State of the Real Estate game in Utah

[Alexis Chavez]

I'm a new investor/first time home buyer and I've noticed much of the deals I find on-market tend to go 'pending' within 5 days of being on the market. I've been looking at SFRs within the 200k to 300k range and in the Taylorsville, West Jordan,  South Jordan area all the way to the N.Salt lake, bountiful, clearfield area. Just looking for some insight from other Investors or home buyers on the state of the R.E. game right now, especially with the COVID pandemic going on. What are your thoughts? Are a lot of the transactions that are taking place right now mainly by investors? Do you see a lot more investors arising from this pandemic because of quarantine? Would love to get some input and hear your thoughts. Thanks.

[Alan Walker]

I've flipped four homes so far this year, all under 300k ARV. Multiple offers on every single one, even in March and April when COVID was just starting to impact things. People who want to live in a property will always pay more than an investor because they are emotionally involved in making it their home. I work with several investors and it comes down to what your long-term strategy is. If an investor's time horizon to sell is 8+ years, they are buying homes at market rate right now. The question I often ask is, "would you buy market rate in 2016 if you could have?". Everyone almost immediately says yes. I remember in 2016 when investors were "waiting for the market to cool down before buying". If an investor is looking for $500/door cashflow, they simply aren't finding it in our market anymore. At least not on day 1. I bought 3 doors in 2016 at market rates and together, they produce 800/month in cashflow now, even though when I bought them, they only produced $100. It's all about perspective and goals. This is still a great market to buy in.