Buy or Rent?

ablaye · 02-15-2008, 09:23 AM

What do you guys think?
Is it the time to buy a house here in the US with the low interest rate and the low prices of homes with so many houses in the market???

work2bfree · 02-20-2008, 02:39 AM

Yes ablaye. This is a buyer's market. I haven't because I don't have the time to manage them properly. I hired a property management company for the triplex and one of the single family homes. The other 4 are rent-to-own properties; which means, little to no managing. I pretty much just collect the rent.

You can get good deals now. One of my coworkers recently bought a 350,000 home for about 250,000. The home had been on the market and the owner pretty much said make me an offer and I will take it.

I heard that a woman in Atlanta, Georgia bought a 250,000 home for a little over 160,000. You can get some good deals ablaye. I wish I had the time to do some shopping for more properties.

I would love to purchase some commercial properties, but I have got to get out of the J.O.B.

vitaloo · 04-25-2008, 02:30 AM

It's a buyer's market out there now - not a seller's and as a former real estate agent - I'd have to say buy now and make sure you buy at an affordable rate.

Don't be fooled by the ARMS out there that will climb in the 3 years when the loan comes due and make sure you if you do go with an ARM that you can afford the "cap" on the arms.

But why rent when you can own? Even a condo is better than renting -
it's money in your pocket and equity when and if an emergency arises!

work2bfree · 04-26-2008, 01:10 AM

I would love to buy more property. Unfortunately they are asking for more money down. For those investing in property, they want 10%. I have seen some that are willing to accept 5%, but for a piece of property costing $80,000, $90,000, $100,000 or more, 10% is quite a bit of money.

I am also just starting out my real estate investment business, so I don't have a whole lot of cash flow up front. All of my properties I bought with 100% financing. All but the triplex were to be rent-to-own, meaning after 1 year they would purchase the home, using the money they put down on the home when they first moved in. It has not turned out that way. After 1 year, most want to remain in the home and still buy the home. I just do a rental agreement with them until the times get better. When they do, I will probably sell most of them and buy more.

Around this time, I will be looking into buying commercial properties. I may start out first doing the tax lien certificates. The cost and risk are much less than buying a rental property.

athomept · 05-07-2008, 11:16 PM

Buyers for sure, I would love to invest in 1 or 2 properties I receive email updates now just checking some things out than I will see what my husband wants to do. thanks

Michelle

work2bfree · 05-08-2008, 02:15 AM

You are welcome.

Just be sure when you decide to buy properties, you keep a enough money in your business bank account to cover maintenance and also for just in case a tenant decides to bail on his or her responsibilities. I actually had a tenant to this to me, but I was able to have the home rented within two weeks. Thus, I was able to the loss and then some.

What helped me to recover so quickly is first I cleaned up the apartment myself. I was lucky because this tenant did not do much damage to the home. It just need regular cleaning. Next, I created my own fliers. I went to different parking lots, like Walmarts and other shopping centers and put out the fliers. I usually will create 100 at minimum. I try to have more most times. I also put out an ad in the local newspaper. It costs only a little over $8.00 to advertise for two weeks. Usually it will only take 2 weeks before the property is rented.

When I did this for the home that was vacated by the tenant, I had 8 couples show up within one weekend. I narrowed it down to two and after doing a credit check, I decided that I would go with the one that came up with the money first. One couple did and by Monday, I had a rental contract signed and rent paid for the month.

One last recommendation, I always recommend that you do a credit check on the tenant. It won't guarantee a great tenant but it will minimize the possibility of getting someone who has a record of being a poor tenant. For example, I did do a credit check on the tenant who vacated the home, but he ran into some bad luck with his car and I guess he felt he could no longer keep up with the payments. He and his son, who also lived in the home with him, left the home in very good condition.

Seashell · 05-24-2008, 11:47 PM

Its a good time... but I think the prices will continue to fall some more.
As electricity and costs to heat homes rises i think you will see big opportunity in areas with a second home market. Also it is getting more expensive for people to drive to thier weekend house.

work2bfree · 05-26-2008, 11:55 PM

It is getting expensive to drive anywhere these days. I hear people are cutting back on taking vacations due to the high prices of gas.

I also heard that prices might be increasing to as much as $6.00 a gallon and I also read on cnn.com that the gas prices could possibly remain high up through 2009.

lalit7552 · 06-07-2008, 04:48 PM

As recession hit the market so I think this is the good time to but the homes with low interest rates as well as you will get in cheap price as well.

work2bfree · 06-10-2008, 04:33 AM

Yes, but if you are talking about buying the homes, your credit must be in good standing. If this is your first home, you can get a good rate. You can also get a good rate if it is not your second home.

If you are looking for investment property, things are different. There is no more 100% financing. You will need to look into either putting 10% down and in some instances even 5%. There are other, more creative ways to invest in real estate, but buying them is one way. It can be costly, especially now.