Successful Real Estate Investing

Finding a Niche Market in Vero Beach Florida

Creative investors are profiting from a new housing niche - no longer are they buying, repairing and “flipping” homes to the retail market. They are taking a longer term approach to allow the market to recover and profit in the interim by offering financing. With a record number of Foreclosures and short sales in the Vero Beach area, there are many opportunities to invest in.

There are buyers in every market, the only problem is many good buyers won’t qualify for a bank loan under the new lending guidelines. Some investors are deciding to hold the mortgage themselves for up to five years. By doing so, they make some extra money and ensure the sale of their rehabbed property went through. At 7 percent interest, an investor can plan to make an extra $10,000 in interest in addition to proceeds from the sale of the house.

While you may have buyers that many banks would probably reject, and take a smaller down payment than most financial institutions, you can sell for more in any market. Find somebody with halfway decent credit and a steady job, write a binding legal contract, and be sure the home is properly insured. Even though you are charging higher interest, you are offering homes that buyers can afford, something most banks didn’t do before with sub-prime mortgages.

In today’s tough housing market, offering homes with owner financing gives sellers an edge. Depending on the area, it can be critical and the difference between making a sale and not.

Owner financing in 2006 was part of the sale for one in every 400 properties sold in Indian River County. That jumped to one in every 50 this year, and that number will grow as the inventory of Vero Beach houses declines during the next few years.

While the market has been a tough road for sellers these past couple of years, there is a niche that owner financing will fill. The investor is getting a decent return on his money and it’s safer than the stock market.

But buying a home cheap, fixing it and selling it by holding the mortgage isn’t for everybody. Sellers need a reliable source of discounted properties and the equity to buy. Sellers should also make sure they have all the financial documents in order, such as proof of buyers’ income, tax returns and credit history, in case the seller wants to sell the mortgage one day to another investor

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