The report tracked searches on the site between July 1 and September 30, 2011. The results may reveal where demand could be increasing ahead of actual sales and lease information. Trulia’s Chief Economist said that they believe the low prices in areas like Florida, Nevada and California will draw more prospective movers – who will be attracted to buying, rather than renting homes, as rental markets continue to tighten.

The company created an index for each metro area, based on the numbers of property views by people who live elsewhere. It also took into account the number of out-of-area property searches conducted by locals in each metro region.

The Top Ten High Demand Metro Areas For Homebuyers

1. Sarasota, FL: Foreclosure jumped 57% last quarter; home prices have fallen 51.4% since the peak and are expected to decline another 6.5% through Q2 2012. For every person in Sarasota looking for a home elsewhere, 6.03 people from out of the area are looking at Sarasota real estate.

2. Riverside, CA: High unemployment and poor economic conditions led to 55.4% drop in home prices from the peak and they are expected to decline another 14.8% through Q2 2012. For every person in Riverside looking for a home elsewhere, 4.36 people from out of the area are looking at Riverside real estate.

3. Charleston, SC: Real estate prices are down 23.3% since the peak and are expected to decline another 1.6% through Q2 2012. For every person in Charleston looking for a home elsewhere, 2.25 people from out of the area are looking at Charleston real estate. Retirement destination.

4. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Median home price went from $400K to under $200K in five years. Real estate prices are down 48.4% since the peak and are expected to decline another 9.2% through Q2 2012. For every person in Fort Lauderdale looking for a home elsewhere, 2.15 people from out of the area are looking at Fort Lauderdale real estate. Lots of retirees.

5. Cape Coral, FL: The market is bad here, but bargains exist. Real estate prices are down 59.3% since the peak and are expected to decline another 12.2% through Q2 2012. For every person in Cape Coral looking for a home elsewhere, 2.09 people from out of the area are looking at Cape Coral real estate.

6. West Palm Beach – Boca Raton, FL: One in four home sales in past year was a foreclosure. Real estate prices are down 50.2% since the peak and are expected to decline another 9.6% through Q2 2012. For every person in West Palm Beach looking for a home elsewhere, 1.99 people from out of the area are looking at West Palm Beach real estate.

7. Fort Worth – Arlington, TX: Home prices going up. Real estate prices are down just 5.9% since the peak and are expected to increase 2.7% through Q2 2012. For every person in Fort Worth looking for a home elsewhere, 1.97 people from out of the area are looking at Fort Worth real estate. Mostly from Dallas.

8. Oxnard, CA: Mecca for retirees. Real estate prices are down 40% since the peak and are expected to decline an additional 6% through Q2 2012. For every person in Oxnard looking for a home elsewhere, 1.92 people from out of the area are looking at Oxnard real estate.

9. Las Vegas: Two out of three homes underwater. Real estate prices are down 60% since the peak and are expected to decline an additional 11.4% through Q2 2012. For every person in Vegas looking for a home elsewhere, 1.88 people from out of the area are looking at Vegas real estate.

10. Orlando, FL: Hit hard by the housing crisis. Real estate prices are down 53.4% since the peak and are expected to decline an additional 11.4% through Q2 2012. For every person in Orlando looking for a home elsewhere, 1.87 people from out of the area are looking at Orlando real estate.

A new survey

Jim Gillespie, CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, said that baby boomers drive the U.S. economy; while they are a diverse group and cannot be generalized, their attitudes towards real estate can be telling. Right now, the economy is delaying boomers’ decisions to sell their existing homes, whether to downsize or relocate.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate’s data indicates that the boomers who can afford to are looking for a retirement home or a second home for investment, and many see now as the time to take advantage of lower home prices.

Additional survey findings:

• Younger baby boomers (ages 47 – 55) are more interested in purchasing a second home than older baby boomers (ages 56 – 64), by a margin of 34% to 22%.
• 31% of younger baby boomers are looking to sell an existing home and buy a larger home, compared to just 6% of the older group.
• Downsizing is more appealing to older (80%) than younger (52%) boomers. For the majority of older boomers, the reason for downsizing is not to save money, but to simplify their lives.

Interest rates are historically low, so younger baby boomers are actively seeking income streams for retirement. Perhaps they will be joining the ranks of the nation’s landlords, trading fixed annuities and bank CDs for property management guides and a set of handyman tools.

The Census Bureau says 69.2 million, or 30%, of adults were doubled-up in 2010, compared to 61.7 million adults, or 27.7% in 2007. Total American households who have doubled up due to unemployment or underemployment stands at 18.3%.

Much of the increase comes from people aged 25 – 34, living with their parents. That number increased from 4.7 million before the recession to 5.9 million (14.2% of the age group) in 2010.

