Real Estate Investment Advice

Introduction It’s no secret that the real estate markets have been blazing hot since COVID-19. Within a short span of just 24 months, the pandemic boom saw US homeowner wealth balloon by a staggering $9 trillion. To put this mind-boggling number into perspective, this means that the median homeowner gained over $56,000 in home equity in 2021 alone. Simply put, American homeowners struck gold. But why did this happen? The housing market was heading into a downturn in the early weeks of the pandemic. After all, how could the market stay buoyant amid nationwide shutdowns and record-high unemployment? In an […]

Prices are rising at a rapid clip, and nowhere is this unfortunate reality more evident than at the pump. On June 14th, 2022, the national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas hit $5.01. This figure shattered the once-unimaginable five-dollar barrier and became the highest recorded gas price in American history. But gas isn’t the only thing that’s getting expensive. To break it down, you’re now paying 10.1% more for food today than you were a year ago, 34.6% more for energy, 5.5% more for shelter, 7.1% for transportation, and the list goes on.  Though the Fed agrees […]

Single family detached homes are a familiar sight in many suburban neighborhoods across the United States. In fact, it’s the most popular form of housing in America, making up about 62% of the country’s housing stock. This type of housing is even more dominant in places like Alabama. Even in largely urban Jefferson County, over 69% of the roughly 308,000 housing units in the area are single-family homes. Of those, about 18% are renter-occupied, making single-family rentals (SFRs) a significant segment of the housing market. However, this is likely just the start. Alabama has seen a large population influx of […]

If you’re out to purchase a property, you’ll want to know how much it’s worth before you make an offer on it. After all, signing a purchase agreement or going under contract isn’t something to take lightly. It means you’ll have to put down an earnest money deposit—a sum you risk forfeiting if you decide to back out. Fortunately, real estate appraisals can help you determine the right price to pay—allowing you to make a strong offer without overbidding. To conduct an appraisal, a licensed real estate appraiser uses a systematic process to determine the value of a property. However, […]

Ever since the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. real estate market has been on a tear. In the twelve months between August 2020 and August 2021, American home prices rose by a national average of 19.8%—the highest annual increase ever recorded. But this national uptick in housing prices has hardly affected every place in the Union equally. Some metro areas, already infamous for their sky-high costs of living, have only grown more unaffordable. For example, in Bellevue, Washington—a bustling Seattle suburb home to nearly 150,000 people—home prices soared by an eye-watering 45.6% in the last two years alone. […]