Bernard Zick's

Advice for the Impatient Investor

For real estate investors who don't have time or money to waste!  

March 2004

Editors: Bernard "Barney" Zick bernard@zick.com, Karen Zick and Amy McIntee

This email was sent to you by REIT Corp. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add Bernard Zick [bernard2--9168385@autocontactor.com] to your address book.

In this issue:

Barney Needs Your Help – First in San Francisco then in LA/Orange County

Bad News:  Texas is Looking Good and so is Houston

Getting Started: What is Your Level of Control?

Advanced Strategies: Harebrained Idea?

Trends: Most Metro Area Home Price Gains Strong but Cooler

New Investors: Documents Needed for a New Mortgage Loan

Condo Sales Outrun a Fast Market

Barney Needs Your Help – First in San Francisco then in LA/Orange County

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We will be doing one-day real estate financing events from San Jose to Walnut Creek this month. This is a brand new marketing program for us with a very well known company that so far has not been in the real estate education field.  So, I need a favor.  I need a good turn out of the loyal and faithful.  I need people in the audience that have heard me, used my materials and ideas, and made money.  And, I am willing to give you an ethical bribe to show up!  Bring the first page of this newsletter to any of the four events listed below, and I will not only give you a great tape, but also a special report on using your IRA to purchase real estate.  Plus, you will get a big thank you for the support.  (We will have bonuses while in LA from April 15th to the 18th too.)

The event itself will be a worthwhile day.  We will cover both creative financing and options.  I’ve listed the locations below…registration starts at 8:00 a.m.  I hope you can join us.  

P.S. Please send us an email at reitbootcamp@kingwoodcable.net telling us which one you will be at and we’ll do our best to bring the right amount of bonus materials.)  For more details about our one-day real estate financing seminar, please go to http://www.zick.com/sem_REF.shtml.

P.P.S. We will follow these one-day seminars with a two-day Options Boot Camp in San Francisco on the 3rd and 4th of April.  LA / Orange County will be next with four one-day events then a two-day Options Boot Camp.  If you have been waiting for a Boot Camp, this is a great opportunity to visit a super city and get the tools you need for success at the same time.

San Jose, CA, March 13th, 2004
San Jose Hilton


Santa Clara, CA, March 14th, 2004
Santa Clara Marriott


Burlingame, CA, March 20th, 2004
Burlingame Embassy Suites


Walnut Creek, CA, March 21st, 2004
Walnut Creek Marriott

Bad News: Texas is Looking Good and so is Houston

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It is a lot easier to buy when the market is terrible. But right now, much of the U.S. is doing well when it comes to real estate. So we will do the best we can do. Here is the latest information about Texas and Houston in three pieces. If you like the idea of investing where the living is good, the economy is the second fastest growing economy in the country (and the major city is one of the fasting growing cities), call me and I will tell you where and how to send me your check! (P.S. Our various property buying programs are going great guns. If you are serious, so are we! That side of the business, a Texas licensed real estate brokerage operation, is called Zick Investment Properties, LLC. Just put "ZIPLLC" in the subject line of your email to bernard@zick.com Platinum Level members invest without a stated minimum. The minimum investment for other buyer’s broker transactions is $100,000.)


2004 Texas Housing Forecast Looking Good -- Home sales will continue to provide a strong foundation for the Texas and U.S. economy while other sectors rebound throughout 2004. “With the economy improving, consumer confidence rising, and jobs being created, a growing number of households will sustain strong housing demand,” said David Lereah, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors®. “Only a modest rise in mortgage interest rates will slightly dampen the pace of home sales."


Source: Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University


Texas Homes Cost Less - Below U.S. Medium -- Home equity makes up about one-third of all household wealth in the United States. Two-thirds of the nation’s households own their homes, while fewer than half own common stock. Dr. Ali Anari, research scientist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, studied how the costs involved in owning a home in Texas compare with homeownership costs in other states.


He found that Texas ranks 29th in the nation in homeownership costs for homes with mortgages. For homes without mortgages, Texas ranks 34th.


“Compared with other states, homeownership costs do not consume a large proportion of Texas homeowners’ incomes,” Anari says.


Texas cities with some of the highest median monthly homeownership costs are Austin, $1,155; Arlington, $1,077; Dallas, $847; Houston, $835 and Fort Worth, $772.
Texas housing units with a mortgage had a median monthly ownership cost of $1,096, compared with $1,168 nationwide. Housing units without a mortgage had average monthly costs of $319 compared with the national average of $313.


