on nine categories.  Their nine criteria and their respective weights included:… Read more

There are more than 4 million homes in the U.S. today that are 90 days or more in arrears.  The outcome of these will be one of three solutions: Foreclosure Loan modification Short sale   While the pain of losing a home to foreclosure cannot… Read more

U.S. on Pace to Close Almost 4x More Commercial Real Estate in 2011 When Compared to 2009 CoStar reports a resurgence in hotel transactions.  The first-half of 2011 saw sales volumes reach $11.36 billion—up 134 percent from the same period in 2010 and up by… Read more

June existing home sales dropped almost 1 percent sequentially from May 2011, and were off 8.8 percent from June 2010 (not a surprise since June 2010 was the last month featuring the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit.  Also expect an increase year-over-year in July due to… Read more

Record housing sales in some hard-hit markets are finally getting inventory down to manageable levels—so there is good news on the horizon (but that does not mean we will reach that horizon tomorrow).  And yes, these writers confirm the slowdown in foreclosures are not related… Read more

USA Today reports that MPF Research predicts apartment rents will rise 4.3 percent this year and vacancy rates fall 1.8 percent to a 6.2 percent (and since rents are a major component of the Consumer Price Index, inflation and ultimately interest rates are on the… Read more

In an article, (USA Today), Zillow  believes that at least six housing markets in the U.S. have bottomed out  (Las Vegas, Ft Myers, Stockton, Vallejo, Hartford and Columbus). Do not confuse this with recovery, however, as prices in these markets remain flat.     Many… Read more

Again Proving the Relationship Between Supply and Demand The New Costs of Renting- smartmoney.com As more people pursue being a renter than a homeowner, the supply and demand ramifications are translating to escalating rents and other fees in an improving multifamily economic landscape.  A Smart… Read more

Housing markets: Best recovery bets Location and Forecast (By CNNMoney) Home Price Increase Tacoma, Washington                       11.8 percent Palm Bay, Florida                              9.4 percent Memphis, Tennessee                      7.5 percent Rochester, New York                        5.3 percent Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania                 4.6 percent Seattle, Washington                          3.7 percent Tucson, Arizona                                  3.4 percent Colorado Springs,… Read more

One unique tilt is that for the first time, no California market made either list. Worst Housing Forecast in 2011- housingpredictor.com Best Housing Markets Forecast in 2011- housingpredictor.com