2021 – Page 47

Black Homeowners Earned $59,000 in Home Equity in 2020, Compared With $50,000 for White Homeowners

by admin
Comment Off
422 views

People who bought homes in primarily Black neighborhoods in 2019 gained a median $59,000 in home equity last year, compared with $50,000 for people who bought homes in primarily white neighborhoods, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Equity grew more for people who bought homes in primarily Asian and Hispanic neighborhoods—by $79,000 and $67,000, respectively. For the purposes of this report, a neighborhood is considered primarily one race or another if more than 50% of the owner-occupied households are Black, Hispanic, Asian or white, as identified in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. We calculated home-equity gains throughout 2020 for each neighborhood type for homeowners who purchased a home anytime during 2019, using January 2021 Redfin Estimates as a proxy for current market value. The terms “Black homeowner,” “white homeowner,” etc. are used throughout this report to refer to a person who bought a home in a neighborhood of primarily one race or another in 2019. While Black homeowners gained more wealth through home equity than white homeowners last year, the trend is a reversal from the previous decade, when homeowners of color saw their home values and home equity recover more slowly from the Great Recession. People who bought homes in primarily Black neighborhoods in 2019 currently have a median of $89,000 in home equity, the smallest amount of the four races included in this analysis. That’s compared with $257,000 for Asian homeowners, $113,000 for white homeowners and $102,000 for Hispanic homeowners. Black homeowners started with much lower equity—a median of $30,000 in 2019—than their Asian ($178,000) and white ($63,000) counterparts, and slightly less than the typical Hispanic homeowner ($35,000). The difference in equity in 2019 was primarily driven by the fact that Black homebuyers made smaller down payments than buyers of other races, due to lower home prices and putting down a smaller percentage of the sale price. Even though Black homeowners still have less equity than white homeowners, the home-equity gap between Black and white Americans is narrowing. That’s largely because significant gains in home values, which increase equity above initial down payments, fueled equity gains from 2019 to January 2021 for homeowners of all races. The typical homeowner in a primarily white neighborhood had $33,000 more home equity than the typical homeowner in a primarily Black neighborhood in 2019, a gap that had shrunk to $24,000 by January 2021. Homeowners in Black neighborhoods experienced a nearly 200% home-equity increase in 2020, a huge increase that’s mostly due to low equity pre-pandemic Black homeowners nationwide who bought their homes in 2019 saw a 197% increase in home equity last year, a bigger percentage increase than the other races. Home equity increased 191% for Hispanic homeowners, 79% for white homeowners and 44% for Asian homeowners. Black homeowners starting out with lower equity than the other races is a key reason for the larger percentage jump. Black Americans are least likely to be homeowners. The homeownership rate for Black families was 44.1% in the fourth quarter of 2020, the most recent time period for which data is available. That’s steady from 44% in the fourth quarter of 2019, but it had been on the rise before the pandemic, with a jump up from the 42.9% rate in the fourth quarter of 2018. The current homeownership rate for white families is significantly higher than it is for Black families: 74.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, up slightly from 73.7% a year earlier. The homeownership rate for Asian families increased from 57.6% to 59.5% over the same time period, and it went from 48.1% to 49.1% for Hispanic families. “Black homeowners benefited from 2020’s hot housing market, and the trend is continuing into this year as Americans remain intensely interested in relocating and buying homes and home values continue to rise,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “But less than half of Black Americans own the home they live in, so most of the Black community didn’t benefit from the enormous wealth homeowners have gained in the past year. Especially compared with the three-quarters of white Americans who own their homes, the total benefit for Black families across the country is relatively small. With higher unemployment rates and less overall wealth, Black families were not as likely as white families to buy homes even when prices were comparatively low.” “Now that prices are so high and the pandemic has contributed to high unemployment, especially for Black workers, it’s even more difficult for people who don’t already own homes to break into the housing market,” Fairweather continued. “There is a major need and a big opportunity for policymakers to enact programs like down-payment assistance and zoning reform to help narrow the homeownership gap and enable more Black families to build wealth through home equity.” Black homeowners in Chicago, Newark and Washington, D.C. have seen enormous home-equity gains, mostly because equity was so low pre-pandemic People who bought homes in primarily Black neighborhoods in Chicago in 2019 experienced the biggest percentage equity gain of the metro areas included in this analysis, with a 750% increase from 2019 to January 2021. The increase is so big partly because median home equity was just $8,000 in 2019, compared with $68,000 in January 2021. Next come Newark and Washington, D.C., which also saw huge percentage increases for Black homeowners from 2019 to January 2021: 626% and 425%, respectively. Median home equity went from $19,000 to $138,000 in Newark, and $16,000 to $84,000 in Washington, D.C. All of the metros included in this analysis experienced home-equity gains for Black homeowners—and homeowners of all other races—over that time period. The typical Black homeowner in Jacksonville gained 62% in equity from 2019 to January 2021, the smallest percentage gain of any metro included in this analysis, from $45,000 to $73,000. To view the full report, including charts and methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/home-equity-by-race-black-homeowners/

