The rate of foreclosures listings soared up tremendously over the last two years stirring the enthusiasm of many aspiring investors who want to break into the real estate market. However, is buying properties from foreclosures listings really the answer?
These types of homes may come with good prices but there are a lot factors that you need to carefully consider before joining the bandwagon. If you want to give real estate investing a try, you need to be ready to take a big risk. So before you even get started, ask yourself if you are the right candidate and find out about the benefits as well as the risks of buying a property under foreclosure.
Potential investors definately want to be educated and prudent before venturing into the foreclosure arena. However, in my oppinion, we are unlikely to see another buying opportunity such as this one in our lifetimes. The last opportunity was in the very early 1990’s and it was primarily commercial properties siezed by the RTC. Participating in that opportunity required large sums of cash, unlike the current residential opportunity. I believe that foreclosures will continue to increase in 2010 and are likely to see large spikes near the end of 2011, Short sales are going to dominate the news and the market in 2010. The short answer - get educated and be prudent but take advantage of an opportunity you will not likely see again. For buy and hold landlords there may still be some downward pressure on values.
Buy Low, Sell High still applies 