Here we are, in the middle of September 2009 and I just about broke even in the stock market, compared to last year.  On Thursday I showed about a 1% gain, which of course was eaten up in a fall on Friday.  It's no wonder I am finding more investors getting back into the housing market.  Why not?  Where else can you get a 5-7% return on your funds with minimal risk.  Real estate is becoming an attractive investment once again?  It has been one matter, trying to guess the bottom of the stock market.  I have seen some stocks increase as high as 600% when I made my best guess at the market bottom.  But I also own a number of stocks which are off as much as 80%.  Hence, it all balances out to a zero percent gain.  I can see why investors are feeling more secure back in the housing market.  At least the investment is secured by real estate which is at the lowest price in years.  As a buyer's agent I negotiate the best price I can for the investors, which in this market is often an easy task.  Today there appears to be little risk of prices dropping much more in the housing market, which makes this an attractive investment. 

This helps me out in a number of ways.  It opens opportunities for rent to own options.  The investors share in a small portion of the profits from the closing costs, receive the interest during the rental period and receive the full sum of their money when the buyer is able to close on a new loan, usually in 3 to 6 months.  Banks have found a thousand ways to say no to many highly qualified buyers.  I am sure most of us have seen this happen.  After investing dozens of hundreds of hours into a purchase we find out the entire transaction is killed by reasons making little or no sense.  This has opened the field up to investors.  I hope the banks are paying attention.  There are plenty of smart investors making a good income from this situation.