Source: Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University


Local Economy Sees Growth -- “Three factors support any real estate economy -- job growth, continued low interest rates and a good balance of available property,” said HAR Chairman and Stewart Title Chief Economist Ted C. Jones, Ph.D. “Having each of these factors currently in place, the business climate in Houston portends a healthy real estate market for 2004.”


Source: Houston Association of Realtors

Getting Started: What is Your Level of Control?

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A student told me of a 6 million dollar deal. He wanted to know if I was interested in it. He gave few details and I responded…

”Here is the key question…what level of control do you have on this deal? Knowing something exists is not enough. Neither is knowing of a listing. It would be better if the property was not on the market but if it you alone knew it could be purchased at a bargain. Best would be for you have SOME level of control... a contract or option. So what is your level of control?
BZ”

It turns out that he knew about a listed property…and lots of people where chasing it.  Remember, you need motivated sellers, however, even if they are motivated, you have nothing if you are standing in line for the deal.  The success track is to get there first, tie it up quickly, then get help.


We get lots of loan inquiries that state they seek a loan based on appraised value when they are buying at a very big discount. It just is not going to happen. You might be able to get a “Hard Money” from a private lender that is based on appraised, but none of the 187 lenders we represent  (http://www.zickhomeloans.com)  will look at it. They loan on purchase price or appraised value, whichever is less.

Some lenders will let you pay $200,000 for a house when the contract clearly states that $70,000 is being put into escrow for repairs, and in this case, give you credit for a $200,000 purchase price, not $130,000. But the purchase price is the purchase price and not appraised value.

Advanced Strategies: Harebrained Idea?

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Q.  Barney,

We own a duplex with 2 bedrooms downstairs, 1 bedroom upstairs. We want out as we are moving.

We purchased it for $75,000 two years ago and have put $7,000 into it so far. It appraised one year ago for $100,000. We are currently getting $950 per month in rent and tenants pay utilities. We have it financed with a lender at 5.75 %

The downstairs tenants are interested in purchasing it. They have no money for a down now.

How can we structure this so they are leasing the whole thing and are responsible for maintenance and can eventually close on this? Lease with an option, I know, but how should we structure it?

Thanks,

JCR
Petaluma CA


A.  Sure, no problem. Do it as a lease purchase of the building with a master lease. It is an advanced technique, but not uncommon. 
A master lease means that your lease covers both units and the tenants living inside become the sub-tenants of the person with the master lease.

BZ


Q. Dear Barney,

I am in the process of putting in offers for some high-end single family residential properties here in the Houston area. I decided to run this by you, to find out if I am crazy…since I don't find a lot of people doing this. Are there some potentially serious pitfalls lurking in the way???

The properties I am looking at (both MLS-listed and FSBO's) have asking prices above $500k. My plan is to ask for the sellers to carry back part of the purchase price as mortgage notes. But I plan to arrange for the sale of all or part of the notes (depending on the seller's preference), to be completed at the closing…a form of simultaneous closing…a "Sell The Payments" Plan!

I also intend to ask for very long closing periods (up to six months), in order to improve my chances of making this happen. During that time, I expect to find buyers for the properties…focusing my sales pitch on the affordable monthly payments and the possibility of getting them into their dream homes, while avoiding the usual obstacles that conventional lenders place in their paths.

Barney, does this constitute a harebrained plan? If not entirely harebrained, what key pitfalls do I need to avoid? I would appreciate hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,

YF

A. It is a good plan. It all hinges on your ability to find buyer for high price houses. Oh, there are lots of mistakes you could make. You could overpay. You could not do inspections and get big repairs. You could not know about a neighborhood and buy in an area that will not sell. All the usual. Let me know as to what you are working on and if I can help more.

BZ


Q. If I have $ 80 K cash seasoned for over 60 days, does a deal exist in Houston or elsewhere that will generate passive income of $ 3,000 net per month?
A. Most likely not without heavy property management done by an owner. A 10% return is normal, 20% if you get a bargain and do some work. Nearly 50%???? Mobile home parks and weekly rentals might do it but really you are getting paid for your property management. Best approach is to invest 80, make 25 or 35, do it again a few times then you can get your cash flow. Also, if you buy a problem and fix it, you might get the return.


Q. If I make a base salary of $ 100K per year, how can I qualify for a larger commercial property?
A. Commercial properties are based on the income from the property.


