Real estate investing today

You can make money in real estate today. In the 1960's and 1970's it was a buy rental properties and trade your way up to multi-million dollars deals. In the 1980's it was a buy and hold until paid for market. In the 1990 it was a buy rentals and seek positive cash flows market, accumulating as many as you could get. In the 2000's so far it has been a flip it market. That strategy needed to make money has changed with todays reality.

Today, in most markets (cities) The strategy I would use is one of buy and hold for resale in four to six years. In todays market rentals housing will become more important. As credit requirements tighten, fewer people will be able to buy a house. Home prices will decline as a result of the supply of houses being greater then the number of qualified buyers. With a little prudent shopping you should be able to buy houses at a 20% to 30% discount off the over priced highs of last fall.

You may need as much as 20% down to get the houses financed, but financing is available, especially on bank owned houses. For owner-sellers you might get buy with zero down or a small down payment as they will get tired of the house sitting empty. There are many other strategies for raising money and getting deals done so read the rest of this web site.

The goal should be to buy cheap, rent for a positive cash flow, then sell in three to five years when the market recovers. You should get a 20% to 30% return on your down payments. So if I put $100,000 in down payments of five houses I would expect to get my money back plus another $100,000 in profit with in five years. Make only the minimum repairs and sprucing up to get the property rental-able. Save the fixing up and making pretty for re-sale time.

Commercial properties are not distressed yet. Some projects are in trouble, but new projects that are in financial trouble require a lot of expertize and money to get them finsihed and profitable. Not a place for new-bees to be playing in. I'm not opposed to commercial deals as long as the deal will cash flow from day one.

Flipping houses: At this time I recommend you go easy. There will always be money to be made flipping, but the easy money days are gone. I would recommend flipping only if you know in advance how your buyer will get financed. That means before you buy the house. For example; If you can buy the house for cash, finance the house for your buyers and then borrow form the bank using the 1st lien loan note as collateral, that should work! That requires that you have cash to work with until the house is sold and you borrow on the real estate note to replenish your working capital. Or you could sell the note after you get the house sold. 

Well enough on this post. I was just trying to get you thinking.

Good luck with your endeavors.