Investment Inquiries for Colorado Springs (sales, real estate, rentals)

[AlexG]

Hello. Name's Alex. I just returned from another wonderful year in Iraq about a month ago and have been looking into Real Estate investing in Colorado Springs for the past couple of years. I have been out of touch for about a year now and looking for some information on the market in The Springs. I have been reading through most of the threads and have found that there are many knowledgable participants in these forums and would love any advice anyone has to offer. I was speaking to my Fin. Planner on investing this coming year, and he informed me that the market values will be dropping significantly in the next year or so. I am quite adament about buying some real estate as soon as I can get ahold of some good information. Does anyone have any recommendations on sites or sources giving some information on the current and upcoming RE market in the Springs? Any ideas about where the market is heading? And whether it would be a good idea for a beginning RE investor to hit the properties now? Or hold back for a year or so? I am very interested in the Mort. rates at this time and would love any information you all have. Any recomendations and ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening.

[bashep]

Hey AlexG- I can tell your right now that if you are looking for a new build, you could get a steal! I mean a steal. I just got emails today w/ $12,000 in incentives, + plasma tv and GC for $4,000 for furniture from one builder. It is a GREAT time to invest in a property. I would go for new builds, because the month of November was VERY slow and the builders are desperate to sell.

Thank you for protecting this Country and my family! bashep

[CSColorado]

The builders are offering some good incentives right now. Inventory is high. I don't expect the inventory to go much higher, but I do think we have some price adjustments ahead for 2007. I work with a lot of real estate investors and teach classes on real estate investment, property managment and 1031 exchanges. I have been sending my investor clients out of the state for about the last year based on the recommendations of a seasoned real estate investor and economist I work with. I do believe that our price adjustments will be short lived and that we will be back on track fairly quickly- hopefully sometime in 2008. With this being such a popular retirement area and with everything else we have going on here, I really believe that we have the potential to become a hot spot for investors within the next 3-5 years. If you buy now I think you can beat the rush, take advantage of low interest rates and take advantage of some good incentives. You might loose equity in your first year, but you should do great long term. If you are looking for higher, shorter term gains I would get something in a high-growth area somewhere else in the nation, hold it for 18 months- 2 years and then get a property here. If you're just looking long term, I think you can expect a nice return here. Our rent to sales price ratio here is quite a bit lower than in other parts of the country, so I wouldn't really expect any cash flow for now. I would do lots of research on builders before I bought anything. Particularly research appriciation within specific builder's neighborhoods. I do not support the builder that is offering the big incentives and strongly targets investors. They pay great incentives and pay big bonuses to Realtors, but their neighborhoods have not historically held value as well as other builders. I have had several clients who had to sell out of that builder at a loss- even when our market was going up an average of 8% per year on new construction. This is partly because they have so many rentals in their community, and partly because they do not have a reputation of building our best-quality homes. Sorry for the soap-box. If you want info on the economy here, I have a lot that I can e-mail you including some articles I've written for investors. Just send me an e-mail. Have fun!

[bashep]

I agree! You make some great points CSColorado! bashep

[AlexG]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll put the advice to some good use.