Seasons Greetings as we close out 2008!

Everyone has seen what’s going on in the news and in our country. I don’t need

to bring it up again. BUT…. As investors, we can benefit from this downward

economy if you play the cards right. We must now be creative with how we invest,

where we invest, and look at the long term future gains of any investment

you embark upon.

The good news is, there is no short supply of deals, just the money to consummate

the deals. Sometimes you have to find the money any way you can. Who would

have thought that you could buy a house for less than the price of a new compact

car! As investors we seem to always have a creative sense when doing business;

whether it be purchasing, rehabbing, or renting/selling our properties. We need

to tap deep inside our creative minds in this current market condition. Let’s digress

a little to 1995; there was no shortage of capital just a shortage of deals. The

housing market (and the economy) was going so strong that we had to be creative

finding the “deals”. Now it has flip-flopped. There are plenty of deals but little

capital to be found. I remember one particular deal of mine. A Grandmother

owned a home and passed away. She left the home to her children who wanted to

sell it. The granddaughter was living in the home renting it with friends. The

house hit the market at thirty-five percent of the market price. There is a frenzy

of agents/investors wanting to see the home but they cannot get in. The daughter,

who does not want the home to sell, refuses to let anyone in. I contact the listing

agent directly and make an offer without even seeing the property. I inform the

agent I would be willing to continue to rent to the daughter and her friends at the

same rate they where paying. I bought this home for twenty-five cents on the dollar

in a time homes where selling for more than the asking price. That was

creative in its time. That kind of creativity can still be done today.

As investors we need to tap into our creative side of doing business.

 

Seasons Greetings from my family to yours,

Chris Yatooma, President

Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland

Chris Yatooma