by admin
Comment Off
700 views

REI INK and RCN Capital would like to invite you to our “A Year In Review” virtual webinar. In 2020 we hosted multiple webinars covering a broad range of topics moderated by Jeff Tesch, the CEO of RCN Capital. Joining Jeff at each webinar were leaders in the real estate industry sharing their expertise on navigating the COVID crisis. On March 15th, Jeff Tesch will be moderating three separate panels from 1:00 to 3:00 EST. First Session: 1:00 – 1:40 Property Management Path Forward What process changes have you developed to help maneuver through COVID? How has technology helped you adapt to the new surroundings? What have you decided to keep doing path forward? Are you prepared for potential eviction services, should you need them? Where was your silver lining? Hear from industry experts what opportunities for evolution have helped them weather the storm! Panelists Nickie Badalamenti-Kalas, President – Five Brothers Asset Management Solutions James Barrett, Co-Founder & CEO – Tenant Turner Greg Rand, Chief Strategy Officer – Renters Warehouse Second Session: 1:40 – 2:20 Funding Strategies to Help Build Your Portfolio Hear what financing is available for Buy & Hold, Fix & Flip and Build to Rent. What opportunities lie ahead to bolster your portfolio? What should you consider with your funding strategies? Learn from industry experts what post-Covid strategies are best in class! Panelists Steven Katz, Chief Investment Officer & EVP – Arbor Realty Trust Nathan Long, President – Quest Trust Jennifer McGuinness, Founder – Mortgage Venture Partners Charles Sells, CEO – PIP Group Third Session: 2:20 – 3:00 Services and Strategies What due diligence can help guarantee a good acquisition? Where can you source assets for your portfolio? How can Auction, MLS, Foreclosure and Off-Market assets impact your bottom line? Learn how to engage new strategies to expand your portfolio! Panelists Ryan Hennessy, CEO – Keystone Asset Management David Hicks, CEO – HomeVestors Rick Sharga, EVP – RealtyTrac Rebecca Smith, VP – Radian Real Estate Management Join us Monday, March 15 to hear these industry leaders discuss their perspectives on 2020 and their strategies for 2021. Please click the button below to register for this FREE webinar.

