HotPads Daily :: The Official Blog of HotPads.com

In One Wealthy County, $200K Income = Public Housing

If you're looking for the part of the country with the highest incomes, forget the tony suburbs of New York city or Los Angeles.  Instead you should set your sights on the land of milk and honey in the surrounds of Washington, DC.   The U.S. Census Bureau computes the median household income of nearby Fairfax Country, Virginia as $100,318 in 2006.  Fairfax County is the first county of its size to break the $100,000 median household income threshold.

And if you're looking for egregious examples of a poorly run government program, go to the same destination.  The Washington Post reports that the county's own records show evidence of hundreds of households taking advantage of subsidized housing even though their incomes grossly exceed limits designed to ensure that these homes go to the neediest families.

One household in particular makes more than $216,000 a year and still received subsidized housing benefits; another in the program rakes in a tidy $184,000. The county housing administrators do little to encourage occupants to move when their incomes allow for market-rate housing.

It should be noted that the families in this story all qualified for public housing when their incomes were lower and met the program guidelines.  They've just been allowed to stay long past the point of self-sufficiency.

Hopefully this scrutiny will force the county to reassess its public housing programs so it works for those families most in need of Fairfax County's help.  In any case, families at every income level can find apartments to fit their budgets on HotPads.com.

Google Uncovers Swastika-shaped Government Buildings

First we had Google Maps Street View embarrassing common citizens by capturing hi-res shots of them coming out of strip clubs and picking their noses. (See the top 15 Street View sightings here.)  Now Larry & Sergey are picking on someone their own size: the U.S. Government. 

Google Earth satellite imagery allows users to see the four L-shaped buildings constructed in the late 1960s as part of the Naval amphibious base at Coronado, California that when viewed from above, form the unmistakable sign of a swastika.

Amid some public heat as word of the buildings spread on the Internet, the navy has added $600,000 to its 2008 budget to add landscaping, rock structures and solar panels to mask the shape of the buildings from the air. 

You can check out some cool aerial footage and a story below.

Famous Milwaukee Brewery is Centerpiece of Redevelopment Project

For readers old enough to remember the late 1970's (which excludes all of the engineers at HotPads.com) a historic parcel of real estate featured on an iconic TV series is becoming relevant once again.

The former Pabst brewery location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which has been vacant for five years, is set to reopen for its first occupants next year. A local businessman is working to redevelop the run-down section of his home town. The project is one of the many efforts aimed at revitalizing downtown Milwaukee.

The site includes a location that was made famous in the TV series "Laverne & Shirley" which ran from 1976 to 1983.

The city is in desperate need of a spark.  Average rents in the Milwaukee region lag behind national averages based on 54 major U.S. markets. This extends to the office, retail, warehouse and rental apartment sectors.  The city is the hub of a Midwest region that has battled slow job growth and a shrinking population as traditional jobs in industry dried up over the last decade or more.

However, if this project does not bring about the sought-after rejuvenation of downtown Milwaukee, the city has a backup plan; the civic association Visit Milwaukee has raised over $45,000 to erect a statue of the Fonz, AKA Arthur Fonzarelli in the city's downtown.  (I'm praying that nobody reading this, regardless of age, needs to be told who the Fonz is.)

Let's hope that these efforts work, and that this great city has not jumped the shark.

USA! USA! America Takes Silver in Landlord Taxes

We may not lead the world in math proficiency or foreign language skills, but in yet another category of dubious distinction (e.g. number of Britney Spears albums purchased) America once again finds itself near the top of a list we don't want to be on.

According to a study on the taxes assessed in more than 90 countries, the U.S. imposes one of the highest taxes on rental income in the world,  with only Switzerland ranking higher. The study was conducted by Global Property Guide with assistance from leading accounting firms in each country.

With real estate values in free fall for the sixth straight month, many have looked to the strong rental market as lone point of light for suffering property owners.  Rents are rising and vacancies are low, but it appears that a good chunk of those profits are going to Uncle Sam.

Luckily for apartment managers and rental property owners, they don't have to pay to find great tenants on HotPads, as listings and leads are free. 

Now we understand the need for such a high tax rate in Switzerland, what with their massive defense spending cheese research budget and all; but after nearly a decade of Republican rule the United States should not be competing for any egregious tax collection titles.

For the international econ buffs in the audience you can read the full press release with statistics from Global Property Guide here.

Agents Use Hi-Tech Mall Kiosks to Find Elusive Homebuyers

In yet another example of real estate agents employing new tactics in their efforts to unload their ever growing inventory of unsold homes, we now find agents taking their trade to shopping malls with electronic touch-screen kiosks in the same places where vendors typically hawk cheap jewelry and incense.

Some of the kiosks are manned by a person, others are expected to be viewed and used by passers-by.  Companies like REosk, Touch Point Homes and In Touch Realty Kiosk are all cashing in on the need for builders and Realtors to spend more money chasing fewer and fewer buyers.

This practice is becoming increasingly widespread, with media outlets from Roanoke, Virgina to Austin, Texas reporting on the new additions to their local mall landscape.

Luckily for rental property managers, apartment vacancy rates are low so they don't need to resort to radically new measures to find tenants.  The biggest change in rental housing marketing is the abandonment of newspaper classifieds in favor of Internet search engines like HotPads.com to keep their units occupied.

Unfortunately since there are no Internet listing services showcasing for-sale properties with the innovative features that HotPads has for rentals, agents will continue to have to catch clients between the Yankee Candle store and the Cinnabon counter at their local mall.

