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The average home increased in value from $194,500 in 2015 to $205,000 in 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. That is an impressive return of nearly $11,000, or about 5%, for American homeowners. Relative to income that extra $11,000 is equivalent to the average American household receiving a raise of 19% on their annual income. But when it comes to investing in the real estate market, location is everything. Some cities are better bets when it comes to buying an investment property, thanks to more affordable mortgages or lower property taxes.

In order to find the best places to buy an investment property, SmartAsset looked at five factors. Specifically we looked at effective property tax rate, rent-to-home-value ratio, demand for housing, home value appreciation and rent costs. Check out the data and methodology below to see where we got the data and how we put it together.

Key Findings:

West is best – If you are looking to make your fortune in the real estate market, head west. Florida and Texas are the only non-western states to rank in the top 25. In fact, only seven states are represented across the top 25 cities.

Invest in California – The top 25 is dominated by Golden State cities. In total nine of the top 25 cities are in California. In general this state has not done a great job of building housing for all the new residents. This has led to growth in home values and rents which is a good sign for people invested in the California housing market.

Read Full Article [www.smartasset.com]

As empty homes sit in purgatory, neighborhoods fray and cities are left to pick up the bill.

The image of America’s housing crisis is of pricey, increasingly unaffordable housing in superstar cities. And there is too little housing—a scarcity—in those places. But there is another, even more disturbing side to America’s housing crisis: vacancy, and in some cases hyper-vacancy, in the nation’s hard-pressed Rust Belt cities.

This other side of the housing crisis is the subject of a new report published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The report, written by Alan Mallach of the Center for Community Progress, examines the extent of housing vacancy across America’s cities, identifies its staggering economic and social costs, and outlines policies to address it. Mallach uses data from the U.S. Census and U.S. Postal Service to identify vacant properties.

While housing vacancy has long been a problem in America, especially in economically distressed places, vacancies surged in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008. The number of unoccupied homes jumped by 26 percent—from 9.5 to 12 million between 2005 and 2010. Many people (and many urbanists) see vacancy and abandoned housing as problems of distressed cities, but small towns and rural communities have vacancy rates that are roughly double that of metropolitan areas, according to the study.

Read Full Article [Source www.citylab.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.