by admin
Comment Off
421 views

Each year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes a report presenting its projections of what federal debt, deficits, spending, and revenues would be for the next 30 years if current laws governing taxes and spending generally did not change. This report is the latest in the series. Deficits. At an estimated 10.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the deficit in 2021 would be the second largest since 1945, exceeded only by the 14.9 percent shortfall recorded last year. In CBO’s projections, deficits decline as the effects of the 2020–2021 coronavirus pandemic wane. But they remain large by historical standards and begin to increase again during the latter half of the decade. Deficits increase further in subsequent decades, from 5.7 percent of GDP in 2031 to 13.3 percent by 2051—exceeding their 50-year average of 3.3 percent of GDP in each year during that period. Debt. By the end of 2021, federal debt held by the public is projected to equal 102 percent of GDP. Debt would reach 107 percent of GDP (surpassing its historical high) in 2031 and would almost double to 202 percent of GDP by 2051. Debt that is high and rising as a percentage of GDP boosts federal and private borrowing costs, slows the growth of economic output, and increases interest payments abroad. A growing debt burden could increase the risk of a fiscal crisis and higher inflation as well as undermine confidence in the U.S. dollar, making it more costly to finance public and private activity in international markets. Spending. After the spending associated with the pandemic declines in the near term, spending as a percentage of GDP rises in most years in CBO’s projections. With growing debt and rising interest rates, net spending for interest more than triples relative to the size of the economy over the last two decades of the projection period, accounting for most of the growth in total deficits. Another significant contributor to growing deficits is the increase in spending for Social Security (mainly owing to the aging of the population) and for Medicare and the other major health care programs (because of rising health care costs per person and, to a lesser degree, the aging of the population). Revenues. Once the effects of decreased revenues associated with the economic disruption caused by the pandemic dissipate, revenues measured as a percentage of GDP are generally projected to rise. After 2025, they increase in CBO’s projections largely because of scheduled changes in tax rules, including the expiration of nearly all the changes made to individual income taxes by the 2017 tax act. After 2031, revenues continue to rise—but not as fast as the growth in spending. Most of the long-term growth in revenues is attributable to the increasing share of income that is pushed into higher tax brackets. Because future economic conditions are uncertain and budgetary outcomes are sensitive to those conditions, CBO analyzed how those outcomes would differ from its projections if productivity growth or interest rates were higher or lower than the agency expects. Even if economic conditions were more favorable than CBO currently projects, debt in 2051 would probably be much higher than it is today. CBO’s projection of federal debt as a share of GDP is slightly lower in most years over the next three decades than it was in last year’s projections. In current estimates, federal debt rises from 102 percent of GDP in 2021 to 195 percent in 2050, compared with last year’s projected rise from 104 percent of GDP in 2021 to 195 percent in 2050. Projections of spending and revenues differ from last year’s projections for the next decade but are generally similar to them in the longer term.

by admin
Comment Off
351 views

Invitation Homes Inc. announced the promotion of John Gibson to executive vice president and chief investment officer, effective immediately. Mr. Gibson joined Invitation Homes in December 2016 as senior vice president, Asset Management. He was promoted to Executive Vice President, Portfolio Management, in March 2019. Prior to joining Invitation Homes, Mr. Gibson spent 21 years with Goldman Sachs and its subsidiary, Archon Group, with various positions in real estate asset management, strategy, and people management, operating from both domestic and international bases. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University. In addition, Paul Mauk has been promoted to senior vice president, Portfolio Development. Mr. Mauk joined Invitation Homes in June 2019 as vice president, Portfolio Development, to create additional value for the company by optimizing existing and new revenue driven initiatives, with a specific focus on the development of ancillary products and programs outside of Invitation Homes’ traditional leasing business. Prior to joining Invitation Homes, Mr. Mauk held a variety of roles in real estate investment and operations, including a specialty in golf course management and investment. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Notre Dame. Finally, two senior executives have been elevated to the company’s internal Executive Committee, which oversees all aspects of the company’s business, finances, operations, people, and culture.Peter DiLello, senior vice president, Investment Management Group, and Alicia MacPhee, senior vice president, Field Division-East, both join the Committee to bring their unique and extensive knowledge to the group. “We are pleased to recognize the strong contributions John, Paul, Peter, and Alicia have made to the company’s business,” said Dallas Tanner, president and chief executive officer of Invitation Homes. “As the nation’s premier home leasing company, we rely on the strength of our people, and we appreciate the value these executives have brought to our company’s leadership as well as to the systems, processes, and teams in their respective organizations.” About Invitation Homes Invitation Homes is the nation’s premier single-family home leasing company, meeting changing lifestyle demands by providing access to high-quality, updated homes with valued features such as close proximity to jobs and access to good schools. The company’s mission, “Together with you, we make a house a home,” reflects its commitment to providing homes where individuals and families can thrive and high-touch service that continuously enhances residents’ living experiences.

