Is it ime to unload your Inventory?

Below is a chart from the latest ForeclosureRadar monthly Foreclosure report...




Take a look at June on this chart. There were more than 2 times as many cancellations of Trustee Sales as there were properties that reverted back to the bank. In September, the number was virtually the same.

I seem to remember hearing one of my most respected mentors Bruce Norris at The Norris Group recently say something to this effect: "When properties begin to go back to the bank at a higher rate and the number of cancellations dramatically decrease I'm going to dump every thing I own." I don't want to mis-quote Mr. Norris but I think this is what he was saying. I'm not sure about you, but to me, the chart is screaming "SELL, SELL, SELL!!!!".

If you are a flipper hoping for retail profit (as I am), this is important stuff to pay attention to. If you are a buy-hold person (as I also am) you may want to plan to get your funds together because prices could be lower soon.

This is nothing that we haven't heard before in the past several months, but the chart seems to be confirming the inevitable. I'm certainly no economist nor an expert on market trends. I merely try to pay attention to what is happening and follow the advice of people I respect. Who knows what will happen. I'm still buying, but with this chart in mind and appropriate exit strategies.

Goals update...

I thought I'd put a quick update on the goals we had for this year and how we are looking as of the first of October.

Our goals were simple...

1. 6 additional rental houses (Avg cash flow $250 per house)
2. Buy-sell 18 houses for profit
3. Raise $500,000 in private money.

We also have a visual "monopoly" board to help us see how we are doing. Here is what it looks like now (see picture). So far in 2010 we have purchased 14 houses to sell and 4 rentals properties. We also have a 5th rental and 15th flip that should find their way into escrow in the next couple of weeks. As far as private money, this one is a little tougher to gage. We are currently borrowing somewhere in the neighborhood of $625,000 from private individuals and their IRA accounts right now. Of that total, about $450,000 was raised this calendar year. We are always looking for more people with "lazy money" that would like to put it to work earning 8, 10, or 12%. If you are interested please contact me.

One thing that Andrea and I have learned about setting our goals is that they can and probably should change and morph as we go along. We try not to set unrealistic goals but at the same time are not afraid to challenge ourselves either. I may write another post about that later. We'll check in again at the end of the year and see if we ended up meeting all of our goals.