Can't Find The Deals In A Heated Market?

This is actually a pretty common thing that is addressed often. What do you do when you know that your market is hot, appreciation is going up faster than ever, yet you can’t seem to find the right deal out there?

Really it all comes down to marketing. More importantly it comes down to not listening to everybody around you who is whining because the market is hot. The good news is of course that in areas where property values are going up about 3% per month, it's obviously easy to get out if you desire. Of course it's a trouble time to get out; it's the best time in the world not to get out when you’re experiencing appreciation like that. It's absolutely unbelievable what's going on out there right now. Of course this is going to drive the heat up in the market place but largely only with those properties that are easy to find. The easier properties are to find, the higher the cost.

The answer is you've got to change your marketing a little bit when you're in some of these hot markets. You can't do some of the same stuff you’ve been doing in the past. You have to get a lot better at what you do and you're probably gonna have to get more aggressive.

A lot of the people who are not going to do that won’t make it in the business very long so you'll have less and less competition as time goes on. The first time three people tell most investors that the markets too hot to do any business, they're off doing something else. Only the strong will survive.

The first thing is to make sure that you're finding properties that are FSBO's and listed with real estate agents. Properties that are listed are gonna be much tougher to buy at a reasonable price in a hot market. So you gotta work hard on the FSBO's especially the out-of-town owners. Work the ugly vacant houses with out-of-town owners even harder. I would go after the condemned list. I would go after any property that doesn't have someone in it, especially if it’s in poor condition. I would also find the expired listings and take a look at those. In every list of expired listings there are problem properties that didn't sell because of the property and not because the seller was asking too much money.

I'd also take a look at all the listed properties, but only the ones that have been on the market for a long time. If you find long listings, find out what the deal is there because it just could be that time and circumstances have changed the sellers mind and it's time for them to make a discussion. Or maybe it's been on the market because it's in poor condition.

Don’t focus on the properties that are fresh on the market and are in good condition. Dilligence is the key. Work hard to find the right deal. Sooner or later, the right pearl will turn up.