Comments on: An emerging opportunity in U.S. housing

By: Richard Stabile Bergen County Real Estate

Richard Stabile Bergen County Real Estate — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:02:17 +0000

If you look back in history for inflation periods, the incomes went up and prices went up and real estate very slowly went up. However, the ability to pay back became easier with increased income. Inflation will drive up interest rates which will weigh on real estate values.

By: phoenix1

phoenix1 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:19:47 +0000

Keep Dreaming.

Maybe if we all click our ruby slippers together…maybe we can get the american middle class to come back…

By: Lawrence Adler

Lawrence Adler — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:17:31 +0000

Well as always we have the glass half empty, glass half full views. Which basically means that people don’t know what the future will bring.
It basically comes down to taking a punt in the property market, and if you can buy a nice house in a nice area for £10k ish, that will give you a good return, Buy it.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:28:07 +0000

Long-time landlord here (not an accidental one) and investors need to realize that external factors can kill you:

1. As an evil landlord, local government sees a big target on your back, and will raise property taxes, fees, licenses, etc, while paying consultants to study affordable housing.

2. Gov again. What will the neighborhood you buy in be like in 10 years? What will values, rent be? What kind of people will be your renters?

3. How are rents going to increase if wages are stagnant, Gov is subsidizing new competition with below normal mortgages and cram-downs, and household formation is declining with demographics and unemployment? For me, taxes and insurance have increased more than rents for years.

4. The GSEs. New FNM and FRE (and soon FHA) guidelines say the GSE’s may rent their foreclosures instead of listing them in a bad market or sending them to auction. Soon your own taxes will be going to subsidize FNM and FRE so they can undercut you in renting out their foreclosures. As soon as people realize that FNM and FRE wont evict them for non-payment of rent either, nobody will want to rent from me or any private landlord. By 2010, the Fed Government may be the biggest landlord. You wont read this on the MSM either.

By: divvytrader

divvytrader — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:12:35 +0000

uh …… lemmme clue you guys in on something ……. if we have humongous inflation coming ( and we do , just look at this St Louis Fed graph out today here : http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/ser ies/SBASENS ) , then you will see interest rates go to moon …. and if we get back to 8-9-10% mortgage rates , be rest assured prices for real estate fall into crapper in short run as costs of buying a house go to moon . Bernanke is going to lose potentially 100’s of billions in his quest to corner the market in US Treasuries .

By: Sigmund Krieger

Sigmund Krieger — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:31:46 +0000

If you are buying a house to live in, you should do it now. Recognize that the market price of your house might decline by 10% or 15% over the next three years. After that the price should increase by an average of 1.5% to perhaps 2.0% per year. As to the amount of equity you have in the purchase, something on the order of 20% to 30% would be rational. If you wait a year, you’ll probably do better on price and poorer on the interest rate.

By: Landlord Shmandlord » Blog Archive » Five-Year View of Real Estate

Landlord Shmandlord » Blog Archive » Five-Year View of Real Estate — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:19:54 +0000

[...] can read the whole article here. [...]

By: Winton Woods

Winton Woods — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:58:06 +0000

Paying off 4.5% 30 year mortgage with rent and 50 cent dollars is too good to pass up. Check you individual markets but in my market the remaining foreclosures are not worth buying. If you can find a deal that will rent for the cost of the monthly payment (or close) buy it NOW.

By: What Guru’s are Saying : The Case for Investing in U.S. Real Estate

What Guru’s are Saying : The Case for Investing in U.S. Real Estate — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:51:19 +0000

[...] More here. [...]

By: David Dent

David Dent — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:49:19 +0000

DO NOT BUY REAL ESTATE. This is a complete wipeout. At best we are half-way through the sell-off and VALUES WILL FALL ANOTHER 30%-40%. I study this for a living and submit that we not see today’s values for another 20 years. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MASSIVE DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT AND SIMPLY DO NOT NEED AS MUCH SPACE AS WE HAVE. Real estate is in part a manufactured good and we have way too much capacity.