All Forum Posts by: Jake Fletcher

Miami is always going to be a good market, IMO, especially near Miracle Mile. Granted, I'm biased - I live within walking distance to the Mile and full disclosure, I'm also a Realtor. However, if you're getting 7.8% COC in this market it sounds like a good buy.

Credit to Mike Blankenship from carrot. If you want to look up the original article, which has links to sources and to other great resources, (I can't link as per BP rules) the article is called "33 Real Estate Statistics That'll Change Your 2019 Strategy" - by Mike Blankenship

General Real Estate Statistics

1. In 2018, 5.5 million existing homes were sold in the U.S. 
2. In 2017, 612,000 newly built homes were sold in the U.S. 
3. There are approximately two million active real estate licenses in the U.S. 
4. Redfin’s Housing Demand Index went from 124 in May of 2018 to 131 in September of 2019 
5. By 2020, the real estate industry will account for 22% of commercial drone use. 
6. House listings that have aerial photographs sell 68% faster than properties with standard images. 
7. There are almost 44 million renter-occupied houses and 75 million owner-occupied houses in the U.S. 
8. From 2016 to 2017, apartment construction climbed by 21%, putting apartment supply at a 20-year high. 
9. The U.S. economy grew by 2.6% in 2018. 
10. House ownership is falling and renting is on the rise, with a 2.3% increase in U.S. renters in 2016. 
11. Zillow’s Zestimate feature is typically erroneous by $14,000. 
12. On real estate websites, the “About Us” page is the third most-viewed page. 
13. Home prices rose by 4.8% in Q3 of 2018 
14. Interest rates increased to 2.27% in 2018 
15. The number of online real estate leads is increasing (up 65% from 2016 to 2017), but the conversion rate is taking a dip (down 10% from 2016 to 2017). 

Main Takeaways

1. Consider getting into the rental market — As demand for rentals increases, consider getting in front of this trend, buying and holding rentals as a passive income stream.
2. Start using drones for house photography — If you want to sell houses faster (which you do), then you might want to consider investing in a drone to take aerial photographs. These house listing images don’t just look pretty — they make the property sell about 68% faster.
3. Buy and rent out apartments — The market loves apartments right now. Consider getting some of your own and using them for passive income.
4. Give your “About Us” page a little more love — While this page is the third-most important page on your website, it’s also probably the most neglected. Stop neglecting it. Set it up to build trust with website visitors so you’re not losing leads to a shoddy “About Us” page.

House Buyer Real Estate Statistics

1. In 2018, first-time homebuyers made up 34% of all homebuyers. 
2. 65% of homebuyers 37 years and younger were first time homebuyers in 2018. 
3. In 2017, Millennials accounted for 33% of homebuyers. 
4. In 2017, 56% of homebuyers 36 years old and younger found their homes on the internet and 50% of buyers between the age of 37 and 51 found their homes online. Older buyers over the age of 51 years old were the only group that sought out an agent first. 
5. Across all generations, half of all homebuyers use the internet to find a home and 93% of buyers who are 36 years old or younger frequently use the internet during a house search. 
6. The typical homebuyer searches for 10 weeks and looks at 10 properties before choosing a house. 
7. In 2016, there were 5% more homes built than in 2015 (from 1.108 million to 1.163 million). 
8. In 2017, 52% of homebuyers were first-timers while 48% were repeat buyers. 
9. 44% of all homebuyers end up buying a home that they found on the internet. 
10. Over half (51%) of home shoppers claim that YouTube is their favorite video research platform. 
11. Almost 90% of home-buying Millennials, Gen X’ers, and young Boomers bought a home with the help of an agent in 2016.
12. 84% of homebuyers found online information to be a crucial part of their house search. 
13. By 2025, Millennials are expected to form 20 million new households in the U.S. 

Main Takeaways

1. Pay attention to Millennials — Now, millennials are between the age of 22 and 37 years old. Which makes them fall within the average home-buying age of 31. They’re tech-savvy and they like the internet (I know because I am one :D), so make sure that your website is fast and user-friendly.
2. Get your website’s SEO dialed in — Since so many people are using the internet to find a home, real estate investor, or real estate agent, you need to be visible online. That, of course, is easier said than done. Write consistent content, target the right keywords, and your rankings will start to rise. You can find a more thorough SEO strategy here (link in original article).
3. Post consistent videos on YouTube — YouTube is the second most-used online search engine right behind Google. To drive traffic and find leads on the platform, make videos and build your YouTube following. You can find out more about doing that here (link in original article).
4. Make sure your website converts as best it can — The last thing you want is to drive traffic to your website and still land zero deals from that traffic — believe me… it happens. If people don’t trust your website or it’s unclear what you want them to do, they’ll leave faster than they arrived. To make sure your website is set up to convert visitors, consider this conversion optimization checklist (link in original article).

