Four years after home prices hit their peaks, CNNMoney looks at how 330 metro areas have fared.

Source: IHS Global Insight/PNC Financial Service

Would you like to improve your investment portfolio’s performance?  Take a look at the information below and see what Reuters Financial News is calling “the buying opportunity of our lifetime.”

Would you like to know where you can buy real estate at less than 40 cents on the dollar and get double digit ROI’s as high as 20% or more?

What’s All the Excitement About?

Here are examples of properties already acquired by our clients or are available. Both properties were purchased for less than 40 cents on the dollar and each started producing immediate cash flows of more than $400 a month with ROIs exceeding 15%. . If it sounds too good to be true, it’s not. These are real scenarios of just two of our many investors.

Here are examples of what all the excitement is about!

* examples shown are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as any guarantee of future performance.

Call me today to learn how you can take advantage of this incredible opportunity. This is not a gimmicky sales program. It is a bona fide rare opportunity that, based on current activity, will probably end in less than 12 months.

For more information, contact:

Elliot Y.C. Lau, Realtor

Inet Realty

808-306-0666 Direct Line

808-792-3515 Fax

elliot@pr2k.com

Reuters Financial News – "This is the buying opportunity of our lifetime. "

Contact me for more information.

elliot@inethi.com

As of October 27, 2008 year to date, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 37% of its value; the first 27 days in October accounted for an unprecented 20% of the Dow’s YTD losses. The NASDAQ is even worse, down 42% year to date. Investors have seen a staggering $8.3 trillion dollars evaporate in the stock market so far this year.

As if things weren’t bad enough, Hawaii investors trying to escape the bloodbath in the stock market by moving their investments into real estate are finding Hawaii’s real estate market a tough alternative. Real property values on Oahu so far have bucked the national trend of downward spiraling prices. This means high acquisition prices and low, or even negative, cash flows for investors. “On Oahu, investors are happy to just break even and avoid a negative monthly cash flow,” says Carlton Choy, a Broker In Charge at Premier Realty 2000.

Fortunately, it’s not all gloom and doom. Hawaii investors are turning to a safe and stable investment vehicle and are taking advantage of the downturn in California’s real estate market. Hawaii investors are finding big opportunities in Orange County, California.

There are hundreds of 2 & 3 bedroom homes in Orange County that are owned by banks that had to foreclose on the delinquent owners. These homes that sold for $300,000-$400,000 a few years ago, can be purchased today for as little as $100,000. That’s a 60%+ discount. Investors can buy these homes at 30 cents on the dollar. These homes generate anywhere from $1700-$2400 a month in rent. After all expenses, investors are experiencing positive cash flows of about $400/month per unit equating to a double digit return on investment. While double digit ROI’s and hefty positive cash flows are great, the real investment value is in its future value. It’s a reasonable assumption that these homes will return to the same value it sold for a few years ago. Where else can you invest your money today and reasonably assume that it will triple in value in the next ten years?

In contrast, owning or buying investment real estate on Oahu for the same amount of money will get you a small studio and a negative cash flow. On top of that, since Oahu has held its value, you’re paying “retail” for that property and future value is much more speculative. “I meet with investors several times a week looking to invest in Oahu real estate,” says Elliot Lau, a Broker In Charge at Premier Realty 2000. “When I show them the opportunity in OC, their initial response is that it’s too good to be true. That’s how great the opportunity is right now, and we have real numbers to support it.”

How can you tell that OC real estate is such a great opportunity right now? Follow the pros. Professional real estate investors lead the markets while amateur investors chase the markets. Right now, the pros are buying in OC. A leading indicator of real estate markets is the months of remaining inventory (MRI). It is used to gauge the type of market at any given time. 12 months ago, OC’s MRI was at 17 months; an extrememly strong buyer’s market. In less than 12 months, OC’s MRI is down to 7 months, considered to be a neutral market. Take one guess as to who’s buying all of that real estate? It is no longer a buyer’s market in Orange County. Premier Realty 2000, which has offices in Honolulu and Orange County, has helped many investors reposition their real estate holdings from Oahu to Orange County and triple their return on investment and cash flows. Investors like Paul Lam and Jared Nakamoto of Honolulu see this as a “no-brainer” and are buying as much as they can before this window of opportunity closes. “We expect that there’s about a year remaining for investors to invest in Orange County with such favorable conditions.” says Brian Laughlin, President and Principle Broker of Premier Realty 2000, heading the Orange County office. “The smart investors are seeing that Oahu real estate is not the place to be investing and that Orange County currently offers investors a rare combination of low acquisitition costs, great cash flows and tremendous appreciation potential in a safe and stable investment vehicle.”

