What Do Foreclosures Mean to Rental Investors?

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Real Estate, Shout Outs

The world is being overpowered right now with real estate and home foreclosures at an all time high. Homeowners are frightened, the lenders are pulling out all the stops to ensure the buyer will truly pay off the loan on the home and real estate agents are left in the whirlwind of activity trying to right themselves. When foreclosures markets are booming, investors need to take a step back and look at the positive in the situation. Where there are home foreclosures there are renters waiting to find a new home without the mortgage.

Looking at the best in the failing mortgage market is the reason real estate investors become rich. Every foreclosure that appears on the market was once a buyers home. While it may seem almost “ambulance chasing” these owners no longer have a place to live once the loan is foreclosed upon. This is where the heart of the rental boom will lie.

The investor needs to be ready to snap up those foreclosed homes and flip them back on the market as rentals. The same clientèle will be living in a given area, they just will not be owning the homes. With a few rental homes spaced out over an entire county, the investor will be seeing the green in the situation in less than a year.

Life is about ups and downs. The real estate market is also about ups and down. For the real estate agent, the downs can sometimes seem to be endless pits of dark, but flip that coin. On the other side of the foreclosure market are the investors that need to pick up these homes and put them back out there for people to rent.

The three things to remember when choosing to invest in rental property in the soft real estate market are:

• Keep the price of the home low. The mortgage was too much for the owner, the rent should certainly be less.
• Buy homes that are ready to go. Do not spend any money fixing up a home. $30.00 for a bucket of paint and a quick steam clean and that “For rent” sign should be in the window.
• Advertise smartly. The newspaper is a great place to start, but online sites like Craigslist opens up the renting market from locals to nationals.

Step into the investing market with a bang and pick up those low priced foreclosures only to smack them right back onto the market as rentals. The suffering market is not suffering for everyone.