All About Realestate

By Jared Lim

Having been involved in real estate investing for little while now, I”ve become very familiar with various marketing strategies. And along the way, I also found out which methods generated leads, and which ones didn”t.

One thing to note is that everyone will experience different results with their respective marketing campaign. Two different people in the same market could be doing the same exact thing and get very different results.

And two different individuals, in two different markets can get similar results. That’’s just the nature of the beast.

But there is a secret to this; there is no secret! You have to test each strategy in your particular market to find out which one works for you. And when I say test, I mean test.

For example, don”t send out 5,000 letters to a mailing list that you”ve never tried. That defies all common sense. In that example, I would send out 200 letters and see what the results are before diving in headfirst.

I recommend that you apply this methodology across all the strategies below until you find the one that works the best for you.

So, in my opinion, the following are the top 5 real estate marketing strategies (in order of effectiveness and quality of leads):

1. Apparel/Human Advertising
2. Direct Mail
3. Cold Calling
4. Bandit Signs
5. Newspaper/Yellow Page Ads

Apparel/Human Advertising
This is my favorite way to generate leads. Why? Simple. Because leads come to me, instead of me chasing them. Let me first explain what “apparel/human advertising” is. I define it as “wearing your business,” meaning that you display and promote your services on your apparel and clothing.

I simply put on a shirt that markets my services whenever I go out — to the mall, grocery store, post office, doctor’’s office, etc. — and people come up to me to talk about real estate and their specific situation. It will surprise you how many people will approach you.

And the quality of leads is also high. You know why? Because people instantly and clearly know that you are a real estate investor and will only approach you if they are serious.

For example, I wore my “Private Lender” t-shirt the last time I visited my doctor. Once he read my shirt, he couldn”t stop talking about real estate and how he has been looking for places to invest his money. Bingo, now he has the answer, and I secured another private lender to my stable.

And guess what? He has other friends who are doctors, dentists, and lawyers who have money to invest. Now you can see why I like this strategy so much.

-Most inexpensive method
-Instant, direct way of telling people what you do; face to face contact
-Only works if you wear the apparel
-Only works where you are

Direct Mail
There are several ways to employ a direct mail campaign. I”ve attended several seminars run by real estate “gurus,” and each guru will swear by their own program. So, being the pragmatist that I am, I tried a majority of them.

I”ve ran marketing campaigns using postcards, handwritten letters, professional letters, and even USPS priority mail. Out of all the campaigns, handwritten letters generated the most leads.

On a good campaign, I received 25% response, which is astronomical. Don”t expect this high of a response rate every time. My average response rate hovers around 10%.

-Direct mail isn”t cheap. It is the most expensive strategy.
-You must choose your mailing list wisely and get it from a credible source
-Depending on the list, you will receive letters that could not be delivered
-Most homeowners will respond only after multiple mailings (experts say 7 contacts is the magic number).

Cold Calling
How many people can truly say that cold calling strangers is something that excites them? Probably not many, because most people inherently avoid unfamiliar territory. It’’s time to get past that fear and get out of that mindset, because cold calling is by far one of the most effective strategies out there, especially if you are going after the preforeclosure market.

First, you need to get a list of individuals to call. If you are marketing to preforeclosures, there are several services that will provide phone numbers of homeowners facing foreclosure. Second, you need to practice your call script. Know what you want to say and how to respond to objections. And practice this over and over until it is second nature–and then practice once more. You get the point.

Being able to respond intelligently to the homeowner’’s concerns will build credibility and rapport. Those are the two most important things to construct during a cold call. Remember, you are a stranger who they know nothing about.

Thirdly, be able to prescreen each caller efficiently and effectively. Gain a true understanding of their situation, and obtain enough information to analyze the property to see if it fits your criteria. And finally, if the property meets your criteria, be able to close, whether it means getting an appointment to view the property or actually agree to sales terms.

