Rent-A-Chicken Trend Spikes During Pandemic

Americans are learning the feathered friends provide more than just affordable eggs.

“Hey, girls,” John Farrugia says, opening the door to a fenced-in run where about 50 hens cluck, coo, and strut. He reaches in and picks up a fluffy brown chicken, cradling her in his arm. “This is a red cross,” he says, pointing to the red comb and wattles on the bird’s head. “She’s a real sweetheart.”

Soon, this gentle bird will be nestled in someone else’s arms as part of Farrugia's chicken-rental business, CT Rent a Hen, which he co-owns with partner Marisa Fabrizi.

While many Americans have adopted puppies or kittens to cope with the pandemic lockdowns, others are turning to chickens for comfort. Caring for the domestic fowl can provide a sense of self-sufficiency and domesticity, as well as companionship on par with mammals, owners say. Oh, and fresh daily eggs, too.

The rent-a-chicken concept varies, but most companies provide two to four egg-laying hens for anywhere from four weeks to six months (roosters are generally too aggressive). The animals are delivered with their own coop—which is secure against predators—food, bedding, and educational materials. Renters must also confirm that they have adequate outdoor space for the birds to thrive. (Learn about the surprising ways that chickens changed the world.)

The demand for chicken rentals has surged across the country in 2020—and 2021 looks on par with last, according to several businesses. CT Rent a Hen has already rented out all of their 180 available hens as of April 2021. Last year, they were sold out by March, with a waiting list of 80 families. In most years, hens don’t run out until June.

“We maxed out,” says Phil Tompkins, who owns Rent The Chicken with his wife, Jenn Tompkins. It’s currently the largest chicken-rental company in North America, with local partners that supply hens in 26 U.S. states, along with several Canadian provinces. Typically, the Tompkins, who live in Freeport, Pennsylvania, rent out 45 to 55 coops a year. In 2020, they rented 72—about a 30 percent increase.

At RentACoop, based in Germantown, Maryland, coop rentals more than doubled in 2020, from between 50 and 60 hens to 120. “It was really hard to find chickens,” co-owner Diana Phillips says, noting that breeders were sold out.

Several companies also saw increased demand for hatch rentals, in which customers can incubate eggs until they hatch. Surprisingly, about 10 percent of renters kept and raised their chicks, noted Philips. “Up until now, that never really happened before,” she says.

“These animals have a way of seducing people,” says Farrugia, adding that renting is a low-risk way to try out chicken ownership.

RESPONSIBLE OWNERSHIP

Of course, only people who are committed and serious about pet ownership should consider renting or owning chickens. It’s a daily responsibility, and, like other animals, chickens can get sick and injured. They also attract predators, so ensuring their safety when they roam outside their coop is crucial. “You have to protect them, or you’re going to lose them,” Farrugia says.

Before renters are signed up, they verify that their living conditions are conducive to caring for chickens, such as providing adequate space and time. Chickens need to be let out of their coop to roam each day, for instance.

Renters can also expect to be asked questions about other animals in the household and neighborhood—dogs can sometimes stress chickens—their use of pesticides, and more.

Stephanie Rice of Columbia, Maryland, cautions that “while chickens are easy to maintain, it's a learning curve at first.” Rice, who started renting two hens from RentACoop and now owns four, found that without a fenced-in yard, she had to make a small chicken run that could be moved periodically so the birds had fresh grass to scratch and explore. (See seven regal portraits of chickens.)

An important first step in renting chickens is knowing your local ordinances. “Even if a town allows poultry, there may be specific guidelines on waste disposal, coop location,” and other factors, says Jennifer Graham, an associate professor of zoological companion animal medicine at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

Graham, who has studied the health of backyard chickens, adds that chickens can shed infectious disease such as salmonella, so frequent handwashing around chickens is vital, as is being mindful of contact with children under 5, and anyone who’s immune-compromised.

