The March 2013 National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales report is in – confirming the housing rebound is real and gaining steam. Prices are up now for the 13th consecutive month (year-over-year increases) and sales above last year’s levels for 21 consecutive months. If you’ve been thinking about investing in real estate or foreclosures, and wondering when is the right time, that time is now! Check this out…
High Demand, Low Supply
“Buyer traffic is 25% above a year ago when we were already seeing notable gains in buyer activity. In the same timeframe housing inventories have trended much lower, which is continuing to put rising pressure on home prices” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
There was a slight increase in total housing inventory (up 1.6% from last month, currently there are 1.93 million existing homes available for sale) due to seasonal changes (folks tend to put their houses on the market in the spring). But this increase was no where near enough to handle the strong buyer demand.
We are currently at a 4.7 month supply of available homes for sale (up from 4.6 months from February). However, listed inventory is still down 16.8% from last year when there was a 6.2 month supply. Don’t forget, anything less than a 6 month supply of available homes is considered a “sellers market”. To say this market is “hot” is an understatement!
This shortage of available homes continues to put pressure on home prices. National median home prices were $184,300 in March, up 11.8% from last year. This increase is the strongest since late 2005, when it rose 12.9%. (You can read the full report here.)
Regional vs National Numbers
Nationwide Home Prices up 11.8% sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But let’s look more closely at the Regions. Prices are up pretty much everywhere, but boy the West is leading the pack…
- Northeast: Prices Up 3%
- Midwest: Prices up 7.8%
- South: Prices up 10.4%
- West: Prices up 26.1%
Distressed homes (foreclosures and short sales) represented 21% of March sales, down from 25% in February and 29% in March 2012. The backlog of foreclosures continues to work its way through the system. I’m not expecting to see any “tidal wave” of new foreclosures hit the market. On the contrary, if builders do not pickup their business, we will continue to have a serious housing shortage and prices may rise faster than anyone has projected.
What’s a Real Estate Investor to do?
With high demand and available inventories low – bidding wars are breaking out on all well-priced properties throughout the country. If you want to minimize your risk and not “hope” the market goes up for your profit – you will need a plan to make your money when you “buy” the property right.
That means, you must buy it well below market, locking in 15% or more profit at your purchase – and then bank your profits when you sell. To do this, you must find and close a “hidden” pre-foreclosure deal that is NOT listed on the MLS (multiple listing service). You’ll need to contact those pre-foreclosure owners and offer them a win-win deal that gives them a fresh start and you a great deal. These deals are happening all around you right now. You just need to know how to find and close them.
Your Time is Now
If you’ve always dreamed of flipping a foreclosure home for profit, “assigning” a deal to another investor for immediate profits, or even buying cash-cow rental properties for additional income, now is the time to get to it. When you work the “hidden” pre-foreclosure inventory that isn’t on the market, you open yourself to below-market deals that your competition isn’t talking to. And you get to feel great about what you are doing – helping a homeowner out of a bad situation and rebuilding communities one house at a time – all while making a nice profit for yourself.
Knowing how to profit from the current housing market, without using any of your own cash or credit, is just one component of being a successful foreclosure investor. You must also know how to find the hidden wholesale foreclosure deals, missed by your competition. And you must know how to get past the “gate keepers” so you can close your first deal, making $30,000 or more profit within the next 90 days.
This is exactly what our successful clients are doing right now in their own backyard. There’s no reason why you can’t do the same. You just need to know how to find these hidden deals, approach these motivated sellers directly, and how to structure your deals using outside investors to fund them (not using any of your own cash or credit).
And this is exactly what I will be sharing with you tomorrow in my Live FREE Webinar for New Foreclosure Investors “How to Buy Foreclosures, Make Fast Profits Now”. Please register now (on the right) and then mark your calendar to join me. I know you will love it!
Read more about Foreclosure Home Prices:
- Foreclosure Home Prices Continue To Rise
- Video: CoreLogic’s Market Pulse Foreclosure Home Prices
- California Home Prices Coming Back Big