The study was done as part of the Census Bureau’s wider report on income, poverty and health insurance. The report shows that household incomes dropped sharply last year. Since 2007, they have fallen 6.4%. Not surprisingly, the number of people living in poverty rose sharply, up for the fourth year in a row to 46.2 million people, or 15.1%.

If counted separately, some 45% of the young adults who live with their parents would fall below the poverty threshold. Because an entire household’s income is counted when determining poverty status, the group has an official poverty rate of only 8.4%.

What does the Census Bureau data mean for landlords?

• Fewer households mean lower demand for rental housing.
• Americans have less income to spend on housing and other necessities.
• Fewer home sales will continue to drag the housing market down.
• Once the economy starts to improve, many of the families and adult children will move out on their own, spurring a strong demand for housing.

Now, if only the economy would start to improve!

Real estate investors

College enrollments are up, and on-campus housing is in short supply. Demand for rentals is high and vacancies low, so rents are generally healthy. All told, college students who need a place to live can be excellent prospective tenants—and rental property in a college town can be a great opportunity, if the terms and price are right for you.

Move.com recently published a list of the best university cities for real estate investment. Here’s how their ratings shook out:

• Boston has over 50 colleges and list prices have dropped nearly 3% since last June. Rents are on the rise.
• Nashville’s average rents are higher than the average mortgage of $770.
• Chicago’s median list price is down over 16% since last June.
• Washington DC’s average mortgage for a median-priced home is around $1,530.
• Houston has low-priced inventory and some top-ranked colleges. Average mortgage is about $710.
• South Bend is home to Notre Dame and the average mortgage payment is around $990.
• Atlanta’s median list price is down 13.68% from last June, and lower than the national median.
• Baltimore is home to Johns Hopkins University, with median prices down 7.72% since last year.
• St. Louis, MO ‘s median list price is also lower than the national average, and mortgage payments average around $670.
• Syracuse is home to Syracuse University, as well as several other colleges. Median prices are down and the average mortgage payment is around $630.

College towns have a ready-made pool of renters, and generally, the rent money is not a problem. Manage the property correctly, and you could have a successful investment for years to come.

It also makes it clear that rental housing will remain a priority as more renters enter the market in coming years. In the white paper, the government recognizes Americans are giving up homeownership in favor of renting. With a record 37 million rental households and a possible 4.4 million additional by 2015, it’s not something that can be ignored—and the administration is not.

“Americans should have choices in housing that make sense for them and their families. This means rental options near good schools and good jobs,” the report states. It further indicates that finding ways to maintaining funding to the rental market will be “critical.”

One proposed action is expanding the Federal Housing Administration’s support to the multifamily industry, including developing programs to serve hard-to-reach segments, including the smaller properties that comprise one-third of all rental apartments. The report noted that half of renters spend more than one-third of their income on housing, while a quarter spend more than half; a commitment to affordable rental housing is indicated, although the term is not defined.

The National Multi Housing Council, a trade group, responded that reform is needed in the single-family sector, that Fannie and Freddie’s multifamily programs were not part of the financial meltdown and that “they are a vital capital source for the rental housing sector.”

Arizona state lawmakers

Rental property owners will be required to:

• Keep their units free of bedbugs.
• Provide tenants a copy of the law, once passed, as well as with educational materials on bedbugs, including prevention and control measures.
• Arrange for a licensed pest control company to inspect a unit within seven business days of a possible bedbug problem.
• Start the process of mitigating the bedbugs in the rental unit within seven days of finding evidence of infestation.

Tenants are responsible for:

• Notifying landlords in writing or via electronic document of infestations.
• Providing access to their units for inspection and bedbug treatment.
• Complying with the bedbug mitigation protocol established by the pest control company is required. This includes pre- and post-treatment procedures, temporary evacuation of the unit and notifying within three days of recurrence.

Additional Requirements:

• Landlords are prohibited from knowingly leasing a bedbug-infested rental unit.
• Tenants are prohibited from moving bedbug infested materials into a rental unit.
• Only licensed pest control applicators would be allowed to treat bedbugs in multifamily housing.
• Tenants must receive written notification of mitigation treatment three business days or more before it begins.

Perhaps most important is the allocation of financial responsibility. According to the bill, while the landlord is responsible for pest control expenses when tenants comply with their obligations, the responsibility falls to a tenant if they fail to comply. In this case, not only are tenants responsible for mitigating the problem in their own unit, but also any surrounding units that become infested due to non-compliance.
This bill is one of the first we’ve seen that tackles the bedbug problem in rental units. And, it seems to be pretty fair to landlords. What do you think?

We’ll follow the bill as it progresses through the Arizona state Senate.