To Rice, the joy of chicken cuddles makes any downsides worth it. She may even continue to add to her brood after the pandemic subsides.

“Chickens,” she says, “are addictive.”

Get the full story on National Geographic.

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The Wealthy Invested in "Hidden Gem" Locations During the Pandemic

A new report revealed where wealthy Americans call home. As the rich have relocated this past year, more than one factor has influenced their moves and spending habits.

The real-estate brokerage Coldwell Banker issued a 132-page report breaking down where the wealthy have moved and why — as well as which locations have served as the most desirable relocation retreats. It includes six areas where the real-estate market is on the rise or exceeding expectations.

Taking the pulse of markets across the US, the brokerage identified hot spots the wealthy began to invest in during the pandemic by analyzing statistics that indicated demand, like local sales prices and total number of homes sold. It also asked local agents for insights, as they witnessed COVID-19-era buyers descend firsthand. With the housing market uprooted by the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans have left major cities like Los Angeles and New York over the past year for homes in the suburbs and vacation hot spots. 

Using those metrics, Coldwell Banker singled out three areas it labeled "secondary markets on the rise" for buyers: spots in the Southwest and mountains where the wealthy moved in 2020 but where the demographic had previously not sought out property at such robust levels.

Three "markets exceeding expectations" were identified as well: cities where the wealthy weren't expected to invest in so heavily — but have. In each of these mountainous, coastal, and Midwestern locations, the number of homes sold each month had increased significantly relative to inventory since the start of the pandemic.

As for their common ground, each location's luxury market is more affordable than similar real estate in other major cities — and buyers can snag luxury properties at lower costs than they would in places like San Francisco or New York.

"Efforts to safeguard wealth led people to cast wider nets into real estate, stocks, art, technology, gaming, and other niches; many accelerated plans to move to tax-friendlier locales," the report said.

It added: "Ideas about wealth itself also shifted as the affluent set sights on 'intangible luxuries,' like family, health, safety, security, and space.

"The search for intangibles created new demographic groups, called 'affluent trailblazers' who relocated from cities to small-town hidden gems, suburbs and popular second home destinations in 2020."

Affluent trailblazers are broken down into three archetypes — explorers, new suburbanites, and resorters — based on factors like net worth, age, and desire. While explorers tend to be under 39, married with at least one child, and worth between $1 million and $5 million, new suburbanites are between 39 and 54, have a net worth between $5 million and $10 million, and tend to be married with two or more school-age children. Resorters are over 54, married with adult children, and tend to have the highest net worth of the three groups, $10 million or higher.

Explorers left high-cost cities in 2020 in search of "hidden gem" locations where they could get more space and a better quality of life, new suburbanites sought more square footage and home amenities amid the pandemic, and resorters fled cities for their favorite vacation destinations. 

Tied together by their status as once secondary markets, the locations Coldwell Banker identified as cities on the rise are moving up in ranks to compete with the likes of New York and LA. Not far behind are the markets exceeding expectations, as well as booming secondary and even tertiary markets that reflect buyers' desire for more square footage and amenities without ditching the attractions of big-city life. 

But while some major cities saw an exodus in residents and slump in residential demand, others ascended into a state of frenzy, with bidding wars and overasking offers on properties in once secondary cities.

Here's a deeper look inside the places wealthy homebuyers discovered in droves over the past year, and the three unexpected locations they're migrating toward next.

Secondary markets on the rise

1. Phoenix

"Phoenix is a big beneficiary of the California exodus, and over half of my luxury buyers are transplanted Californians," Debbie Frazelle, a realtor with Coldwell Banker in Phoenix, said. "Taxes are a big driver, but so are restrictive COVID-19 mandates."

The Phoenix area saw a significant uptick of buyers from the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Chicago in 2020, Frazelle said, adding that "early in the pandemic, anything under $600,000 blew off the market within 24 hours." Even local clients who had plans to downsize before the pandemic are now upsizing, Frazelle added.

