All Forum Posts by: Jesse Whitacre

@Kristen Brandner

Speaking from personal experience,

I had a tenant want to pay two years of rent in advance. The total was about $60,000.

He had a prior bankruptcy because he was unable to pay his child's medical bills due to a sudden illness. Recently, he had paid the medical bills, moved to my city and gotten a much higher paying job. Noone would give him a chance because of his prior bankruptcy.

I worked out a deal where we made him pay a DOUBLE security deposit plus the first month's rent. He was an awesome tenant, he fixed the broken items in the house and for two years, we didn't have a maintenance bill on the property. After the two years was up, he was qualified to buy his own home and we paid his double security deposit back in full.

This excellent tenant is now a successful real estate agent and our personal real estate agent in the Northern Virginia area.

@Justin Pierce

Justin, that is a good way to look at things. It is a complicated real estate market and a more complicated world which requires more creative and intelligent thinking to move ahead. I appreciate your answer.

Andy,

Thanks for the perspective from the San Diego market!

Although we can't predict the market perfectly, we can use historical data and science to make educated guesses about the future of the market. According to the case shiller housing index, historically, markets in large cities, especially the west coast and NY have peak every 18 years on average. The last peak was 2007 which means that we are due for a correction between now and 2025. All the fed needs to do is start raising interest rates to slow the market down at this point. 

Many realtors I know, especially in the Washington DC area say that the prices have peaked. I see local homes sitting on the market for months now as well. 

One market in the US that seems to still be rising is Flordia such as Tampa Bay, Orlando and Miami.

Only time will tell the real story and as you said, good deals can be found in any market depending on the skill of the investor and agent.

Overall, I think most markets have peaked though. 

Thanks again.

I have been putting money away for when more inventory comes available. High prices and/or low inventory can't last forever, right?

What is your strategy to invest when the market is at a possible peak?