76
New Jersey
Lisa G
Lopez
Broker of Record
Home Alliance Realty
142 E. Bay Ave
Manahawkin, NJ 08050
609-978-9009 (o) 609-384-5109 (c)
lglopez@verizon.net
www.HomeAllianceRealty.com
www.LisaLopezProperties.com
Connecticut
Planet Realty, LLC
Sales@CTREOTEAM.com
203-982-4985 cell
www.CTREOTEAM.com
Security • Preservation • Disposition
Steve Rivkin
NEW JERSEY
Jersey City Hits Top
10 Most-Prosperous
Cities List
Picking the most-prosperous city in America
is a weighty task. What factors should be con-
sidered, and how should each be weighted
against the others? However you arrange the
calculations, there's a good chance you wouldn't
have settled on Odessa, Texas, as the most-pros-
perous city in the nation, but that's exactly what
a new study by RENTCafe has determined.
First, a bit of methodology. RENTCafe
began by narrowing things down to cities
with populations exceeding 100,000. From
there, RENTCafe examined U.S. Census data
between 2000-2016, examining the evolution of
six indicators during that time, including popu-
lation, median income, home values, share of
inhabitants holding a higher-education degree,
poverty rate, and unemployment rate. From
there, RENTCafe compiled a "prosperity rank-
ing" that is "based on the combined value of the
individual ranks obtained in these six fields."
So, how did Odessa—the 28th most-
populous city in Texas as of 2015 and 2016 census
data—land atop the pile? Well, it may lag far
behind larger cities in terms of population, but
that population has grown by 25 percent during
the 2000-2016 window examined by RENT-
Cafe. During that same period, Odessa expe-
rienced income growth of 38 percent, home-
value increase of 91 percent, and a 26 percent
increase in the share of its population who hold
a bachelor's degree or higher. Odessa has also
seen a pair of important decreases—the poverty
rate has dropped by 36 percent and unemploy-
ment has decreased by 24 percent. RENTCafe
also points out that U.S. crude oil production
also spiked by 50 percent during that window of
time, likely helping to explain why a West Texas
oil town like Odessa has been booming.
Filling out the rest of RENTCafe's top
10 most-prosperous U.S. cities are, in order,
Washington, D.C.; Charleston, South Carolina;
Fontana, California; North Charleston, South
Carolina; Jersey City, New Jersey; Pearland,
Texas; Miami, Florida; Brownsville, Texas; and
Midland, Texas.
Texas was particularly well represented on
the list, with six of the top 20 cities on the list
located within the Lone Star State. at puts it
one ahead of California.
Eleven cities in the study showed positive
change across all six of RENTCafe's prosper-
ity indicators: Odessa, Texas; Washington,
D.C.; Charleston, South Carolina; Brownsville,
Texas; Midland, Texas; New York, New York;
Los Angeles, California; Billings, Montana;
Long Beach, California; Atlanta, Georgia; and
Corpus Christi, Texas.
NEW YORK
NYC Operating Below
Long-Term Pricing
Trend
While buying a home remains a long-term
investment many Americans will make at some
point in their lives, the factors to consider along
that road are definitely challenging. Home
prices are way up in many markets, inventory is
limited, and many homebuyers report having
to compromise when it comes time to shop for
that dream home. Another factor to consider:
renting might actually generate more wealth for
potential buyers in the long run, according to a
recent report.
e latest installment of the Beracha,
Hardin & Johnson (BH&J) Buy vs. Rent Index
shows that many metros around the nation are
above their long-term pricing trends, suggesting
that "significant price retractions" may be on
the horizon for these markets. If that proves to
THE
LEADER IN
DEFAULT
SERVICING
NEWS
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