With the housing market cooling, will rentals pick up? Or would prospective renters rather buy? I figure if I bought a fourplex or maybe something only slightly bigger, depending on what I can afford, and pretty much broke even for a few years, I could be sitting pretty good. Especially considering the drop in prices.
Is anyone here a property investor? Could I get your take on the $/month vs. payments ratio that would be ideal?
Eesh, buying real estate now? The credit crunch has only just begun, and it may be a year or more before the overly-mortgaged can stand it no more and prices really come down.
You say this like it’s bad to buy real estate now, everywhere. California, yeah wait. Buttfcuk, IA, maybe not a bad time. Houses by me have already dropped at most 10-15%, maybe with a little more cushion to the bottom. Places in California may go another 10-20% on top of what has already dropped. It’s all speculative really.
IANAPI… Of course current renters will want to get it on the up and coming cheap housing where it will apply. I would think the key is that you could get in on the cheap as well, but have to wait a few years for prices to go back up - so when buying isn’t so cheap anymore, you’re in a better spot to pick and choose your renters. Of course there are plenty more factors too like interest rates, location opportunities (jobs), etc…
Depends where you are. Prices in some areas are dropping. But in other areas, sales are very slow, but you haven’t see much in price declines. I think you have to wait a bit on some areas to see the prices really fall. But it will come eventually.
The rental market is doing pretty well in a lot of areas and you can probably get good rents right now without having to wait very long for a tenant.