Notice of default

Notice of Trustee sale

Updated List July 15, 2008 (New Foreclosure List)

Orange County Bank Distressed Sales

Notice of Default List

Notice of Trustee Sale List

Bank REO List

Update list July 29, 2008 (click here)

Depending on your area, many times it is not that hard to find a great real estate deal. In some areas you’ll see 20 to 50 percent as distressed sales. Even with this type of market, there tends to be an elite class of properties that stand out among the distress category.

It could be because of location, condition, price or terms that cause these types of properties to be stand outs and it is in this category that I’ll share some secrets as to how to get them.

PART I

Short Sales

Based on price these seem to be one of the most attractive categories to pick from. Not only that, but there are so many of them. The problem with short sales is that it comes with a HUGE contingency. It is subject to the lender’s approval.

That means the buyer and seller can agree on the price and terms, but it means nothing until the bank approves it. Many banks have a loss mitigation department and their objectives can be quite different from the seller and buyer.

Tip 1

One key is to work with approved short sales . That most likely means an offer was submitted and the bank had approved that offer and for some reason it fell out of escrow. The buyer and seller already know that the bank will accept the price they did previously. This helps a lot when looking to purchase short sales.

Tip 2

It’s a numbers game. Most experienced short sale agents do not think much of the first offer(s). The Listing agent knows it just starts a process with the bank and that statistically the buyer will end up finding another property instead of waiting 4 to 12 weeks for a response. In this case, a second key is to recognize that purchasing short sales is a numbers game and it usually takes about 10 offers to equate to 1 close. Play the game correctly and you’ll have a valid chance at owing some really good properties.

Tip 3

Think in nets. Usually, a good story and a strong qualified buyer with a large down matters to sellers and is essential to getting your offer accepted. With banks being so overwhelmed with loan defaults, the standard mode of operation is the path of least resistance. The primary indicator that they use is what they will net from this sale. So when making offers, look to see how you can show that the bank will net the most from working with you.

Tip 4

You MUST have an agent team that is aggressive in follow up. Remember, your offer may be used just so that the Listing agent can start talking to the right bank department or person and you can easily be ‘forgotten.’ I can think of over a dozen stories like these from other agents in the past 2 weeks! Follow up is a must and you need to have someone who has the resources to do it.

Tip 5

Keep your deposit check. There is no reason to open escrow when such a major contingency exists. You can not tie up the property by being in escrow. Let’s say you open escrow and wait 8 weeks. In that time 4 other offers come in and are presented to the bank. The bank can accept another offer even if you are in escrow.

Tip 6

Work with an experienced team. Don’t get sold on what an agent can do for you, have them prove it to you. That’s right – if you miss this step you can waste a lot of time. Many agents do not have successful experience in this area, transact too infrequently or do not have a team.

Experience

If they are learning on you then you could be paying too much or missing out on the best deals. Ideally, you want someone that has been through a market cycle before, is working fulltime and has no other occupation. They should have specialization in what you are looking for. An easy way to tell is to look at their business card. If they are not even trying to brand themselves as an expert in the category you want, then why take that chance working with them.

Transactions

They should have no less than 10 qualified active buyer clients. If you are the only one or 1 of 3 then you should run. If you needed to do brain surgery, would you want a doctor that does 1 every 6 months or see the doctor that has 1 to 2 surgeries every day. There is safety in crowds and working with an agent that doesn’t have a strong active client following in your category is a huge indication to ask a lot more questions.

Team

If they do not have a team (a real team) that can service you then there is really no way you can find the best deals. The reason – it takes a lot of hard work. This is not rocket science type of hard, more like ditch digging hard. If you want a Grand Canyon real estate steal then you need to have an agent team that can throw their resources behind you.

Caution, don’t get tricked by a franchise name thinking familiar is better, because the reality is that all of their agents are independent contractors and the ‘team’ may be nothing more than promotion and not the ditch digging hard work needed to win the best real estate deals.

The best way to find out is to ask who is on the team, what do they do and how will they service you.

In the next series we’ll talk about how to get the best REOs on the market.

Recent Orange County distressed sales.

Orange County NOD

Orange County NTS

update May 27, 2008

New List posted and Update for June (click here)