This Part 2 in this series. You can read Part 1 of the series here What is working successfully for today's real estate market? -- Part 1 . Part 1 to the article included (1) Anything to do with foreclosures - short sales, bank owned REO, foreclosure assistance, foreclosure rehab and cleanup, and (2) Loan rates are low.
I write a regular column for the Investors Resource Center club monthly newsletter and so I updated these articles for the 2009 real estate marketplace to help fellow investors out. The club meets once a month at a general meeting in Winter Park and has several smaller group meetings at various locations throughout every month. Networking with colleagues is always a beneficial thing to be doing. So here we go with Part 2 of what is working out there ...
(3) Working with investors. I've been advertising for over 10 years that I work with investors, and because of this I have been able to sell some of my regular customers literally 30-40 great deals over the last decade. Right now it is a great time to have a few investors that you work with. There are so many great deals out there and investors are snatching many of them up. I have several investors right now that are regularly buying properties and thus this is repeat business that results in a few closings every month for myself and my sales associates.
Investors can also be of great benefit to you when working short sales because often they are willing to submit very lowball offers and then patiently wait (sometimes for months) to hear back from the bank - worst case is the bank doesn't accept the offer, but hopefully gives you a counter-offer price that they will accept. Then you can at least advertise a price that the short sale is bank approved for.
(4) Buying some good deals for yourself. I have never seen so many good deals out there as I do right now. And they all aren't just in the marginal high crime neighborhoods. I'm seeing plenty of good deals in middle class locations with great school districts. I just sold a 3/2 block home in Altamonte Springs in December for $40,000 - yes it was a bank owned junker with code violations but it was also located in the coveted Lake Brantley A+ school district. If you are short of cash and credit, maybe you can partner with someone else - that is exactly what my customer did on this deal. Maybe you can pick up 4 or 5 good deals over the next year, rent or lease option them to a tenant, and then ride this market out. Heck in another 3 years you might be able to cash those deals out and pocket 30K per property. That isn't a bad thing at all.
(5) Property auctions.This won't work on every property, but especially in short sale and distressed situations there might be some opportunity here. At auctions the buyers all want great deals, so you are not going to get retail prices but hopefully you will get reasonable prices if you market the auction well. To hold an auction, you either have to have an ownership interest in the property or you can hire a real estate broker or a licensed auctioneer and work with them to sell your inventory. In fact if you are thinking about an auction in Central Florida, I would certainly consider teaming up with you to do a bigger style auction on some of our short sales and REO listings. Some of the bank REO departments I work with send properties to auction on a regular basis. Not all of them sell at the bank's price, but some do.
(6) Property management. Personally I don't want to go down this road, so I only manage my own properties and those of my family members. But I know many people who have. You do need a real estate broker's license to manage properties for other people. The money is not big, but it is steady income if you can get 10 or 20 properties to manage. I am all for obtaining more residual income. That is a good thing as long as it is not too management intensive.
(7) Foreign national buyers.This is something a little more specialized. It would help if you or someone on your team spoke their particular language or knew something about the country you are marketing to. The exchange rate of the dollar is still great for foreigners. To Europeans, Middle Easterners, and many others that means that properties in the U.S.A. are on sale even more so. I take my kids to some of the local theme parks regularly, and they are packed with sun-loving foreigners. Some of them will want to buy here. That is an opportunity for sure. Many of the properties (especially condos and townhomes) our firm sells in the areas near Disney World and Universal Studios are being sold to foreign nationals as vacation homes.
Hopefully these ideas are getting the wheels turning in your head. There are plenty of positive things about this market. You just need to be focusing on them until the economy stabilizes. Stay tuned for Part 3 coming soon. Until then, put some of these ideas to work for you.
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Rob Arnold - Your full service and investor friendly Realtor ® in Orlando and Central Florida.
ABR, CPL, CRB, CSP, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Notary Public
407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com We Buy Houses Florida
We sell foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned REO properties throughout Central Florida. We sell and list Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Free list of foreclosure and short sale houses available.
I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Mount Dora, Eustis, Clermont, Kissimmee, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Port Saint Lucie, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Gainesville, Volusia, Brevard, and more.
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