Real Estate Investing Coaching - Brian Gibbons

This is from Brian Dickerson's site on wholesaling-flipping

This is from Brian Dickerson's site on wholesaling-flipping:

      Top 10 Markets for Wholesalers      

      

I get asked a lot of questions regarding market conditions, how to choose a market, and where the hot markets are, and will be.

Now I don’t have a crystal ball, and just because I think a market has great potential doesn’t mean you have to pick up and move. Plenty of investors choose to find deals in their own markets, and that’s just fine as long as your marketing and exit strategies are in tune with the local conditions.

All that said, here are the ‘Top 10 Markets for Wholesalers’ currently:

Market	Median Sales Price	Year-Over-Year Change	Median Listing Price	Inventory Level	Market Type	Market Trend
1. Houston, Texas	$150,300	1.1%	$168,500	0.3%	Buyers	+
2. Atlanta, Georgia	$164,300	1.5%	$212,900		Buyers
3. Dallas, Texas	$145,000	0.5%	$179,000	0.3%	Buyers	-
4. St. Louis, Missouri	$133,500	7.0%	$167,900	1.1%	Buyers
5. Phoenix, Arizona	$241,700	7.8%	$270,000	1.3%	Strong Buyers
6. Fort Worth, Texas	$118,700	2.5%	$128,400	N/A	Buyers
7. San Antonio, Texas	$151,700	7.9%	$183,000	0.4%	Strong Buyers	+
8. Minneapolis, Minnesota	$217,200	4.9%	$225,900	1.3%	Strong Buyers	-
9. Chicago, Illinois	$261,000	2.6%	$286,000	0.9%	Buyers
10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin	$219,500	4.1%	$219,900	0.1%	Buyers

Most national experts are predicting 2009 before a turnaround, but individual markets could turn faster or slower. The predictor that many of them watch is job growth. Housing prices down and jobs up are a good sign of opportunity, and a key indicator to watch.

Now, that list is primarily urban areas, and you’ll notice 4 of the Top 10 are in Texas, but what about non-urban areas to invest? Tomorrow I’ll add 3 Emerging Markets I like, in case you prefer something more picturesque.

Ohio - Attorney general's office sues six foreclosure rescue companies

                           

Attorney general's office sues six foreclosure rescue companies 6 foreclosure rescue companies accused of not helping borrowers Thursday, August 09, 2007 Sheryl Harris Plain Dealer Columnist Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann took aim Wednesday at foreclosure rescue companies that siphon money from people who are in danger of losing their homes. Dann's office sued six companies - two of them based in foreclosure-ridden Cuyahoga County - that solicited money from consumers with promises they could save their homes from foreclosure. Dann said the companies didn't contact lenders or do much else to prevent the homes from being sold, even though they accepted advance payment, ranging from $450 to $10,000. "This may be the 'last chance' money these people have," Dann said. The lawsuits, filed in courts across the state, accused the companies of violating the Consumer Sales Practices Act, but also took the new tack of insisting practitioners of foreclosure rescue must comply with the Debt Adjuster Act, which requires them to have insurance, limit consulting fees, undergo annual audits and keep separate trust accounts for clients. "I believe it's important to take all the arrows in our quiver to attack a business as sleazy as this one," Dann said. Ohio and Cuyahoga County, in particular, are ripe markets for foreclosure rescue companies. Both have frequently topped lists of the most foreclos- ure-ridden places in the country, and Cuyahoga County's foreclosure rates run triple the national average, giving it the dubious distinction of being, as County Treasurer Jim Rokakis often notes, "first and worst." On Wednesday, the attorney general sued: Cary Lavensky, doing business as Home Restoration Services, located in Cleveland. Richard Pinnix, dba Pinnix Business Services, of Shaker Heights. United Foreclosure Managers LLC of Youngstown. American Housing Authority Inc. of Newport Beach, Calif., and a related company, American Housing Financial Inc. of Phoenix. F.A.S., dba Foreclosure Assistance Solutions and Mortgage Second Chance, of Clearwater, Fla. Foreclosure Solutions of Cincinnati. Lavensky said he has been out of the foreclosure rescue business for a year. He said he could recall only one instance in which he had a dispute with a homeowner and, in that case, the family interfered with a planned sale of the home and then demanded a refund. He said he is certain his company complied with Ohio law. "I assure you, all our paperwork was drawn up by an attorney," he said. "This is the first I'm hearing of any of this." Pinnix said that while the attorney general is right in saying he didn't have insurance or separate accounts for clients, "I have saved a lot of people's homes through refinancing and hard-money lending . . . I work 17 hours a day to help my clients. At the end of the day, the truth will come out." Officials of United Foreclosure did not return a phone message left at the company. The suits seek restitution for consumers, fines and an order barring the companies from doing further business until they comply with applicable state laws. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: sherylharris@plaind.com, 216-999-4409 © 2007 The Plain Dealer                   © 2007 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.

Fannie Mae Tightening Up

Filed under  Foreclosures,  Flipping Houses

A few months ago, a Realtor calls me up about a property that I should take a peek at. I’ll not go into the details of the deal itself, but I decided to make an offer on the property. The house was a Fannie Mae foreclosure. So, we write up the contract as usual and submitted the offer to the listing agent. The next day my agent calls me to inform me that before my offer is submitted, I’d have to sign off on some new addendums.

OK…

Apparently, Fannie Mae is trying to crack down on some of the fraudulent flippers.

So, the addendum was a deed restriction that would prevent the buyer from selling the property within a 90-day period from the closing date. This restriction would be placed in the deed, therefore there’s no way around it.

I was pretty surprised by this, but go figure. 

Heck, instead of enforcing the laws we already have to cut down on mortgage fraud and illegal flips, let’s create some new ones!

Now, for those of you that are wholesalers, this hurts in a major way because the first 90 days are make it or break it, so consider offering less to figure in your holding costs.

Gotta go meet a seller and send a short sale offer,

Talk soon
Derek Pierce