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Since 2007, a mutual trust and respect helped develop a friendship between Sam Thompson, President of RPM Midwest and Mark Thompson, President of EquityTeam (no relation) as they grew their professional relationship.  Ultimately it became clear that clients certainly would benefit from the companies having a close relationship too.

RPM Midwest doesn’t take it’s affiliations lightly…this partnership with EquityTeam will be it’s first with an outside, 3rd party vendor.

“As we have grown, our clients have asked for other services outside of our core scope of services, and we want to deliver.  However, we don’t want to be all things to all people.  We want to be the best at property management, and work with others businesses that are trusted experts with the services they can provide to our clients.” explained Sam Thompson of RPM Midwest.

“The real estate investing business is full of unethical people who prey on out-of-state or novice investors yet lack the needed experience to properly guide and service their needs.  Unfortunately, many of our current clients came to us after a bad experience with someone who made empty promises before the sale and disappeared or mismanaged things afterward.

EquityTeam knows real estate investing.  Experience is a significant factor in an investment being successful, and it’s hard to find anyone more experienced with real estate investment property around Cincinnati than Mark.

Partnering with EquityTeam was an easy decision based on a number of successful referrals to them over the years, including members of my family.”

RPM Midwest will be the exclusive property management services provider for EquityTeam and it’s clients.

“I’ve been amazed at how well RPM Midwest runs such a chaotic and stressful business.” said Mark Thompson of EquityTeam.

Sam has built a great team that works very hard to do the right things for their clients.  He’s been smart to follow a nationally proven model, and learn from other RPM franchisee’s while building RPM Midwest.

One of RPM’s strengths is a commitment to efficiency and technology.  We think their biggest strength is how they promptly help us seek a fair resolution when inevitable problems occur related to our accounts.  They have always made us feel like they share our goals and are on our team.

We’re excited to explore the benefits that will come from a closer relationship between EquityTeam and RPM.”

Click here to learn more about EquityTeam’s Investing Services or Real Property Management Midwest’s property management services.

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3. Cincinnati and Midwest Housing Markets Doing Better Compared to Most

Local housing prices jumped 6.4 percent in the four months ended in January compared with the prior quarter, according to a monthly national housing report from Clear Capital, a Truckee, Calif.-based real estate valuation analysis firm.

That was the nation’s second-best gain, behind only Cleveland’s 8.1 percent increase. And it bucked the U.S. trend that saw national housing prices slump 1.6 percent over the same time period.

But Cincinnati home prices fell 2 percent compared with the same period a year ago. That still beat the 4.3 percent U.S. decline compared with a year ago. But it ranked just ninth out of the top 15 markets.

Read more: Cincinnati housing prices post nation’s No. 2 increase | Business Courier

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“It’s allowing the market to tighten up,” said David Lockard, first vice president in the multihousing group of CB Richard Ellis, who delivered his 2011 projections to a recent meeting of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Apartment Association. Lockard predicted a 3 percent increase in effective rents, to more than $700 a month by year end. And he predicted occupancy rates will reach 93.5 percent by mid year, up from 91.8 percent in December.

Lockard was among the real estate experts quoted by the Business Courier last week in a story about commercial foreclosures. He and others said Cincinnati appears to be weathering the storm, despite dire warnings one year ago.

Lockard said 2010 will be remembered as the start of a turnaround for the local apartment industry.

“Rents grew 2.2 percent and occupancies are up almost 3 percent. That’s pretty meaningful,” he said.

Read more: Good news for landlords: Apartment rent on the rise | Business Courier

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Indeed, the local economy should “modestly outperform” the national economy, said George Vredeveld, director of the University of Cincinnati’s Economics Center for Education & Research.

“We’re starting to see a turn in business confidence levels and more business investments,” Vredeveld said. “I believe that confidence is going to be contagious.”

Economists project the metro area’s economy to grow at 3 percent to 3.5 percent this year. Those forecasts have risen as U.S. growth estimates have trended higher, because the local economy tracks closely with national growth. Back in November, most experts anticipated national growth of 3 percent or less. Now many are edging projections closer to 3.5 percent, bringing local projections up, too. Either would be a big improvement from last year’s U.S. growth of around 2.7 percent.

Manufacturing leads the way

Manufacturing improvement is fueling the growth predictions. That sector is growing faster in the local market, both in production and employment, than nationally. In the first half of last year, local manufacturing jobs rose by 3.2 percent, triple the national pace. Manufacturing jobs totaled 111,000 locally in November, up 5 percent from a year ago.

Richard Stevie, a downtown-based economist at Duke Energy Corp., is calling for economic growth for the Cincinnati metro area of about 3 percent this year. That compares to growth of slightly less than 2 percent last year.

The total Greater Cincinnati economic output in 2008 – the most recent figures available – was $99 billion. So that 1 percentage point improvement translates into an increase of about $1 billion in value of all local goods and services produced.

“That’s quite an improvement,” Stevie said. “Conditions are improving a lot faster than they were previously.”

