A Plan to Invest in Real Estate Despite the Recession Essay -- Real Es

The Great Recession has shuffled the deck of playing cards. Seasoned investors and first-time home buyers alike have been hit – and hit hard. The challenging and volatile real estate market has created a flood of distressed asset sales all across the nation. However, the flipside to the coin of disaster and distress is almost always opportunity. Now that I have acquired $150,000 in cash to purchase distressed real estate, my detailed strategy below outlines exactly how I will personally benefit, and perhaps more importantly, how the community I invest in will benefit. First I will outline the basics: what I would buy with the cash (distressed apartments), where I would buy (San Jose, CA), how I would buy (my investment strategy) and why I would buy (a personal profit analysis). Then, I will outline my plan to pay it forward – to translate my newfound experience to help other first-time investors safely and knowledgably purchase their own distressed assets. I will add value to the community through a three-pronged approach of live seminars, online outreach, and a mentorship program. PERSONAL BENEFIT What to Buy: Distressed Apartments To properly understand how I would invest the $150,000 for personal profit and community benefit, we must first understand what I would buy. While there are a plethora of distressed real estate assets on the market, from single family homes to multi-tenant retail centers, I believe the most feasible and simplest starting place for a first-time investor is residential apartments, one to four units. For most people, buying a home and renting it out, or buying a fourplex and renting it out is not as farfetched as buying the local distressed strip mall. One to four unit rentals are not only easy... ... of 20.34%. However, the community will be the real winner as I implement my three-pronged community contribution campaign of Live Seminars, Online Outreach, and a Mentorship Program. My plan will create a strong momentum of first time investors purchasing distressed assets and repairing the deferred maintenance. This grassroots movement will focus on repairing distressed assets and safe investment practices. It will create new demand for distressed assets, reversing the downward spiral of prices for such assets. It will also prevent future distressed asset meltdowns by teaching safe investing practices. Works Cited Nadji, Hessam. "2011 Apartment Research Market Report for San Jose Metro Area." Diss. Marcus and Millichap, 2011. Print. Nadji, Hessam. "2011 Real Estate Investment Research National Apartment Report." Diss. Marcus and Millichap, 2011. Print.