is now a good time to buy investment real estate?

[Marc Shin]

With all the uncertainty going on with the world, with the wars in the middle east, longshoremen strikes, election in November, and potential for stock market and housing market crashes, should I hold off on purchasing real estate until the world is more "stable"?

[Caleb Brown]

The world will never be "stable. There is always a crisis going on. Find a deal, run the numbers and have money if something hits the fan. 

[Michael Dumler]

@Marc Shin, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." - Warren Buffet. 

"Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own." - Baron Rothschild 

"The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets." - John D. Rockefeller

[Ian Walsh]

There are deals in every market.  

[Marc Shin]

@Michael Dumler well there is currently no blood in the streets.. so you're saying don't buy anything now?

[Terra Padgett]

“Don’t wait to buy real estate. Buy real estate and wait”

“It’s not about timing the market; It’s about time in the market”

[Marc Shin]

@Terra Padgett this is awesome advice!! thanks!

[Mackaylee Beach]

Do not let the world's chaos dictate when you should start your investment journey. Sadly, there is no precise “right time” to begin. If you have identified your goal, take the leap and pursue it.

[Madri Koppe]

The fact is that there is always going to be something so you have to do your research, run your numbers, and make the move. I generally look back and wish I had started investing sooner. 

[Gary Castillo]

A quote that I tell myself is “Don’t wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait”. There will never be a perfect time but if the numbers make sense for you in your personal situation on a deal then I’d say go for it. As an extra level of protection You could try and save up a few months of what the potential mortgage will be to give you peace of mind. 

[John Morgan]

People told me to hold off around Covid four years ago and wait for stability. I ended up buying 17 buy n hold houses since Covid and glad I didn't listen to the experts claiming the sky is falling and RE prices will crash. I'd rather dollar cost average and buy every year in good times a bad times. There will be bad times but I'm not going to "time" the market. I'd rather have "time in the market" evenly over the years. So I'd say yes, now is a good time to buy. I bought two buy n hold SFR in September. I'm not scared. I'm still bullish on housing due to a massive shortage. And now is a good time to buy because I have less competition. It's more of a buyers market so I'm getting some great deals on pricing.

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Marc Shin:

With all the uncertainty going on with the world, with the wars in the middle east, longshoremen strikes, election in November, and potential for stock market and housing market crashes, should I hold off on purchasing real estate until the world is more "stable"?

Heck no, so you are trying to " time the market" not wise. 

[Joe Villeneuve]

Funny,...oh, you were serious.  When has there ever been a time that wasn't any or all of those things?  If you're trying to wait until; the perfect time, and what stops you is fear, then your fear alone should stop you from buying RE.

[Neal Coppola]

Quote from @Marc Shin:

With all the uncertainty going on with the world, with the wars in the middle east, longshoremen strikes, election in November, and potential for stock market and housing market crashes, should I hold off on purchasing real estate until the world is more "stable"?

 Two life lessons that I've taken to heart:

"If not now, when?"

"What is the worst thing that could happen?"

Respectfully, you're asking a real estate community if it's a good idea to invest in real estate.  That answer in this community will always be "yes".  Ask a naysayer and that answer will always be "no".  Ask yourself the two questions above and you will come to the conclusion that is best for YOU.

[Ran Fridman]

It’s normal to feel unsure with everything happening in the world, but real estate is usually a long-term investment. Instead of waiting for things to calm down, focus on these:

1. Local Market – Real estate varies by location. Some areas may still be good to invest in even with global uncertainty.
2. Interest Rates – Try to get a good mortgage rate now, as waiting for rates to drop could be risky.
3. Cash Flow – If the rental income covers your costs and gives a profit, it's a good sign to buy.
4. Long-Term Thinking – Real estate tends to grow in value over time, even if there are short-term changes.

Rather than holding off, look for deals that make sense for your goals now.

[Logan Lambert]

It’s always a great time to buy real estate. If the deal makes sense and the property is going to cash flow with where the interest rate is then you should jump on those deals. That is how you’re going to build long-term wealth and no matter what is going on in the world, you should play the game of real estate. 

[Drew Sygit]

@Marc Shin it's ALWAYS a good time to buy - as long as you stay wihin your Buybox:)

Too many investors are clueless about being disciplined.

[Marcus Auerbach]

You could, but when has the world ever been "stable"? I started in 2008, talk about not stable. Today I wish I could go back.

And what happens in the world has very little impact on a house that you bought down the street.

[Mike H.]

I'm a huge believer in the numbers and I don't care whats going on with the market.  But you do have to play the numbers of what the market is dictating. 

I had dipped my toe in a couple of fix and flips before the market crashed in 08.  And I was looking at the numbers as house prices just started plummeting.  It just didn't make sense to me how you couldn't make money buying at those prices.  Now the issue was you couldn't sell houses for anything then either so it only made sense if you wanted to rent them out. And thats what I did.  Never sold a thing until covid. 

Now I'm seeing the same thing in tennessee. I'm building cabins to sell and to hold.  And what I'm seeing is the bigger cabins are struggling for rents and also for prices in terms of sales.  But the smaller cabins are doing surprisingly well on rents and, given sales are based on rents, not surprisingly they are selling for good prices too.

But new construction out here has come to a standstill.  There is next to nothing going on the market in terms of new builds which is a complete 180 from what its been like the last few years.  