Microsoft Takes a Hit in the Housing Market

It seems like no one is immune from the the financial fallout of the downturn in the housing market, not even our favorite software make, Microsoft.  The company reported on Friday that it took a loss of up to $2 million on the sale of the former home of its current CFO Chris Liddell.

When Microsoft hired Mr. Liddell in 2005 the company bought his home for its appraised value at that time.  In the 2007 fiscal year it sold the Connecticut home on the open market for much less than it paid.  The loss on the sale was included in the relocation expense for Liddell and a company spokesman said a bulk of that relocation expense was for a loss on the home's sale.

Over the past few years, many corporations have offered to buy the homes of relocating employees and new hires if their houses didn't sell on the open market.  This was a valuable recruiting tool in what was only recently an overheated job market.  Now, many companies are catching on to the huge potential losses they may incur as home values decline, and are scaling back these programs.

Micosoft is a technology powerhouse, but apparently can't read the housing and rental market tea leaves.  Best leave that to experts like HotPads.com where real estate and technology go together like fried plantains and Red Stripe beer.

The Carnival of Real Estate

The Carnival of Real Estate turned 60 today and the celebration was hosted by For Sale By Locals.

The theme of this week's carnival (in their own words) "reflects the changing demographics of real estate buyers in the US and the investors of international real estate." 

And it sure did.  They narrowed down almost 40 entries into this week's winners and were even able to select an English language winner, as well as Spanish and Portuguese winners!

Next week is hosted by Mortgage Insider.  Remember to submit your best articles by 3pm on Sunday to be considered. 

Foreign Aid: Overseas Buyers Help U.S. Real Estate

The storm clouds over the U.S. housing market have begun pelting real estate prices with some mean hail.  American are losing their jobs, can't get cheap 100% financing mortgages and can't unload their investment condos for anything close to what they paid for them.  Folks can't even enjoy blowing bubbles with their kids anymore.  (The sounds of the popping drives them to tears.)

But like a United Nations relief mission, foreign assistance may be on the way.  Economic conditions that make life uneasy for Americans are causing international real estate buyers to look favorably towards the U.S. market for new purchases.

Foreign investors are flush with Euros, Loonies, Riyals (and maybe Krugerrands, I don't know) and other currencies that at near all-time highs against the sinking American dollar.  So even without the recent price drops, U.S. real estate has become more of a bargain for overseas buyers.  International buyers have always been keen on U.S. real estate, and now they can get properties at a foreign-exchange discount.

Added to that, falling home prices and larger surpluses of unsold homes are just icing on the cake.  And some of the areas hardest hit by falling home prices are have traditionally the most attractive to foreign buyers.  Florida in particular, is turning into ground zero for this trend.

This is good news for everything but American pride.  But if you need to unload that investment property in St. Petersburg you really shouldn't care whether or not an eager buyer is wearing a baseball cap or a fez.  As experts in all real estate matters (including apartment rentals and foreign currency conversion)  HotPads.com advises you to take the money.  And invest it in Pounds Sterling.

Got Garlic? Dracula's Castle for Sale

MLS Transylvania:  Charming fixer-upper features 19 bedrooms, 63,242 bloodbaths.

Bran Castle is a 14th century fortress perched on a cliff near Brasov in mountainous central Romania.   Rumors tell the tale of Vlad the Impaler (the inspiration for Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula") overnighting there during his murderous reign.  It is a major tourist attraction, and several movies have been shot in and around the castle.

It was confiscated by the Communists in 1948, but is now on the auction block after being returned to private ownership last year.

Princess Ileana of Romania had been given the castle as a reward for works done by her royal family, which ruled Romania from 1866 until the Communist era.  Her son, Archduke Dominic Habsburg (a New York architect) saw the castle returned to the family last year.  Habsburg originally pledged to run it as a museum until 2009 but then offered to sell it last year to the local government for $80 million.  They balked at the high price tag and he is now looking for a private buyer.  If sold, the castle could net over $100 million.

But a sale may never happen.  The property is now at the center of a legal dispute, as lawmakers in Bucharest began debating today whether the property was legally returned to Archduke Habsburg and whether he is allowed to sell it.  Habsburg's lawyers said he would file a lawsuit for $210 million if parliament votes to block the sale or confiscate the castle.  And there is plenty of reason to do so; whoever controls ownership of the site is guaranteed a fortune as a result of its tourist appeal.

Sprint's New Geo-Lookup Gives You the Hookup

Hopefully it's not news to you that your cellphone carrier can track your whereabouts using GPS technology and signals bouncing off of nearby cell towers.  Now instead of just being creeped out in Enemy of the State fashion, you can use this Big Brother tech to your benefit.

Sprint and Microsoft have teamed up to give customers the ability to find nearby businesses of their choosing using the cellular network and Microsoft's Live Search functionality.  Users of this new service will be able to type in a category (e.g. pharmacy) and get a list of links to nearby drugstores.  Selecting a specific link will generate a map to the location and allows direct calls to the business.  This service will be further enhanced by voice-recognition software that will enable users to speak their commands to the service and get localized results.

Location-based services are one of the hottest categories of technology now, allowing individuals to get real-time information on things they need without having to plug in zip codes or addresses.  Even in the Internet age location is key, as is ease of use.  That's the kind of thinking that created HotPads.  Unlike other internet listing services, the unique map-based approach to rental housing searches on www.hotpads.com lets visitors know exactly where properties are located before they go searching through prices and photos, and HotPads' users can see additional points of interests and other location-specific information.

We're eagerly awaiting a major carrier to make the next logical step and add HotPads listings to their mobile applications.

P.S.  Cellphone users have to give permission for GPS tracking to work, except for 911 emergencies.  Check the "Location" feature on your phone or call your wireless provider for instructions.