How to Spot a Good Short-Term Real Estate Investment

When it comes to short term investing, you need to look for properties with your end result – selling – in mind. However, just thinking of selling is not enough to help you spot a good short term investment in real estate. You need to think about several other factors before you start looking in order to insure that you spot the best short-term real estate investments in an area.
When you are looking at short-term investing properties, you will need to consider carefully the types of repairs needed. In most cases, if you are buying property at a discount, then you will need to be prepared to potentially have the property painted up and have any cosmetic damage, such as crooked shutters, scuffed floorboards or loose shingles, repaired. If you do not want to take the time to do this, then you will need to get a very good estimate of how much these repairs will cost, then factor that in when you are figuring out how much you should be able to get for the property.
These issues can be a great place to start when you are evaluating a potential investment. Homes that appear to be in disrepair – even if they are not actually in that bad of a shape – tend to sit on the market. A property in serious need of a paint job and some basic “fix-it” repairs can frighten away buyers who, let’s face it, have their pick of property right now. If you spot a home on the market that appears to be neglected, then it is probably worth investigating since you or another investor that you flip to could easily make minor repairs and sell quickly.
In addition to minor neglect, another good sign of a potentially profitable short-term real estate investment is a home that offers owner-financing. If you do not want to be involved with that home for the next 15 to 30 years, you may not want to offer owner-financing yourself. (There is a way to get around this, but that is another lesson). If the present owner is offering owner financing, then there is a decent chance that you can get them to offer to a buyer that you bring in as easily as they will to you. You just need to get clear on their requirements for the owner financing so that you can use your real estate investing contacts and abilities to locate people that meet their needs. Then, you simply flip the property over to the new buyer, take your cut of the sale and leave the other two parties to sort out the details.
Finally, you need a property that can be portrayed as “rare.” In today’s market, there are more properties out there than there are buyers to buy them. As a result, fast sellers have other distinguishing characteristics, such as being in a nice area, having a great school district or being located in an area with exceptional public works and resources. Spot the rarity, and you likely have spotted the key to selling that property.
Peter Vekselman has been successfully investing in real estate since 1996. He has completed over 1200 real estate deals, owned a construction company, been a private lender, and owned a property management company. Peter currently works with clients all over the US helping them achieve riches in real estate investing. For more information please visit www.CoachingByPeter.com

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