Create Your Opportunity and the Rest Will Follow

It was early January and I was hastily plodding through two to 3 feet of snow in lower Manhattan trying to make it to 85 Broad Street before the 7:30 a.m. global call.

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RealPage Releases AI Screening

RealPage, Inc. has introduced RealPage® AI Screening, the first AI-based screening algorithm built specifically for the multifamily apartment rental industry. The solution, developed by RealPage Resident Screening and Data Science teams is designed to enable property management companies to identify high-risk renters with greater accuracy. Traditional screening models use credit score, rent-to-income, debt-to-income and generic financial data to determine renter risk. These factors broadly measure an applicant’s capability to pay financial obligations, including rent. RealPage developed industry-specific insights to determine the willingness to pay rent.

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Civic Financial Services Launches Rental Program

Civic Financial Services has released its new rental program, designed for real estate investors who are focused on aggregating rental properties. The program includes 5/1, 7/1 and 10/1 interest-only ARM products for either a single asset or a portfolio of properties, allowing investors to further expand their businesses. CIVIC’s expansion of its product offerings serves real estate investors with a rental strategy who may not meet the requirements of the conventional lending space and/or do not want to go through the process associated with a conventional loan.

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“Retired Dental Hygienist Turned Property Manager”

That’s what the illustrious headline would read to describe my career shift to the real estate and property management industry!

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Women in Real Estate: Rose Palano

I grew up with a father who was, and still is, a serial entrepreneur. He told me all my life: “You have to create your value in the world, or you’ll work for someone else.”

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Foreign Investment in U.S. Residential Real Estate Drops

Foreign buyers purchased fewer U.S. existing homes from April 2018 through March 2019. That’s according to a report the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released July 17. The report, “Profile of International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate 2019,” is an annual survey of residential purchases from international buyers. It revealed that foreign buyers purchased $77.9 billion of U.S. existing homes during the 2019 survey period, a 36% drop from the $121 billion reached in the previous 12 months. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, noted that many factors contributed to the decline. “A confluence of many factors—slower economic growth abroad, tighter capital controls in China, a stronger U.S. dollar and a low inventory of homes for sale—contributed to the pullback of foreign buyers,” he said. “However, the magnitude of the decline is quite striking, implying less confidence in owning a property in the U.S.” China bought an estimated $13.4 billion worth of residential property, a 56% drop from the previous 12 months, but still enough for it to be the top foreign buyer in terms of dollar volume for the seventh consecutive year. Rounding out the top five foreign buyers in terms of dollar volume were: 2. Canada, $8.0 billion 3. India, $6.9 billion 4. United Kingdom, $3.8 billion 5. Mexico, $2.3 billion Like China, the other countries represented in the top five experienced a decline in the dollar value of purchases compared to the previous 12 months. Florida received the greatest amount of investment activity, attracting 20% of foreign buyers, including 42% of Canadian buyers. California attracted 12% of the international purchases. Texas was third at 10%, attracting interest primarily among Indian and Mexican buyers. Arizona accounted for 5% of the international buyers, followed by New Jersey, which attracted 4%. Several states fell in the 3% investment group: North Carolina, Illinois, New York and Georgia. The median purchase price for foreign buyers was $280,600, above the $259,600 average for all U.S. existing homes sold. Eight percent of international buyers paid $1 million or more, compared to 3% of all U.S. existing homebuyers. “Even though numbers were lower this year than during the previous 12 months, international investors and buyers still spent and invested a great deal of money in U.S. real estate,” said NAR President John Smaby. NAR’s “2019 Profile of International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate” was conducted April 5 through May 3, 2019. The survey presents information about transactions with international clients during the 12-month period between April 2018 and March 2019. The report can be ordered by calling 800-874-6500, or online at www.nar.realtor/prodser.nsf/Research.

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