What a difference a year makes! In January 2020, New York City’s Marriott Marquis in Times Square was home to the industry’s last in-person mega conference, Inman Connect. Drawing thousands of visitors every year, Inman Connect New York general sessions are often standing room only. However, thanks to the global pandemic, thousands of agents, teams, …Read more
A favorite economist term is, “Forecasting is easy, except the future.” As an economist, I concur, but forecasting is what economists do for a living. My favorite statement, however, is, “If I agree with your assumptions, then I agree with your conclusions.” That line shows the dilemma in forecasting housing sales and residential lending volumes …Read more
Existing home sales rocketed-up 23.7 percent in January 2021 on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 6.69 million sales compared to the same period one-year ago according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). It was the most homes sold on a SAAR since April 2006. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the 367,000 homes …Read more
At first glance, title insurance seems like something you would want for an older home. Perhaps your home has had 3 previous owners, and you want to ensure that they are all properly addressed so you can move in with a clean title. However, newly constructed homes have their own intricacies that a title company …Read more
Have you recently put your home on the market? Keeping your home clean and ready to show to potential buyers is essential. While there are things you can do well ahead of time to get your home ready, we wanted to show you a quick and easy checklist for things to do in 15 minutes …Read more
In simple terms, a 1031 exchange is a trade of one investment property for another that allows you to defer capital gains taxes. While potential tax reform could impact 1031 exchanges, we wanted to walk through what they can do for you today. This powerful tax strategy must be used carefully as there many moving …Read more
Just like the foggy and drizzly weather today in Houston, the economic fog of the pandemic is distorting the view of commercial real estate markets across the country. Jobs are everything to an economy with the U.S. still down almost 10 million positions from where it was in February of last year. The housing market …Read more
Some things were different at the Super Bowl this year while others remained the same. New facets ranged from the miniscule 25,000 fans that were allowed in the stadium, to the never-before-seen 30,000 cardboard cut outs, and the almost 10,000 vacant seats due to the capacity restrictions. For the first-time in history, the Super Bowl …Read more
Who knew when reading Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities in high school or college that parts of this classic text were prophetic regarding the impact of the 2020 COVID pandemic? Just as with the Tale of Two Cities, some people are better off (economically speaking) while others are financially devasted. “It was the best …Read more
The U.S. added a miniscule 49,000 net new jobs in January 2021 (0.03 percent gain from December 2020) based on seasonally adjusted data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The previously reported December 2020 loss of 140,000 jobs was restated to a loss of 227,000. The unemployment rate dropped from 6.7 percent in …Read more