Is it easier or harder to find good deals compared to 2021 or 2022?

Question

This post is for more experienced investors who have been buying real estate for years so that they have context to compare the properties that they are buying today with the properties that they bought in 2021 and 2022. Are you finding more or less deals today? Are you seeing better or worse deals today than compared to 4 or 5 years ago?

Dan H. · Answer

Better is a vague term.   Less competition.   Can get offers accepted below asking price, possibly even below comp value.   You can find good flip values but I am not into flipping because it is a job.

The interest rate is double 2021 rate.   I would need to purchase near half the price to have the same cash flow as was achieved with half the rate.  The buy and hold market would s much worse than just prior to 2022.

So the answer to your question largely depends on the RE strategy.  Because I do not flip, the market from my perspective is worse.   Or what I post seemingly every other day “residential rentals are currently challenging” or “it is a challenging rental RE market”.

Good luck

Chris Seveney · Answer

Better deals today, and it's not particularly close.

2021 and 2022 were flooded with capital chasing yield, a lot of it from investors who had never operated through a real cycle. The guru-trained, seminar-circuit crowd was underwriting on hope, paying retail or above, and getting bailed out by appreciation before the math ever had to work. That money is largely gone now. Overleveraged operators are quietly disposing of assets, syndicators who promised 18% returns are doing capital calls or going dark, and the "it's not the right time to sell" crowd is running out of runway.

What's left is a cleaner buyer pool and motivated sellers who actually want to have a conversation about price. Days on market are longer, and you don't have to waive everything and close in 10 days to beat 11 other offers.

The deals I'm seeing today have better fundamentals at the purchase price than anything I was underwriting in 2021, even accounting for where rates are. The bad deals are still priced like it's 2022, so patience matters.

Noor Shams · Answer

Harder to find them on MLS for sure, but off-market is still very much alive. The investors I see winning right now are the ones with direct relationships — contractors, agents, PMs who bring them deals before they hit the market. Volume of outreach is everything right now.

Jules Aton · Answer

In my area better now not because prices are lower but there isn’t a line of buyers with all cash and no contingencies waiting to write a full price offer. I sold 3 properties in exactly that way then.

JD Martin · Answer

Better today than 2022 but worse than 2020 & 2021

Eric James · Answer

My motto is don't look for the deals that everybody else is looking for.

Is it easier or harder to find good deals compared to 2021 or 2022?

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