Q. If my FICO score is 650, should and can I accelerate getting it back up to around 700 by correcting some errors?
A. Yes, as fast as possible.


Q. How would I do this in less than a month with the help of an assistant who has more time? (I already started)
A. It takes about 60 to 90 days. Sorry. The credit agencies move at their own pace.

Trends: Most Metro Area Home Price Gains Strong but Cooler

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(February 12, 2004) --   WASHINGTON – Median existing-home prices are increasing at respectable rates in most metropolitan areas but the rate of growth has cooled, according to the latest quarterly survey by NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

The association's fourth-quarter metro area home price report, covering changes in 127 metropolitan statistical areas,* shows 33 areas with double-digit annual increases in median existing-home prices and 22 with generally small price declines. A total of 74 metros appreciated faster than the national historic norm.

The national median existing-home price was $171,600 in the fourth quarter, 6.6 percent higher than a year earlier when the median price was $161,100. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said home prices are coming off of their strongest gains in 23 years. "In the third quarter the median price was 10.0 percent above a year earlier, the strongest rate of appreciation since the fourth quarter of 1980," he said. "What we're seeing now is a natural easing after a record pace of home sales in the third quarter. Even so, current appreciation is well above the high end for normal price growth." Over time, home price gains typically are one-to-two percentage points above the rate of inflation; the Consumer Price Index rose only 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

The strongest price increase was in the Riverside-San Bernardino area of California where the fourth quarter price of $239,400 rose 28.9 percent from a year earlier. Next came Sarasota, Fla., at $222,100, up 26.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002. Third was the Los Angeles area, with a fourth quarter median price of $382,200, up 24.5 percent in the last year.

NAR President Walt McDonald, broker-owner of Walt McDonald Real Estate in Riverside, Calif., said tight inventories are responsible for the strong price gains. "There continues to be a shortage of homes available for sale in most of the country, resulting in a supply-demand imbalance," he said. "The good news is we're expecting more equilibrium in the market this year and the median price nationally should rise about 5.0 percent."

Lereah said the areas with plentiful supply are primarily the 22 metros where there were price declines. "These areas, concentrated in the nation's midsection, generally have experienced job losses," he said. "However, none of them are high-price markets or have experienced prolonged periods of sharp price increases, and 21 out of the 22 are showing full-year price gains. Most of these also are areas with high homeownership rates, room to grow and historically low appreciation, and they should improve as the labor markets recover," he said.

Median fourth-quarter metro area resale prices ranged from $83,800 in Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., to nearly seven times that amount in the San Francisco Bay area where the median price was $574,300. The second most expensive area in the United States was Anaheim-Santa Ana (Orange Co., Calif.) at $526,800, followed by San Diego at $456,700.

Other low-cost markets include Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa, the second least-costly area, at $86,500, and Springfield, Ill., with a fourth-quarter typical resale home price of $89,000.

Regionally, the strongest increase was in the Northeast where the median resale price during the fourth quarter was $194,700, rising 14.5 percent from a year earlier. The strongest increase in the region was in the Hartford area of Connecticut at $214,700, up 17.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002, followed by Providence, R.I., with a median price of $240,700, up 16.8 percent. The Atlantic City, N.J., area, where the typical resale price was $172,200, rose 14.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002. Seven other Northeastern metros had double-digit price gains.

The median resale price in the West was $238,600 during the fourth quarter, up 11.1 percent from a year ago. After the Riverside-San Bernardino and Los Angeles areas, the strongest increase in the region was in the Anaheim-Santa Ana area, up 21.2 percent from a year earlier, followed by San Diego, where the median price rose 20.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002. Six other Western metro areas also experienced double-digit price gains.

In the South, the median existing-home price of $157,400 was 4.8 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2002. After Sarasota, the strongest increase in the South was in the Miami-Hialeah area of Florida, where the fourth quarter median price of $236,900 rose 22.9 percent from a year earlier. Next came the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach area at $252,900, up 19.2 percent, and the Bradenton area of Florida, where the median price of $186,100 was 18.7 percent higher than a year earlier. Eight other Southern metro areas experienced double-digit increases in their median price.

In the Midwest, the fourth-quarter median existing-home price of $141,100 increased 2.3 percent from the same period in 2002. The strongest increase in the Midwest was in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where the median price of $211,700 was 11.5 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2002. Next came Madison, Wis., at $198,400 in the fourth quarter, up 9.0 percent, and the Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah area of Wisconsin at $121,300, up 8.4 percent in the last year.