"Days on market plummeted and so did inventory," she said. 

Luxury sales in the $750,000 to $2.5 million range accelerated by the early summer, "doubling year-over-year during several months in the second half of the year," Frazelle said. Popular high-end neighborhoods fielding interest in the Phoenix metro include Arcadia and North Central, she added, "while East Valley is going like hot cakes for young families." 

While North Central and East Valley are home to large numbers of Phoenix metro residents (over 1 million, combined), small enclaves like Arcadia — an area home to just over 40,000 residents — had a median list price of $1.3 million as of March, according to Realtor.com, which reported that the area's list price was trending up 10.1% year over year. Home to many young families, professionals, and retirees, the Phoenix metro as a whole is known largely for its local diversity and good schools.

2. Denver

"I've experienced ups and downs and crazy markets in my 35 years in Colorado real estate, but two very unusual things happened in 2020," Louie Lee, an agent with Coldwell Banker Realty in Colorado, said. "First, the pandemic sent everybody home, and we weren't sure what to expect, but then businesses gave people the freedom not to come into the office, and we got bombarded."

With Americans relocating in mass numbers, Lee said new residents flocked to Colorado from all over the country, leaving places like Texas, the East Coast, the Midwest, and California. 

"The most feverish demand is in suburban communities like Castle Pines, where homes are typically 3,500 to 5,000 square feet on three-quarters of an acre and sell for between $1.2 million and $2 million," Lee said. "It feels like Vail, but it's only about 30 minutes south of downtown Denver."

Though it's comparable in atmosphere, Castle Pines is considerably more affordable than Vail, which has a median home listing price of $1.9 million, according to Realtor.com. The median list price on homes in Castle Pines is $697,500, and that figure is $495,000 in Denver.

And there's one more big seller that makes Denver attractive: Its luxury real estate is affordable compared with California, Lee said, not to mention the "perennial draw of the mountains, skiing, and an overall desirable outdoor lifestyle."

3. Dallas

"The Dallas market has enjoyed an extraordinary year of growth from a plethora of businesses moving here, the relocation of the affluent and influential, and an upsurge in luxury-home building," Lori Arnold, a broker with Coldwell Banker Apex in Dallas, said. 

"Luxury prices have, on average, increased by 7%. And while properties have traditionally taken upwards of six months to sell, we are now seeing multiple offers and sales within weeks of coming on the market," she said. "Our sales in 2020 were up 62% compared to 2019."

The surge in Dallas buyers comes from all over the country, with new residents flocking to the city from feeder markets like Chicago, Southern California, and Washington, DC, where Arnold said average home prices were considerably higher than in Texas. In Dallas, the median home listing price is $390,000, according to Realtor.com, while the median list price in DC and Los Angeles stand at $599,000 and $950,000, respectively.

"Buyers are better positioned to afford our luxury properties," Arnold said. 

"Even though we are a large metropolitan area, and our more established luxury markets saw significant growth in closed sales, our boundaries continue to grow, especially in the northern areas around Frisco, where sales jumped 35% in 2020," Arnold said. 

Markets exceeding expectations

1. Salt Lake City

"In May, it was like a switch flipped, and 2020 was our best year by far, with most of the strength concentrated in the surrounding areas away from downtown," Molly Jones, an agent with Coldwell Banker Realty in Salt Lake City, said.

"California and New York are the two biggest sources of new arrivals," Jones said, adding that many new residents were moving in because big tech companies like Adobe, Facebook, and Microsoft have become a major presence just south of Salt Lake City. 

And smaller tech firms from Silicon Valley are moving or establishing major outposts in Utah, as the rise of remote work has driven demand for remote, off-the-grid homes.

"It's easy to stay home when you have more space, but in the case of demographics influencing architecture, we went from really big houses to much nicer smaller homes," Jones added, adding that reflected on Utah's traditionally large families. The change is giving way to an influx of couples and young families just starting to have kids, he added.

