A Last Minute Reminder

This may be redundant but what the heck, if you have even the slimmest chance of using it, you’ll be happy I made this post. A sentence from a recent newspaper article, which you may have read, said:

A $1.25 trillion program from the Federal Reserve which has held down mortgage rates is set to end March 31 and tax credits to bolster home buying are scheduled to expire at the end of April.

I don’t know if you can take advantage of the credits, lower mortgage rates or have buyers lined up who might, but now is the time to get it in gear and help them to snag the above bennies. On the other hand, these bennies may be extended especially if the latest headlines about home sales going down again are correct.

Broken Crystal Ball

My crystal ball went kaput the other day so I don’t know who is truthing or who is prevaricating when it comes to the recent conjectures about the above programs.

What I do know is the housing market is in a mess. If I could find the tenants, I’d buy all of the available condos in this one particular complex and rent them out. One of our clients happens to live there and he says there are four condos priced at 30K apiece just waiting for a buyer.

Our client also happens to be a real estate agent. He can’t find tenants either or he’d buy them. Why these condos and not homes? Because the cash flow off this low of a purchase price for this much inventory would mean quite a nice profit. In other words, I would get a bigger bang for my 120K than I would off one home at the same price. Also, four times the inventory means 4 times the appreciation potential.

That’s easy to figure when all you have is the time to figure and not a nibble in sight. I can even dream about the potential appreciation because these same units were priced at 199K at the market’s peak. Mind you, I’d be happy if I could double my purchase price while someone else was paying the mortgage.

Broken crystal ball or not, now is the time to pay closer attention to the credits and mortgage rates and help any would-be or wannabe we may have on our client list to make up their mind. All we can do is all we can do, right?