--NAR

Editor's Note: For more statistical information from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, visit REALTOR.org's research channel at www.realtor.org/research.

*Areas are generally metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. They include the specified city or cities and surrounding suburban areas. Regional median home prices include rural areas and samples of many smaller metros that are not included in this report; the regional percentage changes do not necessarily parallel changes in the larger metro areas. The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to seasonality in buying patterns. NAR began publication of metropolitan area median home prices in 1982.

Reprinted from REALTOR® Magazine (http://www.realtor.org/realtormag) by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® . Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.

New Investors: Documents Needed for a New Mortgage Loan

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As most of you know by now, Karen (my wife), Mark Victor Hansen (my joint venture “partner”) and I are in the mortgage loan business.  We specialize in investor loans in 46 states.  We have over 180 lenders and everything for investors from nothing down loans to loans that start with 2% payments and most anyone can get the loans with 24 months of good credit.  Enough blowing our own horn; our web site, http://www.zickhomeloans.com, has tons of good information as well as being a great place to start the application process.  The following pages come from that web site.  It is a great review for the kind of information you might need if you were to apply for a loan.  Read it over and keep it in mind while doing your record keeping.  You might consider keeping an open file called “needed for a loan."  Every time a vital document comes across your desk that you will ALSO need when you apply for a real estate loan, make a copy and put it in that file.  You will need many of these when you fill out your taxes so this would be a good time to start getting organized.  And when you need some cash, do keep us in mind.  No one tries harder for their clients.



Purchase / Refinance Loans

 

Have These Items Ready When You Apply For a Loan

 

It used to be that lenders required documentation from borrowers then mailed out verifications to employers, banks, mortgage companies, and so on, in order to verify the data.  Nowadays, the interest is often in speed and getting answers quickly, so "alternate documentation" has become more widely used.  Alternate documentation means that underwriting answers can be obtained with information supplied directly from the borrower instead of waiting around for verifications to come back in the mail.  The following is required for most standardized loans as part of alternate documentation processing.  Items may differ according to whether your loan is a conforming (Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac), non-conforming (jumbo) loan, government loan, or a portfolio loan.  Verifications are still mailed out, but usually as part of quality control procedures.  These are the things you need to supply to your lender to get a quick approval using alternate documentation:

 

Income Items:


 

  • W2 forms for the last two years
  • Pay stubs covering a 30 day period
  • Federal tax returns (1040s) for the last two years, if:
    • you are self-employed
    • earn more than 25% of income from commissions or bonuses
    • own rental property
    • or are in a career where you are likely to take non-reimbursed business expenses.
  • Year-to-Date Profit and Loss Statement (for self employed)
  • Corporate or Partnership tax returns (if applicable)
  • Pension Award letter (for retired individuals)
  • Social Security Award letters (for those on Social Security)

Asset Items

  • Bank statements for previous two months (sometimes three) on all accounts. All pages.
  • Statements for two months on all stocks, mutual funds, bonds, etcetera
  • Copy of latest 401K statement (or other retirement assets)
  • Explanations for any large deposits and source of those funds
  • Copy of HUD1 Settlement Statement on recent sales of homes (see glossary for HUD1)
  • Copy of Estimated HUD1 Settlement Statement if a previous home is for sale, but not yet closed
  • Gift letter (if some of the funds come as a gift from a family member)
  • Gifts can also require:
    • Verification of donor’s ability to make the gift (bank statement)
    • Copy of the check used to make the gift
    • Copy of the deposit receipt showing the funds deposited into bank account or escrow

Credit Items

  • Landlord’s name, address, and phone number (for verification of rental - if you currently rent)
  • Explanations for any of the following items which may appear on your credit report:
    • Late payments
    • Credit inquiries in the last 90 days
    • Charge-offs
    • Collections
    • Judgments
    • Liens
  • Copy of bankruptcy papers if a bankruptcy shows up on your credit report or you have filed bankruptcy within the last seven years

Other

  • Copy of purchase agreement (if you have already made an offer)
  • To document receipt of child support (if you desire to show it as income)
    • Copy of Divorce Settlement (to show the amount)
    • Copies of twelve months canceled checks to document actual receipt of funds

FHA Loans

  • Copy of Social Security Card (or other documentation of social security number)
  • Copy of Driver’s license

VA Loans

  • Copy of DD214 - if you were in the military, you undoubtedly know what this is because when you get out of the service they constantly remind you to never ever lose this form.  For those that were not in the military, it is basically a one page summary of an entire military career, including test scores, important dates, awards, and other military data.

