Great updated house to buy

For more pictures click here and see a great house to buy in Saint Louis.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to make money when you buy this starter home, and the property is in beautiful shape so you won’t have to do any work to it!  Talk about a win/win.

If you have a house and you “need to sell my house fast” visit STL Real Estate’s website.

What not everyone knows is that they can still sell their house even if they owe more on it than what their loan is.  This sale strategy is called a short sale, and if you find yourself in a situation where you are upside down on your loan, but have to sell your house, then the Saint Louis short sale experts are where you should get help from.

Ryan Wessels, a great real estate agent who specializes in St. Louis short sales, leads the team of short sale experts in St. Louis. 

The above link is a great page to find information on Ryan Wessels, a short sale expert in Saint Louis.

Whether you need a short sale to rescue you from foreclosure, or just want to sell your house short, Ryan Wessels is the perfect agent for your needs.

You can contact Ryan Wessels via email @ ryan@stlforeclosureexpert.com; or contact the short sale experts in St. Louis.

Ryan Wessels has a wealth of knowledge and experience with short sales and foreclosure rescue, and the last article that he wrote is about short sales and Bank of America.

1. You can wholesale a property to another investor. 
2. You can rehab a property and sell it to a retail buyer.
3. You can buy and hold onto a property as a rental.

My last blog goes into detail about state of the Saint Louis real estate market. Because of where the market currently is, and the high supply of houses and low supply of qualified buyers, the 2^nd investment strategy of rehabbing and selling a house is actually not the best way to maximize your long term wealth in this market.  It is still being done, and the most seasoned investors are still making money via this strategy.

However, the people making all the money in this market are the investors that have an income stream coming in from a different source other than real estate.  This cash flow has allowed them to leverage their money into multiple rental properties. 

Over the long term, the savy new Saint Louis real estate investors that begin their careers by exclusively buying and holding onto rental property are going to make themselves millionaires!

However, the key to implementing this strategy is to first have a steady cash flow coming in.  This will allow you to overcome any short term hurdles that you may encounter along the way (furnace breaks etc.)

So, if you are new to investing in Saint Louis, and you are thinking about leaving your job.  DON’T!

This is not the market that you want to learn how to rehab houses in. 

This is the market that you want to become a landlord in.  And, you can do that if you still have a job giving you a steady amount of cash flow.

The first investment option is to wholesale properties.  If you are new to investing, I’m sure you have read information on the subject from 1 of the 100’s of gurus that are telling you it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

WAKE UP!

These people are making their money selling you products, not by investing in real estate!  If they were really good at wholesaling, and making the money that they claim you can make, wouldn’t they be doing that instead of teaching you how to wholesale!

What they don’t tell you is that if you are able to make it and become a successful wholesaler, it can take between 2 to 3 years to develop a marketing system that gives you enough leads to earn a decent income.  Especially because when you are new you are going to mishandle many of the leads that you receive.

Lets review:

New St. Louis REAL ESTATE INVESTORS

If you have a job, DON’T QUIT IT.

Suck it up and think about the big picture:  you are going to maximizing your long term wealth by first establishing a rental portfolio. Then, once you do this the supply of buyers will have probably rebounded and you can now invest full time in real estate!

DON’T LISTEN TO THE REAL ESTATE GURUS

This is a hard profession, and not cut out for everyone.  Try investing part time first until you have some experience and can then make an educated decision on whether or not this is what you want to do with your life.

Good luck as you begin your investment career! If this blog has helped you in any way, or if you even disagree with anything in it,  please let me know with a comment on it at the original place the blog was written.

You can also reach me at one of my websites: STL Real Estate if you would like to discuss investing further.

What is going to happen to the Saint Louis real estate marketvv

Lately I have been talking to many Saint Louis real estate professionals and lenders.  I respect these people and their opinions, and the general consensus is that we have entered into a stable market.   Many are also hopeful for the future.  I am as well.

I tend to agree with them on the future and that current Saint Louis real estate market has been stable over the past 6 to 8 months.

However, don’t make mistake this current stability for a housing recovery.

The housing market (I’m writing this on January 27, 2010) in the immediate future still looks bleak.  Our best case scenario is that the market remains stable and doesn’t drop any further over the next couple of years.  But, without government aid, it is more likely the St. Louis housing market will drop farther.

I know we are looking for a silver lining, that we want things to return back towards a boom so that we can be more comfortable with our economic future.  This hope…unfortunate…is not realistic for the immediate future…

Lets get what I’m saying straight..I’m not saying that the overall outlook for our economy and housing market is bleak in the future.  What I AM saying is that we have yet to have our rough landing.  As a result, the next couple years may be pretty tough for most families.

The housing market is currently in a situation similar to a Chinese knot tie. 

For every 1 qualified buyer in the market, there are about 9 homes for sale.   In 2008, 20% of homes sold were in foreclosure, and another 11% were sold via a short sale!  (stat found @ CNN Money.)

To make matters worse, it is now harder than ever for a buyer to get qualified for a loan. 

This recipe of a huge inventory of homes on the market, combined with new lending requirements that make it much harder to get approved for a loan, does not add up to a near future real estate boom. 

Add in to the mix that unemployment still remains incredibly high, and you have for yourself a full fledged real estate recession.  The current stability is merely an artificial result of the government aid and intervention that the real estate market has been receiving. 

Once this is taken away, things will begin falling downward again.

Ok.  I get the point.  Things are bleak for the Saint Louis Real Estate market.  How can I tell when the market is going to turnaround?

Supply and demand is the key indicator for recessions and booms.  In real estate the supply is houses,  and the demand is the amount of buyers in the marketplace.   Click on this link for the most recent unemployment rate data that I could find.  The chart shows data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

 So…its really that simple…the current vicious cycle will continue until the unemployment rate drops.

