Home Improvements Push Residential Construction Spending Up

By Susanne Dwyer

NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending for July registered a seasonally adjusted rate of $445.5 billion, slightly up from the June downwardly revised estimate.

The monthly gains are largely attributed to the strong growth of private construction spending on home improvements that rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $147.5 billion in July, up by 1.5 percent since last month. Meanwhile, spending on single-family and multifamily both declined in July. Single-family spending edged down to $238.1 billion in July, down 0.2 percent over the revised June estimate. After hitting the record-breaking highs earlier this year, multifamily spending decreased to $59.8 billion, down by 0.6 percent since June. On an annual basis, however, multifamily spending increased by 19.8 percent. Single-family spending was also 1.7 percent higher since July 2015.

The NAHB construction spending index shows the strong growth in new multifamily construction since 2010, while new single-family construction and home improvements spending have drifted upward at a more modest pace. NAHB anticipates growth for new single-family spending over the rest of 2016, consistent with the modest rise in single-family starts.

The pace of private nonresidential construction spending rose 1.7 percent on a monthly basis, and was 7.1 percent higher than the July 2015 estimate. The largest contribution to this year-over-year nonresidential spending gain was made by the class of office (30.3 percent increase), followed by lodging (28.0 percent increase) and commercial (13.5 percent increase).

This post was originally published on NAHB’s blog, Eye on Housing.

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From:: Real Estate News

ECB’s QE bond buying hits €1 trillion milestone

The European Central Bank’s quantitative easing program passed a milestone last week, topping 1 trillion euros in purchases after 18 months of aggressive bond buying. ECB figures for the week ended Sept. 2 show the central bank has now bought €1,001 billion in sovereign debt. The bank is using a so-called “capital key” to determine how many bonds from each countries it should buy, with the amount proportional to a member state’s gross domestic product. As of the end of August, the ECB has bought €238 billion in German Bunds, €189 billion in French government paper and €164 billion in Italian bonds since March 2015. The central bank announced its QE program in January 2015 in an effort to boost growth and inflation across the eurozone. Inflation in the bloc is currently at 0.2%, well below the ECB’s target of close to 2%, which has prompted heavy debate among economists as to whether the purchases are working as intended. The bank’s policy makers are scheduled to hold their regular meeting on Thursday, and expectations are mixed: Some analysts expect the ECB to extend the run of the QE program beyond March 2017, while others expect the bank to wait until later in the year before acting, in order to have a better understanding of the Brexit fallout.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Saudi Arabia, Russia agree to cooperate on oil market: reports

Saudi Arabia and Russia on Monday agreed to cooperate on a bid to stabilize the struggling energy market, according to media reports. In a statement at the Group of 20 meeting in China, the world’s two largest oil producers said they will set up a working group to monitor the oil market and come up with recommendations to promote stability, according to the report. The countries recognize the need to contain the supply glut that has caused oil prices to fall from above $100 two years ago to below $30 earlier this year, according to Interfax. Saudi energy minister Khalid A. Al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak will meet in Algeria in October and in Vienna in November to discuss how to cooperate under the new agreement. Oil prices trimmed earlier sharp gains as the two oil producers failed to meet market expectations they would agree on an output cap. Crude oil was up 2.9% at $45.72 a barrel, while Brent rose 3.5% to $48.49 a barrel.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Finding Continued Success through Lead Generation

By Susanne Dwyer

Amanda_Todd

In this interview Amanda Todd, Founder & CEO, The Amanda Todd Group – Keller Williams Realty in Roseville, Calif., talks about how she grew her business from $15 to $50 million over the past year.

Years in real estate: 2
Number of offices: 1, while in the process of expanding to several more
Number of agents: 11
One thing people don’t know about you: I’m currently listing one of the most expensive homes that’s ever been built.

Your business is reported to be up significantly this past year, increasing from $15 million to $50 million. What is driving you to work this hard?
I started out as a single agent and was blessed with a tremendous amount of success, so I wanted to provide and facilitate a platform to help other agents achieve the level of success I’ve seen. This naturally morphed into me starting my own team.

What kind of prospecting and lead generation do you do to grow this quickly?
Achieving significant growth so quickly begins with training agents in a small group setting so that they can learn to do the business well. I also encourage agents to shadow others who have had success with contacting and converting leads. In the end though, it all comes down to hiring the right people. The right people will not only be motivated and driven to do well, they’ll also do more and be better at it.

How does your branding and social marketing fit into your lead generation and success?
Branding and social marketing play a large role, and because of that, we do social marketing for each of our listings to truly create brand recognition. We create the materials for our agents and also take advantage of Facebook’s targeted ads to get our properties in front of the right people. Social marketing is a key part of our strategy for our team listings that I generate, as well.

