We have all seen the ugly little roadside signs, big billboards, or classified ads in the newspapers that say We Buy Houses Cash or Stop Foreclosure Now. The media has often given these guys a bad rap, saying they are vultures or scammers. While that may be true of a few bad apples, it certainly is not a true statement for most of the real estate investor industry. In fact most of the investors that I know are just average Joe's and Jane's trying to make a few extra bucks buying, fixing, and selling properties. (Just like you see on all those cable television shows.) Many investors are also Realtors.
I have been known on occasion to be one of those investors myself. During the peak years of the sizzling hot market I was buying and selling 20 to 30 properties for myself every year for several years in a row. I have slowed down significantly in the last couple of years just because retail properties have gotten hard to sell in Central Florida.
To those who do not realize it, the We Buy Houses real estate investors actually serve a very important purpose in the overall marketplace right now. If it were not for these people still buying properties, the amount of sales in many metropolitan areas would be down 10% or more from what they already are.
Somebody has to buy up all these short sales, foreclosures, and bank owned REO's. The houses that are in good condition will hopefully end up selling to an owner occupant, but the houses that are in marginal condition or that cannot pass a standard 4-point inspection will most likely need to be bought and rehabbed by an investor. Most owner occupants do not have the resources or the vision to fix up a handyman special especially in a down market. The person that ends up buying these is the real estate investor.
The real estate investor also is pumping money through the economy and keeping people employed including title companies, mortgage brokers, lenders, Realtors®, government clerks at the courthouse, surveyors, home inspectors, Home Depot and Lowe's workers, contractors, plumbers, roofers, painters, etc. They pay lots of money in doc stamp taxes, intangible taxes, tangible property taxes, sales taxes on materials, and real property taxes. They clean up an eyesore in the neighborhood. And lastly, they end up giving a new owner occupant or a tenant a nice fixed up home.
So to all the critics out there, the investor does serve a positive purpose in the real estate market -- especially right now. I don't know about you, but I am happy just to see an offer on my listings.
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(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Rob Arnold, ABR, CPL, CRB, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public
407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ www.WeBuyHousesFlorida.com/
Your full service and investor friendly Realtor in Orlando. Learn to invest in Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Investor mentoring and counseling 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, Tampa, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Ocala, Volusia, and Brevard.
We buy houses cash, sell properties, and list properties in Central Florida including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, College Park, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Pine Hills, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Mount Dora, Eustis, Leesburg, Clermont, Kissimmee, Saint Cloud, Davenport, Winter Haven, Lakeland, and more.
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