A Nuwire Investor reporter interviewed me recently about the Austin real estate market. Me and Sam Chapman (another Austin KW agent and blogger) were quoted heavily in the article.
Nuwire Investor focuses mainly on alternative investments. On their website, they describe an alternative investment as “any investment that falls outside the realm of traditional stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The most common alternative investment is single family real estate. However, there are many other alternative investment options”.
All together I think it’s a pretty good write-up. You can ready the full article here.
These interviews have slowed down lately, though KXAN Channel 36 was at our local investor club meeting last night interviewing people, and I saw some friends of mine on the 10PM news last night. But I showed up when the reporter was packing up and leaving so I thus missed the opportunity to pontificate and have my ego stroked by being on TV as a purported “expert”. The investor club meeting was good and one of the members put on an economics presentation using cobbled together graphs and charts from a vast number of sources. I’m going to try to get a copy and post it up on the blog here.
The general sentiment of the meeting goers, many of whom are hardcore Austin real estate investors?:
2009 will have better buying opportunities than 2008, prices will probably fall (I think 3% to 5%), but since many of these investors are flippers and rehabbers (and thus become a seller a few months after buying), the uncertainty of pegging a ARV (After Repair Value) sales price is creating a weariness and level of caution about the deals they are willing to consider.
Long term investors, like me, have a different viewpoint, since we are “buy and hold” investors and don’t really care if prices fall a bit this year. But many “buy and hold” investors are in the same boat as me and Sylvia, which is we are unable to obtain financing because of the 4-loan limit, and we already have more than 4 loans for investment properties.
I’ll hopefully be able to get a copy of last night’s power point presentation and will post it here.
Steve:
Regarding the 4 property limit you mentioned above and earlier this week… A client of mine has more than four single family properties at a time. Is it a financing limit that you mention? Or is this a stuatory limit? I know this client uses a web of LLCs and trusts – which is kind of annoying as its never clear who is responsible for paying the bills. It would not surprise me if they have a quasi-legal set up. just curious.
thanks,
Michael @ The Stage Coach
Steve,
If you don’t mind sharing, which investment club do you belong to? Do you find that it delivers real learnings, or is it primarily a venue for you to network and build relationships with potential clients?
I’ve seen some clubs advertised and am dubious as to whether they are worth the membership fees.
Thanks,
TH
TH,
It’s the Austin Real Estate Networking Club.
http://www.austinrenc.com/
Meetings are the third Thursday of each month. Guest dues are $10, annual membership is $99. The main focus is networking and the exchange of ideas and discussion about what the market is doing. We had a packed house last meeting, probably over 70 people.
Come on out next month, I’ll be presenting a real estate market update at the start of the meeting in Feb.
Steve