-Very effective — when you get in contact with homeowner
-Targeted to only those you want to market to
-Easy way to build rapport with homeowner due to personal contact
-Calling strangers asking to buy their house is not on the top of most people’’s list
-Can be time consuming and can only market to people you actually talk to

Bandit Signs
If you”re not familiar, bandit signs are those PVC signs you might see plastered around town, reading “I Buy Houses, Any Condition, Any Price.” They are usually attached to wooden posts near busy intersections.

Before you go putting these signs up, check with your city’’s rules and regulations because bandit signs are illegal in many cities. You can be fined heavily if caught.

The effectiveness of bandit signs is up for debate. A few years ago, I would have said that bandit signs worked great. But now they are everywhere and commonplace, people might be numb to them. Nevertheless, if you are the only sign posted, people will notice.

And if you pepper your farm area heavily, you will generate leads from bandit signs. Bandit signs are relatively inexpensive, roughly $2/sign, and you can hire people to post them. But you might have to have to put the signs up every 2-4 weeks, depending on how fast the “sign police” in your market do their clean sweep of the area.

-Inexpensive strategy
-Can reach a broad audience if you want
-Not targeted; “shotgun” approach
-May be illegal in your city
-Frowned-upon by some individuals as “eyesores”

Newspaper/Phone Book Ads
Like all service providers, placing an advertisement in the newspaper or phone book is always an option. But let me stop you here. This type of marketing has been by far the least effective method for me. It is expensive, sometimes prohibitively costly depending on your market, and is not targeted.

Sure, it can reach a broad audience, but is not worth the cost of the ad for me. And like all other ads, you will be clumped together with all other companies that provide similar services. So it’’s hard for you to stand out, relative to the other marketing strategies already covered.

Like I said, I”ve had very bad results from placing these type of ads. So bad, that for one of my phone book ads, I only received 2 calls over the course of a year. And one of them asked me if I buy mobile homes! That might be an opportunity for some investors, but that doesn”t float my boat.

-Can reach a broad audience
-Very costly
-Not targeted
-Doesn”t generate quality leads (for real estate investor purposes)

Now that I”ve covered the top 5 marketing strategies, I hope that you have a better understanding of what you want to employ in your business. But remember to test more than one strategy in your market to see what gets you the best results. This is the only way that you will find what works in your market. Go out there and make it happen!

About The Author

Jared Lim is widely known for his innovative real estate marketing apparel, Money Magnet Shirts. After making $25,000 from a lead generated by a t-shirt he designed as a joke, Jared designed a full line of apparel. The entire selection of apparel, can be found at http://www.MoneyMagnetShirts.com.

By Mark Dawson

Parents are giving an increasing level of financial assistance to help their grown-up children get on to the housing ladder, new figures indicate.

According to the movingimproving index carried out by Alliance & Leicester, mums and dads are contributing an average of 21,314 pounds to help their offspring purchase their first home - a rise of 3,637 pounds from the study carried out during the same time last year. With increasing house prices, the hangover of student debts and rising living costs, a increasing number of older Britons are dipping into their savings in a bid to aid the buying of their child’’s first home.

Currently one in five parents have already used money they had previously set aside for themselves, with about the same level (22 per cent) prepared to go into their accounts when their children are ready to purchase a home. Overall, the typical first-time buyer property was reported to currently cost 162,055 pounds.

And despite only 18 per cent of first-time buyers having asked, or are intending to ask, their mums and dads for assistance, expectations of providing help are putting parents under financial pressure. Over a third (34 per cent) of respondents claimed that they would feel guilty if they were unable to put up the cash required to help their kids get a home.

Meanwhile, 48 per cent of fathers saw it as a parental responsibility to help their children. However, some nine per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds are shown to be prepared to ask a grandparent for a financial “leg up” on to the housing ladder - if their parents are unable to provide sufficient assistance.

However, the level of those hoping to financially support their children in London was revealed to be higher than the national average. Just over half (52 per cent) of parents living in the city are prepared to help their children meet the financial costs of “flying the nest” and getting on the housing ladder. Meanwhile, about a third (37 per cent) of those in the capital would feel guilty if they were not able to offer monetary assistance to their offspring.

