Timing for Property Purchases

[Calvin Ozanick]

Do any of you feel that waiting until the market starts to come down is a much more effective approach for those looking to purchase their first deal? Or would you recommend that now is still a good time to get started. 

[Andrew Johnson]

@Calvin Ozanick You'll get about 359 different perspectives on this and it's one of those 'weekly topics' that comes up in the forums.  You'll hear everything from "it's overinflated!" to "don't try and time to market!" to "it's dropping at least 10% in the next year!"  And, by the way, you'll hear all of things every single week, month, year, until there is a crash.  But what if it isn't a crash?  What if it's a pause?  What if it's a correction in 2 years that brings you have to 2016 levels?  The bottom line is that nobody knows and what happens to me in San Diego won't be the same thing as what happens in Whitewater, Wisconsin. 

Some of this also depends on your plan.  If you're buy-and-hold and can afford to ride out any downturn, well, just start now.  It's as good a time as any.  If you're going to buy, rehab, and flip a property in 3-6 months.  Well, might as well start now because it's unlikely the market will faceplant in 6 months.  Now if you were a developer looking to do a ground-up project and it would take you 5 years to have units sale-ready...well...that might be a different situation.