Refinances

  • Copy of Note on existing loan
  • Copy of HUD1 Settlement Statement on existing loan
  • Name, address, phone number, loan number of existing loan/lender

Condo Sales Outrun a Fast Market

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By Thomas A. Fogarty, USA TODAY

(February 17, 2004)  Condominiums, the long-suffering stepchild of the U.S. housing market, have come of age. In big cities and across the Sun Belt, condo sales are booming, and prices are up smartly.

For many, condos conjure an image of cramped living, high-priced parking and meddlesome building associations.

But they're hot because they're still affordable, and they meet the demands of baby boomers and Generation X buyers for low maintenance and convenient, hip, urban locations. They've moved in the last few years from laggard to leader in a national housing market that took off a decade ago and has been kept strong by high demand and low mortgage rates.

For the first time, the price midpoint for condos in the final quarter of 2003 topped that of detached single-family homes — $174,700 vs. $171,600, the National Association of Realtors has reported. Sales volume is growing faster than that of single-family homes and is closing in on 1 million units per year, NAR says.

Dawn Keer is among recent buyers fueling the condo boom in Philadelphia's Center City district. Age 32 and single, she sold her suburban townhouse last year and moved into a $262,000 downtown condo with about half the living space. The attraction: the neighborhood's night life, cultural amenities and walkability.

"For me, it's where I had been spending my time anyway," says Keer, who works in radio sales and marketing.

Genevieve Hanson, also 32, expresses similar motivation for her recent purchase of a $300,000, two-level loft in Logan Circle, a revitalized neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The neighborhood's diversity and proximity to cafes and culture attracted her. "I definitely like the feel of living in the city," says Hanson, who drives 30 minutes to her job as a management consultant in suburban Virginia.

Women and first-timers

Condos are the housing of choice for many single women, says research by the National Association of Realtors. About one-third of condo buyers are single women, vs. about one-fifth of single-family homebuyers, says NAR.

NAR research shows condos also are popular with first-time buyers seeking a foothold in the fast-appreciating residential real estate market.

"I tell all my first-time borrowers they need to get on the (real estate) merry-go-round," says zipRealty agent Helen Ross, who sells in the suburbs of Washington. As often as not, she says, that means a condo. Even then, condos aren't cheap — just cheaper. In suburban Reston, Va., Ross says, condos can be found in the low $200,000 range, about half the entry price for a detached home.

Ted and Naomi Bardacke are first-time home buyers who opted for a condo when they moved from New York to Southern California. Their 1,000-square-foot condo in Santa Monica cost $425,000, but Ted Bardacke says it's worth it. He can walk 10 minutes to his job as an urban planner for a non-profit environmental group. The beach and shopping are in walking distance, too, allowing them to get along with one vehicle in the USA's most auto-centric region.

As former renters, the couple are comfortable with apartment-style living, he says. And, he says, they are likely to do fine if and when they sell. "I don't know what's happening to the market for condos, but I do know they're not making any more beach," he says.

Likewise, Creed Pettit, 27, says his new $550,000 condo in nearby Marina del Rey is a bargain compared with single-family homes in the neighborhood. "You'd be looking at $1 million-plus," says Pettit, sales director at a technology company.

Easy upkeep

Condos are popular with empty-nesters and retirees seeking a reprieve from the upkeep of a single-family home, says NAR research.

"I'm done with yard work," says Tom Gorman, a Los Angeles Times editor who returned to Southern California last year after a stint as a Las Vegas-based correspondent. Their children now grown, Gorman and wife, Jeanne, both 52, bought their first condo. It's a $350,000 "fixer-upper" in Laguna Hills, where they could have expected to pay more than $400,000 for the cheapest single-family home.

Ross, the Northern Virginia agent, says she frequently sells condos to baby boomers who are replacing big family homes with two residences. "They've already bought their beach house, and now they want a condo close to the city," she says.

How vibrant is the condo market? Some indicators:

•More condos sold in 2003 than any other year. According to a report by NAR, 898,000 existing condos sold last year, up 9.5% from 2002, and the eighth-consecutive volume record. Condo resales have grown so much, they nearly match the number of new detached single-family homes that sell each year.

