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HUD Publishes Proposed Fair-Market Rents for Section 8 for 2011

Dennis Norman

Annually, HUD determines “fair market rents” which become effective October 1st each year and are used to determine rent amounts under the Housing Choice Voucher program, Housing Assistance Payment Contracts, Moderate Rehab programs as well as other Section 8 programs.

Earlier this month HUD published in the Federal Register it’s proposed fair market rents

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Top 10 Cities to Rent vs Buy and Top 10 To Buy vs Rent

Dennis Norman

Last month I did an article, “Should You Rent Or Buy A Home?“, in which I discussed a survey that was done by the National Apartment Association which indicated 76 percent of consumers surveyed believed renting to be a better option than home ownership. Well, today Trulia released it’s new “Rent

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Is Home Ownership Losing It’s ‘Sizzle’?

New Survey Finds 76 Percent of Consumers now Believe Renting to Be a Better Option Over Homeownership

Advantages Cited Include Flexibility to Move to a Different Location with New Job Opportunities

Dennis Norman

Last month I did a post addressing housing affordability, the cost of renting versus owning a home, and whether the real estate

Continue reading… Is Home Ownership Losing It’s ‘Sizzle’?

Apartment Industry Seeing Improvement

Dennis Norman

The apartment market continues to rebound from the “Great Recession” according to the April 2010 Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions conducted by the National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC).

According to respondents to the survey, sales volume is up, debt and equity are more available and the rental markets are getting better. The survey

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Rental Vacancy Rates For First Quarter 2010 Up From a Year Ago

Dennis Norman

According to a report released earlier this week by the U.S. Census Bureau, rental vacancies for the first quarter of 2010 in the U.S. are almost 5 percent higher than they were a year ago.  The rental vacancy rate in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2010 was 10.6 percent, up from

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Survey Show's Tenants Want to be 'Greener'

Dennis Norman

Recently, Apartments.Com conducted a survey of it’s website website visitors across the country and found that the majority of apartment seekers want to live in an apartment community that caters to a sustainable lifestyle. According to the survey results, 89 percent of respondents said they would prefer to live in a “green” apartment

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'Great Recession' Challenges Apartment Industry

Dennis Norman

Every facet of the apartment industry was touched by the Great Recession in 2009, according to the NMHC 50, the National Multi Housing Council’s annual ranking of the 50 largest apartment owners and the 50 largest apartment managers.

“Apartment sales transaction volume plummeted,” noted Mark Obrinsky, NMHC Chief Economist. “Only $14 billion in properties

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Homes are affordable; Should you buy? Rent? Do home prices need to fall further?

Dennis Norman

I thought I would end the week by giving everyone something to dwell on and contemplate over the weekend. Actually, I set out this morning to do a post about the National Association of REALTORS(R) (NAR) Housing Affordability Index for February which was recently published. As I was reviewing the

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Investment-Home Sales Fell 15.9 Percent in 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a Survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), investment-home sales dropped 15.9 percent in 2009 to 940,000 sales from 1,120,000 in 2008. For comparison purposes, primary residence home sales rose 7.1 percent in the same period.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, “Investment buyers primarily seek rental income, with six

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How to avoid being a victim of a real estate or rental scam

Dennis Norman

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have published a report about common real estate scams and rental scams they are finding and how to avoid them. Like most scams there are warning signs and red flags that can help you avoid falling victim; knowing what to look

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Rental Housing Market Holding Up Well - At Least In the Lower Rent Ranges

Dennis Norman

Recently HUD published a report, “U.S. Rental Housing Characteristics: Supply, Vacancy, and Affordability“, which was packed with data about the rental housing market. The data in the report clearly illustrates that the rental market is holding up pretty well, at least in the lower rent price-ranges, while the for-sale housing market has been

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Rental Data and Resources for Property Managers

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Over the past two years home prices have dropped throughout the country, rather significantly in some areas. Falling prices have created opportunities for investors but have also created a challenge for landlords and property managers to keep up with changing rental markets. Logic would dictate that if home prices in any

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Property managers; fair housing laws protect people with disabilities too

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

When we speak of discrimination in housing it seems many people think of it only in terms of discrimination based upon race. However, landlords and property managers need to remember that the Federal Fair Housing Laws that make it illegal to discriminate in housing based upon race also make it illegal to discriminate

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FBI issues consumer alert warning of phony online rental ads

By: Dennis Norman

The FBI has issued a consumer alert warning of phony online rental ads. According to the alert, the scam goes like this:

You can’t believe your good fortune-you find a rental home in a nice area through a Craigslist classified ad at an unbelievably low rate. The landlord-who had to leave the country and

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Protection for tenants in foreclosed homes

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

One of the issues that has come to the surface over the past few months has been the effect on tenants when a home they are leasing is foreclosed upon.  In many instances the tenants are unaware of the financial trouble of the seller and sometimes their first indication of a

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