Short-term leases

When the economy and job market are both doing well, the ideal situation for a landlord is a one-year lease with a strong tenant. But even though the rental markets across the country are starting to show improvement, many landlords are far from the ideal—and they still need to fill rental units.

When credit scores are less than perfect, and home sellers are knocking on your door, looking for short-term leases, it makes sense to adjust your lease terms from one-year to six-month or month-to-month.

Month-to-month leases mean that at the end of any month, the tenant can simply move—or the landlord can end the lease. Most leases require notice on each side, but if neither side ends the lease, it continues for another month.

7 Advantages of Short-term Leases:

1. Your rental units could be occupied instead of empty
2. Improved cash flow
3. Possibility of higher rent negotiation
4. Easier transition between tenants (less clean-up and maintenance)
5. Larger pool of possible tenants
6. You can get rid of a bad tenant more quickly
7. For month-to-month leases, the rent can be adjusted at any time

Remember, no matter what the length of the lease, proper tenant screening is the most important step you can take prior to signing it. Conduct a thorough tenant credit check and background check and you’ll feel better about offering a lease to short-term tenants.

The study focused on 5,000 children who live in smoke-free households, including detached houses, duplexes and apartment buildings. Researchers looked for cotinine, a product of nicotine and a highly sensitive marker for tobacco, in the children’s blood. The study found that overall, 73% of the kids were exposed to tobacco. Of children who live in apartment buildings, 84.5% had cotinine levels indicating tobacco exposure, while only 70.3% of children living in detached homes did. For children in semi-attached or duplex homes, the figure was 79.6%.

These numbers suggest that no matter where they live, children have no control over second-hand smoke. But in apartment buildings, the chance of exposure is much higher than for kids in detached homes. No matter who is smoking, even if they are in an apartment on the next floor or down the hall, the chemicals and carcinogens travel through ventilation systems, shared walls and ductwork.

Other findings were that tobacco contaminants were highest in children under 12, those who are black and those who live below the poverty level. While parental smoking is the most common source of secondhand smoke exposure, the new study shows that parents even the children of nonsmoking are exposed to these harmful substances.

While it’s too early to know what ramifications studies like this will have on legislation, it’s not too far outside the realm of possibility to imagine that rental property owners who allow smoking in their units could, at some point, be held responsible for damages to non-smokers’ health. In a perfect world, no one would be exposed to others’ harmful habits—especially children who have absolutely no choice in the matter. Until then, rental property owners can convert their properties to smoke-free housing. This study could be the most compelling reason to do so ever.

Last October, the annualized sales rate was 430,000. This year’s figure represents a whopping 28.5% decline from 12 months ago. Experts had predicted 2010 sales in October to be around 314,000—and were surprised by the dismal showing.

The peak pace was set in July 2005, at 1.4 million sales, and despite attractive mortgage rates, sales remain sluggish as 2010 comes to a close. The total number of homes on the market has dropped 20% since October, 2009.

First-time buyers were more likely to jump into homeownership, without the burden of selling an existing home. Getting a mortgage is still a challenge, and many potential buyers are unable to obtain financing.

The chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) blames the lower home sales figures on a drop in the number of people forming households. Unemployment and the slow economy mean people are staying at home with their parents longer, moving in with friends, or not getting married.

Individuals who cannot get financing to buy a home, and those unwilling to risk taking on a long-term situation like homeownership in this shaky economy will continue to turn to the rental market. For many, renting continues to be a more viable option—especially with shorter-term leases. Landlords are responding by becoming more flexible with six-month or even month-to-month leases to accommodate changing needs.

More rental properties are enforcing no-smoking policies. Tenants are hearing they can be evicted for lighting up. Rental property owners are concerned—not about the smoker’s health, typically—but about the affect of secondhand smoke on non-smokers.

The Related Companies, a development firm with 17 apartment buildings in Manhattan, instituted smoking bans in some of them a year ago. Smoking tenants who already live in the buildings will be allowed to continue, but new tenants must promise to not smoke at home.

Other developers and property management companies have extended smoking bans to common areas, such as sidewalks leading to apartment buildings, private patios and shared terraces.

Across the U.S., the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is encouraging public housing agencies to ban smoking in all or some of their units. Corpus Christi, TX, Richmond, CA and Snohomish County, WA have instituted non-smoking policies. The intent is to keep tenants safe from second-hand smoke, reduce the danger of fires, and save money on clean up when smokers vacate rental units.

Some landlords have made the decision to not pressure or force smoking tenants to vacate their properties. While there are no laws that prohibit landlords from banning smoking, courts have ruled for tenants who broke their leases because of the landlord’s failure to protect them from second-hand smoke.

The overall trend seems to be toward non-smoking buildings. Perhaps the future will include two kinds of apartment buildings: “smoking ok”  and “no smoking allowed.”