Real Estate Investment Is A Good Thing

If you’re in California then property values always go up, and there will always be someone interested in your product.  If you’re going to hold an investment for 10 years you can buy almost anything now and make money on it.  Then the person you sell it to can hold it for another 10 years and they can make money on it too.  

Because there is always an increasing demand for real estate, the price is always going up over the long term.

In the short term the real estate market runs in a 10 to 14 year cycle.  If you get in at the wrong time and buy at the top and are forced to sell within 4 or 5 years then you can lose money.

But that same investment bought at the wrong time will look like a great deal in another 4 to 9 years.

When you have a product you know is going up in value it makes it much easier to sell. But sometimes even though you’re trying to sell something that is very valuable some people just don’t realize what an opportunity looks like.

For example, I bought a duplex 3 years ago, after I bought it I changed my mind and tried to sell it.  I didn’t try very hard but I told a few of my friends about it.  One made me an offer and we talked and decided we were about $5,000 apart on the price.  I wanted $150,000 and he said he would pay $145,000 all cash, neither of us were that motivated so that’s where we left it.

I tried to sell or give the property to 3 other friends, I told them just start collecting the rents and pay me what you can and the place is yours.

All 3 turned me down.  I didn’t really try that hard to sell it to them but I offered it several times to each of them.  No money down, live in one side for free and keep all the appreciation.

They all agreed that it was a good deal but for one reason or another just didn’t want to get involved at that time.

Now its 3 years later the property has gone up in value over $200,000 if someone offered me $345,000 all cash for it today I would think about it, but there are several of them listed for $400,000 right now so I would probably turn it down.

I am sure the 3 people I offered the duplex to have not made $200,000 in the last 3 years. They are all working for different companies and making $30,000 to $40,000 per year at the most.