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8 | TH E M R EP O RT MTECH MDWELL Source: WalletHub "2018's Best Real-Estate Markets" Where the Grass Is Greener The best—and worst—markets for real estate. W hat does Texas have that New Jersey doesn't? Besides cowboys and cattle, the answer is some of the nation's best real estate markets, ac- cording to a recent WalletHub study. WalletHub examined several key factors that contribute to home values across 300 U.S. cities, working to find out which mar- kets are the best in terms of affordability and overall quality. WalletHub ranked Frisco, Texas, at No. 1 in its findings in both the Small Cities category and overall, due largely to its highest qual- ity "Affordability & Economic Environment" ranking. Among large cities, Seattle comes in at No. 1, with the houses at the lowest num- ber of days on the market of any U.S. city. California also ranks high overall due to several of its major cities holding the lowest number of homes in negative equity in the nation. Richmond, California, has the highest median home-price appreciation of the 300 cities surveyed, while five other California cities (Sunnyvale, San Jose, San Francisco, Concord, and Santa Clara) rank right behind Seattle in terms of the lowest number of days a home stays on the market. If a buyer is looking for a high return on a low-maintenance home, Colorado may be the ideal location. Longmont, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Centennial, Colorado, all boast some of the lowest maintenance costs as a percentage of income in the country. WalletHub puts Detroit at the very bottom of its overall list, with the lowest real estate- market rank and the lowest affordability and economic-environment ranks. Detroit also has some of the highest maintenance-to-income rates in the country, as well as the highest number of homes still unsold by the banks. 10 BEST REAL ESTATE MARKETS Frisco, Texas McKinney, Texas Allen, Texas Santa Clara, California Durham, North Carolina Murfreesboro, Tennessee Richardson, Texas Seattle, Washington Bellevue, Washington Denton, Texas 10 WORST REAL ESTATE MARKETS Detroit, Michigan Newark, New Jersey Dayton, Ohio Peoria, Illinois Elizabeth, New Jersey Paterson, New Jersey Cleveland, Ohio Flint, Michigan Miami Beach, Florida Waterbury, Connecticut ent service in the real estate industry, the company said in a statement. Auc- tion.com connects buyers and sellers by making it possible to transact foreclo- sure, CWCOT, and REO sales online. "Most observers attribute Auction. com's success to industry-leading market- ing and innovative technologies, but that's only part of our story," said Jason Allnutt, General Manager, Auction.com. "Auction. com created the foreclosure auction market in 2011. Since then we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in technol- ogy and marketing support to grow the auction marketplace. But, we believe that our investment in human capital and commitment to an unmatched local foot- print of highly skilled field teams is one of the reasons we are the only full-service auction provider." Today, the company covers live auc- tions in more than 3,100 counties with the support of over 600 skilled and dedicated Auction.com employees. Auction.com said it conducts foreclo- sure auctions at the courthouse, leveraging their proprietary technology, data science, marketing, and their "sea of green shirts" to drive toward higher sales rates. "Our local teams standardize the registration, bidding, and closing process to promote transpar- ency and competition, closing the feedback loop through rich data and analytics to our clients. All these efforts work in unison to maximize sales and improve outcomes for sellers and buyers," Allnut said. Auction.com is the only national real estate-auction marketplace with local op- erations throughout the country. "We build strong partnerships with local stakeholders, including investors, foreclosure attorneys, brokers, and sheriff departments, by maintaining a highly visible and profes- sional presence at every local auction event, regardless of climate, auction type, or location and by assisting each stakeholder to enable foreclosure sales," Allnut said. "Our field team's priorities are to meet our buyers' questions and service needs and exceed our sellers' expectations. This team is instrumental in breaking down the bar- riers of entry for new prospective buyers, reducing the fear of and complexity of the foreclosure auction process through educa- tion and customer support." The company said over 60 percent of its foreclosure auction buyers each month are first-time customers of Auction.com. "Our 600+ field team is a powerful example of Auction.com's commitment to go Beyond the Bid, which is to exceed the status quo in everything we do," Allnut said.