Real Estate Franchise Businesses

October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As the real estate markets begin to heal franchise businesses are becoming more attractive.

FranFinders an Atlanta franchise consulting company has seen an increase in interest for real estate related franchises.

“From home staging franchises to home inspection franchises we are seeing a considerable amount of activity from interested franchisees” said Rob Bennett of FranFinders.com.  “We won’t go as far as saying we’re at a bottom real estate but it is surely a sign that things are improving for the category”.

There are plenty of real estate franchises to choose from for would be business owners.  Go take a look at FranFinders real estate franchise section.

Filed Under: News

Home Builders Brace For A Tough 2010

January 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
International Builder Show

The 2010 International Builders' Show (R) | January 19-22, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV

The weak credit availablity and low demand will make 2010 another rocky road for many home builders.  This article details the issues centering on the Home Builder Expo in Las Vegas this month: Home Builders 2010.

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New Home Sales Fall 11%, Proof Housing Has A Ways To Go Before Recovery

December 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

November new home sales suprised everyone on Wednesday. Most experts felt housing was on a rebound until today’s figures wipped out most all of the gains made through 2009.  For the full story November new home sales sink 11 percent.

Filed Under: News

Google.org PowerMeter, Watch Your Electricity in Real Time

December 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Google.org has released PowerMeter, a real time application for consumers to participate in monitoring their energy consumption.  The application is free for consumers with “smart meters” already installed.

Google PowerMeter

Google PowerMeter

Per google.org website:

Consumers should have access to data on their personal electricity use, control who gets to see this data and choose from a range of services to help them understand and benefit from this data.

Access
See your electricity use from any Google Powermeter enabled device.

Learn
Understand more about how you use electricity throughout the day.

Save
Reduce your electricity use and lower your monthly bills.

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25 Best And Worst Housing Markets In America

February 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Forbes and Moody’s has published 25 of the best and worst housing markets in America.

Data was provided by Moody’s Economy.com. It looked at metro areas with populations over 500,000 to find those farthest from recovery. The firm prepared forecasts through 2011 and compared them to prices in the second quarter of 2008, the latest figures available, to calculate how far prices will likely fall before reaching bottom. The percent figures are for drop in prices between second quarter 2008 (latest figures available) and the projected bottom. Cities are listed by percent-change to bottom.

Top 5 Best Markets:

McAllen, Texas
Population: 784,900
Bottom expected: N/A
Forecast price change to bottom: 0%

Syracuse, N.Y.
Population: 647,200
Bottom expected: N/A
Forecast price change to bottom: 0%

Pittsburgh, Pa.
Population: 2,346,800
Bottom expected: end 2009
Forecast price change to bottom: -0.3%

Buffalo, N.Y.
Population: 1,118,100
Bottom expected: mid-2010
Forecast price change to bottom: -1.0%

El Paso, Texas
Population: 795,800
Bottom expected: mid-2010
Forecast price change to bottom: -1.0%

5 Worst Markets:

Las Vegas, Nev
Population: 2,053,700
When will the bottom be reached?: end of 2009
Forecast price change to bottom: -42.6%

Miami, Fla.
Population: 2,463,700
When will the bottom be reached?: late 2010
Forecast price change to bottom: -42.5%

Miami, Fla.
Population: 2,463,700
When will the bottom be reached?: late 2010
Forecast price change to bottom: -42.5%

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Population: 1,781,200
When will the bottom be reached?: mid-2010
Forecast price change to bottom: -36.6%

Provo, Utah
Population: 530,800
When will the bottom be reached?: mid-2011
Forecast price change to bottom: -33.9%

Top 25 Best Housing Markets

Top 25 Weakest Housing Markets

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Housing Economic Stats

December 27, 2007 By Leave a Comment

For the hardcore housing stat junkie.  The NAHB Housing Economics website gives up to date information on:
• Housing Starts
• Building Permits
• New Sales
• Existing Sales
• Mortgage Rates
• Home Prices
• Annual Building Permits numbers by Metro Areas (1980-2005)
• Annual Employment numbers by Metro Areas (1990-2006)
• Annual Housing Starts (1978-2006)
• Annual Population by Metro Areas (1980-2005)
• Demographics, Personal Income and Consumer Confidence
• Employment Indicators and Industrial Production
• Housing Starts and Building Permits, Not Seasonally Adjusted
• Housing Starts by Structure Type
• Inflation Indicators
• Multifamily Starts by Intended Use and Design
• New Homes Sold and For Sale by Stage of Construction
• Producer Price Index for Selected Building Materials
• Residential Remodeling
• Single Family Starts by Intended Use and Design
• Units Under Construction and Completed
• Value of New Construction
• Monthly Calendar for Key Data Releases
• Release Dates for Economic and Housing Data
This is a great resource for home builders and consumers alike.

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Top Five Reasons Why Now Is the Best Time to Build a New Home

December 27, 2007 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve been thinking of building a new home, today’s housing environment offers many reasons why now is the best time ever to do so.  Simple “supply and demand” market forces make today one of the best times to build.

  1. Land Availability – The land rush is over, with demand normalizing prices are dropping and less competition for desirable parcels
  2. Builders Are Available – More homebuilders are on the sidelines waiting for housing to recover.  SPEC homes are more risky for them today due to housing demand.  Today more are entertaining custom homes to offset capital risk letting the customer carry the note.
  3. Mortgage Rates – Mortgage rates are still very attractive today.  Brokers and lenders have more time to service your loan origination with less business.
  4. Material Costs / Availability – less demand from large homebuilders mean supply has built up.  Prices are dropping to move supply.
  5. More Access to Capital – Banks and lenders are getting into the construction loan and lot loan business at a record pace to find supplemental offerings to replace sub prime revenue.

Bottom line – for those considering a construction project, excluding hot market areas, service will be better and prices will be lower.

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More evidence that now is the BEST time to build a home.

December 27, 2007 By Leave a Comment

As a follow up to Top Five Reasons Why Now Is the Best Time To Build A New Home the Wall Street Journal has written an article of the current state of the home building and remodeling business.

The Upside to the Downturn

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07′ – A Year of Stabilization For The Building Industry

December 27, 2007 By Leave a Comment

As stated in ”Top Reasons To Build Today” the housing industry is going through a correction phase.  2007 will be a year of normalization for the building industry with 2008 showing signs of growth.  Here’s a great article from NAHB broken down by region ”2007 Will Be A Year Of Transition For Most State Housing Markets”.

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Latest Construction Spending Data Shows Continued Slowdown

December 1, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Slowing to a snail’s pace, construction spending continues to fall.  This fact will have some effects on the overall economy at some point.

“Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $863.2 billion, 1.4 percent below the revised September estimate of $875.2 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $503.7 billion in October, 2.0 percent below the revised September estimate of $514.2 billion.” See the full release Construction Spending Report Oct. 2007.

Filed Under: News
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