Are Zombies Entering Your Market?

Are zombies coming to your market? Nah, I’m not talking about zombie foreclosures, but rather hedge funds with their unlimited cash resources. When a hedge fund turns their attention to your market it can seem like all hope is lost as they devour every deal in sight. Zombies aren’t very smart, but they sure are scary. Hedge funds are a bit smarter, but awful scary for mom-n-pop investors like you and me. How’d you like to calmly face their entrance into your market?

Spoiler alert, I’m going to ruin the movie “World War Z” so if you’re interested in watching it, do that first before finishing this article. Okay, back to our movie. Zombies everywhere, killing every human in sight and creating more zombies. It seemed like a lost cause for the human race. But then the “A-ha” happens and all is saved. “Sometimes the thing you thought was the most brutal aspect of the virus, turns out to be the chink in its armor. And she [Mother Nature] loves disguising her weaknesses as strengths.” Huh? Turns out that zombies don’t kill every human, only healthy humans. They ignore, even at their peril, any human with a terminal illness.

Back to our zombie hedge funds. That hedge fund may have tons of money and man power, but they have a cookie cutter that they don’t deviate from. With that much money, and accountability, they have a detailed and documented set of buying criteria. If a property doesn’t exactly fit the algorithm, the hedge fund will completely ignore the deal. This is where you fit in. You are human, not zombie, so you can make a flexible decision. Find the deal that just misses the checklist. Is the hedge fund buying 3br/2ba houses with garages? Maybe you can buy the 3br/1.5ba property and covert it to a 3/2.  Be nimble, and let your competition’s strength be your advantage.

Okay, so this advice is much older. Sun Tzu’s advice as translated in “The Art of War” is to attack the weakness of your enemy’s strength. Buddhist teachings say the obstacle is the way. The age old biblical story tells how David beat Goliath. Lucky for us, we don’t even have to defeat the enemy, just find enough room to co-exist in the same market.

If zombies are entering your market, know that you can still find deals. Now if you do find a house occupied by actual zombies, by all means run the other way very fast!