Stephen Leonard, director of mortgages for Alliance & Leicester, said: “It has become increasingly common for parents to offer financial assistance to their children when they come to buy their first home. Rising house prices mean first-time buyers have to find bigger deposits to secure their property, with many having to fork out for stamp duty as well. This means extra funding from parents can often make the difference between renting or being able to get on to that first rung of the property ladder.” He added that as many parents may have a “strong urge” to financially support their grown-up children, taking out a buy-to-let mortgage or loaning them money “could benefit their own future financial security as well”.

However with a recent Stroud & Swindon study suggesting that the typical first-time buyer home could reach the 1 million pound mark by 2024, consumers could well find themselves developing financial difficulties as they get behind with mortgage repayments, with bad credit loans a possible option to alleviate such struggles. As a result, sales director Paul Chafer advised lenders to consider lending with care as “it is pointless simply increasing income multiples if this is going to result in consumers taking on levels of debt they cannot service”.

About The Author

Mark Dawson writes for the the Loan Arrangers where you can apply online for low rate loans, you can also compare loans online, bad credit loans applications welcome. Visit Today: http://www.loan-arrangers.co.uk

By Ajeet Khurana

Getting the house ready for the appraiser is a big thing in the life of every mortgage seeker. Getting a mortgage or a remortgage requires not only a long line of documents, but also a visit from the appraiser. If you house passes the test, you should manage to gather decent percentage as your mortgage or refinance loan. If your house does not manage to pass muster, your hopes of procuring a large amount shall be futile.

If you are trying to shift to a new house, get ready to see your house get compared to a number of other “comps”. “Comps” is a term used to refer to houses that have a similar value to your own. Most often, the valuation of your house will be dependent on the prices of homes in the neighborhood. So if you are new to the house buying business, it might make sense to shop for a home where the other houses and apartments seem to have a good value.

If you are looking to swap your current mortgage plan for a less expensive one, much would depend on the way in which your house has been taken care of. The appraiser wants to be sure that you shall be a good enough caretaker. So make sure that your house is well turned out. We all know about the power of the first impression. In this case, your house has to make a favorable first impression. This would mean long term expenses. So try and see to it that your home looks as beautiful as ever.

One way to do this would be to get rid of all the junk. A cluttered house generally seems to suggest dirt and messiness. So hide away all the junk and create the illusion of space for the appraiser. An airy house gives off great vibes, and this might influence a good report.

If you like, you could go in for some home improvements before the appraisal becomes due. A paint job might be a good idea, as might getting a new table made. However, see to it that all the renovation work is completed by the time of the appraiser’’s visit. Incomplete renovation work might make your house look dirty and it might influence the appraiser to make an unfavorable appraisal.

Whether you are looking for mortgage or a refinance loan or are simply hoping to get a good equity loan, remember that the house needs to make a good impression. Do your best before that appraisal.

About The Author

A home is a big part of your net worth. So when you look for refinance loans at http://www.rebuild.org/refinance.html you must get one that will help release home equity at http://www.rebuild.org/home-equity-loan.html Visit us for loans at http://www.rebuild.org/

By Terry Parker

The idea of real estate and property is much more than just finding a home. There are categories of homes and business properties as well as divisions in the types of real estate that are available to others. If you want to make a different type of investment in something that you know you can make a profit out of, such as a home in Malibu, then knowing the different types of real estate investments can help.

real estate investments begin with two major types; business and residential. Each of these has specific guidelines set with them which will make a difference in the functions of the real estate. After you have determined what type of real estate you will be looking at, you can divide up what is available to you.

If you are looking at pure residential areas, then the real estate will be divided by the size of the home. Typically, this will be known as a single family or multi-family home. If you are looking at a multi-family unit, you can expect to have neighbors sharing the same wall as you, such as condos or town homes. A single family home will be completely independent and will usually be shaped differently because the neighbors can”t cross the yard.

