| Wednesday, August 15, 2007 |
| Great Agent Information for selling condos |
From Realty Times, excellent article.
What You Need To Know To Sell Condos
by Blanche Evans
If you're a Realtor who doesn't know much about the condos, now's the time to brush up on one of the housing market's perfect solutions for many homebuyers. Here's fresh information designed to blow away those myths and prejudices that are still hanging on about condos that you can use to improve your condo sales.
Condos aren't just small houses -- any more than children are tiny adults. While condos are a form of housing that rises and falls like any other, there are some distinct differences in how condos as a market should be viewed.
Condominiums are a type of home ownership in which homeowners own individual units of a building or property, such as an apartment within a high-rise, or a single-family townhome in a community. They also jointly own common parts of the property, such as the grounds, parking lot and the building itself, if the condo is in a building. Because of shared ownership and responsibility, condos are frequently managed by a property management company hired by the homeowners association. Homeowners pay dues, usually one to four times a year, to fund the upkeep of the building and grounds, and pay employees such as bellmen, porters, and guards. Dues include payment toward immediate expenses and escrows for future maintenance, such as roof replacement, so that owners can avoid expensive special assessments.
Condominiums are designed to provide multi-family housing in densely populated environments, such as cities and vacation spots where land is at a premium, but there are also other considerations -- changing attitudes among homebuyers as to what constitutes a good home.
People are choosing homes to suit their lifestyles. In seeking condos, homebuyers likely want low-maintenance beauty and peace of mind; access to amenities they perhaps couldn't afford on their own, such as pools, spas and clubrooms; stronger security, both manned and electronic; and a sense of community with other homeowners nearby to socialize with.
In the past, when home buyers were dominated by married couples with children, condos weren't the preferred product of choice for families, unless they were located in highly populated areas where families had no other choice in housing to own, or they were second homes or vacation homes where occupancy periods would be brief.
But what has many Realtors still skeptical about recommending them is the fact that speculators tend to favor them and rising rental rates threaten homeowners who find that banks won't loan money to homebuyers in buildings where there are too many rentals. Worse, when a housing market falls, condos tend to fall harder and faster in value than single-family homes, causing desperate owners to rent their units, thereby justifying lenders' and Realtors' worst fears that condos are a poor investment.
But things change. Condos set housing records for 10 years straight, before falling 10.4 percent in 2006 says the Commerce Department. That's nearly two percent more than the existing home market fell, which is a high percentage for approximately 12 to 13 percent of all housing transactions. The reason? Condos are simply more volatile, but that volatility can be turned to advantage by smart Realtors.
"When developers and converters dump huge stocks on the market at the same time that sales slow and investors pull out, naturally prices will fall -- but it's not an indicator of what the single family market will do," says Walt Molony, senior associate and spokesperson for the NAR.
Why? Homebuyer demographics are changing, no one's making any more land, and many homebuyers prefer multifamily home environments. That's why condominiums today are full of mythbusters. According to a recent study by the Mortgage Bankers Association, most condos are in single-family structures like townhomes, they're in the suburbs, not the city, and they're more than two thirds occupied by owners, not renters.
There's more. Consider the following:
In 2006, the number of married households fell below the 50 percent level to 48 percent, according to the U.S. Census, meaning more singles and non-traditional households are the majority of housing consumers.
Households are increasingly headed by singles. Young people are delaying marriage. The Census Bureau says that women today marry after age 26, while women in 1960 married at age 20. Half of marriages end in divorce.
Single women homebuyers make up nearly a quarter of the market, according to the National Association of Realtors, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total homeowner growth between 1994 and 2002, according to the Harvard Center for Joint Housing Studies in 2003.
Single females make up 42 percent of condo buyers. Single males make up 20 percent, while married couples constitute 30 percent of condo buyers.
The Tax Relief Act of 1997 has introduced unprecedented liquidity and mobility to the housing market, making it possible to own a home, occupy it for a minimum of two years, and move out in two years without taking a tax hit.
NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2006 says that condo buyers (median age: 43) are older than single-family home buyers (median age 41.) "The median age of condo buyers skews older because condos attract the bookends of the housing market -- first-time buyers, and empty-nesters (boomers) and retirees, who no longer need a large single family home but like lots of amenities in a simpler lifestyle," explains Molony.