One local manufacturer is seeing growth, and is ready for more.

Sales at Richards Electric Supply Co., a Bond Hill supplier to commercial construction and manufacturing firms, rose by more than 10 percent last year to the mid-$60 million range, said Mike Misrach, the company’s president.

Richards’ backlog is at a decent level, giving him hope for more growth this year.

Misrach, who took the helm last year after his father, Ivan, died, expects to add this year to his staff of 130. He’s encouraged by customer interest in price quotes, too.

“We’ve seen more activity from the private sector than we have in the last three years,” he said.

Reasons are mixed. The manufacturing sector got hit so hard it had to rebound at some point, Vredeveld said. He also figures some local manufacturers have revamped during the recession and created new competitive edges.

Whatever the cause, he expects manufacturing’s local growth to continue this year.

“Because we’re a bit overweighted (locally) in manufacturing employment, that’ll be some good news for this economy,” Vredeveld said.

Business investment will drive gains, too. Businesses have gotten clarity on how much they’ll have to pay in taxes and the regulatory environment they’ll have to navigate, so they’re more confident and willing to invest dollars now than they were a few months ago.

Hiring has picked up in the region. Greater Cincinnati’s jobless rate improved to 9.2 percent in November from as high as 10.9 percent in February 2010, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Companies added 29,300 jobs over that time.

But local employment has been flat from a year ago. Janet Harrah, economist at Northern Kentucky University, expects that to change. She predicts net job growth of about 1 percent this year. That’s nearly 10,000 new jobs.

She forecasts the local unemployment rate will drop below 9 percent and improve to 8 percent by year-end. The job market’s recent improvement should build on itself.

“We’ll continue that cycle,” said Harrah, who expects the local economy to grow about 3 percent this year. “Once you have jobs, it begets more jobs.”

The hiring of temp workers is picking up, said Kevin Grosse, owner of the Express Employment Professionals office in Colerain Township. His office’s activity has grown even more than the company’s national average of about 45 percent growth from a year ago. Much of his business is in engineering and manufacturing jobs.

“We’re definitely seeing more hiring than we have in quite some time, over the last couple years,” Grosse said. “It’s a positive trend.”

Read more: Cincinnati economy could beat nation | Business Courier

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A single-family home is also the most rentable types real estate, since everyone certainly needs housing.

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Despite the rising number of renters across the country, it is cheaper to buy a home rather than rent one in 72 percent of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., according to an index released by real estate search and marketing site Trulia.

“Since the start of the ‘Great Recession,’ many former homeowners have flooded the rental market. Following the principles of supply and demand, renting has become relatively more expensive than buying in most markets,” said Pete Flint, CEO and co-founder of Trulia, in a statement.

“Though necessary for achieving true economic recovery, stricter bank lending practices have also further aggravated the struggling housing market in the short term. Even highly qualified homebuyers face intense scrutiny on their income, savings, existing debt and credit history before they can get a mortgage loan.”

Trulia’s rent vs. buy index compares the median list price with the median rent on two-bedroom apartments, condominiums and townhomes listed on Trulia.com as of Jan. 10, 2011.

A price-to-rent ratio of 1 to 15 means that it’s much cheaper to buy than to rent in a particular city. A ratio between 16 and 20 means that it’s more expensive to rent than to buy, but, depending on the family’s situation, buying could “make financial sense,” the site said. Any ratio above 20 indicates that owning is much more costly than renting in a city.

In 36 out of 50 of the country’s most populous cities, buying a two-bedroom home is less expensive than renting one. These cities include many areas that have been hit hard by foreclosures, such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Fresno, Calif.

Top 10 cities to buy vs. rent:

In 10 cities, renting is cheaper, but buying might make more financial sense, according to Trulia. These cities include Los Angeles, Boston, and Fort Worth, Texas.

The index considers the total cost of homeownership compared to the total cost of renting. Calculations for the total cost of homeownership include mortgage principal and interest, property taxes, hazard insurance, closing costs at time of purchase, homeowners association dues, and private mortgage insurance. The homeownership cost calculation also includes tax advantages from mortgage interest, property tax and closing-cost deductions.

Calculations for total rental cost include rent and renters insurance.

The total cost of homeownership was highest, compared to the cost to rent, in New York, Seattle, Kansas City Mo. and San Francisco.

Top 10 cities to rent vs. buy:

“Although owning a home is relatively more affordable in most cities, market conditions have caused an interesting demographic swap between traditional renters and buyers,” said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator for Trulia, in a statement. Nelson is also an Inman news columnist.

“For example, lifelong renters are seizing the opportunity to become homeowners while affordability is high. At the same time, a growing number of longtime homeowners are finding themselves tenants — some by choice and others by necessity.”

Source: Inman News

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Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™

Did Your City Make the List?

