Detroit News story from 01/13/2005,
My comments in italics/bold.

Real estate investment is up

As home prices outpace stock market, more buyers hope to turn a profit by snapping up mortgages.

I hope they are buying these babies to keep and not resell. You can get killed by having 2 HUD-1 back to back.

Forrest Maltzman, a college professor, sold stock in July to buy the house next door in Bethesda, Md., for $740,000. He plans to rent it to cover the mortgage, then sell for a profit in a few years.

Three quarter of a million dollar rental, they must be making a whole lot more in Bethesda, MD. Gee, I wonder where do you advertise for a rental like that?

In the hottest U.S. real estate markets, including the Washington area, where average prices rose 22 percent in the year ended Sept. 30, investors such as Maltzman expect better returns from real estate than from equities.
"I've been nervous about the stock market," says Maltzman, 41, who teaches politics at George Washington University. "I have a lot of faith in real estate."

Amen to that brother! After throwing my Fidelity statements straight in the recycle bin for 12 months in a row in 2001, I can relate to that.

About 30 percent of condominium buyers in Washington and San Francisco and 40 percent in south Florida are obtaining mortgages for investment purposes, says Gregory Leisch, chief executive of Delta Associates, a real-estate research firm. In South Florida, average home prices are rising by as much as 29 percent annually; in southern California, 36 percent; and Las Vegas, 54 percent.

Hey! What about good old Michigan?

That's a sign the market may be overheating, says Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in New York.
"The latest trends in house prices and savings are disturbing," Roach wrote in a Dec. 3 note to clients.

An October report by Fannie Mae Chief Economist David Berson said the proportion of people getting home mortgages for investment purposes nationwide rose to 9.2 percent in mid-2004 from 5.5 percent in mid-2003.

That is why it is so important to know exactly how to play the mortgage game which most investors tend to ignore. Knowing how the money can be obtained can help you buy rentals cheaply on one end and also help you deal your houses faster by qualifying buyers for your deals quicker instead of waiting on some loan officer to make up its royal mind if they are worthy of his attention or not!
In Las Vegas, Bill Guerra, 42, is taking advantage of the boom. A former registered nurse, he now locates properties whose sellers are short on cash, are close to foreclosure or need to move out quickly. He then shares the profit on the final sale with a builder who rehabilitates the home.

Been there and done that, just never shared the profits with anybody. But the darn thing works.
Guerra says competition has picked up in the last 20 months as more people look for investment properties.

No kidding! And what is wrong with that? I am often asked why teach other people what you know. My answer is always the same - there is no shortage of DEALS! Never was, never will be. So why worry - that is why you should know that February 18th, 19th - is a great place to be in Novi,Michigan. For 2 days - from 8am to 8pm - you will be see every single technique that is required to create, launch and run a 6 Figure real estate investment business from scratch. Make sure that you are on the notification list below.