Lenders have relaxed lending standards to allow younger and single homebuyers to buy homes by removing obstacles (such as differing credit standards for divorced women,) and creating a wide variety of adjustable or interest-only hybrids that don't penalize borrowers for short-term ownership. This has boosted the first-time homebuyer market as well as single female homebuyers.
Condominium buildings offer products not easily found in single-family homes, such as one-bedroom, one-bath configurations which appeal to singles and first-time homebuyers. "Among all condo buyers, the percentage of first-time buyers are highest among single-female households (59 compared to 48 percent among all condo buyers," says Molony.
One out of ten homeowners owns a second home, often a condominium in the city or a favorite vacation spot.
The tenure in condos is shorter (4 years in buildings with 5 or more units), while the median for detached single family homes is 6 years. Realtors who know this won't freak out when multiple units go up for sale in the same building.
All of the above suggest a strong market for condo sales, which is a good reason for Realtors to know as much as possible about them.
But no statistic speaks as loudly as this one to homebuyers growing preference for multifamily living:
"While the median price per square foot is highest for the condos ($169 compared to $118 for all homes purchased), median income of condo buyers is lower than the median income of all buyers ($59,100 vs. $71,800)," says Molony. "The price per square foot of condos is higher than single family homes because there is a concentration of condos in higher-cost housing markets. Within a given area, condos typically cost less than single-family homes -- with the exception of upscale units in urban cores."
Condos aren't always about buying something smaller that's cheaper. They're about choices.
Published: May 29, 2007Labels: condo sales, condos, condos for sale |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 3:04 PM  
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| Monday, May 14, 2007 |
| Myrtle Beach Condos and Real Estate News |
Spring seems to be the prime time for the unveiling of new websites, and realtors are no exception. I've seen several new ones pop up. and my partner and I have also been hard at work.
My two main sites now are linked to Myrtle Beach Condos For Sale. David O'Connell has teamed up with Mike Benton and has a brand new company called The Myrtle Beach Home Store. We're having that website farmed out to include a back-end leads management system and the best MLS Listing on the east coast. Look for that in the near future. But in the meantime, our other division is the The Myrtle Beach Condo Store, with the website www.myrtlebeachcondostore.com . I've been working hard on that one, including a nice photo gallery I'll list below, and other stuff.
Our major endeavor is a website for all the Myrtle Beach Condos from Little River to Pawley's Island, www.myrtlebeachcondos.net . This website will be the biggest undertaking that I know of in these parts, and we're about to upload the first 30 some pages. Each of the major condos on the Grand Strand will be listed with photos, amenities, and address, with an option for people looking for rentals as well as an inquiry form for purchasing. We will incorportate the MLS into this site as well, and it should be searchable by the condo project.
Condolux Vacations has a newly renovated site for Myrtle Beach Golf Packages, located at www.northmyrtlebeachgolf.com . The new site will have updated golf course information, golf package deals for Spring and Fall, and the best discounts around. They have a new golf expert now, Craig Chinn, who loves his job and is enthusiastic and anxious to service his customers.
I've started a blog on Echo Forum for Real Estate Marketing, www.echoforum.com/blog/realestatemarketing.html . I've wanted to do this for so long, but seldom have time to write in yet ANOTHER blog. But I get so much attention to Echo Forum because it's an SEO tutorial, that I really want to share tips and information on that blog.
Hopefully when it gets some rank I'll be able to get some of the other SEO people to write an article or two as well.
Still working on my Myrtle Beach MySpace page . I truly think MySpace is one of the major marketing tools around right now. I've picked up "friends" made up of celebrities and as many realtors as I can hook up with. I hope when we have something special to sell I'll be able to make an announcement on there and get some business referrals from the many real estate agents that have a page.
Condo-World has purchased a major Myrtle Beach Golf website, www.mbgolf.com. This website has been number one for many years, and I think is affiliated with Golf Holiday. At any rate, it should really prove to be a tremendous money maker for them. It's impressively comprehensive and maybe just a little bit confusing...:-) But I'm sure it will do well.
Here are the links for the Myrtle Beach photos that I've put on the Condo Store site. I hope someone enjoys looking at them!
