Real Estate:Buy, Hold or Sell

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Real Estate, the Million-dollar question? Buy, Hold or sell!  Have the days of the quick flip in for huge profits disappeared? Is now a good time to get a bargain on buying your own home? What a about these so-called “Guru’s”? What is the difference between residential and commercial real estate? We will try to address some of these issues and more in this section over time. 

Read any article on the topic these days and the news is all bad but listen to the Guru’s and everything is smelling like roses for the home–based entrepreneur. What should you do?

It certainly can be confusing  with headlines like these;

Existing-Home Sales down in April

Stricter lending policies for buyers

 Home Prices Keep falling no end in sight

 Foreclosures on the rise - more to come

 Over A million foreclosures on the market

 Mortgage rates remain Low
 
Housing market worse since the depression

In May 2008 the CEO of Fannie Mae stated he feels we are about at the halfway point of the Real Estate crisis. He also indicated that prices of homes could fall another 25 percent before this disaster is over.  

Many feel this housing crisis will continue through 2009.

As of June 1 2008 both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac discontinued their declining market policies. What this means for you and other consumers throughout the country is you will now have access to financing with only 5 percent down payments and there will be some loans available with complete 100 percent financing.

Housing inventory: estimates over an 11 months supply of existing homes available for sale.

Recent foreclosure estimates put the number of foreclosures at over 1 million.

Combine the number of current foreclosure available, with Fannie Mae stating we are only halfway through the most severe housing slump sinceReal Estate, Foreclosures, Mortgages, home sales the depression; and it looks like the number of foreclosures is going to continue to climb.

Existing home sales across the USA are down overall as of April 2008; but there are some bright spots!

• Existing home sales up approximately 6 percent in the West
• They are unchanged in the South
• The Northeast finds existing home sales down
• Existing home sales for 2008 in the Midwest are much lower than a year ago 

Let’s try and sum this up:

• Existing Home Sales Dip   
•    Home prices keep falling 
• Access to safe, affordable financing with down payments of only 5 percent on most mortgages are available

•        Inventory Up

•  Mortgage Rates remain lowReal Estate, Foreclosures, Mortgages, home sales
• Foreclosures on the rise

My opinion on the current real estate market for new home-based real estate investors and this is strictly my opinion.

You can probably get some good buys but the days of the quick flip for big profits are gone, at least for now. It is a good time to buy if you are in a position to hold the properties for at least a year or two and rent them out during that time period.

If you are able to sell it right away that’s great (that’s the upside) but always consider the down side or the worst possible scenario when putting your money at risk. If you can live with the worst possible scenario then you will be able to sleep at night and that’s a big plus!

Remember if you buy now you must consider the possibility that the house you buy could also drop in value another 25 % according to some experts.

If you can handle the risk this could be a great time to buy a regular   “Blue Light Special” many fortunes are made when people buy, while the majority are either trying to sell or are standing on the sidelines watching and waiting.

Real Estate is a local market and you need to know your market area inside and out so that you can determine a great deal from a bad deal. You know that famous saying about Real Estate “Location, Location, Location” for home-based Real Estate Investors I’d like to include
“ Research, Research, Research.” 

Real Estate “Guru’s” will try and spin the current market situation any way they can to get you to purchase their over priced books and courses. You can get most of the same information for a whole lot less. The methods or systems they teach are nothing new they just try to put a new spin on it; to get you to think that they have all the answers for today’s market.

Think about what they offer the same material in different formats; Goes like this course includes a 294 page manual that covers everything you need to know about real estate, we will also include the same information on DVD and if you order right now we’ll include it on CD’s to play in your car.

Why do you need the same info 3 times over? Answer: so they can justify the hefty price tag!

 
The latest "Hot" Guru items seem to be(click for more info) Short-Sales, Subject To: and Foreclosures. These are all great ways to buy real estate. I just object to the Guru’s exploiting your desire for a better life to fill their pockets. Most of these courses and seminars now run into the thousands of dollars: for what books that are doubled spaced with double-wide margins and little useful information.

Which in turn leads to other seminars and books. I personally believe no course should cost more than a maximum of $500. Tops! In the coming weeks we will have a list of people in our opinion have something of value to offer you! “You Don’t Want To Miss This!” 

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