Alex Seehaver and Don Cameron

by admin
Comment Off
2,530 views

Going From “Putting Your Toe in the Water” to National Recognition Being named the HomeVestors® National Franchise of the Year for the fifth time over the last ten years is no small feat. Yet that is exactly what happened to Donald Cameron and Alex Seehaver of Hi-Land Properties, an independently owned and operated HomeVestors franchise headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. Hi-Land Properties is one of more than 1,100 independently owned and operated franchises in 176 markets nationwide. Since 2005, Hi-Land has purchased over 1,400 homes from local sellers. Donald Cameron bought his first of five franchises in 2005 after being introduced to Ken D’Angelo, the then owner and founder of HomeVestors of America. With a background in the construction industry, Don decided to “put his toe in the water” and begin to buy single-family properties. With a desire to grow the business, he chose HomeVestors because of their name recognition and the various tools they offered to their franchisees. Beginnings of the Dynamic Duo In 2008, Alex Seehaver joined Hi-Land Properties starting in the marketing side of the operation. As Alex describes it, “When I first joined Don, I did marketing, answered the phones, took out the trash…anything that had to be done for the good of the business.” Alex is now the Vice President of Hi-Land Properties. Alex’s background was in finance, but most importantly, Alex and Don both shared the entrepreneurial traits of hard work, integrity, discipline, and goal setting. Don credits his strict adherence to goal setting as a major factor in their rapid success. The team sets goals every year; they review the goals on a monthly and quarterly basis; and they also set quotas which are reviewed just as regularly. Combined with their absolute commitment to advertising and using the HomeVestors tools, they had a formula in place for expansion and success. Today, Hi-Land owns five franchises in Florida, covering the East Coast counties of Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Brevard, Volusia and Flagler as well as the West Coast counties of Collier, Lee and Charlotte. Seehaver serves as the Ad Council President for all of their East Coast territory. “This is not a job,” says Cameron. “I cannot even imagine retiring. This business has forced me to become more organized and focused. It also made me more compassionate and more empathetic with people who are less fortunate. When people are distraught over possibly losing their home, we pay them upfront, buy their house, and in some cases, afford sellers the opportunity to remain on the property post-closing if they desire a little more time to arrange for a move.” Present and Future Currently, Hi-Land Properties’ bread and butter is “fix and flip” because they have their own in-house general contracting firm to manage the renovations as well as their own real estate brokerage. Having these in-house capabilities allow them to take on more difficult properties that need complex work. They are also doing more wholesaling and are even buying properties with complex legal issues. They have found a niche in dealing with properties that have extensive code liens and also homes that have “fractional” ownerships such as when three people inherit a home, and not everyone wants to sell their share. Looking ahead to 2021, Alex and Don see several challenges facing the real estate market such as the ending of foreclosure moratoriums and forbearance programs as well as potential increases in interest rates. But they also see an opportunity to help more people. And while housing inventory is low, the “sell-side” of the industry is a lot easier. Their advice to new real estate investors: Start small. Be conservative. Follow the HomeVestors® system. HomeVestors What exactly does it mean to be a HomeVestors business owner? Owning a real estate business is life changing and naturally comes with risks! When you become a HomeVestors® business owner, you get immediate access to motivated seller leads, financing resources, one-on-one coaching with your local Development Agent, proprietary software for analyzing properties and deals, and access to a nationwide network of coaches and peers. Your house-buying business is yours and you run it as your own venture. If you are interested in a franchise, contact April Nealey at april.nealey@homevestors.com Each franchise office is independently owned and operated.

