Can you capitalize on all these foreclosures if youre looking to invest?
 

Just wondering with all these foreclosures, can someone with money buy these houses up dirt dirt dirt cheap and make a killing off them later?

Or are the house prices down only slightly?

there are a ton of great deals out if you know where to look/

YES.


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Before the sub-prime crisis there were tons of money to be made on "flipping" houses. But it really depends on where you live. Could you make money in California or New York? Probably not. The housing market is the worst in those two locations of course but then you have flippers vying for any house they can get their hands on. Luckily the area i live, Houston, Tx, was probably the best place to live during the sub-prime market, not to be cocky. Our housing market was so strong the sales in the area have only fallen a little bit. It really just depends on the area and you really gotta know what you're doing when it comes to flipping houses. The market for buyers is good right now also, but you do have to remember the prices of houses have also fallen, again depending on the area, so they are not worth as much as they were 2-3 years ago. Now if you're talking about buying houses and sitting on them for months, you will lose your ass. There is no telling what the market will be like a month or even a week from now.


If you were serious i would suggest buying foreclosures and renting them. Renting is always good money especially at a time like this. Rentership in apartments have gone up ten fold. There were apartments here in Houston that were only 50% occupied but now they are 90%. Where do the people go once their home is foreclosed? They either rent or live in cardboard boxes under overpasses. Renting is easier then flipping plus while you are renting the house, it builds equity so that's even more profit. Just be careful of the asshole renters. The people who tear shit up, never clean, never maintain anything. I have a family friend that moved to the country but she still had her home here in the city, so she rented it out. The people in the house which were there for 3 years totally tore the house apart. Luckily she was smart and got a deposit before she rented but they hardly paid for any of the repairs. Speaking of repairs, you better be handy. I've heard firsthand of renters calling almost everyday demanding to fix something. I wouldn't mind because it is part of being a landlord but the extremely minor stuff like changing the battery in the smoke detector or light bulbs and even A/C filters, which is up to the renter, were the calls he'd get.

You have to know what you're doing. If you're serious i can suggest doing one thing. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. Not only in your market but what the future of housing will be like in 3 months to a years time. I've seen people make hundreds of thousands and then I've seen people lose their retirement.

still awhile before we bottom out but check this out it's a sniper list

reo / bank owned list, even includes holding lender and sales price

http://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownersh...properties.pdf

this is a calhfa list - fha 5.5% 30yrfixed with 100% - 97%/3% full doc program

i'm guessing 90% of this board can't go full so better have some cash handy

I bid $1.49 for a house on Ebay but some bitch outbid me and snapped it for $1.75 ;(

My mother is a Title Abstractor and says 80% of her business now is foreclosures, and only 20% is for people buying homes or refinancing. A big change from just a few years ago. She even calls the foreclosure sales from the courthouse steps now because there are so many of them.

People are buying them and it may be a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

Im goingh to look at two of them today, buy one for myself and buy the other as a rental property

One of the best times to buy (depending on your location) and this market will correct in just 2-3yrs

Sure can, buy low (that would be now) and sell high. You'll need to pay maintenence fees, property taxes, and other associated fees until the market recovers but done right, you can make a ton.
WG

The market is not even close to the bottom yet. Things are bad, but will get worse. Much worse. If you have a lot of cash right now horde it (in a few different currencies) or put it in commodities like Gold and Silver. Your patience will pay off... :2 cents:

Yes, but this is a move that needs to be thought through.

What is owed on the house. Does the electric company, the water company the trash company have a lien on the house?? How much are the taxes, and can you afford to pay those over a year or more?

What about the upkeep. Grass needs to be cut, things need to be kept working. a vacant house will fall apart fast if someone does not spend an hour or two a month taking care of it. Do you the investor have that time, or want to put out the $$ on a management company??

Can it be rented until it can be sold?


Lots of things, in fact tons of things to consider.

i buy in an area outside of detroit where the houses are $15-40k that are fucked up and need work. if you have 30-50k into a house cash you can make an easy 500-600 a month profit after paying for taxes and insurance. which is a minimum of 10% interest on your investment, and the possibility of the house gaining value over time.

easier to just buy stocks, they've been beaten up badly too, will probably rebound within 12 months, for a quick and easy 20%+ profit...

have you ever actually closed on a house? the title company handles this before closing.

bingo, I've seen your posts over the yrs with regards to rentals and we do the same thing... to everyone else; in many area's you can't cash flow (if needed) everyone's area is different :2 cents:

Show me bay area housing that is "dirt cheap". Or south Cali, or Florida or Massachusetts or NY.

"Dirt cheap" housing is a dirty rumor, prices are still at bubble levels. Wake me up when we're back to 1998 real estate prices.

MANY other parts of Michigan are "dirt cheap" Some people mentioned that Cal and NY and possibly even FL are "the worst" but NOTHING is worse than several of the markets in Michigan. Detroit has to be the worst area in the COUNTRY Anywhere you can consistantly buy HOUSES for under $10k is pretty damn bad... That ebay auction recently was what Saginaw?

Like others have said... We still have a LONG ways to drop... Flipping houses RIGHT now is an idiotic idea ANYWHERE, everywhere in the country will still be dropping for another 1-2 years. BUT like whats been said, RENTING is a great option if you have the money. You can buy CHEAP houses and rent them cheap without fixing up TOO much then you make a SMALL profit and wait for housing to recover or if you know how to fix up a house you can do some cheap repairs to get more rent BUT if you're planning on renting it out for 3-5 years its not usually very smart to put a LOT of money into a house for repairs because you sorta have to be prepared for them to fuck some shit up.

There are some amazing deals out there... It'll probably be many years before you can sell your foreclosures at a decent profit, but as long as they pull in a good rental income that doesn't matter (especially if you're buying cash).

wait until after the elections. see who gets elected and that will determine the recovery rate.

you can flip houses in any market, buy low, sell high. if you buy a house under market value and fix it up and sell it 1-2 months later the only way you arent going to make $ is if you dont know what you're doing. if you dont know what you're doing its a bad idea to flip houses in any market.