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In this week’s cup of coffee, we take a look into one of Airbnb’s new ventures: a partnership that could aid natural disaster victims in Colorado by offering free housing for those in need. Also, weigh in on your thoughts about what Realtors should be required to disclose about a home, and the disastrous consequences to homeowners if they don’t. …read more

From:: Real Estate Wire

By Susanne Dwyer

Real estate has seen its share of innovation. Today, it’s on the cusp of momentous change as technology and time converge. The shift—concerning to many—was recently addressed at RISMedia’s Real Estate CEO Exchange, “Seizing the Day, Winning the Future,” putting to rest a question long lingering in the industry: Will the profession ever become obsolete?

The answer, according to Realogy Franchise Group President and CEO Alex Perriello, is a resounding no, because of the complex, multifaceted role real estate professionals play in transactions.

“The reason why we’re still relevant today, and will be, in my view, for the foreseeable future, is the amazing computing power of the human brain,” Perriello told the select 250 attendees of the event, held at the Harvard Club of New York City. “Imagine trying to program coordination, competency, compassion, commitment, collaboration, compromise, creativity, common sense and a touch of clairvoyance…it’s going to take decades for the code to be written for that. For the real estate professional to be disintermediated completely, the human species would have to make a fundamental change that they would rather rely on a robot than one another when making the biggest investment of their lives.”

Perriello, who opened the sold-out gathering with “The State of the Real Estate Union,” offered perspective with insight gained through his involvement in Realogy’s FWD Innovation Summit, which saw a record number of startup applicants in its last year—an experience that speaks to the rate at which technology advances.

“The pace of innovation is accelerating, almost at breakneck speed…and the millennials are the driving force behind most of this innovation,” Perriello said. “They’re not trying to put us out of business; they’re trying to design the future of how things will work, for themselves as consumers, as buyers and sellers of property, and also as real estate professionals.”

Shaping the future of real estate primarily are predictive analytics and team technology, as well as artificial intelligence and enhancements to “coming soon” marketing—innovations Perriello believes will augment, rather than replace, the services of a real estate professional.

“Companies and agents who’ve embraced technology and innovation will replace those who don’t embrace technology and innovation,” said Perriello. “The key is staying aware of it. Keep asking yourself, ‘Am I relevant to all the different constituents that I rely on?’”

Technology, Perriello added, is not the only agent of change real estate professionals should be aware of. Demographic trends, both in the housing market and in the industry, will also affect the sustainability of real estate as a business.

“Demographics…they don’t lie, and they’re very easy to predict,” said Perriello, referencing the significant percentage of real estate professionals closing in on retirement age. “When [real estate professionals aged 55-plus] retire, they become irrelevant to their people, at least as it as it relates to real estate. All of that business is going to go away. It’s important as leaders to not let something like this happen, because this you can predict.”

Requiring equal attention is the charge to represent the diversity in the marketplace.

“Are you in alignment …read more

From:: Real Estate News

By Susanne Dwyer

A total of 51,434 U.S. single family home and condo sales were completed flips in the second quarter of 2016, according to a new RealtyTrac Q2 2016 U.S. Home Flipping Report. These numbers are up 14 percent from the previous quarter and up 3 percent from a year ago to the highest number of home flips since Q2 2010 — a six-year high.

For the report, a home flip is defined as a property that is sold in an arms-length sale for the second time within a 12-month period based on publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions in more than 950 counties accounting for more than 80 percent of the U.S. Population.

Homes flipped in Q2 2016 accounted for 5.5 percent of all single family and condo sales during the quarter, down from 6.7 percent of all sales in the first quarter but up from 5.4 percent of all sales in Q2 2015.

A total of 39,775 investors (including both individuals and institutions) completed at least one home flip in Q2 2016, the highest number of home flippers since Q2 2007 — a nine-year high.

