InvestorLoft Real Estate Investing Blog

Where to look for the best real estate deals

Real estate investors – looking for the best markets for new deals? FORTUNE online just published a comprehensive pictorial tour of their “best markets” for retirement homes – and InvestorLoft is right in line with their estimations. There are subtantial values to be found in each of the named markets, earning each a place on this list of 12 key cities to consider for the retiree – AND the real estate investor in search of investment property for their portfolios.

The article names Miami, San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver as the top markets for this article, citing lowered home prices, quality of living and local amenities for each.

In a separate article, they identify Phoenix as a key location for picking up a “deal in the desert.”

If you’d like to take a quick search through InvestorLoft’s available properties in each of the 6 markets listed in these two articles, just click on the links below and we’ll take you there in a jiffy:

Miami investment property

Tampa investment property

San Diego investment property

Las Vegas investment property

Denver investment property

Phoenix investment property

As a reminder, every property listed on InvestorLoft has been listed by a licensed real estate professional – no “fly by night” or under the table deals here. We make it simple to search for, identify and analyze investment property with just a few clicks of the mouse and firmly support the role of the real estate professional in every stage of the transaction.

The Key to Unlocking REO and Foreclosure Values

On a cozy side street in the suburbs outside of Chicago, a white house with black shutters and roof is tucked back on a side street of Naperville, Il. A neighborhood of homes built when luxury and coziness blended together in new subdivisions during the 1960s, Greenwich Court seems like a time capsule from better years.

But even this gem in the western reaches of Chicago’s urban sprawl hasn’t been immune to the current financial hardships. The homes are beautiful, well cared for with beautiful lots, but two of the eight along the lane have been touched by the housing bubble bust.

While one of the two foreclosed, the second had a Cinderella-like ending. David Field, business owner and managing broker for Home Field Realtors in Naperville, noticed the house when relocating back to Illinois from Seattle. “Every 15 to 20 days the price would drop again,” Field said. “I thought it was definitely going to be a short sale.” A four bedroom, 2,800 square-foot gem, Field decided he didn’t want to wait any longer. He arranged a showing with the listing broker, Jean-Paul Eskenazi.

A casualty of a drawn out divorce and on the market for over a year, the house was quickly headed towards foreclosure. The owners had relocated, the husband to France and the wife to Florida. With a notice of default filed with the Illinois courts, Field had 90 days to negotiate and keep the property out of foreclosure and out of the hands of the bank.

The Illinois courts give homeowners 90 days to bring mortgages up to date with back-owed payments, then three to seven months grace period for the mortgage balance to be paid in full. “David had to decide if he thought it was worth it to pay part of the old owners’ closing costs to get the house,” said Field’s lawyer, Mark Rodriguez. “In his mind, it was.” They liked the home and didn’t want to see it torn down by an investor for new construction.

“I wanted to make sure that everyone got the deal they wanted. And I knew, after being in the business for five years, I was going to have to negotiate (and) not give up,” Field said. A tidy $425,000 later, the home was his – at 22.7% under the starting list price.

While the property needed a number of repairs after a year of vacancy, the Fields are happy with their new home sweet home. “Our children have a good home to grow up in, and with a little bit of work it is a really beautiful house,” Field says. Looks like this Cinderella house found her Prince Charming.