Posted by Anton on November 28, 2006 at 01:43:16:
Living in Depressed Real Estate Market-Need Advice - Posted by motivmind2
Posted by motivmind2 on July 13, 2002 at 12:29:58:
I’ve spent many hours studying the creative techniques and am ready to get started, but I live in Charlotte, NC which the Wallstreet Journal has dubbed on of the ten worst rental real estate markets in the country right now. This is quite apparent as I drive through town noticing all of the homes for rent and houses for sale. Apartments have been overbuilt and are now offering 3 months free rent. I don’t want to purchase a property and be stuck without a buyer or tenant for months as I don’t have enough reserve cash to cover that.
Can any of you tell me where the RE market is hot on the East Coast, or how to find this out? I would prefer to invest as close to home as possible.
Thanks much!
Go East Young Man! - Posted by Wayne-NC
Posted by Wayne-NC on July 15, 2002 at 14:52:56:
The Outer Banks are booming. It is very hard to find any property to rent for a positive cash flow. The most motivated sellers can sell in a month for top dollar. The other posters are right on. Take advantage of the slow market while you can and make some good deals, especially while the cost of money is low.
Charlotte or bust . . . - Posted by JoeKaiser
Posted by JoeKaiser on July 14, 2002 at 14:41:39:
A “depressed” market is the ideal place to be investing. How did you miss that? It’s a cyclical thing . . . markets go up and down and when things are tough, you want to be the guy who swoops in and cherry picks all the good deals.
In tough markets, you get low prices where sellers agree to carry back the financing at low interest rates for thirty years. Hello . . .
Get in there and mix it up.
Joe
Depressed Market? Hmmmm. - Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA)
Posted by Ronald * Starr(in No CA) on July 13, 2002 at 20:14:12:
MotivMind2–(NC)---------------
Have you read all the posts from NYCity and CA bemoaning the high prices because the markets are so hot? It’s hard to make money with real estate in a Hot Market, they all complain. Now, you come along and feel that it is hard to figure out how to make a profit in a down market. Doesn’t that mean that there is just no way to make money with real estate? Neither hot nor cold markets work. Doesn’t it make you feel like giving up and becoming a used skateboard salesman?
There are two ways to make money with real estate that make sense to me: quick resale for more than you pay for a property, and long-term rental holding.
When the market is poor, those property owners that just have to sell become desperate. That is where you, as the buyer comes in. You buy for lower than the already low market prices and take their properties of their hands. Because you buy for less than market value, you can sell for less than market value, but still higher than you paid, making a profit for yourself.
Or, you can rent for the long term. If you offer renters a better deal than the next property owner, they will want to live in your property. If you paid less than market price, you might be able to offer a good deal to the renters.
That suggests that you have to figure out ways to buy bargains. There are many different ways to do so. You might want to study John T. Reed’s book “How to Buy Real Estate for at Least 20% Below Market Value,” available on his website, johntreed.com . I think it is one of the very best real estate investment books ever written. It is a survey books, so don’t expect to learn every nuance of deal making for every approach. But you might find that there are a couple of approaches that really appeal to you. Then you can get educated about them and apply them yourself.
You can read the posts here on CREONLINE.COM–especially on the main bulletinboard forum–about how to market to desperate sellers.
Remember: you never have to buy any one property. Maybe the seller needs to sell, but it does not have to be to you. That means that you have to hold out for only good deals.
Do you know how to tell a good deal from a not-good deal? Fine, go out and start doing it. If you don’t know how, don’t you think that would be a good thing to do first?
Good InvestingRon Starr*