Homes around $300k?

[kathygrl]

Ouch! Early Retirement....unfortunately I have to agree with all of your statements (even the one about Realtors, although I truly care about my clients and have made some great friendships with them over the years...I had to, just this week, give a couple agents a piece of my mind for the complete lack of communication).
You are so right regarding institutional money/hedge funds investing, they are buying and holding until at least 2014 (per three different reputable reps that spoke at my office sales meeting to keep us abreast of the ever changing market). Used to be that properties could be bought at the courthouse steps for cents on dollar....now, just not happening!

[earlyretirement]

Thanks Kathygrl. Definitely it sounds like you are one of the good apples. I've found the realtors that I've had the best success with were the ones that admitted, acknowledged, and understood most of their colleagues were horrible. And in fact they did well and capitalized on that fact. Not all realtors are bad. I've worked with some excellent ones as well over the past 15 years. But it took dealing with a lot of bad ones to unearth the "gems".

Absolutely true about the hedge funds. But it's not just the hedge funds and institutions. It can be venture capital funds that are getting in on the action. I can speak about this with a lot of experience. You have funds out there that will go get capital from individual accredited wealthy investors. And the fund is doing all the work for the investor including buying it. They will put the title deed in the name of the individual NOT a fund. So it can be deceiving to the general public because for all intent and purposes it looks like an individual is buying it but the fund is orchestrating everything. I've done a lot of this via power of attorney. Then the fund will manage the investment for the individual.

Some people don't understand at all this side of what is going on. These people are NOT buy and flip. They will hold on for the cash flow via rentals. Any potential capital appreciation will be icing on the cake.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

I had remember reading a couple years ago in the LA Times there were these firms getting together and pooling the capital in the same manner ER was talking about. snapping up swaths of properties in the LA area and some in SD and renting them out.
Smart move in hindsight, because at the time blood was on the streets and in the news any hope of rising from the ashes from the meltdown wasnt even being mentioned.

Never in my life would I have expected areas like were I grew up, areas in between and here see such craziness in housing prices within a decade. But we are glad we got the two properties when we did.

I am not a real estate investor but really get a kick out of following it. Its fascinating. But as a business? I could never do it. Its amazing some of the money that could be made or lost in the industry.
But like echo42 said, this OP has been firing off multiple threads almost in a panic to buy something in the area. The approach is a bit out of my league and something ai can't subscribe to especially with such a shoot from the hip approach.
Good luck. Hopefully some of the comments here might provide some useful insight.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

I had remember reading a couple years ago in the LA Times there were these firms getting together and pooling the capital in the same manner ER was talking about. snapping up swaths of properties in the LA area and some in SD and renting them out.
Smart move in hindsight, because at the time blood was on the streets and in the news any hope of rising from the ashes from the meltdown wasnt even being mentioned.

Never in my life would I have expected areas like were I grew up, areas in between and here see such craziness in housing prices within a decade. But we are glad we got the two properties when we did.

Yep. Absolutely Shmoov. LOTS of people doing what you're talking about. There are all kinds of activities that the typical person doesn't know. But plenty of people out there that were pooling money together doing this type of thing and still doing this type of thing.

It's amazing the swings that can happen in real estate or really any investment out there. Again, it's different when you're speaking of a primary HOME to live in for the foreseeable future and an investment property. Many times on investment properties it all comes down to timing to get the maximum ROI.

[LagunaMom]

echo...
I appreciate your concern, but there is an underlying issue that is private, and my hubby and I need to be purchasing soon. I've been following the market daily for over a year, and the time for us to buy is now.
We put in an offer at asking price today. It may very well be that the first property garnered more money, but we thought it was being overpriced. This is a more attractive property in a better area, and there should not be any trouble renting it.
I've only had one realtor. She was recommended, and we just signed. We work well together.
We've never signed with a property manager. Initially I'd interviewed a couple, and the one who looked to be the more promising turned out to be a dud. Now I'm talking to two more, but this time both have been recommended by either our realtor or someone in her firm.
Laguna Beach has been our second home since the mid-'70s. South OC is our first choice, but it's unattainable for what we want to spend (as opposed to CAN spend), so last summer hubby and I traveled around SD's North County to see what was and was not acceptable. We kept ending up near Rancho Del Oro. I'm unfamiliar with many of the neighborhoods in O'side, but the Forum is a good source of information.

[Stoney.]

I live in Paradise Hills (92139) and you can find houses for around $300K. They're probably fixers though, and inventory right now is very low.

[jacobholtz40]

I will suggest you to contact to real estate agent because they know about the real estate market. I can also buy a home in Pike Road,AL with the help of real estate agent.

[hkbruin]

If you want a healthy return, do not buy in north county or east county. City Heights, North Park, Normal Heights, Uni Heights, all have STRONG tenancy at the moment. If you are renting, i'd even consider going 150 on two properties.