Despite some year-end easing in sales, NAR chief economist David Lereah said volume remains "exceptionally high." Said Lereah: "There's a tremendous momentum that will be driving the condo market again this year."

•Prices are surging. According to NAR, the median price — the sales midpoint — for condo resales last year rose to $163,800, a shade below the $169,900 median for single-family homes. The 15.2% annual rise in the median price for condos was about double the rate of increase for single-family homes.

•It's not just resales. The market for new condos is strong. John Burns, an Irvine, Calif.-based home building industry consultant, estimates condos now represent 5% to 10% of the output of publicly traded building companies. Some are building to meet the incredible demand for housing at the low end of the price range, he said. Other builders are catering to an increasing demand for luxury condos.

The high end is hot

Philadelphia real estate broker Allan Domb, who booked $207 million in condo sales in 2002, has seen the market for high-end condos explode. The Lippincott, a converted publishing building set to open this spring, has sold 25 of its 27 units without advertising, Domb says. Prices: $650,000 to $3.5 million.

San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami are seeing the boom in high-end condos, too.

Luxury builders Toll Brothers and Pinnacle last month announced plans for a posh, 832-unit condominium development on the Hudson River in Hoboken, N.J. Plans call for a series of high- and midrise buildings across the river from Manhattan on the former Maxwell House Coffee site.

Toll Brothers Vice President Doug Yearley says condominiums — both urban and suburban — promise to make up an increasing share of the company's output.

"The demographics are pointing that way," Yearley says. Also driving the trend, he says, is intensifying opposition from no-growth advocates on the fringes of many big cities. Condos, particularly in urban areas, carry land costs that are a fraction of what Toll pays for its traditional sprawling developments, Yearley says. Also, city governments welcome the developments as a way to renew their urban cores, he says.

A modern phenomenon

Condominiums are a phenomenon of the last quarter-century. They began to stir in the late 1970s as the leading edge of the baby boom generation reached house-buying age. It helped that apartment developers had overbuilt in many cities and were eager to sell their units rather than endure high vacancy rates.

During housing market downturns, condo values have been quicker to fall and slower to recover than single-family homes. Condos' traditional role as the entry point into the housing market made their market values more vulnerable to economic vagaries than traditional homes.

Kathleen Freepartner, a veteran zipRealty broker-agent in Orange County, Calif., watched the cycle play out in Southern California through the last decade. The broad housing market started to recover from its notorious 1991 swoon about mid-decade. But condo sales didn't gain momentum until about 1999, she says. Now, she says, condo prices have nearly tripled since 1996. And in housing-short Orange County, condos sell as soon as they come on the market, she says.

John Karevoll, analyst at market tracker DataQuick, says condos are now seeing the boom that other segments of the housing market — luxury and move-up homes, for example — experienced earlier in the current housing cycle. For those just now buying into the market, the delayed rally in condos is a good thing.

"Condos probably have a little more upside in front of them than does the rest of the market," he says.

What is a condo?

Most condos look like they could be rental apartments. But a condominium is a form of property ownership, not a style of architecture. A condo buyer takes ownership of a single unit in what typically is a multi unit building. The owners of the individual units jointly own the building exterior and common areas.


In tracking the condo market, the National Association of Realtors includes a similar form of ownership common in New York City the co-operative. Co-op buyers acquire a share of ownership in the building and grounds, entitling them to live in one of the units.
 

The Fine Print...

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We will do one newsletter like this one (Advice for the Impatient Investor) and one called the REIT Report (containing Real Estate Education Industry News and a lot of personal opinions), approximately once a month.  (However, keep in mind, our newsletters are free so don't get upset if we skip one occasionally!)  

Advice for the Impatient Investor has been published for fourteen years (but not in a row). The next issue should be out about April 1st.  The next REIT Report will go out on or about March 15th.  

Folks smarter than us told us to say: We take no responsibility for the accuracy of the postings.  All contents of the postings are the responsibility of the posting party.  The foregoing material is strictly for informational purposes only and does not provide legal, financial, accounting or investing advice or services. Use of any of the foregoing information does not create a client relationship.  You should not act on the information provided without seeking legal, accounting and tax counsel of your choice.

We reserve the right to terminate the subscription of anyone at any time.

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Copyright © 2004 by Real Estate Investors Training Corporation.

ISSN # 0272-8559

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