“Home flipping is becoming more accessible for smaller operators thanks to an increasingly competitive lending environment with more loan options for real estate investors, who are also benefitting from the historically low mortgage interest rates,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “That favorable lending environment for flippers has helped to fuel the recent flipping frenzy we’ve seen over the past five quarters.

“We’re starting to see home flipping hit some milestones not seen since prior to the financial crisis, which is somewhat concerning, but there are a couple of important differences in the home flipping of 2016 compared to 2006 when home flipping peaked during the last housing boom,” Blomquist continues. “First, home flippers are realizing a much bigger gross ROI in 2016, averaging 49 percent in the first two quarters compared to an average gross ROI of just 27 percent in 2006. Second, while an increasing number of flippers are financing their purchases, more than two-thirds are still using cash to purchase compared to about one-third using cash to purchase back in 2006.”

Of the 51,434 homes flipped in the second quarter, 68.3 percent were purchased with cash by the flipper, down from 71.1 percent in the previous quarter and down from 69.6 percent in Q2 2015 to the lowest level since Q3 2008 — a nearly eight-year low.

“The single family real estate sector is becoming more institutional, which means that more financing is available and more attractive,” says Varun V. Pathria, CEO at Asset Avenue, a company that provides investor rehab, bridge and rental loans. “The entrepreneurs are also becoming savvier and as a result are looking to leverage their capital more. There continues to be a fringe group of people who enter and exit the sector based upon opportunity and those people are hard to predict but generally look to take maximum leverage.”

Pathria noted that 79 percent of the rehab …read more

From:: Finance and Economy

By Susanne Dwyer

A total of 51,434 U.S. single family home and condo sales were completed flips in the second quarter of 2016, according to a new RealtyTrac Q2 2016 U.S. Home Flipping Report. These numbers are up 14 percent from the previous quarter and up 3 percent from a year ago to the highest number of home flips since Q2 2010 — a six-year high.

For the report, a home flip is defined as a property that is sold in an arms-length sale for the second time within a 12-month period based on publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions in more than 950 counties accounting for more than 80 percent of the U.S. Population.

Homes flipped in Q2 2016 accounted for 5.5 percent of all single family and condo sales during the quarter, down from 6.7 percent of all sales in the first quarter but up from 5.4 percent of all sales in Q2 2015.

A total of 39,775 investors (including both individuals and institutions) completed at least one home flip in Q2 2016, the highest number of home flippers since Q2 2007 — a nine-year high.

“Home flipping is becoming more accessible for smaller operators thanks to an increasingly competitive lending environment with more loan options for real estate investors, who are also benefitting from the historically low mortgage interest rates,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “That favorable lending environment for flippers has helped to fuel the recent flipping frenzy we’ve seen over the past five quarters.

“We’re starting to see home flipping hit some milestones not seen since prior to the financial crisis, which is somewhat concerning, but there are a couple of important differences in the home flipping of 2016 compared to 2006 when home flipping peaked during the last housing boom,” Blomquist continues. “First, home flippers are realizing a much bigger gross ROI in 2016, averaging 49 percent in the first two quarters compared to an average gross ROI of just 27 percent in 2006. Second, while an increasing number of flippers are financing their purchases, more than two-thirds are still using cash to purchase compared to about one-third using cash to purchase back in 2006.”

Of the 51,434 homes flipped in the second quarter, 68.3 percent were purchased with cash by the flipper, down from 71.1 percent in the previous quarter and down from 69.6 percent in Q2 2015 to the lowest level since Q3 2008 — a nearly eight-year low.

“The single family real estate sector is becoming more institutional, which means that more financing is available and more attractive,” says Varun V. Pathria, CEO at Asset Avenue, a company that provides investor rehab, bridge and rental loans. “The entrepreneurs are also becoming savvier and as a result are looking to leverage their capital more. There continues to be a fringe group of people who enter and exit the sector based upon opportunity and those people are hard to predict but generally look to take maximum leverage.”

Pathria noted that 79 percent of the rehab …read more

From:: Real Estate News