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The Vacant Property Problem

Vacant properties are not just eyesores, they pose a real threat to public safety. When not properly secured, vacant properties, especially in distressed areas, attract criminal activity. Drug and theft calls to the police are more than double in neighborhoods with abandoned buildings.

Another threat to public safety results from fires in vacant buildings. Arson and accidental fires in vacant structures cause numerous deaths and injuries and cost millions of dollars in property damage annually. Fires in vacant properties unnecessarily put the public and firefighters at risk.

Homeowners also pay the price

Homeowners in communities with vacant properties are negatively impacted financially. Studies reveal that property values are decreased in neighborhoods with vacant properties. In addition to plunging property values, homes in close proximity to abandoned properties often times have higher insurance premiums. Higher premiums are assessed due to the risks associated with abandoned properties.

Steel Door and Window Guards Stop Break-ins

A vacant property not properly secured only exasperates these problems. In distressed neighborhoods, the only sure way to stop break-ins and reduce crime is with DAWGS steel door and window guards. DAWGS recently surveyed Property Investors, Rehabbers and Real Estate Professionals who have used steel door and windows guards to secure their vacant properties. These property stakeholders agreed that steel is most effective material when it comes to safeguarding a vacant property in distressed neighborhoods.

 

 

 

Once the market starts to rebound, investing in real property also becomes a more appealing idea — either as a career or a great side job. Like any other endeavor, though, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

Bankrate spoke with established, full-time real estate investors and with professionals, such as bankers, to identify the types of traps into which real estate investors most often fall.

10 Real Estate Investor Mistakes

1. Planning as you go
2. Thinking you’ll “get rich quick
3. Playing Lone Ranger
4. Paying too much
5. Skipping homework
6. Ducking due diligence
7. Misjudging cash flow
8. Lowering the volume
9. Painting yourself into a corner
10. Miscalculating estimates

Read Full Article [Source: www.bankrate.com]

This past January, PropertyShark’s annual foreclosure report revealed that New York City saw a year-over-year increase in foreclosed homes scheduled for auction of 58 percent and year-over-year foreclosure increases in every borough except Manhattan. Now PropertyShark has released their Residential Foreclosure Report for Q1 2018, and those trends toward higher foreclosure rates seem to be continuing in the new year.

PropertyShark’s foreclosure report for last year revealed that the number of foreclosed New York homes hit an eight-year high in 2017. During Q1 2018, the number of new foreclosure cases climbed 31 percent year-over-year. PropertyShark reports a total of 920 new foreclosures logged in NYC during Q1, up from 702 during Q1 2017. New York recorded a higher number of foreclosed homes during Q1 than during any quarter since 2009.

Read Full Article [Source: www.dsnews.com]

DAWGS (Door and Window Guard Systems) recently conducted a survey about vacant property security. The goal of the survey was to poll investors, owners, rehabbers, asset managers and sellers of vacant property to understand the issues they face when securing a vacant property in economically distressed areas. The survey also provided insight into the preferred method/material used to secure a vacant property in economically distressed areas.

DAWGS team has long promoted the benefits of steel over alternative materials when it comes to securing vacant property. The survey validated that steel is the preferred material used by vacant property owners and managers to secure their properties. The survey also highlighted some of the concerns vacant property stakeholders face.

Brandon, VP at DAWGS noted “The survey validated much of what we have been promoting about the benefits of steel for strength, security and accessibility to vacant property. The survey also allowed us to gain insight into the vacant property security concerns unique to each stakeholder.”

 Preferred Material to Secure Vacant Property

 The survey revealed that when securing property in economically distressed areas, hands down, steel is the preferred material over plastic clear boarding and plywood:

Answer Choices	Responses
Wood board up	7.14%
Plastic board up	7.14%
Steel board up	85.71%

Vacant Property Security Concerns

The top vacant property security concerns were different for realtors, for owners and for investors. Realtors top concern was safety when showing a property. For rehabbers, the main concern was theft of materials or tools from the job site. Investors and asset managers were concerned about the liability of fire or crime at the property.

Where all respondents did agree – was that steel is their material of choice used to secure vacant properties. Steel was revealed as the best choice to mitigate the risks associated with securing vacant property in economically distressed neighborhoods.

The top security concerns for the entire respondent base overall were as follows:

Percentage of respondents concerned about:
Liability of fire or crime at property	75%
Copper theft from property	71%
Theft of materials from job site	68%
Squatters or drug use in property	68%
Realtor safety when showing property	57%
Perception of foreclosure’s impact on other property value	50%
Allowing passersby to look inside property while under construction	50%

For anyone who works with vacant property in economically distressed areas, property managers, asset managers, rehabbers or realtors, the material used to secure and protect their property interests really does matters. It is clear from the DAWGS vacant property survey that steel is the material of choice.

Do real estate market conditions favor buying or renting? The Beracha, Hardin & Johnson Buy vs. Rent Index is designed to provide guidance to consumers struggling with that choice.

The index, conceived by faculty from Florida International and Florida Atlantic universities, compiles data from 23 major metropolitan housing markets and the overall U.S. real estate market, but the data is not current. There is approximately a two-month delay in the availability of data needed to determine the values Those values range between -1 and 1. If the value is 0 or above, conditions support renting. If the value is less than 0, buying is preferred. The further the value is from 0 in either direction, the stronger the suggestion that buying or renting is favored in a given market.

The values are reached through a comparison between a consumer who is buying a home and one who is renting a similar home. The factors in the comparisons include rent-to-price ratio, mortgage rates, the expected rate of inflation, real past stock market long-term returns, long-term rent growth and housing price appreciation, maintenance and property tax costs, and average homeowners’ duration between relocations. The objective of the index is to provide consumers with information on the health of housing markets. With this data, more informed decisions can be made.

Read Full Article [Source: www.dsnews.com]