Single Family Homes

Is now the time to purchase single family homes?

I could research and fill this page full of official government statistics on Real Estate growth and future analysis.

I could fill this page with advertisements for Real Estate Guru's who will promise to build your wealth to high levels if you folllow their "new" income generating plan.

I am not going to do either. Instead, I am going to talk common sense.

California real estate is a different animal than Illinois real estate. Las Vegas real estate is a different animal than Gary, Indiana real estate. A single family home in Detroit Michigan may be just as nice as in Atlanta, Georgia, but only 1/30th the cost.

Whether or not a property is a good investment, depends upon your location and your personal financial status.

What do I mean?

If you have to leverage a home 100% to purchase it, you are probably in for trouble. The current subprime crisis is a direct result of hundreds of thousands of loans being given to financially unqualified individuals. My husband and I had to rent an apartment for 5 years before we had the required 20% down payment on a home. Banks actually had strict guidelines in those days.

If you are attempting to purchase a home to live in, more leniency can be granted. However, extending yourself financially for the possibility of a solid investment, just doesn't make sense.

If you are in a financial position where you can pay cash for a home, then now is a fantastic time to purchase a single-family home as an investment. I have never seen homes in my area sell so inexpensively.

The best strategy, in my opinion, is to locate all the single family homes that have been foreclosed on in your area. Often times, you can make a cash bid for well below its real value. It is not uncommon to get homes discounted at 50% or more. We recently bought a very nice 2 bedroom home in a nice location for $11,000. This same home would have sold for $35,000 ten years ago.

We have actually began to make cash offers that border on ridiculous. However, we put the offer on the table, and let the bank decide if they want to keep the foreclosure on their books, or take a loss and move on. Since we have the cash on hand, it really doesn't matter to us if they decide not to take our offer. If they do accept, then we have put ourselves in a no lose situation.

Single-Family homes may never fall to these levels again. If you are in a position financially to take advantage of this rare situation, I strongly recommend doing so.

A good source of information about homes in your area can be acquired through the following institutions:

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All information I provide on this website is obtained freely via the internet, radio and television. I do not have any deals with financial newsletters of any kind. My income from this website is produced from advertisements plainly displayed on the pages.