BIG DATA SANDBOX
MARKET SPOTLIGHT: MARYLAND STILL AN ATTRACTIVE PLACE TO INVEST
because investors are taking chances and being sup- portive of local government.” Prince George's County is home to more than 890,000 people. While there are a number of upscale neigh- borhoods in Prince George’s County, Robinson said there’s a lot of redevelopment going on that is improving property values, infrastructure and its overall sense of community, an attracting an influx of professionals into the area. “More and more investors are looking for properties off the grid. I do get those from time to time from whole- salers trying to sell off-market properties. The county itself is going with a theme of revitalization,” she said. According to Robinson the county has reserved funds for investors to buy homes to flip and to help potential buyers. “As an investor, when you do flip a home the house is not sitting vacant for months and months. The gov- ernment has incentives and programs to help very low income people to qualify for those homes. It helps with the turnaround and recouping the money as quickly as possible without sitting on it forever.” A total 278 homes were flipped in Prince George’s County during the third quarter of 2018, accounting for 10.7 percent of all home sales in the county and 1 percent above the number of flips reported for the same quarter in 2017. As an investor, when you do flip a home the house is not sitting vacant for months and months. The government has incentives and programs to help very low income people to qualify for those homes. It helps with the turnaround and recouping the money as quickly as possible without sitting on it forever.”
As home prices continue to rise, the battle to live within your means rages on. ATTOM Data Solutions released its 2019 rental affordability report, which shows that renting a three-bedroom property is more affordable than buying a median-priced home in 442 of 755 U.S. counties analyzed for the report — 59 percent. The report shows that renting a three-bedroom property requires an average of 38.0 percent of weekly wages, while home affordability requires an average of 42.8, across the 755 counties analyzed for the report. ATTOM Data decided to look at those top counties with a population greater than 200,000, where rental affordability is more affordable vs. counties where home affordability is bucking the trend. THAT IS THE QUESTION
Top 5 Counties More Affordable to Buy
Top 5 Counties More Affordable to Rent
Wayne County, Michigan MSA: Detroit-Warren-Deaborn, MI 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 89,000 *YTD 2018 Home Affordability: 15.1% Clayton County, Georgia MSA: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 100,000 *YTD 2018 Home Affordability: 16.1% Baltimore City County, Maryland MSA: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 103,000 *YTD 2018 Home Affordability: 16.1% Richmond County, Georgia MSA: Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 93,000 *YTD 2018 Home Affordability): 18.3% Trumbull County, Ohio MSA: Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 83,450 *YTD 2018 Home Affordability): 20.1%
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania MSA: Pittsburgh, PA 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 1,192 *2019 Rental Affordability: 25.1% Benton County, Arkansas MSA: Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 1,110 *2019 Rental Affordability: 25.8% Fulton County, Georgia MSA: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 1,432 *2019 Rental Affordability: 26% Elkhart County, Indiana MSA: Elkhart-Goshen, IN 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 1,026 *2019 Rental Affordability: 26.1% Forsyth County, North Carolina MSA: Winston-Salem, NC 2018 3-Bedroom Rental Rates: $ 1,076 *2019 Rental Affordability: 26.2%
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Prince George's County in development
with foreclosure filings, a 6.69 percent decrease from the previous year. The county ended 2018 with a median sales price of $270,000, a 6 percent increase from 2017. Ten percent of homeowners in Prince George’s County were seriously underwater at the end of 2018 while 17.2 percent of its homeowners were in an equity-rich posi- tion for the fourth quarter. A three-bedroom, single-family home in Prince George’s County is projected to rent for $2,368 a month in 2019, a 0.6 percent increase from 2018. The affordability to rent a home in the county this year is 49.1 percent of the average wage, while the percent of wages to buy a home in the county with three percent down was 45.2 percent last year. In her business, Robinson has sold foreclosures, and in such a competitive market environment it is not un- usual, she said, to have as many as 15 to 20 offers. “There’s really been a whole lot of improvement in every aspect of real estate. Overall I think it’s a win-win for everybody,” she said. Being in the backyard of the nation’s capitol is an ad- vantage for Maryland, Parrish believes, bringing with it a lot of money and stability to the state as a whole, and an opportunity for real estate investors statewide. Joel Cone is a freelance business writer based in Southern California. His articles have appeared in California Real Estate magazine, Real Estate Southern California, OC Metro, GlobeSt.com, Foreclosure News Report, the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the Smarter Investor blog for U.S. News & World Report, as well as many other print and online publications. Contact him at snocone1030@gmail.com.
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O'RANTI J. ROBINSON
*Pct of average wages to buy - 3% down
*Pct of average wages to rent
Investors who flipped homes during the quarter saw a gross return on investment of 69.3 percent with an average of 169 days to flip, up slightly from a year ago. Approximately two thirds of the flipped properties were purchased with cash at a median purchase price of $171,250, according to ATTOM. One in every 68 properties in Prince George’s County had a foreclosure filing in 2018, totaling 4,894 properties
For this report, ATTOM Data Solutions looked at 50th percentile average rental data for three-bedroom properties in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with Q2 2018 average weekly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (most recent available) and January-November (YTD) 2018 home price data from ATTOM Data Solutions publicly-recorded sales deed data in 755 counties nationwide. Rental affordability is average fair market rent for a three-bedroom property as a percentage of the average monthly wage (based on average weekly wages). Home buying affordability is the monthly house payment for a median-priced home (based on a 3 percent down payment and including mortgage, property tax, homeowner’s insurance and private mortgage insurance) as a percentage of the average monthly wage.
26 think realty housing news report
april 2019 27
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