Real Estate Investment Advice

In this episode of the From Adversity to Abundance podcast, host Jamie Bateman interviews Maureen McCann, co-founder of Spartan Invest and Atlas Real Property. Maureen shares her journey from being a W2 employee to becoming an entrepreneur and the ups and downs that came with that decision and the challenges she faced along the way. She also talks about her passion for fitness and building a business, as well as being a super mom to her three kids. This inspiring conversation offers hope and encouragement to listeners who may be considering a similar path.

2023 has been an eventful and impactful year in financial life—one that has sent shockwaves of uncertainty across the U.S. economy. Perhaps at the top of prospective homebuyers and investors’ minds are interest rates. After peaking at 7.08% in November 2022, the 30-year fixed rate plummeted to 6.09% in February 2023. Throughout March, April, and early May of this year, rates fluctuated within the 6% range before gradually rising again. In March 2023, bank collapses captured headlines and disrupted the financial industry, adding to the economic turbulence. Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) implemented new rules on low-level pricing […]

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA | April 4th, 2023: Today, Inc. magazine unveiled its sixth annual Female Founders list. 2023’s edition is the largest since the honor’s inception, and features 200 pioneering women entrepreneurs who operate at the helm of some of the most dynamic and innovative companies in the country. Included in this year’s list are luminaries like actress and Casa Del Sol tequila founder Eva Longoria, as well as biomedical researcher and Cardea CEO Kiana Aran. Past Female Founders lists have honored Rihanna, Anne Wojcicki, Jessica Alba, Tracee Ellis Ross, and other household names. Lindsay Davis, the Co-Founder and CEO of […]

As the capital of Alabama, Montgomery is at the heart of it all. In the 1960s, it was the birthplace of the American civil rights movement. Today, it’s a major center for industry giants and the public sector. This rare and one-of-a-kind mix of old southern charm and 21st-century dynamism makes The Gump—as it’s affectionately called by locals—an attractive place to live, earning it the #3 spot in U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Places to Live in Alabama in 2022-2023”. Unsurprisingly, this also makes Montgomery a hotspot for investors. As home to both the Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base—a 4,100-acre […]

Prior to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, single-family rentals were a mom-and-pop asset class, one that went largely untouched by institutional investors. But things began to change following the crisis. In 2012, government-sponsored mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac launched a pilot program that encouraged large-scale investors to purchase bank-owned properties. The rationale behind the program was simple: the presence of institutional capital would spur up demand for foreclosed properties and help revive the then-floundering housing market. As a result, institutional investors purchased over 200,000 single-family homes worth an aggregate $36 billion between 2011 and 2017. This figure nearly […]

The mortgage market has been very volatile in 2022. Earlier last year, rates rose sharply, hitting 5.81% by mid-June. Since then, mortgage rates have fallen steadily, partly as a result of inflationary pressures and sluggish economic growth—and dipped below 5% following the first week of August. Since then, rates have been on the rise once again, with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage stalling around 6.5% as of February 2023. With so much uncertainty, timing the market to lock in a lower interest rate may not be a wise course of action. Luckily, there are other ways to reduce the interest […]

2022 was a dynamic and fast-paced year for the housing market. In the first quarter of the year, low interest rates drove a buying frenzy, causing home prices to soar 20.9% year-over-year in March 2022. At the same time, inflation skyrocketed to a 41-year high of 8.5%. In a bid to tamp down rising prices, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate seven times within the year. The unprecedented velocity of rate hikes caused mortgage rates to double, and the cost of a 30-year fixed-rate home loan rose from a low of 3.22% in the first week of January […]