I recently heard someone in the hallways say that this current market we are in, is not the right market for flipping houses. Our current market is a buyers market with more inventory than we agents know what to do with. And just to make certain that we dont know what to do with the current levels of inventory, let's add a plethora of foreclosures for good measure! Yeah, thats the ticket! That'll mess them all up. Oh no, not quite good enough, now lets make the buyers think like an investor! Lets offer 20%, no,no make it 25% off their asking price, and lets make the seller pay our closing costs too, it doesnt matter if their recurring or not, make them pay it all.
WOW! Stats are over 75,000 foreclosures so far this year in Southern California, and some economists say we arent half way there yet? "We will see a few years of declining values and many owners will be upside down with their mortgages due to creative finance loan products from the secondary mortgage 'dealers' of which most are at best upside down at this point and others are already out of the business! The ones that went first, are the ones that ruined our clients chances of realizing the American Dream of Homeownership. Long term that is. Yes, I know, there are those homeowners that were taking full advantage of their incredible equity positions for the past years and going out and buying the dream boat, or that new RV, or the expensive once in a lifetime vacation to Europe, OR, the two or three new cars in the driveway, etc. ad infinitum.
And if you were like I was, constantly reminding them to take it easy and try to save some for that rainy day, that this wont, cant last forever. I honestly thought that after the last big set back when our state of California was going through what they termed a recession, but I called it a mini depression. Because back then I worked on the commercial side of the business and every company you could think of was leaving California to Nevada, mostly, because it is the tax free state. I couldnt give commercial space away for free. I know because we were actually advertising free commercial space for up to one year with a 5 year lease term. Buildings at 50 cent on the dollar, if you were lucky.
Let me get back to my subject. Flipping houses in any market is the right time to do so. If, you do your homework. It's the same M.O. as lead generation. The same thought process, of being pro-active in your market. Knowing the conditions of the different communities and the 'staying power' of same. Make your plan, set you goals, work your plan, fine tune your plan, then execute.
Find a home for sale below market, then add value to the home and you have a perfect home to flip for a profit. Many are in the game and are doing well even in this market. So no matter what market you or I are in, we can make it work and we can still make a living in real estate. Stop watching the tv news spots and stop reading the papers. They write the bad stuff, like the bad of the war. Never anything positive, because we as a people feed on the bad stuff. It's like rumors, or secrets. Ever tried to keep a secret? It's hard huh? We cant wait to tell someone what we know about someone else or another office.
Do something for someone this week. The next agent you see that looks like their down on their luck, go up to her or him and tell them to not give up! If there is ever a time that we agents need each other, it's now! Call someone you havent seen at a business or office meeting and get them up and back to the task at hand. Help them if you can with letting them work one of your listings for open house! Come on now, t.e.a.m.; together eceryone achieves more!!!
Courage for the Journey
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