Happy New Year!
What will the new year bring? Fortunes will be made and lost by how you planned these past three years. I’ll say congradulations to the long term hold investors, if all goes well accumulation of more assetes should be easy.
For those of you who have been used to turn em and burn em investments the picking will be plentiful; the strategy will have to change. In terms of fixing you’ll make more money working for some one, like a home owner, than flipping. Home owners will be stuck right now so low cost easy remodel projects will pay quick and in cash.
If you have a project that’s still on the market you should either rent it or dump it; your choice. If you rent it consider that a five year hold. An investor has been dividing properties into sleeping rooms and renting the rooms to casual labor, students and like minded investors looking to save money. If you move in you are allowed to have up to nine unrelated people living in a household. If your project is in addition to your personal residence it may make sense to move in for two years so you will have have a tax advantage.
The real money this year will be buying bargains. There’s no need to fix anything, just buy well. What many people who tried to sell in the past year are waiting for is the spring. There will be a set of buyers this January the same as there have been this past December. December seemed very busy to me. As Spring comes and goes I think there will be some more disappointment for sellers. A client of mine is waiting for September 2008 to buy his dream home in Bellevue.
There are two Adjustment periods for mortgages: one in January, the other in June. After that the mortgage market may settle down. World wide credit concerns will continue to ripple. Investors who paid top dollar for view property in Greece, or Mexico may have an awakening. You never can tell what will come in an election year, but what’s for sure is the volitility.
Take advatage this year to make wise choices. By the beginning of 2010 you can amass a fortune. Plan for it and wait.