Oceanfront Condos In Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach SC Condos
Myrtle Beach Condos For Sale
Condos In Myrtle Beach
Condos For Sale in Myrtle Beach SC
Condos In Myrtle Beach South Carolina
New North Myrtle Beach Condos
New Condos in Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Condos
Condos Myrtle Beach SC
Myrtle Beach SC Real Estate
Myrtle Beach Real Estate
North Myrtle Beach Real Estate
North Myrtle Beach Condos
Myrtle Beach South Carolina CondosLabels: condos, condos for sale, golf packages, Myrtle Beach Golf, myrtle beach real estate |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 3:09 AM
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| Monday, February 19, 2007 |
| Holden Beach Condos |
| Holden Beach, NC, January 15, 2007:
Labels: brunswick county real estate, condos for sale, dolphin shores holden beach, holden beach condos, holden beach real estate, north carolina real estate |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 4:34 AM
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| Wednesday, February 07, 2007 |
| Myrtle Beach Real Estate Sales News |
According to our resident real estate expert at the Sun News, Jenny Burns, our real estate agents are seeing an increase in sales interest from January. My clients and websites are reflecting that as well.
Sales of Myrtle Beach condominiums are still low, but that is to be expected until the glut of building and large amount of available new condos is taken care of.
Myrtle Beach condo rentals are at an all-time high. My friends at Condolux had the best year ever in 2006, and are geared up for 2007 with about 10 new projects to add to their rental lists...from Kingston Plantation (seemingly the hottest place down here for rentals) to the recently completed resorts like Bay View Resort in Myrtle Beach.
This could very well translate into a better environment for sales...and certainly more traffic to the condos that have on-site sales offices.
According to Jenny, new homes sales fell more than the prophets expected it to. I guess even though they "created" the bubble in the first place, they aren't always powerful enough to control the market just by the word of their predictions. And yes, I said they created the bubble. I am firmly convinced that it never would have happened anywhere if they hadn't kept screaming about it ad nauseum for the whole year that sales were so high. It was a self-fulfilled prophecy.
They report that single family home sales fell 24 percent to 296 from 389 last January. Sales of condos in Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand fell 35 percent to 276 units from 425. This according to the local MLS people.
It was also noted that some home prices dropped, but CONDO prices jumped 32 percent in average and 25 percent in median.
Days it takes to sell a condo increased from 160 to 345 days, while homes seem to sell much faster...only increasing to 160 from 143.
My friend Diann Tonnesen in Las Vegas predicted the turn around to take about 17 months from last summer. She's been in the business for more than 20 years, so I value her opinion. My group around here are perhaps a bit more optimistic. Myrtle Beach real estate sales tend to run much differently than some place like Las Vegas...or even the Florida beaches.
Also, our insurance crisis on condos is so in the news that I think buyers are waiting to see how that turns out. I'm seeing the leads and the interest, but there is more hesitation to buy unless they are looking for a personal vacation condo and feel like they can handle the price. And with rentals being so good, perhaps they can increase the price for them to help assuage the extra costs for HOA and insurance fees. People are going to come and vacation at Myrtle Beach regardless. It may slow down the spring breakers (no loss there) and maybe limit the number of days people stay. Perhaps in the future these condo rental places may need to make an availability for 3-4 day stays instead of requiring a weekly deal.
At any rate, it's very heartening to see more leads coming in and the various real estate websites doing well. Since I do real estate marketing, I appreciate it!
 Labels: condos, condos for sale, myrtle beach condo rentals, myrtle beach condos, myrtle beach homes, myrtle beach real estate, new condos, preconstruction condos, real estate marketing |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 2:55 PM
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| Sunday, March 12, 2006 |
| Legislators seek looser coastal regulations |
Recent news story about The Prince Resort at the Cherry Grove Pier Project...
March 12. 2006 12:45PM
The Associated Press
Critics say legislators trying to help a condominium project add a pool to their beachfront project could undo nearly two decades of regulations intended to limit development and protecting public beach access.
Rep. Dwight Loftis, R-Greenville; Rep. Bill Witherspoon, R-Conway and Rep. Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach are pushing a bill to allow the project to have an aboveground pool at a 17-story condominium project at the Cherry Grove fishing pier in North Myrtle Beach.
People buying the north myrtle beach condos have been told pools will be part of the project. But the pool would be on the ocean side of a line where building is restricted.
"This may be the only place in Horry County that would ever need this," Hardwick said. "We're just trying to accommodate an old family that is doing a project."
