Real Estate Investing Blog

Sometimes, the same news that is markedly bleak for those who are going to have to put their homes on the market is news that is fantastic for real estate investors - particularly those investors who understand the importance of finding motivated sellers.

Take the following for example:

(source)The glut of homes on the U.S. housing market worsened in the first quarter, according to government data released Monday. The number of vacant homes in the United States rose by 1 million in the past year to a record 18.6 million, the Commerce Department said. Of those 18.6 million vacant homes, a record 2.3 million were for sale at the end of the first quarter, pushing the vacancy rate for owner-occupied units to a record 2.9%. Meanwhile, a record 4.1 million vacant homes are for rent, with the rental vacancy rate rising to 10.1%. The percentage of homes occupied by owners was steady at 67.8% in the first quarter, matching the lowest percentage in five years.

Now, just because there is a glut of homes on the market that seem to be staying put isn’t the good news in and of itself; the good news is that, when even those homes that the owners have decided to rent out are vacant, the homeowners are going to be increasingly motivated to sell.

Imagine yourself in that position. If you had put a home on the market after finding a better place to live, wouldn’t you be anxious to sell? Moreover, if you were having some trouble selling the home and decided to rent it and the house remained vacant, wouldn’t you be an even more motivated seller?

One of the key principles of establishing wealth through real estate investment is simple: the more motivated the seller is, the better the price that you will get on the property. The better the bargain, the more wealth you will be able to generate over time.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Find Motivated Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.