Are Lenders Justified in Being Wary of Modular Construction?

Any developer who has explored building a project modularly instead of on-site has likely run into trouble finding a lender to work with. In general, lenders are far less familiar with modular construction and therefore are hesitant to lend money for such projects despite the major benefits of projects being built faster and for less money. Compared to on-site construction, modular construction requires a lot of capital early on because both site work and modular building are happening simultaneously. Lenders are also wary of the risk involved in transporting the modules from the factory to the final site. For these reasons and more, lenders are not as willing to fund modular projects even though “modular construction could claim $130 billion worth of the combined U.S. and European construction markets by 2030.” Click here to read more about the lending climate for modular construction.

The Effects of Falling Mortgage Rates

“Lenders extended $700 billion of home loans in the July-to-September quarter, the most in 14 years, according to industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance,” as was reported in a recent Wall Street Journal article. The authors suggest that the spike in home loans is due to falling mortgage interest rates. Many homeowners have taken advantage of the low rates by refinancing their home loans. In addition, home sales have risen on an annual basis, but not as much as expected, possibly due to the lead time it takes to find and close on a home once someone has decided to take advantage of the low rates and actually buy a home. For more analysis on the causes and effects of falling mortgage rates, click here.

What Do Millionaires Say About Building Wealth Through Real Estate Investing?

Some of the most well-known millionaires (think Barbara Corcoran or Grant Cardone) of our day have accumulated wealth through real estate investing. And even those who accumulated wealth through other means insist that real estate investing is a great way to build wealth. Read exactly what they had to say here.

A New Type of Rental Investment

Roofstock, a California-based company founded in 2014, is offering people a new type of of investment opportunity in which accredited investors can buy partial ownership in single-family rental homes. Since the crash more than a decade ago, people have become more interested in owning rental properties, but that is often accompanied with many headaches being a landlord. Roofstock takes those headaches out of the equation by acting as the property manager and investors are able to enter the rental ownership market at a lower cost. To read more about this interesting idea, click here.

Boston's Housing Crisis Is Attracting Investors

Boston is facing a major housing crisis due to the lack of housing supply. Rents are on the rise not just in Boston, but in the suburbs around Boston as well and vacancy rates are around 3%. While it is a bad situation for renters in the area, investors from all around the country are looking to take advantage of the market by purchasing multifamily properties. To read more, click here.

The Low-Down on Pre-Fab Homes

With escalating costs associated with building on-site, we have decided to work with a modular home builder for our project in Chelsea, MA. But before making this decision, we spent a lot of time researching the pros and cons of shifting from on-site construction to this pre-fab option.

The US is far behind other countries in adopting this way of building, partly due to the stigma associated with “pre-fab” homes. However, the time and cost savings far outweigh this drawback. Take a look at this article to get the low-down on the various types of pre-fab homes and the benefits of each.

Is It a Good Idea to Invest in Rentals?

There is an interesting shift taking place in the real estate market as younger generations are unable to and less interested in buying homes compared to older generations. Take a quick read through this article to see why owning high-quality rentals is a good investment.

Cap Rates on the Rise

For all of my fellow real estate investors out there, you have probably noticed the same frustrating trend that I have with properties being marketed over the last few years. Every day, properties have been offered to the market with incredibly low cap rates and no potential for upside except unpredictable, hypothetical appreciation. For the majority of these properties it is impossible to make the numbers work for anyone other than large institutional investors or UHNWI looking to park money. In March of this year, CBRE and other real estate advisory firms were predicting that in 2018 we would begin to see a rise in Cap Rates.

Airbnb for Investors – Is it Better Than the Traditional Rental Model?

Airbnb is a remarkable success story, what started in 2007 with a few guys renting out air mattresses and serving breakfast to guests in their San Francisco apartment, has now grown into a $31 Billion tech company. Thanks to Airbnb, home sharing has become a widely accepted platform with many of its users opting to stay in an “Airbnb” over hotels when traveling. People enjoy the ability to have more space, a place to cook and maybe do laundry as well as gain a more local experience of being immersed in a neighborhood.

InvestingMax TaylorMay 24, 2018short term rentals, real estate, real estate investing

Top 5 Podcasts all Real Estate Investors Should Listen To

One of the most important aspects that all real estate investors and entrepreneurs should focus on is consistent improvement. One of the most surefire ways to guarantee consistent improvement is to be constantly learning new things. Believe it or not, some of the most accessible and in-depth knowledge on real estate investing can be consumed via podcasts. While you may find it difficult to find time to read, the beauty of podcasts is that they are versatile. You can easily turn on a podcast during your morning commute, while you’re on the treadmill at the gym or when you’re simply relaxing on the couch. Next time you have some free time to kill, consider listening to one of the podcasts below:

Investing, Personal DevelopmentGarrett HoganMay 16, 2018real estate investing, investing, podcast

5 Tips for Performing Due Diligence on a Small Scale Investment Property

Regardless of how you got started, congratulations on taking the giant leap into becoming a real estate investor! However, its critical not to get too excited yet as you are about to embark on the most important part of buying an investment property; performing the due diligence. Due diligence can be easily summed up as “doing your homework” on the property. During this process, you’ll want to investigate and inspect all the vital information that pertains to the property.

InvestingGarrett HoganMay 9, 2018real estate investing, investing

How To Evaluate a Market for Real Estate Investing

We’ve all heard that cliché saying in real estate, “location, location, location”. Despite it being over-used and often times written in all capitals on corny listing sheets, location is truly one of the most important components to real estate. Just as you would evaluate the numbers of an investment property, you must also evaluate the economics and demographics within the subject market itself. This blog article will outline some of the most important characteristics of choosing a market, and consider what makes a market desirable or undesirable for investors.

Market Evaluation, InvestingMax TaylorApril 11, 2018real estate, real estate investing, market

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