Elizabeth Hagood, chairwoman of the Department of Health and Environmental Control board, says that's the wrong reason to change the law. A House subcommittee is scheduled to debate the legislation Tuesday.
"Clearly, there is no overwhelming public need for this," she said. "This is for special interests."
The state's 1988 beach management act strictly limits what can be built close to the ocean.
South Carolina has learned lessons about building too close to the surf and should not change the 1988 law now, says Bill Eiser, a DHEC coastal regulator.
"It doesn't make sense from a long-term management strategy to allow something to go closer to the beach than what we've been doing," Eiser said.
Those 1988 limits were set after unusually high tides on Jan. 1, 1987, washed out dozens of pools and decks from Myrtle Beach to Charleston and brought millions of dollars in damage. The law was intended to move new development back from the seashore.
Pools that remain from before the change now jut onto the beach at Garden City and elsewhere, forcing governments to spend millions to widen beaches and prevent waves from slamming seawalls and pool decks at high tide.
The change Hardwick and others want could allow more new oceanfront pools and that could block public access at high tide and make erosion worse, critics say.
The push for the change comes as DHEC sees its coastal regulations under attack elsewhere:
- Legislators want DHEC to process permits faster. Loftis says the agency is too slow and is seeking a Legislative Audit Council review of DHEC's permitting process.
- A carefully crafted agreement between real-estate agents and conservationists to protect isolated wetlands by requiring permits to fill them could unravel after legislators questioned it last week.
- The Legislature may reject rules limiting construction of bridges to salt marsh islands, mostly in Charleston and Beaufort counties.
Hagood, a conservationist, is worried about the new pressure from the Legislature as coastal growth continues and development pressures rise.
"We have special interests trying to infiltrate and undermine our coastal zone program," Hagood said. "It is driven by money and greed. It is not driven out of the desire to protect the public interest or our natural resources."
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Note: Not so. The Prince Resort Myrtle Beach will be the best thing that ever happened to Cherry Grove Beach and will turn the whole section around from the run-down look it's always had. The Cherry Grove Pier is probably the only reason Cherry Grove even has tourists. A pool won't change anything that isn't already there. This is one of the finest North Myrtle Beach condo developments ever designed.Labels: condos for sale, myrtle beach condos, new condos, prince resort myrtle beach |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 6:43 PM
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| Wednesday, January 25, 2006 |
| Myrtle Beach Real Estate Is HOT! |
Say what they will, Myrtle Beach condo sales are still flying high. My own opinion is that the resales of older condos has dropped off substantially because they increased the prices to match the new construction. It just doesn't work like that. I don't think our NAR records will ever be correct because of them adding preconstruction figures in on it, simply because they don't close for a year or two years after they start pre-selling. That skews all the figures, and they shouldn't be listed on the MLS at all. Florida accepts this and doesn't. Anyway, accurate or not, this article shows what kind of increases we are dealing with. A 12 year record, to be exact!
Home appreciation in MB sets state record
JENNY BURNS
Grand Strand real estate set a record year for price appreciation - higher than any seen in South Carolina in the past 12 years.
That's as far back as the S.C. Association of Realtors has kept records.
For 2005, condominiums and single-family homes combined appreciated 26 percent in median price on the Strand, according to the association's statistics.
The median price - meaning half of the homes sold for more and half for less - jumped from $137,000 to $172,000.
Second place wasn't anywhere near that: Beaufort came in with a 15 percent increase.
"That is the kind of appreciation you've seen in the really hot markets in California and Florida where you've seen properties escalate at significant amounts. I mean this is not just double digits," said Jim Peters, chief executive officer of the S.C. Association of Realtors.
MORE...Labels: condos for sale, myrtle beach real estate |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 1:52 PM
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| Thursday, August 18, 2005 |
| Cuckoo for condos! |
Get in early! Get out fast! Sound familiar? Everyone knows how the dotcom party ended. Right? Right?
August 18, 2005: 1:33 PM EDT By Stephen Gandel, MONEY Magazine
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Late May, early evening. Chris Cowen cools his heels in a Minneapolis restaurant, waiting for a table. His buddy Keith is 15 minutes late.
Cell phone rings. It's Keith. Got a proposition for you, Chris: a one-bedroom condo under construction in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- 1,800 miles away -- for $135,000. The catch: Only 60 seconds to decide. Sight unseen. Over the cell.
