This IS and WILL be the BEST Market to Trade Up in Your Lifetime!

I just read a blog post on Active Rain (a social media website for real estate professionals) that I could not agree with more. It is all about trading up and buying now. It's about getting into the game before the prices start going back up.

The blog post was discussing residential property to be used as your primary residence, but the same can be said for investment property, too. I've posted about this topic before. This is and will be the most important buying opportunity that most of us will ever see during our lifetime. The real estate market, and most other markets for that matter are on sale, and available for those who jump on it.

Now, I'm not professing that the market is going to jump and bounce back so fast that you will make a quick buck. I think this will be a slow crawl out of the hole kind of a recovery, but I've seen the same mistakes during the 70's, 80's and 90's. Investors wait until it feels right and then realize that they have missed the market and then they decide to wait until it comes back down. The markets have dropped so much, now is the time.

What if it drops another 5% or 10% you ask? It might, but it has already dropped 30% to 50% in many markets. You can acquire now and lock in the 30% to 50% discount and then hold tight until the market does come back.

Most people who sell investment property and then buy replacement property through a 1031 Exchange either want to diversify or consolidate their holdings, but the new trend in today's market is to reposition your real estate portfolio. Take advantage of these prices to get the properties that you want.

The Market is Coming, The Market is Coming; Part II

I was getting caught up on some of my technical reading and finally got to The Kiplinger Letter. The Kiplinger Letter is usually short, sweet and to the point, very much on topic, and usually pretty accurate. It's a great weekly read to keep up with the happenings.

The Kiplinger Letter issues on Wednesday, April 18, 2008 starts right off with:

"Dear Client:

Amid the housing doom and gloom...rising foreclosures, plunging housing starts, scores of unsold homes and falling prices...It's hard to even imagine a recovery. But still obscured in the ashes...Seeds of rebirth are germinating."

I could not have written it any better than they and they certainly reiterate what I have been saying all month long. The real estate market has started turning the corner! The January/February months were the bottom of the market in terms of volume/activity (not price/valuation). We will begin the slow crawl out of the hole that we fell into.

Now, don't get me wrong.

This does not mean that we are home free. We are in a pretty deep hole. We have a lot of work to do. And, we have not seen the bottom of the market in terms of price or valuation. We have only seen the bottom in terms of volume or activity.

Buyers are beginning to jump into the market when (and if) the property is priced to sell. The buyers see and smell opportunity. And, sellers are finally beginning to realize that if they want to sell their real estate they must lower their expectations and price their properties to sell. We most likely still have 9 to 12 months to go before we see the bottom of the market in terms of price or valuation.

The Kiplinger Letter put it very nicely:

"Home builders aren't finished with additional markdowns...up to $100,000 on homes once priced at $300,000, for example. And, they're sealing deals by adding flat panel TVs and other amenities.

But more and more buyers won't wait much longer to try and catch the absolute bottom price. With mortgage rates at low levels...under 6% for a 30-year fixed...qualified buyers are pulling the trigger."

Kiplinger's comments reflects what we have started to see around the United States in a number of geographic real estate markets.