REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
SUMMER 2026
2.Secure Your Financial Future: How Real Estate Can Create Wealth and Build the American Dream
5. Is Your Business Speaking a Secret Language?
3. NREIA Legislative Update
10. Is a ‘Landlord Exodus’ Reshaping the Market?
3. America Is Good, and I’m Lucky to Live Here
12. New Report Details State of Pet Inclusivity in Rental Housing
4. Capitalizing on Repairs and Maintenance
14. Good Properties Get Crushed by Bad Capital
5. FinCEN Update Circulated To Over 40,000 Real Estate Investors Nationwide
$4.95
RE Journal
Member Spotlight
J
Joe O’Brien
oe O’Brien is a Phoenix-based real estate investor, Realtor, landlord, and mentor who built his portfolio through persistence, creativity, and a belief that real estate can completely change someone’s future. Since starting in 2001, Joe has focused on helping everyday people create wealth through ownership, cash flow, and long-term vision. He is an active member of the Arizona Real Estate Investors Association (AZREIA).
Please tell us a little about who you are and what you did before getting into real estate investing. I’m a Phoenix-based investor, Realtor, mentor, husband, father, and entrepreneur. Before real estate, I
Continued on Page 8
Midyear Housing Market Review By Rick Sharga
A
fter more than three years of sluggish home sales, the housing market looked like it was gaining momentum over the last half of 2025: Affordability was improving due to moderating home prices and declining mortgage rates, and sales were up yearover-year. It felt like we were entering 2026 on an upswing. In fact, January and February both started out strongly, until Mother Nature weighed in with unusually severe weather across the Northeast and Midwest. And March also began well, until an unexpected war with Iran caused oil prices to spike, roiling the bond markets and causing mortgage rates to rise. So, the first quarter, which showed some promise, fell flat in terms of home sales. But as we move through the spring and into summer, there are still signs that the market may be ready to awaken from its long hibernation. Pent-up demand and changing market dynamics (along with – hopefully – a near-term resolution of the conflict in the Middle East) might be enough to propel home sales past the numbers we’ve seen in recent years. Let’s take a look at what the data says.
Purchase Loan Applications Increase Despite Rising Mortgage Rates While still lower than they were a
year ago, mortgage rates ticked up over the past month due to the impact rising oil prices had on the bond markets, and specifically on yields for 10-year U.S. treasuries, which remain near 4.5% in late May. Mortgage rates plateaued between 6.3% and 6.5% on 30-year, fixedrate loans, and mortgage purchase loan applications declined in April, even briefly dipping below 2025 levels, before rebounding in May. But recent indications suggest that prospective buyers are beginning to come back, as application volume is now about 9% higher than it was a year ago.
Pending Sales Index Improves After starting the year by declining in January, the Pending Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors
(NAR) rose for the second consecutive month in March. After February’s index rebounded modestly, up 1.8% from the prior month, March showed similar growth, increasing by 1.5%, to a score of 73.7 – better, but still below the score of 100 that marks a healthy housing market. On an annual basis, the index was down by 1.1%, but that decline was driven once again by an extreme fall-off in the Northeast region, which was down by more than 6.5% annually. The Midwest (-3.1%) and West (-1.7%) also reported annual declines, while the South increased by 2.3%. On the other hand, the Northeast also experienced the largest monthly gain in the index, up by 4.4%, followed by the South, which had a 3.9% improvement. The West had the Continued on Page 15
Self-Directed IRA Rules You Should Know Before Buying Property By Carl Fischer
R Rental Housing Journal, LLC 4500 S. Lakeshore Drive, Suite 300 Tempe, Arizona 85282
Vol. 11 Issue 3
eal estate investors are used to looking at numbers: Purchase price. Rent. Repairs. Debt. Cash flow. Exit value. But when you buy real estate with a self-directed IRA, the rules matter just as much as the deal. A self-directed IRA can hold alternative assets such as real estate, private loans, mortgage notes, private placements, and other non-publicly traded investments. For real estate investors, that can open the door to using retirement funds in ways many people do not
Published In Conjunction With nationalreia.org
realize are possible. But here is the key point: Your IRA owns the property. You do not own it personally. That one concept drives most of the rules.
The IRA Owns the Property, Not You If your self-directed IRA buys real estate, the asset belongs to the IRA. That means the property should not be titled in your personal name. Rental
Continued on Page 6
rentalhousingjournal.com