Recap of the Boise Rental Market
The Southwest Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers conducts a rental survey every quarter. The fourth quarter results are in and below are graphs that show vacancy, as well as average rents. I am happy to report that once again First Rate Property Management’s average rental vacancies and average rents have exceeded these results. We finished the year with a 1.5% vacancy with an average vacancy over the entire 2010 year of 3.7%. Also, FRPM subscribes to Rental Home Professionals. Not only do we use this system to market our investor’s available rentals, but as subscribers, we have access to endless reports. Rental Home Pros collects rental data from tens of thousands of rentals across the entire country every day. Instead of posting graph after graph, I thought I would just summarize the data. As far as rents, the data showed that Boise rents are considerably lower than the national average, especially for single family homes. However, FRPM’s rents were higher than average rents posted by other Boise subscribers. Also, according to Rental Home Pros, Boise’s vacancy rate was lower than the national average and once again, FRPM’s vacancy was lower than the average of the other subscribers.

Lastly, I wanted to remind everyone that in 2011, FRPM will not only provide a year-to-year comparison, but also vacancy by area and by type. We’re changing this up for a couple of reasons. For one, many investors ask what kind of rental to invest in and in what area. By no means do I recommend making such a decision based solely on vacancy and average rents, but I do think the information can be helpful. Also, FRPM will use this data when considering what new properties to manage. We always want take care of our current clients before ever considering taking on a new client and properties.

Interest Rates
Interest rates have been on the rise. Below is a link to an article that includes a graph showing how interest rates have increased as the Feds pump more money into Treasury Securities. When it comes to interest rates, I never seem to know what to expect. Will they continue to climb, will they taper off and remain static, or by chance will they come down again? I also never seem to be able to determine how it will affect the market. Will the higher interest rate slow down purchasers, or make them jump before they go too much higher? And what about values, if investors leery of the higher interest rates, which are still pretty darn good, stop buying, what effect will that have on values? I read that the increase in rates caused some first time home buyers to quickly lock and pull the trigger on their home purchase, but I don’t know if the same is true for investors. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. http://www.businessinsider.com/feds-600-billion-hedge-fund-to-fend-off-new-risks-2011-1