2. Sacramento, California

Sacramento was a major recipient of flight from the Bay Area in 2020, according to Angela Heinzer, a Coldwell Banker agent in Sacramento. 

Ninety minutes east of San Francisco, Heinzer said homebuyers flocked to the California city when companies told their employees remote work would continue for at least the remainder of 2020.

"Sales volume spiked, inventory levels fell, and prices rose," she said, adding that the downside to Sacramento's rise had been the softening of the San Francisco market, which has left her with some buyers who can't sell their homes in the Bay Area to purchase in Sacramento.

Many of these buyers are young families, she said, adding that Sacramento's luxury market was driven by public and private schools, location, and community.

As for where buyers are coming from, "it's not uncommon for people to move within the same community," she said, adding that many out-of-town buyers tended to gravitate to Placer and El Dorado counties, which border Sacramento County. 

And despite Sacramento's surge, "I have had more sellers than ever before leaving California for states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida," Heinzer said.

3. St. Louis

"We didn't have the rebound that several larger cities enjoyed after 2008, but over the past year, our luxury market really boomed," said John Ryan, a Coldwell Banker Gundaker agent serving St. Louis and its surrounding areas.

The luxury market in St. Louis runs along the Central Corridor from downtown at the Mississippi River due west to the Missouri River, according to Ryan.

"The Central West End features elegant homes from the early 20th century, Clayton has single-family homes and high-end condos, and Ladue is known for its country clubs with luxury homes on large parcels of land," he said.

The significant uptick in the local market's recent strength is largely because of the pandemic, Ryan said.

"After being cooped up in quarantine, people definitely had the urge to upgrade into living situations with more space and amenities," he added. 

St. Louis' status as a jobs center, according to Ryan, makes it an even more attractive real-estate market.

"There's a lot of opportunity here for executives with companies like Edward Jones, Stifel, Emerson Electric, World Wide Technology, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, along with rewarding careers in medicine at several hospitals, and in higher education at schools like Washington University," he said.

Keep reading on Business Insider.

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Mortgage rates remain under 3% for third week in a row

An economy recovered and low rates make for even more demand

For the third consecutive week, mortgage rates managed to remain under 3%, dropping three basis points last week to an average of 2.96%, according to Freddie Mac‘s PMMS.

Despite consistent forecasts of a market with rising rates, the 30-year fixed rate mirrored more closely numbers borrowers saw back in February. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, pointed to a golden opportunity for homebuyers given the recent economic resurgence.

“Consumer income and spending are picking up, which is leading to an acceleration in economic growth,” Khater said. “The combination of low and stable rates, coupled with an improving economy, is good for homebuyers. It’s also good for homeowners who may have missed prior opportunities to refinance and increase their monthly cash flow.”

But borrowers flush with cash are struggling to find a home to spend it on. Heightened demand continued to push mortgage applications down last week in what Mortgage Bankers Association vice president of economic forecasting, Joel Kan, called a “mixed bag of factors” — mortgage rates being one of them.

Even though inventory is grappling with the power that record low rates hold, borrowers are still racing to the end of the bidding line, as March housing starts jumped nearly 20% month over month to the highest level since 2006, per the latest report from Redfin.

Although housing starts are rising, lumber prices have skyrocketed in the past 12 months, causing the average price of a new single-family home to increase by $35,872, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Low inventory is still a thorny issue as April turns to May, but more new builds appear to be in the pipeline, according to Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae chief economist.

“The supply of existing homes for sale and an elevated level of new homes sold — but not yet constructed — should help bolster a strong construction pace of new housing starts moving into the spring buying season,” Duncan said.

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Protecting your plants from wild weather this spring

Spring weather can be so temperamental, it can sometimes feel like we experience all of the seasons in a single day.

Frosts and cold snaps of spring are one thing, but hail can be one of the greatest risks to our gardens.

