Diary of a group of newbie real estate investors...01/28/2023

I've been sitting down to write this blog at least 5 times over the past 2 weeks.  Life gets busy sometimes.  

A few Saturdays ago, my lender joined us on the zoom to talk about how to work with lenders, shared some tools he has to determine how the current market is doing.  MA is holding steady, though we might see some price correction going on from the last few years sellers market.  It was a pretty wild market.  ARV's increased in some cases over $50k or more (ask me how I know) from the time properties were purchased to completed.  The COVID years came with some struggles like permitting times became extremely slow, material costs increased, time to get those materials increased, appliance packages were taking over a month and service professionals like plumbers and electricians increased their prices as the demand for their time increased.  But, at least for me, the upside was all cash offers with no contingencies going for well over asking price.  Now, with the increase of interest rates we are seeing price corrections and longer days on market.  Before you feel like that is doom and gloom.  Keep in mind that comparatively speaking, inventory is still relatively low.  I follow Taunton, MA and just checked and there's only 48 Single and Multifamily homes listed.  You can say that doubled over the last year...but, 48 is still light as far as inventory is concerned.  Heck there's only 19 in Haverhill.  But, there are some things to keep track of which is why I asked him to speak on our next Boston AREIA Third Thursday zoom.

We had a great mastermind zoom last week to touch base, see where everyone is at and what's coming up.  Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at, 3 of our investors couldn't make it on the zoom.  2 were meeting with a home owner to do a walk through and hopefully put the property under contract and the other was meeting and inspector at a property for the inspection.  

We spent some time going through some pics of a rehab project in Bristol, NH we are working on that is almost done!!!  And, we researched some properties in Maine that one of our investors was looking at.  He's since refocused his efforts in his own area.  The Grand Daddy of all gurus Lou Brown always said, "When you are looking for deals, put a pinpoint on your house and go out 5 miles in a circumference, if you can't find a deal within that distance, go out another 5 miles and repeat until you find a deal."  You may be willing to go wherever when you first get started because you are hungry for a deal, but eventually the further away a deal is, the more money you will want to make.  So, why not start a little closer to you, it's easier to visit properties, do research and develop an accurate rehab estimate.  Don't get me wrong, there are people who are wholesaling long distance.  It's not my thing.  I'm a little old school, like Lou...

For now, we are keeping our eyes open for potential auctions.  They are on the rise.  

What about you?  What are your guidelines when identifying potential projects?  Let me know, maybe we can identify a property for you.  

For now, make it a great week!  And, happy investing!

Bernadette Trafton, Boston AREIA Chief Connector