"It was a no-brainer," recalls Cowen, 32, who owns 28 condos (solo or with partners) in various stages of completion. Two months after his impulse buy, Cowen figures the unit's ultrafast appreciation has covered his $3,500 cash down payment 10 times over.
"I've already made $35,000," he crows.
Know this guy? If you don't, you probably will soon, because condos are to the real estate boom what Internet stocks were to the 1990s bull market. And like the Internet day-traders before them, the new condo flippers, with their talk of instant riches and easy money, are about to become the life of every cocktail party.
And why not? Condo prices have soared 80 percent in the past five years, making the same period's 40 percent rise for single-family homes look almost pokey. Developers are constructing new condo units at nearly twice the pace they were in 1999, and investors are literally lining up to buy one, two, three or more. In Miami, as much as 75 percent of some condo towers are investor-owned.
No cash? No problem. Banks, with their loosened lending standards, no-money-down loans and teaser mortgage rates, are making it easier than ever to be a mogul-in-training.
Chris Cowen is betting his retirement that the wonder years won't stop soon. He cashed out his 401(k) to put $246,000 into a highly leveraged condo portfolio that he thinks could sell for $6.2 million. Estimated equity so far: $868,000. Cowen is so bullish, he quit his corporate job at Siemens to develop his empire full time.
"Even if you make six figures, you still work for someone else, paying 40 percent taxes and putting in 60 hours a week. What do you get for that?" he scoffs.
A volatile mix
Mix it all together -- rising prices, record levels of construction, fast-and-loose mortgages and swelling ranks of new investors -- and you get a market more volatile than Tom Cruise.
"To some degree, what's driving condo prices is sheer greed," says economist Gleb Nachayev of Torto Wheaton Research, which forecasts a relatively mild drop of as much as 3 percent for U.S. housing prices overall in the next year. "Condo prices have increased faster than single-family homes -- and they will fall faster."
As they did little more than a decade ago. Overbuilt and over-concentrated in city centers, the condo market collapsed in the early '90s, smashing overstretched owners in the process.
No one knows when history will repeat itself. But c'mon: The easy money has been made. The right time to invest is not after a record five-year run-up in prices. It's not when the supply of new product is set to nearly double.
If you're really drawn to the market, you need a deeper understanding of what's driving prices up -- and what can drive them down. Above all, don't confuse what's worked in the recent past with what will work over the long haul.
The case for boom
Condos still have plenty going for them -- namely, 76 million baby boomers. You know the demographic drill by now: As they become empty-nesters and retirees, they'll sell their rambling homes in the burbs and move into yard work-free condos (or at least purchase them as second homes).
They're expected to continue flooding into aging-friendly locales like Arizona, Florida and Nevada, but they'll also be flocking to traditional city centers as downtowns become safer.
Don't forget the children of boomers, adds veteran condo investor and National Association of Realtors chief economist David Lareah. They'll need affordable places to get started, and many already see entry-level-priced condos and townhouses as a great way to build equity so that they can trade up.
"It's hard to concoct a scenario where condo prices collapse in most markets," Lareah argues.
A good condo pick that's soundly financed can be about as hassle-free as real estate investing gets. Gary Eldred, author of "Make Money with Condominiums," notes that association fees typically cover the standard repairs you'd have to oversee on a traditional house.
"Condos," Eldred says, "are perfect for people who want a passive investment."
The case for doom
Even the best investments can get overvalued, however. Condo fans cheer the 15 percent average annual spike in prices these past four years, but fail to remember that number was about 2 percent in the '90s. Last year, for the first time, the median condo cost more than the median home -- $9,500 more.
Prices in some parts of the country look even more ridiculous when you compare them to the low rents that condos currently generate.
In Minneapolis, for instance, the average downtown condo sells for just over $256,000, up 77 percent from mid-2000. But area apartments rent for a measly $915 average a month, down from $918 four years ago, according to Torto Wheaton Research.
Even with a 20 percent down payment, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage would cost $1,150 a month. This condo investor is $235 a month in the hole -- even before paying association fees and taxes.
Growing fears of overbuilding are also cause for pause. With so many condos being built today, one has to wonder: Who's gonna rent them? Apartment vacancy rates have been rising.
"My guess is construction is growing faster than demand in some markets," says Raphael Bostic of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate.
Perhaps most worrisome: The growth in condo investing mythology. Here are three whoppers that need reality checks.
