There are a lot of good buys on the market. The Portland real estate market is still flooded with a large number of foreclosures and short sales. This is good news for buyers, because that inventory is driving down the average housing price for all the homes on the market. You can find a lot of great properties for lower than average prices. It’s a very competitive market.
Interest rates are low. You should absolutely take advantage of the low interest rates available on mortgages. We don’t know how long they will stay at the current levels, so buy what you can now, while mortgages are affordable.
There is a high demand for rental properties. Tenants are available because there are a fewer high quality rental properties available right now. When you buy the right property, you will not have to worry about finding a good tenant. They are plenty of the out there in 2013. We are finding that many of our tenants used to be homeowners. Due to the real estate market struggling to recover, many of today’s tenants in Portland found they could no longer afford their homes, so they had to get rid of them in short sales or lose them in foreclosures. Because of that experience, their credit is pretty damaged. This will make them excellent long term tenants for you, because they will likely want to stay in one place while they build their credit back up. Also, they were once homeowners so they will take care of your property much better than the average tenant would.
As you can see, it’s a great time to become a real estate investor in Portland. If you are interested in looking at rental properties or learning more about this type of investment, contact us at Jim McNeeley Real Estate, and we’d be happy to talk to you.