Hoop houses or high tunnels can both extend the growing season and offer protection from hail. Hoops can also provide structures to which tightly woven ‘hail cloth’ can be fastened for added protection; hail cloth can also be placed over tomato cages or other structures available in your garden.

Walls of water and gallon milk cartons (with the bottoms cut off) can be used to protect new seedlings. If you leave the cap off of these cartons, they can even be left over seedlings until the plant outgrows this structure. Your imagination is the limit! Before a hailstorm, cardboard boxes, plastic buckets, and even sheets can help prevent some of the most extreme damage from occurring; however, you should never risk personal safety to protect your garden and should only implement these methods if you are able to get out far enough ahead of a storm for it to be safe.

Here is a seven minute video on Hail Mitigation and cleanup provided by CSU Extension staff.

Extending the growing season: https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/722.pdf

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These were March’s hottest housing markets

Largest price increases in the US were in Austin, Texas; Fresno, California

In modern history, the housing market has never seen a month like March. Record demand and the lowest levels of inventory on record pushed sales prices to record highs in March and made life very complicated for buyers, real estate agents, builders and lenders across the United States.

The national median home-sale price hit a record high of $353,000 in March — up 17% from 2020 — according to a new report from Redfin. Active listings — the count of all homes that were for sale at any time during the month — fell 29% year-over-year to their lowest level on record. This was the largest year-over-year drop on record, and the 20th straight month of declines.

Prospective homebuyers, real estate agents and homebuilders have felt the effects of low inventory for months now. The high cost of building materials has crippled general contractors and new-build progress, and hundreds of thousands of homeowners who ordinarily would have listed their homes, have stayed put.

Combined with the normal frenzy that a spring buying season brings, the demand for existing homes has never been higher.

The housing market set several other records in March, including the amount of time it took a home to sell (25 days on average, a new low, and 19 days faster year-over-year), the amount of homes sold above asking price (42%, a new high), and the average sale-to-list ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices (over 100% for the first time ever).

In spite of the crazed demand, officials don’t believe all homes are being overvalued.

“Despite the intense competition and high prices we face, I still see more big gains to be made in home equity,” said Taylor Marr, Redfin lead economist. “Fundamentals like low mortgage rates and high demand for housing are fueling the record-high price gains, so I don’t believe that homes are overvalued. Waiting for the market to cool could take many months, and at that point we may have missed out on the opportunity to benefit from these super-low mortgage rates and price gains in the year ahead.”

Median sale prices increased year-over-year nearly across the board in local housing markets. The only places prices didn’t increase were Honolulu, where they fell 4.7%, and San Francisco, where they were down 1.6%, per Redfin. The largest price increases were in Austin, Texas (+28%), Fresno, California (+23%) and North Port, Florida (+23%).

The largest gains in sales were in New York (+58%), San Jose, California (+56%) and San Francisco (+55%). The metro areas where home sales fell the most were Rochester, New York (-9%), Grand Rapids, Michigan (-9%) and Dayton, Ohio (-7%).

Other secondary housing markets that have seen a boom in new and existing homebuyers are Portland, Maine, Pueblo, Colorado, Logan, Utah, and Bay City, Michigan.

Interestingly, four California cities – San Francisco (+34%), San Jose (+20%), Oakland (+8%), and Los Angeles (+3%) – all posted a year-over-year increase in the number of seasonally-adjusted active listings of homes for sale. This follows a trend that began in early 2020, as people continue to move out of crowded, expensive cities (especially in California) and into smaller, secondary cities that offer more square footage at reasonable prices.

The biggest year-over-year declines in active housing supply in March were in Salt Lake City, Utah (-66%), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (-59%) and Allentown, Pennsylvania (-52%).

Denver was the most aggressive market, with half of all homes listed as “pending sale” in just five days, down from nine days a year earlier. Tacoma, Washington and Grand Rapids, Michigan were the next fastest markets with five and six median days, respectively, on the market, followed by Omaha, Nebraska (six) and Portland, Oregon (six).

(Housing Wire)

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