How to Sell property even in Down Market

How to Sell property even in Down Market

Marketing to Real Estate Investors During Down Markets

If Prices are Down, It Could be Time for Investors to Move

Depressed home prices generally cause concern with home buyers. They do not necessarily want to purchase a home when it may be worth less next year. Examples of declining home prices are rare since 1991, however the period from 2005 through 2007 is a great example.

The home price indexes show differing severity in depreciation for the two years from 2005 through 2007. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index was the most depressing, with the OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) showing less severe price drops.

What enterprising brokerages do to respond to this very dramatic decrease in retail home buying activity is to market to real estate investors. When coupled with a huge increase in foreclosures due to Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) adjusting to rates not affordable for the homeowners, the stage is set.

Articles and web pages began to appear, making several points of interest to residential rental property investors.

• Home price declines present opportunities to purchase bargains that will generate positive cash flows.
• Stable homeowners were losing their homes, but not their jobs.
• Homes in good neighborhoods were available for purchase at lower prices than in recent history.
• Demand for single family homes in good neighborhoods was up.

There can be opportunities in just about any real estate market, one just has to look for them. These brokerages created investor client relationships that resulted in multiple transactions over time.