Norada Real Estate Investments

The Return of Real Estate – Fortune Magazine

by

This week’s issue of Fortune Magazine proclaims the “return of real estate”.  I didn’t think I would see an article like this from a mainstream publication so soon – especially from one of the most trusted financial magazines.  Could this mark the beginning of more good news to come?

“Forget stocks. Don’t bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing,” writes Shawn Tully.

The article covers five trends as justification for improvement in the real estate market:

  1. The steady decline in prices which has been going on nationally since 2005 has finally hit a level where it costs less to own a house than to rent in many cities.
  2. The supply of renters has increased sharply in the recent past, which has already begun to cause rapid increases in rental rates.
  3. Home builders have held back on building new homes for several years, creating the conditions for a shortage of new homes when demand goes up just a little bit.
  4. Investors, responding to the big demand for rental units, are rapidly buying down the overhang of foreclosed homes which has dogged the market.
  5. Finally, the U.S. economy seems to be on the path to improvement, although we still struggle with high unemployment and weaker-than-normal consumer spending.

[Read more…]

Why You Should Buy a Rental Property

by

It is an out-of-favor asset class that has attracted the attention of David Ackman, a hedge fund manager with a fondness for contrarian investments.  “The best investments we've made are the ones no one else would touch,” Ackman explains.  That's why he's so hot on Single Family Home Rental Property.  They are cheap, he says.  They are a buy.

Ackman argues that Single Family Home Rental Properties possess the identical investment attributes that strongly performing stocks typically possess.  Says Ackman:

We believe we've identified an investment with:

  1. A low valuation – The lowest valuation in at least a generation.
  2. Forced sellers – A large number of distressed transactions.
  3. Extremely attractive financing available – High loan-to-value, low-rate, fixed-rate, long-dated, non-recourse debt, pre-payable without penalty.
  4. Favorable long-term supply dynamics – Short-term oversupplied market, but long-term supply is controlled.
  5. Favorable long-term demand dynamics – Demographically driven demand growth.
  6. Out-of-favor – Currently, this is a somewhat shun asset class.

Ackman's bullish perspective flies in the face of the pervasive pessimism about home-buying. “Experts Say Housing is a Lousy Investment and it Always Will Be,” an August 2010 headline on Yahoo! Finance declared. “The US Housing Market is Headed for a Complete and Total Nightmare,” another financial news service predicted. And just last week, a CNNMoney.com headline warned: “Why Home Prices Could Fall Even More.”

[Read more…]

National Economic Outlook (February 2011)

by

Although the economy has officially been out of recession for quite some time, those aspects of economic behavior most important to the real estate markets, namely, jobs and borrowing, have remained stuck in the ditch.  The latest data suggest, however, that consumers will soon be spending more.  Jobs are growing at a faster clip, and consumers have done much repair to their personal finances.

Since the end of 2008, consumers have cut 10 percent off their credit card debt, a very large amount that gets them back to where they were before the real estate boom.  With finances at pre-boom levels, consumers will be buying things again, although more cautiously this time around.

Renewed spending is showing up in the retail sector, where jobs at clothing stores were up 4 percent over last year, and jobs at restaurants were up 2 percent.

[Read more…]

Ben Bernanke: "Dumbass of the Decade?"

by

Ben Bernanke, "Time Magazine’s Man of the Year".

How about “Dumbass of the Decade?”

You just can’t make this stuff up! This choice by Time Magazine displays the collusion between the government and the main stream media. Bernanke as "Person of the Year" is almost as bad as President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

I believe in the next year or so it will become apparent to all the "sheeple" out there, who just gobble up all the BS from the main stream media as the truth, that Ben Bernanke is actually "Dumbass of the Decade" instead of "Man of the Year" when everyone realizes what he actually did with our money. The only true way to find out what he did is to audit the Fed. Unfortunately, if the Fed were audited today we would probably have another stock market crash when everyone realizes where all the money went to.

The Dumbass Bernanke Timeline:

[Read more…]

The U.S. Housing Market's False Bottom

by

Existing home sales surprised the markets by rising 7.4% to an annual rate of 6.54 million units in November, the highest since February 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That's only 10% below the all-time peak in 2005.

What's more is that house prices, as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index, rose for the fourth consecutive month in September before stabilizing in October when prices were flat.

The NAR is inevitably convinced that the worst is over and that housing is due for a rapid recovery, and that home prices will take out 2006's peaks some time in 2011 or 2012.

Not so fast, guys!

The recovery in housing has been boosted by just about every artificial means imaginable:

Of course it looks like the housing market has recovered! The question is what happens when some of these subsidies are taken away?   [Read more…]

The U.S. Housing Market's False Dawn

by

Is the U.S. housing market truly at a turning point, as seem to increasingly believe? Or is this actually a false dawn, meaning that there are problems ahead for those who turned bullish too soon?

New home sales jumped almost 10% in July, while the Case-Shiller home price index rose for the second successive month. Yet luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers lost $493 million in the quarter ending July 31, considerably worse than analysts had expected.

Housing stocks are certainly acting as if a recovery must be on the way. Pulte Homes Inc. has more than doubled from its low. Toll Brothers Inc. is up around 70% from its bottom. D.R. Horton Enterprises is up almost four times from its bottom. Lennar Corp. is up about 4.5 times from its low. Finally, Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. is up almost tenfold from its low after a flirtation with bankruptcy. Yet all of these companies are still racking up quarterly losses, according to their most recent earnings reports.

