Missed the opportunity?

[John T.]

Hey All,

What I mean by missed the opportunity is that I can't find the same deals as I could 3-4 years ago. There are nearly no foreclosures now and all properties in my area have gone up significantly in price in that same time. I'm wondering if maybe the time that I started investing was in the residual fallout of 2008. For example, I bought 3 duplexes in 1 year, for 65k, 50k, and 40k. They each brought in between 1200-1400 of gross monthly rent. Now the best I can find is a duplex at 80k making 1200-1300. After expenses and such, the ROI just isn't what I've grown accustom too so I have been saving looking for a better deal which hasn't come along in 6 months. What is going on exactly? I was looking to go commercial for some time but in my area the profit margins are much less than 2-4 units.

Thanks,

John

[Andrew Johnson]

John T. I'd posit that everyone has a hard time finding the same quality deals as they did 3-4 years ago. Real estate values have gone up and interest rates have crept up a little bit.

By the way, 3 years ago (2014) you probably would hear from people saying that the deals aren't as good as in 2011. Guess what, they weren't. Does that instantly make those 2014 deals "bad" deals? Well, not in 2017 it doesn't. Net result: time and hindsight has a nasty (or great) way of coloring deal quality.