Josh Schlesselman

As an agent in Hampton Roads, Virginia, are real estate market here has been thankfully steady compared to a large majority of other marketplaces. I have been specializing in RE investments for about 5 years, and work with a large amounts of investors, including Rehabbers.

I have been advising my rehab clients to start looking at multi-family vs. single family for a couple of reasons. There are always investors in the market, so as long as you can negotiate a great deal, fix it, and sell it for a price where another investor can make cash flow, it will sell. Also, in my opinion, it seems as though our mulit-family and small residential commercial properites have held their values much better than single family. The biggest motivating factor I share with my clients is that with our market slower, it takes longer to sell, so why not go multi family and rent the property while it's on the market for sale, and make positive cash flow. Virtually no holding costs at that point and it takes the burden of an empty house and payment off your shoulders. You most certainly can't do that with single family and hope that an investor will come along, because they usually won't make the necessary cash flow without putting a large downpayment. Buyers that want to purchase will find something without a lease!

All in all, there is still hope for rehabbers in our market. This is one of the safest ways to rehab in our market and not lose all your profits while trying to sell. If you would like other investment ideas, visit my website at JoshSellsVirginia.com

I speak to a lot of clients on a regular basis, and one question I hear frequently is "When will the real estate market shift back?" That's a question that is on everyone's mind. So let's explore it and see if we can make any sense of it.

Real estate is driven by supply and demand. When there are more homes available than there are buyer's buying, you are consequently in a buyer's market, like we are in now. When there are more buyers than there are seller's selling, you are in a seller's market.

Buyer's markets are good for buyers because they can get good deals on homes, sellers will typically pay more in closing costs and are more reasonable on pricing. Seller's markets are good for sellers because housing prices appreciate because the demand is so high, just as in buyers markets, housing prices stagnate or correct because demand is lower. Sellers will get better deals in sellers markets and will typically make more money on the sale with a faster sale time.

We have been in our current market now for about 3 years. The average cyclical market time is between 3-7 years, depending on the economy and other factors such as mortgages and interest rates. It's been expected that the market should regain it's footing after the elections and start leveling some. However, that is just speculation at this point. We will not see the effects on our markets until we know how regulations will impact us, referring to capital gains, housing regulations, mortgage regulations, ect.

To keep things in prospective, we should be very close to rebounding from this housing correction, that is to say, as long as rates remain low, real estate taxes are kept as is or lowered, and the economy picks back up. However, if your currently looking to purchase, don't let the real estate information scare you into not purchasing, because the more properties saturating the market, the harder it will be for us to make a comeback. Everyone has a part in this, including you!

Hampton Roads is a very military dominated area. Real estate here because of that is very stable. We have recently been ranked 5th most stable real estate market in the country, which should alleviate the anxiety that the media has been putting out there. Nationally, real estate has seen a correction of roughly 10%. Some may have seen more than that, like in the California market, but here locally in Hampton Roads, and especially in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Norfolk, it hasn't seen much of a correction at all, somewhere around 3%.

The main thing we are seeing right now helping our buyers and sellers is that buyers are asking for closing costs. They are trying to negotiate the price too, but for the most part, they just need their closing costs paid. The main reasoning for that besides being in a Buyer's Market, is that most of the 100% financing loans out there have gone away, with a few exceptions, and it has become more and more difficult for the average buyer to be able to pay all their closing costs themselves.

For buyers, this is an excellent time, don't buy into the media hype that it's unsafe to purchase a home, that will just make issues worse. If you have stable employment, a good mortgage company, and a good loan program that doesn't allow you to purchase more than what you can afford, you can take advantage of some great deals out there and live in the home until the market turns back around to a seller's market again. From there you can sell and move up, or just continue to occupy it and reap the benefits of the appreciation and equity to follow.

For sellers, because we are in a buyer's market, and the inventory of available homes are so great in numbers, you must price your property appropriately. No more pricing 10K above market hoping it will sell, because it will just sit there. The home needs to be in good to great condition too, if it's not, then you must adjust the price to reflect that. If your home is priced right and is in good condition, and have an agent that will properly market your home for sale, there should be no reason why it won't sell. The best thing about Hampton Roads is our military and the number of families transitioning in and out of the area constantly. That creates a stream of buyers that will keep coming.

For more information on our local marketplace, and to get some additional info on buying selling, or investing here in Hampton Roads, visit my website at www.JoshSellsVirginia.com

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This is a business only sale. You can get more info on this listing and my other listings at www.JoshSellsVirginia.com

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YOU CAN SEE MORE INFO ON THIS LISTING AND MY OTHER LISTINGS AT WWW.JOSHSELLSVIRGINIA.COM