Sign up for my STL Real Estate RSS feed to easily see when I write new articles.  My next articled is scheduled to be published in a week from today, and if you sign up for the feed it will automatically let you know when the post gets published!

The next article’s topic: what is the best investment strategy is for new Saint Louis real estate investors in todays market?

If you need any solid Saint Louis real estate advice, or need to sell a Saint Louis house quickly, contact STL Real Estate!

This act should prove to be a good thing for Saint Louis home buyers.  Loan originators are now being required to clearly disclose key loan terms and closing costs that are associated with a loan. 

RESPA also outlaws kickbacks that increase the cost of settlement costs.  The whole purpose of RESPA is to help Saint Louis homebuyers be better shoppers in the homebuying process.

HUD’s website also has a great FAQ page that answers many of the questions buyers have about the good faith estimate and so forth.  I highly recommend going to their site and reading up on the topic before you contact a lender so that you will know what to expect from a lender.  This will help you keep the lender honest.

For any real estate need, don’t hesitate to contact STL Real Estate.  Our last blog entry was about  how there is no more seasoning requirement for FHA Loans.  We also have written past sell my house fast in St. Louis tips as well that you may find useful.

Great news for stl homeowners

As of January 15th, 2010, the FHA (federal housing administration) has decided to waive its 90 day seasoning requirement.

This requirment made it more difficult for all homeowners to sell their houses and not just rehabbers.  Although the requirement only directly affected rehabbers (because investors 99.9% of the time are the only people that are trying to buy and sell a house in less than 3 months), it also has had a trickle down affect on the rest of the Saint Louis and nation’s real estate market. 

This is because the market obviously has been slantly in favor of buyers for the last couple of years.  When a buyer’s market ocurrs, their is a large build up of inventory (homes on the market) compared to people looking to buy a property. 

The subprime mess flooded our local market here in Saint Louis with foreclosed properties.  This flood caused the market to decline significantly.  The market will not be able to recover until the inventory of foreclosed homes goes back down to normal levels.  The FHA seasoning requirement was significantly reducing the opportunity for investors to turn properties quickly, and thus get everyone out of the mess that the banks created for us.

The FHA dropping this requirement is a great sign for St. Louis real estate, is the first sign that I have seen in a while that points towards a real estate recovery!

Click here to see the original post of this blog about no more seasoning for FHA buyers.  Our last blog was a tip about selling my house fast in saint louis

sell your house fast saint louis homeowners

As our last sell my house fast tip highlighted on, gone are the days of throwing out a sign in your yard, and sitting back waiting for the buyers to come to you.  They may never return due to high gas prices and the internet.

The fact that the Saint Louis Real Estate market is currently a buyers market makes it much more difficult to find a buyer for your home.  It doesn’t matter what county you live in.  Whether it is Florissant, Sunset Hills, Creve Coeur or Chesterfield, the sell my house fast in Saint Louis statistics show that you have a tough road ahead of you if you are looking to sell your house, but if you need to sell your house fast, that is a much more difficult task.

It is your responsibility to go out there and find buyers for your property. 

Contacting STL Real Estate is the fastest and best way to sell your house in Saint Louis, Missouri.

sell my house fast tip 4

So the first step is to figure out who your target buyer is (explained in more depth in the first sell my house fast tip).  Once you know who your buyer is, you can then figure out where they start their search.

Think about it.  I realize that this point sounds far too obvious, but you would be amazed at the amount of FSBO homeowners that don’t start by figuring out these two steps.  To be honest, there are numerous real estate agents that don’t even start with these obvious first two steps (so if you want to work with an agent make sure you choose wisely).

So, what is the where?  Well, there are thousands of ways to connect yourself with homeowners.  Traditional ways include listing your property on the multiple listing service with a realtor, or simply throwing a for sale by owner sign out on your front lawn. 

The internet also has numerous ways.  For example, if you live in an area such as dogtown in Saint Louis, Missouri.  You need to realize that a large percentage of people that buy in dogtown are single people that love the idea of being close to bars and forest park. 

So, you then ask yourself how does this type of person look for a house?  In the pre-internet days, a young man or woman would often look for their first home by picking out neighborhoods and then driving around in them. 

This is no longer the case now! 

There are two major differences from when I was a child and before:

1.  GAS is very expensive
2. The internet

If you don’t know much about the internet, or how to find buyers that are looking on the internet.  Don’t worry about it.  That’s what we’re for.

Remember, if your who is a younger (35 or below), then they most likely are looking for their house on the internet first.  So you need to be on the internet broadcasting your house to your potential buyers.

Our last sell my house fast in St. Louis tip was for motivated sellers who need out NOW.

Click here for more information about STL Real Estate.

Difficult choices

So, the question on your mind is, I must sell my house now,

What is the best way to do it?  How do I sell my house quickly and prevent my situation from being taken advantage of?

From a knowledge point of view, we created an AS-IS house sale guide that can help you learn some very important information about selling a house in need of repair.  The problem with the guide is that it could take a full three weeks to figure everything out, and since you need to sell your house ASAP, this isn’t the best answer for you.

If you live in Saint Louis, Missouri our the surrounding counties.  The best thing that you can do is to call us immediately.  Call STL Real Estate’s owner Jim on his personal line: 314.571.9225 and get your house sold incredibly fast.  When you work with STL Real Estate, selling your house fast is very simple and quick.

If you are in this situation, and live in Saint Louis, we can only recommend our services.  Although there definitely are other respectable investment companies that work in Saint Louis, there are some fraudulent companies that may take advantage of you.  Don’t take this risk.  Work only with a full disclosure real estate company that will walk you through every step of the process.  Work only with STL Real Estate.

Also, you can read our last blog which was a tip about selling your house fast.