Business real estate is also divided into several categories. These will also often be referred to as commercial properties, and will range from office buildings to manufacturing sites. The difference between a business building and a residential building is that it will change the approach towards regulations. Most likely, there will be zoning rules and the lease will have different divisions for things such as taxes and insurance.

If you are in the right area, you might have the opportunity to have both a commercial and residential area in one. Things such as land investments or areas that have been zoned for commercial purposes may have these types of regulations. With this, you can also consider renting a property. If you want to have a business from home or want to expand into a business, this might be something to consider.

The investment that you decide to make can be more than your home. It can also be something that will bring you back profit for the investment. If you are interested in finding a space that is much more than cozy, than knowing the different types of real estate to invest in is the place to begin.

About The Author

Visit http://www.moveinmalibu.com for information about Malibu real estate, and related useful resources about the Malibu area.

By Terry Parker

Buying a Malibu home involves much more than just simply walking into the house on moving day, returning the moving truck, and unpacking your boxes.

Not only do you want to make sure that you have the right investments set in place, but you also want to make sure that you have the right things to protect you, and your Malibu home in case something unforeseen happens. Having the right protection is an important part of investing in real estate and moving into a home.

With most lenders, it is a required part of the agreement that you have coverage for your home. This is because by giving you a loan, the lender also becomes an investor in your Malibu home. Most protection plans are chosen during the final closing of your home in order to protect all of your assets as well as pieces of property that belong in the home.

By finding the right home owners insurance, you will be sure to be protected against any accident or other peril that may happen to your home. It is always a good idea to transfer large financial risks. And that is exactly what the insurance does.

Home owners insurance will be divided into a variety of categories, all which will beneficial to different situations. The best way to decide on home owner’’s insurance is to first add in how much you own and the value of your Malibu home. You will want to make sure that you are able to cover as much as possible and are able to get returned on everything that you are able to own.

Another factor to consider when selecting home owners insurance is the type of coverage that is offered. Some companies will have different categories according to the types of things that you own and how this relates to what you will need replaced. After you have assessed the value of everything in your Malibu home, you will also want to add in what you know you will want covered and which category of insurance this will put you into.

Home owners insurance is one of the ways that you can ensure that your real estate and property investments, including your Malibu home, stay covered. If anything happens, you will want to be assured that you have lost little to nothing in the process. Home owners insurance is one of the ways that you can keep cover with your investments and out of the damage.

About The Author

Visit http://www.moveinmalibu.com for information about Malibu real estate, and related useful resources about the Malibu area.

By Craig Chambers

A realtor can be a great help when home buying or selling but can also sometimes be extremely hard to work with. That is why it is important to choose a good real estate agent and one that you feel confident with since you will be working very closely with them over the period of several months. Using a realtor is the best and easiest way to sell or buy a home.

Many home sellers that try to do it on their own often do not do it correctly or receive a lower price than what they had wanted in the beginning. The realtor is experienced in negotiating prices and can help you easily sell or buy a home in the right market and at the right price.

Since a realtor has a lot of experience in buying and selling homes, they can be of great help in taking care of all the details and negotiating the price between the buyer and seller. There are many places to find realtors. The problem is finding a good one and one that you trust with the details of your home buying or selling.

Good companies like Century 21 or Weichart Realty have many well qualified real estate agents and have a good reputation for having good realtors. Many of the realtors that work for these companies are even brokers and can complete the entire deal. The best thing you can do is to meet with the realtor beforehand and see if they are easy to work with.

If they are, you can be confident that they are going to be of great help to you. Some people simply look up a realtor online, never taking the time to meet with them beforehand. While, this might work out in the end, it is very important that you know you can trust them with the details of your home. The realtor will be the guide of your home buying or selling process and you want to make sure that they will get the the best deal possible.

