Buying Homes in a Down Market

Beautiful Tenerife

There's quite a bit of talk about the real estate market getting better in the near future, but at the same time there is a great deal of uncertainty. Certain areas of the country have been doing well, and home buyers and investors have been eager to snatch up homes with the opportunity to sell them at a higher price down the road. This leads people to talk about the dreaded bubble word, which makes me and the rest of the world worried.

There are quite a few areas in the United States that are seeing a nice turnaround though. Washington D.C. is an example of an area that's shown significant signs of recovery, for an area that's struggled quite a bit in the last 30 years. Inventory of unsold homes is down to 39 in a neighborhood where last year at this time it stood at 78. Housing prices are again climbing, making home buyers more eager to sell their homes, and more real estate transactions occur as a result. Pockets of Arizona and Texas are also seeing ridiculous growth expansion, where homes are being sold at double the rate they were a year ago, with no decrease in home values. The question is if these gains can help carry the rest of the real estate industry out of its slump. There are no sure bets on the entire market returning to balance, let alone shifting back to a sellers market. Still, many experts say the bottom has been reached in some markets, and the only thing to fear is another housing bubble. Only time will tell if we can learn from our previous mistakes.

If you are looking to buy a vacation home abroad, or just move in to a new area, you may think to intensify your search before prices begin to climb again. Our advice however is to always make a vacation home purchase or new home purchase based on the area and the home itself, and on the fact that you believe you're getting a great bargain on the area. Home prices do in fact go up from down markets, and you always hear success stories while it addresses this subject about the general residential market, offers some useful homebuyer tips that apply whether you are hunting for a primary residence or a second home.

Of course, it's always a good idea to monitor home prices and real estate conditions in an area that you know you would one day like to live. Taking a look at Tenerife property for sale (one of the most beautiful areas of the world) you can find studios, apartments, villas, houses and businesses for sale that are all reasonably priced for an area that has quite a high demand. Now would be a good time to contact a real estate agent there about available property if you would like to move there in the near future. 

Flipping Homes is Not Such a Bad Thing

House flipping has been getting a lot of attention in the media lately, and most of it is definitely not kind. Many investors who took out multiple loans to purchase properties intending to flip them, ended up getting stuck when the market started to stall. Many of the properties purchased by these investors are now in default or have already been foreclosed on.

But house flipping has been around for longer than the current boom-bust cycle. People have been buying fixer-uppers cheap, fixing them, and then reselling them for decades. It was looked on as an honest way to make a living. You’d find a nice neighborhood that had one or two properties that were run-down and often vacant (many times the owners had passed away and the heirs didn't really want anything to do with the property). They were considered eyesores by others in the neighborhood. You’d track down the owner, make them an offer, and purchase the home at a good price. Then you’d go in and remodel the place to meet the needs of the current market. Then you’d sell the home for a nice profit, maybe $10,000 or so. The neighborhood came out a winner because it got rid of the eyesore and increased everyone’s property values.

Related articles

• Find out why you need to do it.
• Red Blue Realty Offers Tips and Discusses New Trend of Flipping Hollywood Hills Real Estate and Luxury Real Estate

Three Possible Ways to Keep your Second Home Insurance Reasonable

Insurance for second homes are increasingly more scrutinized by underwriters, and as a result, second home insurance costs are rising, if not being denied, because of perceived unacceptable risks (by insurance companies).

However, there are a few things second home owners can do to mitigate their insurance costs. Among them are:

• Choose an area for your second home that is not located in the flood zone (see FEMA maps for identification of these areas), or is not susceptible to frequent/regular hurricanes and/or tornados;
• Consider the security that a ‘gated’ community would offer, with the associated warning to stay out of known high crime areas;
• Rethink your plans to rent your second home for part of the year, which puts you in a sometimes higher risk category with the insurance company…with the associated thought of having a property manager that might help to lessen the perceived risk.

Not to mention more insurance when trying to make your current policy less expensive, but you might want to consider an ‘umbrella’ policy which is designed to offer you greater liability/accident coverage than what you have in your home owner’s policy. Many more people are begining to consider real estate options in other countries to avoid high insurance costs on their second homes. A popular market is Okversilia real estate which is located in a beautiful spot in Italy, and is quite friendly for international home seekers. Use the site to look up homes for sale in Italy, search for land in Mexico, and buy Red Sea property.