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A good view of the scarcity of well-priced investment properties could have been had today by a journalist staking out 2020 Gaylord Street in Denver. It’s a HUD-owned home. In its first day on the market, I’d estimate that several dozen prospective buyers (mostly investors) paraded through its five-bedroom, two-bath premises. (The listing agent might quantify the showings for you.)
There are several stories to tell. First, good fix-and-flip properties are extremely scarce. That may not break any hearts among the non-investing public. Many homes on the edge of habitability (or outside of it, like this one) will simply never return to the stock of livable housing until a cash-wielding investor can buy ‘em. Owner-occupant purchasers won’t, because FHA lenders won’t finance uninhabitable homes.
Ironically, this HUD listing, in its first day of life, was off-limits to investors. (“Owner-oc” buyers get first crack for the first 15 days.) Why is the government parceling out the pieces of its enormous inventory, rather than selling desirable urban homes at prices where investors can fix them and appreciative owners can afford them? (Whose property are they anyway?)
And another thing. When only “owner-occupants” can buy…do you suppose there are any impostors?