Leading the Way in the Leasing Lifestyle

by Carole VanSickle Ellis
Comment Off
642 views

Invitation Homes Continues to Leverage the Shift in American Thinking on Housing by Carole VanSickle Ellis Invitation Homes has an 80,000-home inventory spread across 16 U.S. markets, has been classified as an “all-weather” asset by market analysts at Seeking Alpha, and serves the increasingly large population of Americans who define “living life on their own terms,” in part, as participating in a leasing lifestyle. The company is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic and associated investor fears about rent collections and changing residential leasing policies with aplomb and, yes, profitability. And yet, the first thing CEO Dallas Tanner mentions in his interview for this story is how excited he is about the new smart-home technology features the company is making available to residents. “It’s one of the many innovations Invitation Homes is making to improve the experience of its customers during a time when Americans are increasingly seeking a flexible, easy lifestyle through renting versus owning. We are offering a product that centers around security and wellbeing,” Tanner said. Then, without further delay, he dove right into the opportunities Invitation Homes offers the roughly 34 percent of the renting population in the United States that currently rents a single-family home. “The market for single-family rentals has always existed, but no one has ever done it really well at the scale we are striving for,” Tanner elaborated. “For us, the focus is always, ‘How can we do this better? How can we push the opportunities and limits of what has traditionally defined leasing to create a lifestyle that people genuinely want to choose?’” Working Hard to Understand the Consumer When you think of Invitation Homes, you probably think “Wall Street real estate”. After all, the company is a REIT (real estate investment trust) that first emerged on the scene in 2012 after Tanner’s first investment company joined forces with The Blackstone Group. In that first year alone, the company purchased more than a quarter of the properties it holds today. In 2017, the company went public in the second-largest initial public offering (IPO) of a REIT in history. Today, it is considered one of the best all-weather stocks in the real estate sector thanks to an innovative blend of intensely focused customer service, strong operational procedures, a top-notch portfolio, and a committed team of professionals. The success of this integrated approach is borne out in the company’s quarterly metrics; despite the emergence of the global COVID-19 pandemic in March of last year, by August Bloomberg TV reported Invitation Homes’ rental revenue was performing around historic norms. At a time when many of the nation’s landlords and tenants were scrambling to keep afloat, Invitation Homes residents were, in large part, staying ahead of the game. Tanner was pleased that demand for his product was stronger than ever and that his residents were able to pay their rents, of course, but he was more interested in the why and how. True to form for Invitation Homes executives, he did not let the opportunity to conduct more customer satisfaction surveys and transactional interviews go to waste. In fact, by the beginning of August, he was ready to report on his findings and take the next steps in continuing to improve residents’ “leasing lifestyle”. “We have begun surveying residents…to learn more about how the pandemic may be influencing things about their housing decisions,” he told Bloomberg at the time, noting that about a third of move-ins said they were leaving dense urban areas to move into Invitation Homes’ largely suburban territories, and another third said that COVID-19 had “increased their desire to live in a single-family home versus an apartment or town home”. Paul Mauk, vice president of portfolio development at the company, was a founding member of the COVID-19 task force that Invitation Homes put together to respond to the crisis and to help residents and associates navigate the constantly changing health environment that began in early 2020. “We are a very cross-functional group,” Mauk recalled. “Early on, we met every day to really focus on what our residents and associates needed from us during that difficult time, and we still regularly touch base now to make sure we’re adjusting as the pandemic continues. It has been rewarding to see how our management team is laser-focused on the safety and well-being of our residents and our associates.” Because Mauk’s primary role within the company is to continue to propel the customer experience forward, his experience on the COVID task force also directly correlates to what Invitation Homes refers to as “the leasing lifestyle”. Despite relatively small market share (the Invitation Homes portfolio of roughly 80,000 properties equates to about one half of one percent of all single-family rental homes nationally), the company is significantly larger than other companies in the industry. Tanner and his team believe this means that the customer experience should always scale upward, and Mauk is a key player in that process. “We are always discussing how we can provide additional services to our residents thanks to our scale and massive capabilities that otherwise might not be as accessible or as affordable to a consumer,” Mauk said. “Our daily process involves figuring out the best way to enhance the residential experience for our residents. One example is smart-home technology that provides security for the property and the tenant and gives the resident the ability to remotely control their home temperature, door locks, etc.” The company also plans to begin offering a video doorbell component soon, and, in 2020, rolled out an air-filter delivery program in which each enrolled resident receives an air filter delivered to their home every 90 days. “This program provides better air quality both in and outside the home, benefitting the environment,” Mauk said. Invitation Homes also is currently working on pest control and landscaping service packages. Mauk noted that during the past year, Invitation Homes has retained more than 80 percent of its existing residents, an indication that the amenities of the leasing lifestyle are proving attractive and,