Are the leads you have coming in typically ready to hear from a real estate professional as soon as they’re received?
I have used multiple lead-generation platforms, including Zillow, Trulia, Facebook, etc., but the leads I get from realtor.com® are hands down the highest quality leads I get. And for the most part, the leads from realtor.com® are ready to hear from a real estate professional. While many think we’re the listing agent once we begin communicating, we’re happy to explain that we’re not the listing agent, but we can get them into the property just like a listing agent can.

How do you convert the ‘stranger’ who submits a lead into a customer who trusts you and will work with you?
The key here is to respond quickly. Once you’ve done that, it’s all about getting face-to-face with them as soon as possible. Then you’re able to build rapport and turn them into your client.

Is it hard to start up a lead-oriented business? How many leads should you be looking to get to make a successful program?
It all depends on how much marketing capital you have. It’s also critical that you have …read more

From:: Real Estate News

Elon Musk says Tesla on ‘razor’s edge of achieving a good Q3’ in leaked email

Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk asked employees to step up productivity and profitability before the end of the quarter this week in an email obtained by Bloomberg News. Tesla said in a recent filing that it expects to seek more funding from Wall Street after a stock offering earlier this year and despite loads of debt for both the electric car maker and a current acquisition target, SolarCity Corp., and Musk said he wanted to take a strong quarter to Wall Street. “The third quarter will be our last chance to show investors that Tesla can be at least slightly positive cash flow and profitable before the Model 3 reaches full production,” Musk said in the Monday email, which Tesla confirmed as authentic to Bloomberg. Musk described the quarter as “critical,” and said Tesla is “on the razor’s edge of achieving a good Q3, but it requires building and delivering every car we possibly can, while simultaneously trimming any cost that isn’t critical, at least for the next 4.5 weeks.” Tesla stock gained 0.3% in after-hours trading after falling more than 10% for the week.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Appraisal Integrations and Acquisitions

Appraisal service providers have been enhancing their offerings through integrations, though at least two have turned to acquisitions to improve options for their lender clients.

Last month, Oklahoma City-based Mercury Network announce that it reached an agreement to acquire Platinum Data, a provider of valuation data and analytics solutions.

The seeds for the acquisition of Aliso Viejo, California-based Platinum were planted in January 2015 when the two firms entered into a partnership to offer an integrated solution.


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From:: Financing

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall: Trade-ins, gift cards offered in U.S.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. officially announced Friday afternoon that it will launch a U.S. exchange program for its latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, offering trade-ins for a new Note or other Samsung devices, as well as a $25 gift card for some customers who have already purchased a Note. The Korean tech giant launched a global recall of the devices after allegations of batteries exploding while charging, a problem that has also afflicted a range of other gadgets. Samsung said that owners of the new Galaxy Note could trade it in for a new Note or for one of the Galaxy smartphones Samsung released earlier in the year, the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, with the difference in price refunded to the user. Samsung also said that customers of select wireless carriers would receive a $25 gift card. Samsung asked customers to return the device to the retail outlet from whence it was purchased or to call 1-800-SAMSUNG to initiate the transaction.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

Relief Arrives for Rising CMBS Delinquency

After deteriorating for five consecutive months, the rate of past-due payments on securitized commercial real estate loans has finally retreated.

Each month from March of this year through July, the 30-day delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities has moved higher.

But the deteriorating trend has now been broken, with the rate of 30-day CMBS delinquency moving lower as of August to 4.68 percent.


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From:: Financing

U.S. stocks end higher after payroll report

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, boosted after a weaker-than-expected payroll report was seen as diminishing the likelihood of an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 [S: SPX] rose 9.1 points, or 0.4%, to 2,179.96, with the energy sector among the strongest of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average [S: DJIA] rose 72.2 points, or 0.4%, to 18,491.52, with Apple Inc. [S: AAPL] and Boeing Co. [S: BA] the day’s biggest outperformers. The Nasdaq Composite Index [S: COMP] rose 22.69 points, or 0.4%, to 5,249.9. For the week, both the Dow and the S&P rose 0.5% while the Nasdaq ended with a gain of 0.6%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News

‘Star Wars’ toys available for pre-order on Amazon ahead of ‘Rogue One’ launch

Amazon.com Inc. said Friday that it is making toys including Hasbro Inc.’s “Star Wars” Rebel U-Wing Fighter Set available for pre-order, part of a monthlong event leading up to the release of new toys tied to the Walt Disney Co. film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Between Sept. 2 and Sept. 30, Amazon will also feature promotions on “Star Wars” products and exclusive deals and merchandise tied to the “Star Wars” franchise. Amazon shares are up 0.3% in Friday trading, and up 51.4% for the last 12 months. The S&P 500 Index is up 11.9% for the past year.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News