As Alex reported 6/2/2012 on Property Source Radio.
Realtor.org – Daily Real Estate News | Tues May 29, 2012
News Sponsored by WNYopenhouse.com
———————————————————————————————–—–

Americans are more positive about the direction of the economy, as consumer confidence reached its highest level since October 2007, according to a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index on consumer sentiment.

Americans are more positive about the job market and salary increases, and may be more willing to spend, the index showed. Half of the consumers in the index said the economy had improved in the last year. And more consumers reported plans to buy cars and household durables.

Higher-income Americans are more optimistic about salary increases than lower-income Americans, according to the index. Americans with incomes greater than $75,000 predicted more salary increases with an average 2 percent boost in income by next year. However, Americans who make less than $75,000 only anticipate a 0.3 percent increase in salaries.

“You’ve got a variety of forces working on consumer sentiment at this point. You’ve got obviously concerns about Europe, the economy in general, lower stock prices — all those are a negative,” Scott J. Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Fla., told Reuters News. “But lower gasoline prices are a plus, so I think that’s probably part of the factor that you’ll see an increase in purchasing power if gasoline prices continue to move down.”

Source: “May Consumer Sentiment Highest in More Than 4 Years,” Reuters (May 25, 2012)

As Alex reported 5/12/2012 on Property Source Radio.
Realtor.org – Daily Real Estate News | Tues May 8, 2012
News Sponsored by WNYopenhouse.com
———————————————————————————————–—–

Foreclosed homes are increasingly being purchased or rented by those who are turning the homes into sites of illegal activity: Indoor marijuana farms.

According to law enforcement officials, many of these illegal marijuana farm foreclosures are blending right into suburbia. New owners or renters move into foreclosed properties in middle to upper-class neighborhoods, mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, and appearing like any other good neighbor, The New York Times reports.

“Houses that sold for $1 million before the crisis have been turned into grow houses, equipped with the high-intensity lights, water, and air-filtering systems necessary to produce potent, high-quality marijuana,” The New York Times reports. “Many grow houses go unnoticed, even by next-door neighbors, until there is a fire, typically caused by unsafe electrical wiring.”

Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, says areas in Northern California are seeing some of the highest incidences of foreclosures turned into indoor marijuana farms.

Indeed, according to DEA statistics from 2010 — the latest year available — California accounted for more than 70 percent of all marijuana plants confiscated nationwide.

Source: “Foreclosed Houses Become Homes for Indoor Marijuana Farms,” The New York Times (May 6, 2012)

As Alex reported 5/5/2012 on Property Source Radio.
Realtor.org – Daily Real Estate News | Tues May 1, 2012
News Sponsored by WNYopenhouse.com
———————————————————————————————–—–

The number of assaults against real estate professionals is on the rise, with the nature of attacks becoming more violent and sometimes deadly.

Fatal injuries among real estate professionals while working on the job reached in 2010 their highest level since 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Figures from 2010 are the latest year available.

Sixty-three workplace fatalities occurred in the real estate industry category in 2010, which is a 19 percent rise over the previous year. Of the 63 fatalities, 23 were homicides, according to BLS. That overall total also includes 14 deaths from falls, nine from transportation incidents, and eight from being exposed to harmful substances or environments, Inman News reports on the BLS findings.

That marks the highest level of fatalities since at least 2003 when BLS began collecting such data. The real estate industry category, as defined by BLS, includes landlords, real estate agents and brokers, and those who perform work related to real estate, such as appraisers and property managers.

Landlords appear to be the most vulnerable to attacks. Of the 23 homicides in 2010, 52 percent of the victims were landlords.

In 2010, 940 real estate and rental leasing professionals were victims of nonfatal assaults. That number has steadily risen over the last few years, up from 620 in 2009 and 170 in 2008.

Inman News, in its analysis of the findings, discovered that workplace fatalities among real estate professionals were at their lowest point during 2005, the height of the housing boom. In 2005, 39 fatalities were recorded. The number has been on the rise ever since, particularly in the categories of “assaults and violent acts” caused by others, self-inflicted injury, and animal attacks.

Source: “Assaults, Murders of Real Estate Professionals on the Rise,” Inman News (April 30, 2012) [Log-in required.]