Investor Intelligence

Investor Nation Featured on Real Estate Guys Radio

Ryan Hinricher — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:57:17 +0000

Investor Nation was recently featured on the Real Estate Guys Radio for its Blue-chip real estate investment strategy. The Real Estate Guys have the #1 iTunes Podcast for real estate investment and featured Donald Trump just 2 weeks earlier.

Want to listen to the interview? Click here!

Memphis Ranked 3rd in 2011 Hiring:

Ryan Hinricher — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:22:57 +0000

A recent Gallup survey placed Memphis in line with San Antonio and Houston, TX in hiring for 2011. The survey showed that 38% of employers in each of the mentioned cities were hiring. At the bottom were Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, Virginia Beach, VA, and Las Vegas, NV with 23% of employers letting go of employees.

Florida Population to Boom Again:

Ryan Hinricher — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:52:09 +0000

According to a recent study by Woods & Poole Economics show Florida population poised for substantial increases again. Many counties are expected to see population growth exceeding 10% in 2012-2016. Of the counties expected to see the biggest increases Osceola (Orlando), Lake (Orlando), Pasco (Tampa), Hernando (Tampa), and Citrus (Tampa) are all near the I-4 corridor that stretches from Tampa to Daytona Beach.

Orange and Seminole Counties, also in the Orlando area are expected to see 7-9% growth while Polk and Volusia should see 4-6% growth. This means we’ll continue to see rapid growth along the I-4 corridor, especially between Orlando and Tampa.

Florida Unemployment Hits Three-Year Low

Ryan Hinricher — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:04:17 +0000

Despite remaining higher than the national average in unemployment, the State of Florida’s unemployment rate has dropped to 9.4% vs. the national average of 8.7%. In the last 12 months the state as added 72,300 new jobs ranking 4th in overall job growth.

Approximately 50% of those jobs have been added in the Central Florida (Orlando) area.

Memphis Tops List of Best Cities to Find a Job in March

Ryan Hinricher — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:51:41 +0000

According to Careercast.com, Memphis, TN topped their list of the best cities to find a job in March. The firm takes the number of new job openings in a metro area and divides it by the population. In Memphis, the number of new openings was up 14% from the prior month.

Other cities topping the list included: St. Louis (+13%), Tampa (+12%), L.A. (+10%), Miami (+10%), and Nashville (+10%). At the bottom stood, Detroit (-7%), Milwaukee (-5%), and Cleveland (-3%).

FL Gov. Sign Billion Dollar Business Incentive Deal

Ryan Hinricher — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:42:46 +0000

Former CEO, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida officially signed an economic deal that offers businesses $1 billion in tax cuts over the next 3 years. Included are cuts in the unemployment tax and corporate tax rates aimed to encourage businesses to hire as well as make the state more competitive for business expansion.

“If we want employers to hire more people, we’ve got to think like they do,” said Scott, a former CEO. “We’ve got to keep their costs as low as they can. We’ve got to make sure that we’re more competitive than any jurisdiction in the world.”

While unemployment remains high at 9.6% in the state, the housing market is starting to show signs of life. In Orlando inventory has declined from 15,000 homes last year to just over 9,000 today. Fewer homes are coming on the market and population growth is trending up in the city and overall in Florida.

With the state being pro-business, and a decline in housing inventory, home prices are certain to come back.

Orlando Inventory Continues to Drop – 40% in Last Year

Ryan Hinricher — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:59:44 +0000

The Orlando MSA saw a continued drop in homes on the market over the last few months. Inventory now stands at just over 9,000 homes representing roughly a 5-month supply. However homes in the $100,000-200,000 range exist in less than a 3-month supply. Bidding wars in this price range are becoming frequent.

If you have interest in the Florida market, please contact us. Investor Nation offers a great program to help investors acquire, improve, and lease investment property in the Orlando MSA.

Supply of New US Homes at Lowest in Six Years

Ryan Hinricher — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:22:06 +0000

The month supply of new homes in the US fell to its lowest in six years as new homes sales continue a slow upward trend. The seasonally-adjusted annual pace of new home sales in January was 321,000. While down slightly from December’s 324,000 the number is over December’s preliminary of 307,000 (which was adjusted up at the time of January’s release).

The month’s supply has slid to 5.6 months showing that new home sales are trending up (slowly). A healthy market is typically 6 months supply or less and while I think the current pace is slow, for the environment it is positive news. This should be good news as well for investors who buy high quality existing SFR as they are the next best thing a potential buyer could acquire.

A colleague over at Barclay’s shared this chart that explains it best:

Orlando MSA Logs 12% Rise in Median Price in December

Ryan Hinricher — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:42:53 +0000

According to the Orlando Realtors Association, the median price of homes rose 12% in December 2012 over December 2011. Excluding distressed sales, the median price in was $159,000. The cumulative median price for all of 2011 was $109,900 which is higher than 2010′s $108,500.

Other numbers to note from the Realtors year-end report:

Foreclosure sales were down over 56% in 2011 as the foreclosure pipeline starts winding down
Total sales were down in 2011 to 34,670 from 2010′s 35,140, a decline of 1.34%. This decline is low considering no home buyer tax credit existed in 2011.
Short sales account for 75% of all pending contracts
Inventory is down 35% from December of last year
Current supply stands at 4.58 months versus about 6 months last year at year end.
Normal sales were up 12% in 2011, Short sales were up 21%, while bank-owned were down 27%

I anticipate in 2012 we’ll total sales eclipse 2011 by 10% or more in the MSA as there will be no tax credit year to compare it to. Also short sale inventory will reduce in 2012 and normal sales will again drive the market. Construction is a wild card in the area. In my community 30 new units have been built in the last 6 months with more being built spec now. If one drives the MSA, there is dirt being turned over nearly everywhere in the shape of new infrastructure such as utilities and roads. 2012 will be a game of inventory in the Orlando MSA as Wall Street bets on housing as an asset class.

Goldman Sachs Calls Bottom in U.S. Housing Market

Ryan Hinricher — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:38:55 +0000

Analysts for Goldman Sachs Hui Shan and Sven Jari Stehn predict that the U.S. housing market will reach a bottom in the second half of this year. The analyst built a model that considers equilibrium home prices for each of 147 metropolitan statistical areas. Data points include population, income, lending costs, and construction costs. Also factored are the number of subprime loans in markets as well as excess supply of homes.

Among the best performers include Miami, Detroit, and Cleveland. Among the worst performers are Atlanta and Portland with projected 8% and 6% declines respectively.