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Where Buyers are Picking Up Housing Bargains

Smart investors in all parts of the country are picking up fabulous housing bargains.

Bill Leon, president of Florida’s Broward (County) Real Estate Investors Association, has been buying and selling investment property for years, but he thinks today’s deals are unprecedented. “People are afraid not to sell because they don’t know where the bottom of the market is,” he says.

David Dweck, a hard-money lender, believes the best buys are in what he calls “workforce housing,” aging bungalows on small lots. They are selling for as little as 10 cents on the dollar compared to what they were going for in 2006, he says, then fixed up and resold or rented quickly.

“People have been beaten down by fear, negativity, constant media bombardment,” says Dweck. “There is a silver lining. The future looks bright.”

Sheresa Pompay, an associate with Hunt Real Estate ERA in Chandler, Ariz., says bad publicity is good for real estate investors. “I love the people who read about all the gloom and doom, because they stay on the sidelines and go, ‘It hasn’t hit bottom.’ Whatever. By the time everyone jumps back in, we’ll be out and doing something else.”

Fortune magazine predicts that these will be the 10 worst-performing real-estate markets – and the best places for finding bargains – in 2009:

Los Angeles, down -24.9 percent
Stockton, Calif., -24.7 percent
Riverside, Calif. -23.3 percent
Miami-Miami Beach, -22.8 percent
Sacramento, -22.2 percent
Santa Ana-Anaheim, Calif., -22 percent
Fresno, Calif., -21.6 percent
San Diego, Calif., 21.1 percent
Bakersfield, Calif., -20.9 percent
Washington, D.C., -19.9 percent

Source: Fortune, David Whitford (12/23/2008)

Inspector’s Advice: Disclose Everything

Building inspector and syndicated columnist Barry Stone urges real estate sales professionals to be forthright about a property’s shortcomings. Taking a laissez-faire approach can increase a practitioner’s liability if something goes awry after the sale has closed.

He particularly urges brokers to insist that associates be proactive about haveing properties professional inspected.

“The message should be: ‘This brokerage cannot afford disclosure-related lawsuits. If you work for this company, you must recommend only the most thorough home inspectors available. Here is the list of inspectors we have found to be the most qualified,’” Stone says.

Source: Access Media Group, Barry Stone (12/27/2008)

It’s a Dirty Job, But Someone’s Got to Do It

So-called “trash-out” businesses that clean up foreclosed homes are a big growth industry.

While there are no official numbers on how many trash-out businesses have opened, a Internet search turns up hundreds of listings, and Entrepreneur Magazine put foreclosure cleaner Cyprexx Services of Brandon, Fla., on its 2008 “Hot 100 Fastest Growing Businesses” list.

Clean-out servicers estimate that it costs about $2,000 to clean out a foreclosed home–more if the departing residents did a substantial amount of damage.
Cassandra Black of Foreclosure Cleanup in Riverdale, Ga., cleans out about 12 homes a month. She says 90 percent of her business comes from real estate practitioners.

With 575,090 loans nationwide entering the foreclosure process during the third quarter, the business is likely to get better before it gets worse.

Source: USA Today, Stephanie Frith (12/30/2008)

Signs of Letup in Home Price Slide

The decline in residential property prices appears to be slowing, according to preliminary data from First American CoreLogic.

A preview of its November report shows that home prices fell 9.6 percent last month, compared with 10.4 percent in October and 11.2 percent in September.

“The consistent deceleration over the past two months with November indicating the same trend in price declines is encouraging because it could portend the trough in price declines,” says Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic.

Still, layoffs and the swollen supply of unsold homes remain a concern, he notes.

Source: American Banker (12/29/08)

Want to Be Neighbors With Sarah Palin?

A December 2008 survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults reveals which pop culture celebrities and politicians Americans think would make the most appealing neighbors … and who isn’t welcome anywhere near the backyard.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate Web site Zillow.com, found that U.S. adults would most like to be neighbors with Sarah Palin (14 percent), followed closely by Oprah Winfrey (13 percent).

Paparazzi magnets apparently don’t make the best neighbors, as only 2 percent of U.S. adults would like to be neighbors with David and Victoria “Posh” Beckham in the coming year.

It also seems age and gender play a prominent role in neighbor preferences:

• Among adult men, Sarah Palin is the most desired neighbor (17 percent), while 17 percent of adult women said that Oprah Winfrey was the most desired neighbor, ahead of Palin (12 percent).
• Among 18-34 year old men, Michael Phelps tops the list as the most desirable neighbor (17 percent). In comparison, only 9 percent of 18-34 year old women thought the gold medal Olympian would make a desirable neighbor.
• The gender gap reveals that among 45-54 year old women; 21 percent voted for Oprah, compared to only 6 percent of their male counterparts.

Worst Neighbors of 2008

Britney Spears, the trouble-prone pop star, was voted the worst celebrity neighbor in 2008, according to one in five (19 percent) U.S. adults. However, Spears’ reputation has improved over the past 12 months. In 2007, 21 percent voted Britney the worst neighbor.

Rosie O’Donnell was a close second in 2008, with 18 percent of the votes, compared with 14 percent in 2007. Rounding out the top 5 worst list is Joe the Plumber (8 percent) Lindsay Lohan (7 percent) and Adam “Pacman” Jones (6 percent).

Source: PRNewswire

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