So the year is winding down and we're
heading into the final stretch in the real estate world. It's
been a busy one for sure: The MERS debacle, Robo-signing
issue, AG Settlements, and a few other issues have had a real
effect on the real estate market. Many forecasters,
including myself have been projecting prices to continue to go
down. All the signs pointed to a continued downward trend in
housing prices, and many people, including myself, were caught off
guard when we started seeing reports of year over year price
increases back in July. It seems many of us have
forgotten one of the most basic rules… Supply and demand.
What many of us did not see coming was
entrance of the Hedge Funds into the property management
business. I say this with a hint of sarcasm. I
don't think by any means that Johnny Hedge Fund Manager is fixing
toilets and harassing people for late rental payments; but make no
mistake, Johnny Hedge fund is fast becoming one of the larger
landlords in the country.
The number one issue that all of my
investors and agents talk about is the lack of inventory. One
would think the big issue would be the mountains of paperwork
involved with short sales, or asset managers hacking down broker
commissions, but those are side notes in a larger struggle.
The biggest issue by far is the lack of inventory. Car
dealerships sell cars, real estate agents sell property. If
you don't have inventory to sell all other problems tend to be side
issues.
Today marked a first, a private equity
firm in San Diego completed a bulk REO transaction with Fannie
Mae. This is not the first of this type of
transaction, but it's the first time that it was made public.
It had to be disclosed due to the fact that it's tax payer money in
play via a government institution. I don't know that
there is any way to find the total number, but I suspect that there
have been plenty of private transactions between the larger banks
and private equity for some time. I believe this is the
X-factor and a partial answer to the national inventory
squeeze.
So the question becomes, how do agents
and investors find more inventory? The answer is simple,
marketing. Citracado Market Advisors have proven programs to
help you find deals. I would urge you to give us a call and
take a look at some of the lead list pages. We want our
paying to customers to have the advantage, so we won't disclose all
our secrets here on the website, but if you would like to learn
more please give us a call.