California, Technology, and Potential Real Estate Opportunities
As we head into 2009, foreclosures are reaching their highest levels in decades. According to a recent Fortune Magazine article I read, the Los Angeles housing market is expected to decline another 25% in 2009. And only a couple of markets in California are expected to show positive gains in 2010. What does all of this mean? I believe it means we are on the front end of seeing some great opportunities for real estate investments. As prices continue to fall we will see a continued increase in foreclosures, with California leading the way. The California housing market tends to lead the rest of the country anywhere from 12 to 18 months in advance. And with the California market at least expected to stabilize if not show some positive signs in 2010, the rest of the country could hopefully see the same in 2011 and 2012.
If you’re looking for a way to find great deals in residential real estate, you’re in luck. With the amount of information published online and almost in real time, the real estate game has changed. Anyone with an internet connection has access to thousands of distressed property listings at any given time. For example, Williams & Williams auctioneers allow you to invest not only on site, but they offer a number of “online only” auctions. This means you could be bidding against people from all over the world. This may not sound to exciting considering today’s technological achievements, but when you put in context of the real estate markets, think of the last significant downturn, say 1992. Al Gore was only in the beginning stages of inventing the Internet. Good job Al.
Back in those days you not only had to be present at the auction, but think about how you would have examined the market place. Sure, a call to a local real estate agent would help, but think about how difficult it would be to find past sale information, estimated values (such as Zillow.com), liens against the property, property taxes, even a map. In today’s real estate market, using only the internet, you can probably find 95% of this information in a matter of minutes. The real estate landscape has changed significantly, and unless you are armed with the tools to not only access information quickly, but make decisions quickly, there are hundreds of others out there that you will be competing against. And they don’t even need to be located in your real estate market.
For more information go to this Real Estate Investment Resource.