Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Real estate investing - the time to strike it rich is now. The stars are aligned for you to make great real estate investments. Although times to buy and flip houses were better in 2011 and 2012 for investors, end-buyers lacked confidence. Yes, prices are up now but more importantly, buyer confidence is also up. More people are looking to buy now, which makes it a great time for you to make the move into a real estate investment. Timing is everything, spring is the best time of the year for selling real estate.
The two hottest markets are flipping in middle class neighborhoods and vacant lots that are residential zoned. Before making a real estate investment, research houses in the neighborhood to learn what they are selling for and how long recent sales have been on the market. Obviously, your real estate investment should be in neighborhoods with rising prices and active markets.
Don't only look at recent sales. Research neighborhood sales over the past couple of years to find the neighborhoods with the fastest appreciating prices. These will also be the neighborhoods with the most active sales. Then find an ugly duckling in a middle class neighborhood where the market has picked up.
You should also look at ugly ducklings in upper class neighborhoods. Not the top end market, just an upscale market. Upper scale is a larger market where people have the financial ability to move up to their primary residence.
I'm very optimistic about this spring and summer market. Not only is the flipping market heating up but also builders are again buying up vacant lots and tracks of land to develop. Of course, vacant land is much less expensive than land with a house on it. Flipping vacant property is a great real estate investment for beginning investors with little money.
But your real estate investment doesn't stop with either flipping houses or flipping lots. Now may be the time for you to become a landlord. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, although rising, homeownership is at the lowest level since 1996. Compounding that with the annual average rent increase of 8.89% makes renting a tempting real estate investment that gets the renter to make your mortgage payment while you keep the appreciated value while making a monthly profit.
If you've been sitting on the real estate investment sidelines, it's time to get back in the game this spring. Regardless of your preferred real estate investment strategy, multiple strategies are taking off and will continue growing for the foreseeable future.
Author bio: Brian Kline has been investing in real estate for more than 30 years and writing about real estate investing for seven years. He also draws upon 25 plus years of business experience including 12 years as a manager at Boeing Aircraft Company. Brian currently lives at Lake Cushman, Washington. A vacation destination, a few short miles from a national forest in the Olympic Mountains with the Pacific Ocean a couple of miles in the opposite direction.
