Stay informed with this November real estate news

Did your city make the list?

On October 20, the folks at wallethub.com released their study of “… more than 1,200 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000.”

They compared these small cities using what they feel indicates
livability.” Stuff like restaurants per capita, housing costs, crime rate and more.

Depending on where your real estate market falls on the list is either brilliant marketing fodder or something to ignore.

The study finds that Santa Barbara, CA is the small city with the highest housing costs and South Lake, TX with the lowest.

The five best small cities to live in:

Sammamish, WA
Lexington, MA
Carmel, IN
Needham, MA
Sugar Land, TX

The five worst small cities to live in:

Camden, NJ
Hot Springs, AR
North Miami, FL
Florence, SC
Lauderdale Lakes, FL

Instafarm

“If you can’t explain it simply …”

If you’ve been in the real estate industry for some time, you no doubt recall the Great Recession, when the housing market went sideways.

Overnight, real estate agents became “short sale experts” during a time when few even knew what the term meant.

It may be “déjà vu all over again,” at least according to some industry insiders. Luke Babich, at realtrends.com, claims that because lenders capitalize mortgage payment deferrals, “… adding these amounts to the balance owed,” home equity gets whittled down and “… could push troubled families into short selling.”

He adds that if the foreclosure rate spikes, when these homes hit the market they may drag down home prices.

His suggestion? Brush up on the foreclosure and short sale process by taking the classes (it’s actually a one-day session you can do online” leading to NAR’s short sale and foreclosure designation.

Or, you could just DIY it. There’s enough information online to help you out.

Position “… yourself as a distressed property specialist,” he suggests.

But only if you understand the process, we add.

Or, as Albert Einstein once claimed, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it.”

The “absolutely insane” demand for homes

November is the time when many people who hope to buy a home decide that they’ll not be able to buy until next year.

These buyers “… expect to do so going into 2021,” Glenn Kelman, Redfin’s CEO, recently told CNBC.

He expects the frenzy to remain in the market “… into 2021, at least.”

Since 2021 is only about two months away, we decided to look deeper into housing market forecasts.

Over at money.com, Brenda Richardson spoke with nine real estate industry experts and they all seem to agree that the frenzy will remain through the end of the year, at least.

Realtor.com’s chief economist, Danielle Hale describes the current market as “… undoubtedly a make-up period for the lost spring buying season,” and that pent-up demand “… will run its course.”

Despite that, she says, if mortgage rates remain low and millennials remain interested, we should sail through calm waters in early 2021.

Commercial agents: Here are the top 10 real estate markets for 2021

I learned a new real estate term this week: “18-hour cities.” I’d never heard it before, but then again, I worked in residential real estate so maybe that’s why.

James Chen, at Investopedia.com, describes 18-hour cities as “… mid-size cities with attractive amenities, higher-than-average population growth, and a lower cost of living and cost of doing business than the biggest urban areas.”

A joint study by PwC and the Urban Land Institute finds the following cities will continue to be the ones to watch in 2021.