But we're still building and actually we're ramping up even more right now. In another year as interest rates come down, and the boom of cabins that came online over the last two years starts to get sucked in, I think there's going to be a return to solid and steady growth in demand for new cabins.

I love my numbers eithe way though.  I'm building 1,000 sq ft cabins that I'm all in at about 350k including the lot and they're worth about 500k to 550k (comps on the smaller ones keep going up actually).  The rents are still growing on the smaller ones too as I think the rents compare favorably for people coming in when they look at a nice hotel room for 150k to 200 a night or a one bedroom cabin for 200 a night. 

But again, the new construction starts are next to nothing right now and have been for the past 8 or 9 months.  What was taking 6 to 8 weeks for septic permit approvals is now less than a week. Its great. 

As long as your numbers work, now is absolutely the best time to invest.  There are so many other investors who are sitting this time out because they don't see the boom articles in anything and they're scared. 

[Nicholas L.]

@Marc Shin

so the short answer is... yes.  but, i'll add the caveat that it also depends on YOUR financial situation.  so that makes the distinction as follows:

-is "it" a good time to buy real estate?  yes.  i'm still buying.

-is it a good time for YOU to buy real estate?  I have no idea.  I don't know you.

we could get more specific:

-is it a good time to start with a house hack?  yep, it's always a good time to get started with a house hack.

-is it a good time for a person with no savings and no experience to take out a HELOC or personal loan and buy a random property in a state they've never been to using 100% leverage because made up spreadsheet math assumes no vacancy or capex or repairs ever and rent growth of 9.2% a year until 2074? no.

hope that helps

it looks like from another post you were under contract on a property.  are you still?

[Joe Villeneuve]

Quote from @Drew Sygit:

@Marc Shin it's ALWAYS a good time to buy - as long as you stay wihin your Buybox:)

Too many investors are clueless about being disciplined.

I wanted to vote 12 times for this, but BP wouldn't let me do it.

[Samuel Ace]

Its a good time to buy as long as you:

1. You buy in a desirable area, with population growth.

2. Screen tenants properly or pay a good PM to do it for you

3. Hold for 20 years +

you do the above its basically impossible to make a bad investment 

[Alan Asriants]

As others have said, if it makes sense, buy it, have enough reserves and don't worry about what hasn't happened yet.

If it makes you feel better, if the dollar goes to crap, the saving account you have won't be worth anything anyways. 

If you're really worried about the stability of the economy and the world, buy Gold lol - its universal

[James Hamling]

Quote from @Marc Shin:

With all the uncertainty going on with the world, with the wars in the middle east, longshoremen strikes, election in November, and potential for stock market and housing market crashes, should I hold off on purchasing real estate until the world is more "stable"?

Sold. 

You can send me the $ and I'll invest it, you just Netflix n chill.

[James Hamling]

Quote from @Marc Shin:

With all the uncertainty going on with the world, with the wars in the middle east, longshoremen strikes, election in November, and potential for stock market and housing market crashes, should I hold off on purchasing real estate until the world is more "stable"?

Look, marc, I am sorry it has to come out on you but for God's sake this situational Alzheimer's has gotta stop somewhere. 

In nearly every iteration of discussion of Real Estate and Inflation for the last, IDK 80-odd years plus it's been stated, restated, confirmed and reconfirmed over n over n over again that REAL ESTATE IS THE BEST HEDGE AGAINST INFLATION.     That line is been stated and promoted literally thousands upon millions of times.     And then, we go into an inflationary market and all of a sudden everyone is asking what to do..... if real estate is safe..... Seriously, you didn't get the hint the bazillion of times it was said before? 

And now, about all the volatility and chaos..... There's gotta be some law on the books that it's a-ok to slap a really stupid person, like at a certain level of idiocy it's a public service vs assault, right, I mean seriously, come on. 

You BUY when there is blood in the streets. 

What exactly did not come across in this the first hundred times you read/heard it? And the next hundred times+? 

This why I can so easily say NO, if it were '08' all over again NO, 99% of you would NOT be buying like you lament and promise if ya just had a chance. You'd be on here, howling how the worlds about to end so your just gonna sit back until it's all unicorn farts and rainbows again. And once it's all over howl how you missed out....... 

If you don't get it by now YOU NEVER WILL. Give your $ to someone who does or get cozy with your W2 and 401k. It may sound harsh but that's just the reality of it. 

If your brain isn't shooting sparks right now screaming "oooh OOoooh OOOHHH, where's the opportunity, oh i bet I could..." then this is NOT your thing. 

Yes, I hate seeing the suffering but I am a professional solution profiter, I make $ off solving problems so MORE problems is a giant blue light special. 

When everything is chill and "perfect" we call that a time to sell, FYI. 

[Isaura Orellana]

The one thing you and the rest of us have working in our favor is the market has never not bounced back. It always ends up more lucrative than ever before. I suppose it could be a first time in history sort of thing but as far as statistics go the market has always recovered and always went up further than ever before. So not as much risk as one might think. Now dont get me wrong purchasing power is something else all together. So regarding ‘the old’ when to buy strategy I beleive that should come from a balanced place of financial stability, wisdom, knowledge, experience, and gut instincts. If you have any further questions or thoughts on the matters or others feel free to reach out.