Just like other relocation specialists, realtors are trained in their field and can be a great asset to you during your moving process. You should always look for a realtor who has experience and comes well qualified and is part of a realtors association. There are many places to find good realtors.

Start by asking friends and relatives for referrals. Once you find a potential realtor, you will want to ask questions about what they will do to market your home, if the realtor is a full time real estate agent, and if they have limited time to spend on the details of the purchase of sale of your home. You will also want to find an agent that is available to show the home to the potential buyers on the buyers schedule.

It is not a good idea to rely on a real estate agent that makes you work on their schedule and time frame. And, by the realtor adjusting to the schedule of the potential buyers, you might possibly sell your home faster. Remember, that when hiring a realtor, you are also hiring an agency.

That is why it is a good idea to ask questions and take the time to decide if that agency is right for you. The agency that you choose to go with needs to have enough financial power to properly put your home on the market.

While small agencies and local realtors might be alright for small town purchases and sells, you will want to remember that bigger agencies have more money to spend on advertising and might possibly sell or find you a home faster and easier. Whichever kind of real estate agency you choose to go through, it is important that you develop a good working relationship with their agents so that you can be confident that you have chosen the right realtors.

About The Author

Craig Chambers is a relocation specialist who enjoys sharing relocating tips and offers extensive free relocation guides and resources on his website http://www.easyrelocating.com

By Richard Reichmann

Short sales have been in existence for as long as there have been mortgages. Back then there wasn”t a term called a short sale; we just called the lender and asked them if they would take a discount. Today is has become much more supplicated and time consuming to get it done.

The short sale is one of the easiest ways to create instant equity where none existed prior to that point. This is truly a win, win situation for all parties involved if done properly.

The first thing you need to understand is that the lender is not agreeing to a short sale for the investor, it is being done for the seller. The seller also needs to justify to the bank why there is a need for the short sale.

Banks will normally ask for a hardship letter from the seller as well as two or three months bank statements, a mini profit and loss statement, pay stubs, the last two years tax returns, a sales contract for the property and a HUD-1 or net sheet as it is sometimes called..

If the payments are in arrears and it has reached the point where the seller has been served with a notice of default (usually 90 days or more) and the house need some repair the seller’’s chances are much better. The property usually has to be listed with a real estate broker as well.

The hardship letter is a letter written by the lender telling the bank how and why they are delinquent on their payments and the offer that they are submitting to the bank is the best offer that they have received, if in fact that is the case.

Understand that the bank really doesn”t want to foreclose on the property if it can be avoided. They will try and work with you if you are upfront with them, telling them the truth and communicate with them frequently. Ignoring the lender or refusing to take their calls only makes matter worse, and it will only make it more difficult to come to an agreement with them.

The bank will also want a B.P.O. which is a broker’’s price opinion which is normally done by one of the newer brokers in the area. Established brokers are just too darned busy to be messing around doing a B.P.O. there out there making the big bucks even in this down market.

Doing a short sale is totally different that doing a subject to that most investors are quite familiar with. With a subject to you bring the loan payments current if they are in default, the mortgage and note stay in the name of the seller until the property has been sold.

With short sale things are quite different because if the bank accepts you short sale proposal they want to be paid off ASAP. As long as you have a valid contract with a reasonable earnest money down payment they will normally give you 30 to 45 days to close. If you don”t have it sold be ready to come up with the needed cash to close the deal.

Don”t intentionally use stall tactics to prolong the closing and buy more time for yourself. If you do, the next time you send a short sale proposal to that bank, you can be certain that they aren”t going to very receptive to you offer simply because you have lied to them in the past.

You may think I”m being harsh folks, but after almost 35 years in this business I have seen just about everything there is both honest and dishonest. If you in the business of buying and selling pre-foreclosures or any other properties, always be truthful with all parties involved and you will have more referrals coming to you than you could ever handle.

Things aren”t getting any better out there for the banks, sellers or investors, but there is a literal fortune to be made by the investors that is willing to help the banks avoid having to foreclose on homes and helping the sellers out of their properties and into something they can afford as well as saving their credit from any additional damage as well.

