New Duplex Properties for 2009

January 14th, 2009 Jacquie Cliff - Real Estate Agent and Loan Officer

We have officially made it into the new year, and with it I expect to see a good number of new duplex and multifamily listings on the market in Snohomish and King County’s.  For real estate investors this is a good thing, because with everyone’s credit lines stretched to the max, many investment property owners are looking to unload properties at a discount.  Right now in Snohomish County there are just over 100 duplex properties for sale, and with only 14 duplex properties sold since September 2008, the competition is tough.

To be sure there is disparity between the listing price for duplex properties in Snohomish County and what they are actually selling for, and undoubtedly there are several builders out there sitting on brand-new duplexes that cost more build than they are worth.  For ambitious real estate investors, this of course means opportunity.  If you are interested in getting started in real estate investing in Snohomish or King County, call me at 425-773-3149 and set up an appointment to go over your real estate investing goals and what needs to be done for you to achieve them.

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A house is a liability, a duplex is an asset

January 7th, 2009 Jacquie Cliff - Real Estate Agent and Loan Officer

Many people want a nice house with a white picket fence and all the trimmings. But in today economy, a house is a huge liability for the average person. Many people should be looking at alternatives to the traditional single family home and look towards creating some wealth and tax benefits for themselves. A duplex or triplex is an ideal vehicle for both.

Buying a duplex has a number of advantages over a single family house. First you have someone helping you with the monthly mortgage payment (your renter). Second you can depreciate the rental portion of the building and many times create a paper loss on your taxes. Thus, saving you more money in taxes every year. Getting a loan for a duplex is just as easy and in fact some Bankers like the duplex more, because they know you will have help (from the Renter) in making your monthly payment to them. Thus, the default rate is generally lower for the Bank on duplex or triplex type building.

Since you will be living in one side or one of the units, should you get a triplex or fourplex building, you qualify for an owner occupied loan which is the same interest rate as someone buying a single family house to live in. In fact you can get a 3% down payment FHA loan, for up to a 4 unit building at the same interest rate as a single family home.

Ok, Back to Robert’s quote above. Remember that owning a house is money that goes out of your pocket, which is a liability for you. A duplex or triplex has rental income and thus “puts” money into you pocket. So to follow the teaching of Robert’s financial lessons, you want to buy assets that create money “into your pocket” and stay away from buying liabilities (like a house for example) that “takes money out of your pocket”.

To learn more about the great advantages of buying and owning a duplex, check out smartduplex.com and see how easy and beneficial it is to owning a duplex as you first investment or as your primary home.

And this Site has tons of Information on a whole list of items about real estate investing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Mclaren

Would you like to purchase a duplex in the Seattle area?  Contact me today at 425-773-3149 so we can talk about your goals and what properties are right for you!

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Investing in Duplex and Other Multi-Family Real Estate Beats the Stock Market!

January 1st, 2009 Jacquie Cliff - Real Estate Agent and Loan Officer

For those of you that are still on the fence as to whether real estate is a good investment or not, I have a fantastic article for you written by Scott Snyder, a real estate agent in North Carolina.    Scott sat down and did the math on if he had invested $33,000 in a duplex property 10 years ago, and compared it to if he had invested that same money in the Dow Jones for the same period.  His results were AMAZING!

What I learned was shocking to say the least. To arrive at the value for the duplex investment I made a few VERY conservative assumptions. First, 20% down payment, 7% interest rate, 3% long term appreciation(Raleigh has seen more). Additionally, I assumed only a 3% cash return from the duplex.

The original $33K if placed in the DJIA would be worth $32.9K today, yes, LESS than the original investment. But the same $33K investment in a duplex with the above assumptions would be worth $119.2K+ or $86.3K MORE than the same $33K invested in the stock market. I realize the real estate market in some areas has seen a tremendous drop over the last couple years, so I am not suggesting that the duplex option is like a money market account. However, even in the areas that have experienced a tremendous drop keep in mind that they also saw insane and unsustainable gains that place their average return at well over 3% appreciation.
Read Scott’s Full Article on Comparing Buying a Duplex to the Stock Market

 

What does this teach us about investing for today?  I think the answer is simple:

 Buy and hold Duplex, Triplex and other Multi-Family investment property!

In ten years from now are you going to look back on things and wish you had put money into real estate investments that have positive cash flows, or be looking at your retirement with confidence because you have a portfolio of partially paid off, cash flowing investments that will continue to provide for you for as long as you need them?  The choice is yours!

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