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Condo Articles
Real Estate Condo Crazy
by: Mark Walters
Making money through real estate investing can be
a fickle business. Here's a surprising trend that
can put money into your pocket.
Traditionally those of us who own rental property
looked upon condos as competition. They offered
a relatively low cost way for renters to move into
home ownership.
This demand for condos has fooled many of us. With
low rates of interest on home loans and plenty of
money available... the logical expectation would
be that instead of buying condos, buyers would move
into the single family home market.
Of course... many of them have done that and home
prices continue in an upward trend in many areas.
But thousands are choosing condos rather than a
detached home.
 The
National Association of Realtors reports that condo
sales averaged less than 200,000 annually in the
1980s. That number jumped to 500,000 in the 1990s...
and over the last three years has rocketed to over
800,000 sales each year.
Take note of this.... In quarter number two of 2004,
condo sales nearly hit the 1 million mark.
Right now the condo market is hot in most parts
of the country. Prices have reached record levels
and continue to climb.
While condo values go up... the rental market has
gone soft. That has prompted many of the biggest
apartment owners to begin converting apartment complexes
into condos.
They are converting their own complexes while looking
for other existing buildings to buy and convert.
The business has become so profitable that many
of these big guys are slowly moving out of the apartment
business by either converting owned properties,
buying others... or building new condo developments.
This is a wake up call for the small real estate
investor. Start looking for motivated condo owners!
But watch out for this! Many lenders will stop financing
condos if the percentage of non-owner occupied units
building reaches a level they consider dangerous.
This means that you could have trouble selling units
you own at some time in the future if you're not
careful.
Stay in touch with the condo association and be
ready to move quickly if too many investors are
buying units in the development.
You can use most of the same tactics you use to
buy single family homes with condos.
Two of the most powerful tools are lease/options
and buying "subject to" Click Here
About the Author
Mark Walters is an investor-entrepreneur helping
other investors from his Web pages at http://www.Lease-Option-Sub2.com |
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