About The Author

Richard Reichmann is internationally known as a millionaire maker. He’’s a leading consultant in real estate and internet marketing strategies that are profit proven.

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By Lanard Perry

Many agents don”t think about it, but real estate marketing articles are excellent lead generators. Whether you”re a newly licensed agent, or an experienced veteran, articles can be used in many different ways to boost your business.

Following are 5 ways they can improve your success.

The first, and perhaps the most obvious way to use them is to submit them to article directories, e-zines and other web sites for publishing.

Be sure to use the resource box to include a link back to your site, which can increase both the number of people who visit your site and search engine rankings.

Another way to use articles is to combine them into special marketing reports and ebooks that you give away. People love free things, and if it’’s good they”ll spread the word about it.

Give as many away as you can - even if you have to pay a few dollars to get them distributed - then sit back and watch your leads and sales grow.

A third idea is to create an articles directory on your site. It could be for buyers, sellers and/or investors, and when properly optimized people will find the information.

A fourth use is to submit them to publications that will pay you for them. I”ve not used this option, as I like maintaining complete ownership and control of the articles I write. However, I do understand how selling them will appeal to some people.

The fifth and final idea is to publish a book with all your articles and make extra money selling the book from your web site. While it may not make you rich, an extra income stream never hurts.

Increased Popularity
Article marketing is a fast, convenient and cost effective way to grow your business. It can help to convert leads to buyers and sellers while helping you build a reputation as a professional and effective real estate agent.

They are also perfect tools for branding yourself. While they won”t cost you a dime if you write them yourself, except for your time of course, they are also quite affordable to buy ready to use.

They are called many things; web site content, articles, reports, real estate marketing articles and reports and so on - so be sure to key in those different phrases when searching for some.

Here’’s a final comment about marketing with articles. If you”re not a good writer you might consider using prewritten articles. While you might be limited to using them on your web site, they are still an excellent option for adding content to your web site fast.

I use articles in all these ways. How about you?

About The Author

Click http://www.farmingexpiredlistings.com to learn how to average 1 or more listings a week and http://www.real-estate-marketing-talk.com/real-estate-marketing-articles.html for more lead generating ideas.

By Brandi Cummings

Most real estate agents are not marketing experts. They did not get into real estate on their way to a lucrative marketing career. In fact many agents don”t know anything about marketing and so they just do things as they have always been done. And the way it has always been done in real estate is with image advertising. This is not news. It is an obvious fact that can be found by simply looking around your own neighborhood and in your own mailbox.

One of the major aspects of image advertising employed by real estate agents is the large color photo of themselves. When I see these kinds of ads and signs, with the agent’’s picture being the most prominent thing in them, I wonder why I should care what they look like. I know this will sound harsh to many of you that are currently using this kind of advertising, but I am not sure how my real estate agent being photogenic will help them sell my home. I consider myself to be an average consumer. And as such, for me to pick up the phone and call the phone number off of any advertising, I need to see the benefit to me. I don”t see any benefit to me in these ads.

So if image advertising is not the way to go, what is? Direct response advertising. With a direct response ad you give people a reason to pick up the phone and call you. You can compel people to dial into a call capture hotline with any number of benefits to them. The key is that you offer them something of value such as a coupon, a free report, or a free home evaluation. People are much more likely to call an agent that is offering them a free report on “10 Tips To Selling Your Home Fast” than they are an agent that is only offering them a nice smile.

The other important thing that you can do in a direct response ad is set yourself apart from the competition. This kind of marketing is perfect for yellow pages ads. If you look at the ads that are usually running in the phone book, they all look the same. What is going to compel someone to choose you over all the other agents in there? If you use the standard image advertising approach, there is nothing there to get the consumer to pick up the phone and call you. However, if you have a direct response ad that immediately grabs their attention and tells the consumer what you are going to offer them (a FREE report for example) and how to get it (by calling your 24/7 toll free call capture hotline) you set yourself apart from all the other agents in the book.

