Here they come!

General Real Estate Investing
1

I briefly mentioned this in another thread, but thought I’d give it more exposure here.

I have noticed a significant amount of advertising in my market (Austin, TX) lately from outside investors. I’m not talking about bandit signs, but mostly billboards and TV commericals. I don’t watch a lot of TV outside of a few shows and college football, and have never really seen much regarding house buying (except for that No-Mo-Rent guy - if you live in/around Austin, you know what I’m talking about). However, in the last few months - and, really, in the last few weeks - I have seen a LOT more advertising from people wanting to buy houses. I’ve never seen a HomeVestors ad on TV before, but in the last few weeks I have seen several, including a 30min infomercial, from these people. On top of that, I am starting to see small 30-60sec commercials from people like 1-800-PAY-CASH, who basically turn a postcard into a commerical (i.e., Foreclosures? Divorce? Repair Hassles? Need to Sell Today?).

Also, I’ve gotten a few inquiries from CA investors lately on a property I’m looking to re-rent (or sell).

Since it’s been advertised a lot recently that Texas is the “next big thing” in regards to RE deals, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.

2

If you look at the link that I posted to MSN news this morning, several of the “cheaper” places in the country are in Texas…I saw the same thing in Louisiana…

The investors in California are ‘cashing in their chips’ there and taking their money to places that they can cashflow. I sold three properties to a California investor as part of his 1031 exchange recently. They started in Arizona and got priced out of that market, too. Then they started east – now they’re farming the gulf coast states (LA, MS, AL, etc.) looking for markets where the prices are lower and the rents decent in comparison.

Keith