House Seller Real Estate Statistics

1. The median price for houses listed in the U.S. is $254,900. 
2. On average, sellers receive 98% of the listed price. 
3. Staged homes spend half the time on the market compared to non-staged homes and they regularly sell for about 6% above the listed price. 
4. In southern states, home sales are expected to grow by 6% in 2018 rather than 2.5% (the national average). 
5. 70% of homeowners prefer to list with a real estate agent who uses video marketing to advertise their home.

Main Takeaways

1. Consider hiring a professional house stager — Heck, why wouldn’t you do it if the house will spend less time on the market and the seller will get 6% above the listed price? Seems like a good investment for you and the seller.
2. Use video marketing — The more options that you offer for advertising someone’s house, the more house sellers who’ll want to work with you. A video is one of those above-and-beyond kinds of marketing options. It takes just a little more work on your part but really flatters the house sellers. You can find out more about video marketing here (link in original article).

Conclusion

For real estate professionals who adapt to the changing industry, 2019 holds loads of potential. And for those who refuse to change, 2019 is going to present a problem… a big problem.

Drones, Millennial buyers, third-party listing websites, and virtual tours make it increasingly difficult for stubborn agents and investors to increase revenue. If you want to make 2018 one of your best years yet — which you do — then you need to change with the times.

And the times are increasingly online.

Which means you need to have your own website that drives traffic and converts visitors. Then, you need to market yourself correctly.

Congrats @Brandon Penn, that's an awesomely inspirational story! I'm happy for you. 

Taking a macroscopic look at the Average Days on Market vs. the Number of Sales in Miami-Dade County from January 2016 through March 2019, we can see that as the number of sales goes up, for the most part, so too does the average DOM. There are a few exceptions to this, but the biggest takeaway in my opinion is that the downturn in number of sales from August 2018-January 2019 appears to be reversing at a quick pace. And although DOM has staggered upward during the same period it is at a much slower pace and less dramatic than the rise in number of sales. To me, this shows that buyers and investors are being more selective but market confidence is up and the market overall is reaching a healthier balance. This is backed up by a dramatic drop in Months of Inventory during the same period (since January 2019), which brings us back to January 2016 levels. What other takeaways do you all draw from this data?

Right on, I can understand that. The flip side is "going under contract" doesn't mean the deal went through, so it'd be a clear picture of intentions, but not necessarily results. However, I can definitely see how days to contract would have value in letting you know the temperature of the market in a sense. Very interesting and slightly different than my Realtor mindset haha. Thanks for your perspective. 

Thanks for pointing that out about April. I clearly wasn't thinking about what the date was yesterday and thus the statistical significance of the April data when I posted, lol. I'll follow up at the end of the month so we can compare the actual April figures. I agree, very much in line with the typical Q1 slowdown. Curious, is there a reason you cite "days to contract" rather than "days on market"? 

Some interesting statistics regarding residential income properties in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties: Average Sale Price vs Average Days on Market for each month, so far this year. Very interesting that avg. sale price went up almost $60,000 while the days on market decreased by 22% from March to April. [Source: the MLS].

I love data. What South Florida statistics do you all want to see next?

 Happy and successful Q2 to all in the BP community!

Here's some data about the current active multi-family listings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties:

Active Status = 844 duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes

Min. Listing Price = $118,770 ($83.82 LP$/SqFt)

Max. Listing Price = $16,000,000 ($1,957 LP$/SqFt)

Avg. Listing Price = $782,402 ($284 LP$/SqFt)

Median Listing Price = $500,000 ($234 LP$/SqFt)

Min. DOM = 1 (of course)

Max. DOM = 1,445

Avg. DOM = 143

Median DOM = 89

Hope you all enjoy the data. Let me know if you have any questions! Happy Saturday!

Hi @Corey Burrows, I'm located in Miami and specialize in investment properties. My phone number is in my bio (can't post it here as per BP rules), feel free to reach out any time, I would love to help.

No one is clairvoyant, but the Miami metro area has one of the nation's highest growth percentages, one of the strongest rental markets, and the elevation raises quite quickly as you move inland, compared to other coastal communities in FL. I know Miami-Dade like the back of my hand - feel free to message me and we can discuss more via PM, email, or phone.