What kind of discounts are feasible in US real estate right now?

Quote from drobin:

A very wise and very wealthy R.E. investor once told me that stocks and bonds can and sometimes do go down to zero, but real estate never goes down to zero.

Tell that to the people of Port Royal, Jamaica. An earthquake hit in 1692 and part of the city fell into the sea. That real estate went to zero! Three gorges dam. 1.2 million people had their real estate go to zero when the water came in.

Ok if you want something a little closer to home. I will just say one word....Detroit. Plenty of homes there that are worth zero.

Anything can go to zero.
 
Quote from Podimer:

The Orlando area has some good deals right now with condos in good areas going for as low as $30k that once sold for $200k+.
Last week, an REO 1/1 condo listed for $26k and i put in an offer for $35,600 and got outbid as the second best. There are also some nice ones in downtown Orlando that were $500k and are now $125k. The would be $40k condos rent for about $650 and the $125k for about $1300 so as you most likely have to pay cash for both as banks here are not lending for the cheap condos or those within buildings more than 40% investor owned (or some such number), i am sticking with the cheaper ones. Houses are not down as much as condos but you can get into them for about 2001 prices in good condition or wrecks for much cheaper per square foot (but i am not brave enough to venture into those as i have no clue about repair costs).
You also might check condos in Aventura or Sunny Isles, down close to Miami. I had gone out to Vegas for a look and found some of the killer deals on realtor.com, like the nice, new ones that were $200k that had dropped to $40k had actually transformed into section 8 housing, which i guess you are at least guaranteed a govt. check, no?
Anyway, strange days have found us and opportunity does some high energy thumping rhythms upon my noggin, or so i imagine:D

I know the condos you are talking about in orlando (I did some RE work and lived on lake eola). Some of those Homeowners associations are BK, so be careful. Im not even sure what the full consequences of a BK HOA are but its got to be baked into those prices. I watched a metropolitan studio go from 97k to 200 and now 30. Ridiculous. Could be a steal long term tho, as long as the rental market doesnt crater.
 
Quote from milktruck:

I know the condos you are talking about in orlando (I did some RE work and lived on lake eola). Some of those Homeowners associations are BK, so be careful. Im not even sure what the full consequences of a BK HOA are but its got to be baked into those prices. I watched a metropolitan studio go from 97k to 200 and now 30. Ridiculous. Could be a steal long term tho, as long as the rental market doesnt crater.

What does BK HOA stand for ? Bankrupt Homeowners associations ?
 
Even if the property price "only" drops 30% one can lose 100% of the principal investment if one employs any significant amount of financing/leverage. IMO, (if leveraged) real estate is by nature not any safer/more risky than any other leveraged investment.
 
Quote from milktruck:

I know the condos you are talking about in orlando (I did some RE work and lived on lake eola). Some of those Homeowners associations are BK, so be careful. Im not even sure what the full consequences of a BK HOA are but its got to be baked into those prices. I watched a metropolitan studio go from 97k to 200 and now 30. Ridiculous. Could be a steal long term tho, as long as the rental market doesnt crater.

Thanks for the post and yeah, the condo association fees are something I had been looking into as some are kicking out bowel wrenching special assessments to cover for the 50% or more that are not paying it anymore. If you live(d) on Lake Eola, you would know the Waverly, which are the ones that were $500k which are now $125k (even saw one listed for $95k but they could be bid up, who knows and the HOA on those is like $600 and with a sizeable amount of owners in arears, who knows if that won't double for a while and make it that much more difficult to sell any more to help those in the properties).

My $30k condos are in the nicer parts of Seminole County and the ones I am looking at are only the ones that have solid HOAs or in the case of the conversions, have at least resold most of them at these new low prices (watched one complex turn over 70%+ of their properties through short sales and REOs at an average 25 cents on the bubble high dollar). These are showing to be rentable right now (leary of downtown with the low condo/apartment occupancy rate) at prices that would more than cover the fees, property tax and would be mortgage if you could actually get a loan and I am on a 10 year time frame so it should work out.
I am thinking diversification and to me, the risk to reward is there(which is why I am sticking with amounts I can afford to lose:D.
Thanks again for the post and have a great week trading!!
 
Yeah, I meant Home Owners Association and/or the dues. BK is bankrupt.

I knew the condo market there REALLY well downtown for a few years working at a residential real estate cosulting job, but I rented at Post Parkside.

If I had my pick, not that Ive checked prices recently, I would love to own at Paramount long term. Although I heard they were switching to leasing and havent been inside, that location on the lake with the publix underneath is magic. I did some commercial work and a Publix anchor is gold. Plus due to some weird issue I forget, the parking garage will survive armageddon due to havng to be super reinforced.

However, these are just my 4 year old half baked opinions, do your DD.

DD is due diligence haha.
 
Quote from makloda:

Even if the property price "only" drops 30% one can lose 100% of the principal investment if one employs any significant amount of financing/leverage. IMO, (if leveraged) real estate is by nature not any safer/more risky than any other leveraged investment.

One advantage is that real estate doesn't have margin calls, which makes it less risky in one important respect. Lots of homeowners have gone into negative equity, and then made hundreds of thousands or even millions on their home in later years, just by staying put and continuing to pay the mortgage each month. You can't do that with a stock.

Real estate prices are also less volatile when comparing with stocks.
 
Quote from jnorty:

how do you make money paying 75 cents on the $? i've bought 8 properties threwout the country the past 12 months and won't even look if its not 30-40 cents on the $ from the bubble highs.

When he says 75 cents on the dollar, he means 25% below comparables. Not 25% below the bubble peak.

E.g. if 2 bed condos sold for 500k at the peak, and are 200k now, the investor would bid 150k minus any required refurb costs.
 
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