The downtrodden real estate market, along with general fears of recession in the coming year have conspired to move a lot of currently owned single family homes into the rental pool. With all this excess rental inventory coming onto the market, it’s not suprising that competition for tenants is — in some places — driving down rents and increase owner concessions.

The Wall Street Journal has just published a good article on this trend…

Kiplinger’s Magazine just ran a good article on where to invest in 2008…read it here.

Marcus & Millichap have just released their 2008 National Apartment Report, detailing their forecasts for the U.S. apartment market by major metropolitan area.

If you’re an aspiring real estate investor interested in multi-unit properties, I highly recommend you check out the report, which details the economic and demographic trends for each major apartment market in the U.S., along with a ranking of the major 43 markets based on a set of 12-month forward-looking supply and demand indicators.

San Francisco, Seattle, and New York top the list as the best markets for apartment investors in 2008, followed by San Jose, Oakland and Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, a number of Florida cities (Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando) dropped significantly due to the large number of SFH rentals coming onto the market in those cities hard-hit by the sub-prime crisis. At the bottom of the list are St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Detroit.

Have you ever considered buying a diamond online but weren’t sure how to protect yourself against fraudulent dealers? If so, check out our latest article, “Guide to Buying Diamonds Online,” that details how to safely buy diamonds online.

Have any additional tips that we may have missed? Send us an email at: feedback@threetypes.com.

For those interested in real estate investing, we just posted a new article, “Understanding Cap Rates,” in our articles section.

This article covers the basics of “capitalization rates,” which are the most basic measure of ROI for income-producing properties. Whether you’re new to the real estate investing world, or a seasoned pro, we believe this article will provide not only the basics of understanding capitalization rates, but also some of the more subtle nuances experienced investors will appreciate.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the Three Types blog. Here you will find this and that on a variety of financial topics.

For articles and tutorials, see our main articles page — hopefully you will find what you’re looking for, but if you don’t, feel free to drop us a note using our feedback link.

Thanks for reading…