In terms of house prices, it would seem unlikely that a bear market bottom has been reached. Yes, the average house price is now back down around its long-term average of about 3.2 times average earnings, or only a little above it. But history suggests that markets don’t bottom at their average valuation: In fact, after such a huge excess to the upside, they overshoot on the downside.

[Read more…]

Real Estate Needs Inflation

by

In the past 36 months Real Estate has seen a decrease in its average mean value, depending on your metro area, an average of 12 to 32 percent.  This is referred to as deflation (in economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services). Deflation is not necessarily bad for everyone, especially for new market buyers that need a more affordable housing price in order to purchase.

Ultimately, a stable market economy strives for price stability.  In Real Estate this is usually meeting or slightly beating the United States inflationary rate (the opposite of deflation and normally measured with the use of a publicly posted index called the Consumer Price Index).  A stable Real Estate market typically lasts many years and almost always follows a Real Estate Recession.  In fact the bulk of years within the seven to ten year cycles, represent a stable Real Estate Market.  Therefore, 80 percent or more of the historical annual appreciation in real estate has valuation increases at or just above inflation.

For those of you who are business people, you likely seek investments that are stable, predictable, and going up in value each year.  The conservative investor should consider buying during Real Estate market cycles that hold a stable future with somewhat predictable results (i.e. less speculative).  Such a market is likely to exist for the next 5 years.  For those of you sitting on the sidelines wondering when to enter this market, it is time for you to jump in, prior to any inflation, and thereby purchasing at the bottom.  Anyone who classifies themselves as a conservative low risk should certainly enter the market right now.

What about HYPERINFLATION?

[Read more…]

2009 Recession Ends – The Road to Real Estate Recovery

by

All economists and our financial markets are betting on this quarter to produce positive GDP.  Positive GDP marks the ending of the recession. Unfortunately with low wages and high unemployment the consumer will feel less positive over the next year. Still we are marking an end to the worst recession since the Great Depression and everyone should be pleased with this.

Road to REAL ESTATE RECOVERY

Now let's talk about real estate and recovery; The regional markets that had received the highest historical appreciation rates during 2003 to 2006 also had some of the largest price adjustments over the past 36 months. States that had these incredible high real estate returns, like California and Florida, have also seen the highest incidents of foreclosures. Logic would dictate that these markets will bounce back the fastest, but unfortunately they too will recover slowly as will the rest of the nation. An economic recession takes time to unwind and buyer exuberance usually only occurs once the entire nation is certain that the real estate market can only have one trend, up.

The psychology of man dictates that a deep recession brings about caution for some time to come (probably a few years). The States that had some of the highest swings will once again have the highest appreciation. Still it is best not to hold your breath for this in areas like California and Florida until old wounds heal (likely a few more years). In the meantime, recovery is with us. Recovery means price declines stop and appreciation kicks in. We are already seeing this in the hardest hit areas with homes priced at or around mean home pricing.

The June 2009 numbers just came out for pending home sales. We had the FIFTH STRAIGHT MONTH of pending home sales increases (up 3.6% month to month) and over a 6% increase compared to June 2008. Real estate, like any form of investment, has cyclical patterns that are dependent upon supply and demand. Optimism will once again kick in and sellers, buyers, developers all become happy over time.

[Read more…]

Fed Slashes Key Interest Rate to 1 Percent

by

In an effort to revive the economy the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate today but a half-point (0.5%). This lowers the rate to 1 percent – the lowest rate since 2003-2004. The last time the federal funds rate was lower than 1 percent was during the Eisenhower administration in 1958.

Today’s interest rate cut was the second half-point cut this month. The last one on October 8, 2008 was in a coordinated move with foreign central banks.

This year’s economic weakness has created huge declines in the price of oil and other commodities. While many economists believe the country is in a recession, they also believe the recent rate cuts and other aggressive actions by the Fed will help prevent a prolonged downturn and help unfreeze the credit markets.

If these aggressive moves by the federal government are successful in thawing the credit markets, it will be great news for real estate investors who are having difficulty financing their real estate investments.

Bailout Voted Down – Money Stays Tight

by

The bill designed to rescue the nation's troubled financial system was voted down today in a stunning vote of 228 to 205.

The rejected bailout shocked the capital and worldwide markets even after warnings from President Bush and congressional leaders that the economy could continue to suffer and possibly nosedive if not passed soon.

The stock market plunged even before the vote to reject the bill was officially announced on the House floor.  The decline for the day surpassed the 721-point previous record on the day after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.  In percentage terms it was well short of the drops on Black Monday in October 1987 and at the start of the Great Depression.

Although we as a country will work our way out of this financial mess, credit will continue to stay tight in the meantime.  Conventional and “A” paper loans are still available to borrowers with good credit, but don’t expect to find many options if you are looking for a sub-prime loan or have poor credit.

Let’s continue to stay glued to our TV’s and radios and watch the drama unfold…

Blog Posts

Contact

Norada Real Estate Investments 30251 Golden Lantern, Suite E-261 Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

(949) 218-6668
(800) 611-3060
BBB