Direct response advertising also has one more major advantage over image advertising. You can”t track image advertising. Image advertising has its place and that is in businesses that have the time and resources that are necessary to have people recognize their name or logo on sight. real estate agents usually do not fall into that category. They are working with tighter budgets and shorter timelines. They need to know if the ads they are using are working now, what their return on investment is, and what ads need to be scrapped. This can all be accomplished with direct response advertising. Direct response advertising, when done correctly, has a call to action built in that when acted on, can be tracked using call capture technology. This allows real estate agents to really see what is working for them and what is not.

Most real estate agents are not marketing gurus. When they got their real estate license it did not come with a degree in marketing. So it is understandable that most agents just do things the way they have always been done when it comes to advertising. Unfortunately, that is image advertising. If you want to compel people to call you, stand out from your competition and be able to track your results from your advertising efforts, direct response marketing is the way to go.

About The Author

Brandi Cummings is an expert author whose articles include advice on marketing and technology for the savvy real estate agent. Learn more secrets and tips on how to generate more leads and get more listings at http://www.RealtyOne800.com.

By Andy Goldman

If you are a real estate investor and missed the housing boom, you may get another chance. Overheated in the eastern and western markets are cooling off, but there are new opportunities out there. Some of the cities that sat out the boom of the last few years are now showing stronger appreciation gains. Cities such as Dallas, Houston and Atlanta are showing signs of a strengthening real estate market.

real estate in hot markets like the San Francisco Bay area market is showing signs of s a slowdown. Prices are rising slowly, however inventory is up. Another sign of slowdown in this hot market is the time it takes to sell a property. Last year some were getting nervous because there were only three multiple offers on a property instead of nine. In one year we have seen quite a change. Now homes that would have sold in one or two weekends are sitting on the market longer. It is not uncommon to see homes sitting on the market thirty to sixty days. This is more like a normal market.

Meanwhile in Texas the demand for housing is increasing. With the new boom in the oil market aiding the job market, workers are coming to Texas from the US and abroad. This is putting upward pressure on the housing market. There are no signs of this slowing down anytime soon. While home prices in Dallas and Texas may not appreciate at the high rates of 20% + seen in some areas in the last few years, the appreciation rates should still be healthy. real estate Investors have been aware of this and are investing in these markets that have previously been very slow.

The Atlanta market is benefiting from a healthy job market. Unlike the Texas markets, the Atlanta market is also seeing a rise in inventory. This rise in inventory should restrain the appreciation in Atlanta.

A number of cities in the southwest which have seen high appreciation rates are seeing a strong increase in inventory. Cities such a Phoenix and Las Vegas are also showing a strong job market. Inventories of homes in these cities will need to be watched. If inventories continue to rise sharply, prices will tend to stay flat or fall slightly.

Meanwhile the California market is looking vastly different from a year ago. In Sacramento and San Diego the market is cooling rapidly. In California it now takes an average of six months to sell a home. I was not that long ago that in some California markets, homes were selling in one weekend.
In California the average home now costs over $500000. This is out of reach for many families. The pressure is now on housing prices to come down in some areas. Higher interest rates, slower sales, home prices beyond the reach of the average family all point to falling prices in some areas.

Another scenario is that home prices will remain flat until wages catch up.

As the market changes, more and more homeowners are getting caught in foreclosure. As prices appreciated quickly, homeowners who could not meet their mortgage obligations benefitted from an increase in equity. That will not be the case in the coming years. There are a number of sites dedicated to homeowners wanting to sell their homes without a Realtor, investors looking for deals, and agents looking for new business. RealtyTrac is one such site. Here you can find home bargains, sell a home without an agent, and discover your homes value.

About The Author

Andrew Goldman is president of Metal Rabbit media services, the operator of http://www.Exchangetradedfundinvesting.com and http://www.www.carealestateinvest.com He has written a number of articles on finance and investment over the last ten years.