It still might make sense to purchase distressed homes if you’re a prospective landlord. I hear rentals are doing quite well.
I would be a perspective landlord.
But I’m not going to spend thousands of dollars per house to quiet the title.
ESPECIALLY when I’d be buying some of these properties for cash. When it is 100% my money on the line, you can bet your buttcheeks that I want that title to say that I own it, period, full stop.
It prices fall another, oh, 10 to 20% ... then it might make sense to start buying residential real estate and hire a lawyer to quiet titles for me. But at current prices, no, it isn’t cheap enough yet. Understand, I’m in a residential market that is going down more slowly than many other markets. If I were in some places, eg, Reno NV, I might well be buying right now and have a lawyer on retainer to handle it.
This is all about expected returns in the future. Real estate will continue to go down until there is organic wage growth to put a bottom under real estate prices, and in some places, real estate will continue to go down as bankers start putting more and more property into the market. Only in Nevada do I see that prices are getting close(r) to a real bottom. In other markets (eg, Floriduh), they’re in for a bunch more pain. In California, they’re in for a bunch more pain.
The only residential market where valuations aren’t and haven’t been going down is the area around Washington DC. And that’s an indication of the larger problem in this country.