MYTH: Get in early and you'll be guaranteed a profit.
Remember the lust for Internet IPOs? Ordinary investors bid up the stocks of hot little companies that hadn't even registered their first sale yet. Today's version is a preconstruction condo, where investors jockey to get into a project not yet built, certain the units will jump in value when completed.
But getting in early doesn't guarantee riches anymore. That's because developers have caught on to the demand and are now selling preconstruction properties at market prices, says Kimberly Kirschner, a Miami agent who specializes in new condos.
Also, developers are requiring buyers to reserve their units earlier -- as much as three years in advance. That's an awfully long time to assume a hot condo market will continue to boil.
So when it comes to preconstruction, skip that line. Instead, buy an existing unit. While preconstruction purchasers can wait up to three years with very little to show for it at the end, you can collect 36 months of rent to put toward paying off your mortgage and building equity. If prices continue to appreciate, great. But that's a cherry, not the whole sundae.
MYTH: Creative mortgages lower your payments and guarantee positive cash flow. New twists on adjustable-rate mortgages and interest-only loans can make condo investing seem like a lark. But some of these things could slaughter you if prices fall when you have to sell.
The riskiest is called an option ARM, which features several payment choices each month, including a standard interest-and-principal payment, an interest-only payment and an interest-only minimum payment that's so low it doesn't cover the month's interest charge. The unpaid interest is rolled into the principal, meaning that -- yes -- you're charged interest on your unpaid interest.
Fort Lauderdale resident Bruce Palmer, 50, recently signed up for an option ARM that cuts his monthly payment on a $417,000 investment condo by $500. As a result, his two-bedroom in Fort Lauderdale should generate a profit of $350 a month.
Palmer, a commercial pilot, says he sees the risk. Paying the interest-only bare minimum means his mortgage is growing, not shrinking. If local prices were to drop, his loan balance could exceed the condo's value.
But Palmer is confident, building a war chest to snap up properties. "If I could leverage more," he says wistfully, "I would."
Author Gary Eldred worries about such sunny thinking. Most condo investors should avoid option ARMs, he says, and either put down more money to lower the monthly payment or consider buying -- gasp -- a less expensive unit.
Whatever your choice, Eldred says your expected rent should cover at least 70 percent of your total monthly costs. Tax write-offs on condo losses can help close some of that gap, he notes. (Up to $25,000 in losses, excluding mortgage-principal payments, can be charged against total income of less than $150,000.)
And he argues that rising rents should, over time, cover the rest. (With condo prices soaring, Eldred predicts that condo rents will follow as would-be buyers get priced out and rent.) More cautious investors would want their rent to cover 100 percent of carrying costs or more.
MYTH: You should buy in your backyard, where you know the landscape.
Too few condo investors recognize one of the best reasons to buy: It can help diversify your real estate holdings so that your portfolio doesn't rise and fall solely on hometown economics and events. (Even if property is a relative bargain in your area, buying wisely elsewhere can make more sense than buying too much property locally.)
New York City attorney Richard Savitt, 40, never thought about all this 18 months ago, when he abandoned hopes of investing in Big Apple condos and bought in Philadelphia instead.
"We just thought New York prices were crazy," he explains.
But it sure looks wise now. Savitt and four partners bought four one-bedroom condos, each around $300,000. Similar units now list for as much as $450,000.
To help you determine where to invest, take the average price at which units are selling in a city and divide it by the annual rent the average apartment there generates. That will produce a price-to-rent ratio. The lower the better. Houston, Atlanta and Philadelphia, for instance, still look relatively good, while New York City and San Francisco do not.
In Minneapolis, Cowen and four other investors who've become pals gather at a bar for their fortnightly meeting. Jahn Dyvik, a 42-year-old engineer who sold his Porsche Boxster to help fund more condo buys, says lower prices in neighboring St. Paul make that city the better bet.
The rest of the group is sticking with Minneapolis, where they think prices will rise faster. Two others have also sold their cars. All have home-equity loans.
Where are prices headed? Cowen's not sure. The long-term case for condos looks good, but all the building out there makes him nervous. "People have unrealistic profit expectations."
Not him, of course. "No one has a crystal ball. But the condos I've bought are going to go up."
Labels: condos for sale, investment real estate |
posted by Myrtle Beach Web Design @ 9:27 PM
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