HealthGrades Quality Study Identifies Hospitals in Top 5% in Nation; Cities that Have Highest Concentration of Top Hospitals

HealthGrades knows that you and your family are concerned about the quality of hospital care in your community. So we’ve released the first-ever list of America’s Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care. The rankings are based on a comprehensive study of patient death and complication rates at the nation’s nearly 5,000 hospitals.

The Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care list is part of HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study. As part of the study, HealthGrades identified those hospitals performing in the top 5% nationwide across 26 different medical procedures and diagnoses, then ranked cities by highest percentage of these Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence™.

West Palm Beach, FL ranked #1 in the nation, with nine out of 12 hospitals designated as top-performers. Rounding out the top five markets for hospital care quality were: Brownsville, TX, Dayton, OH, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and Tucson, AZ, respectively. The complete list of Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care and all Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence can be found at www.healthgrades.com.

Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on patients’ clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and inhospital complications. HealthGrades’ analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare patient discharges for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

This year’s study found that American families are highly aware of differences in hospital quality within their communities, expect continued transparency from hospitals when it comes to quality, and rely on clinical quality ratings as a trusted source when choosing a provider.

“Our research indicates that the recent health care reform debate and highly-publicized reports about the persistence of wide variation in the quality of patient care at U.S. hospitals have resonated with the American public,” said Dr. Rick May, HealthGrades vice president of clinical quality services and study co-author. “No longer is today’s health care consumer simply looking for the least expensive option when it comes to medical care. They expect high quality and are willing to go out of their way to get it.”

According to a survey of nearly 15,000 visitors to HealthGrades.com that was included in HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study:

83.4% of consumers are very or somewhat concerned about hospital quality in their community.

Almost all patients surveyed, 93.8%, reported being willing to go out of their way (drive further, reschedule appointments) to seek care at a more highly rated hospital. The majority of health care consumers surveyed, 64.9%, also stated that they would be willing to pay more out of pocket to seek care at a top-rated hospital.

Over half, 57.0%, believe online hospital quality ratings are a trustworthy source of information.

66.8% want access to more quality information and 60.7% of survey respondents feel the federal government should pay highly-performing hospitals more.

Other key findings from the study are as follows:

Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence (Top 5% in the nation) outperform all other hospitals across all of the 17 mortality cohorts and six of nine complication cohorts studied from 2007 through 2009.

Specifically, Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence had a 29.82% lower risk-adjusted inhospital mortality rate and a 1.91% lower risk-adjusted inhospital complication rate among Medicare beneficiaries compared to all other hospitals.

In fact, if all hospitals performed at this level, 158,684 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved and 3,511 Medicare inhospital complications could potentially have been avoided.

HealthGrades Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care
Click here to see the list of hospitals that rank top 5% in the nation for each city.

1. West Palm Beach, FL
2. Brownsville, TX
3. Dayton, OH
4. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
5. Tucson, AZ
6. Cincinnati, OH
7. Phoenix AZ
8. Greenville, SC
9. Chattanooga, TN
10. Richmond, VA

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Home sales last month — at 1,197 units — displayed two positive trends:

• December sales were 8.6% greater than November, which had 1,102 sales. A year ago, it was just the opposite, where December sales were weaker than November by 17%.
• Although December sales were 9.39% less than the same month a year ago, when 1,321 homes sold, it was better than the November 2010 to November 2009 comparison, which was off 30%.

“Home sales are headed in the right direction,” said Pete Kopf, president of the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors. He cited these reasons:

1. Home prices have stabilized;
2. Interest rates are beginning to trickle up, encouraging would-be buyers to become actual buyers in order to still obtain an interest rate near 5%; and
3. Pent-up demand for home ownership is on the climb, since some rents have increased, making home ownership the more viable choice.

Average home sale price for December, at $160,554, was up 4.94% from the same month a year earlier, and for the entire year the price was up 4.90%. Some of that price increase was based on a greater number of higher end sales, at higher average prices, in December 2010. The $500,000-and-up homes sold last month increased 9.8% compared to the same month a year ago.

Kopf said the upward trend in average home selling price points out that more persons are seeing the advantage in buying at today’s favorable pricing levels. For many, that means buying now at value pricing instead of later at higher prices.

“Granted, it’s still a buyer’s market,” said Kopf. That’s because the inventory of unsold homes at Dec. 31 was 10.51 months. That’s how long it would take to liquidate the existing inventory of homes for sale at the current sales pace. A year ago it stood at 8.81 months. A balanced market for buyers and sellers is about 6 months.

Locally, a 30-year fixed rate loan averaged 4.78% in December. This week it was 4.92%. Mostfinancial analysts predict increasing mortgage rates this year.

A recent Moody’s study reported that in some top cities nationwide, it makes more sense to own than rent. Experts often recommend buying when the price-to-rent ratio is below 15 and rent when it’s above 20. Cincinnati scored 13.74, meaning that buying is preferable over renting. [The price-to-rent ratio is the price of a typical home divided by the annual cost of renting that home.]

Nationwide, December home sales were up 12.3% from November on a seasonally adjusted basis, but down 2.9% from December 2009.

(Source: Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors)

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