Cash flow in the city of Rochester versus the burbs & comparing cash on cash returns of flippers / wholesalers to buy and hold

[Mark Updegraff]

I'm not sure about your market, but ours has been changing pretty rapidly.  There is a huge shortage of inventory and even when people try to low ball new listings and then "walk" because the seller won't come down I end up hearing their cries months later that they can't find anything better than the deal they were trying to squeeze a couple K out of, and the fact that the current deals are even worse...  Appraisals are slow to catch up to some of the hotter markets which is keeping prices from shooting up super quickly, but if you run some of the numbers I'm seeing values going up 20% in particular areas over the last year. Of course it is all relative to where you're buying.  In the higher end markets I think a lot of people got ahead of themselves by looking at the pace of the cheaper markets and thinking they would be similar, but they aren't loosing money flipping into it either.  Most of them are listing high and then price reducing but then selling fairly quickly after an appropriate reduction while still making over 10% annual.  All and all, great time to be investing in RE in Rochester as long as you understand the old market is GONE.