The name of the game for real estate investors rehabbing houses these days is-

Get In and Get Out.

Buying smart and spending wisely is more important than ever. One rehabber on the east coast who formerly spent $35,000 to $50,000 rehabbing a property, installing upgrades such as cherry cabinets, granite countertops, etc, and taking 30 to 60 days to finish the job, is quoted lately as saying, “…now “it’s 12 to 15 days and anywhere from $4,000 to $19,000″, with few if any extras.

We all have to look at what our local market will bear so we can-

Get In and Get Out.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that 23% of ready, willing and able buyers of residential real estate are simply waiting and watching the housing market right now. In other words, they are not buying. 

Motivating these buyers to jump in and buy a house is just as important as stopping foreclosures. Both contribute to reducing the huge inventory of unsold homes on the market.  

NAR is supporting legislation to provide a $7,500 tax credit for new homebuyers, and possibly all primary residence home buyers.  

This may be a “bailout” provision that works for everybody.  

As many as 3 million homeowners may qualify for a new, streamlined mortgage loan modification program that the Bush administration unveiled this week.

Delinquent borrowers desperately need another alternative to foreclosure, and this new program is targeted at borrowers who have missed three or more mortgage payments on their home but who have not filed for bankruptcy.

The new program is designed to bring borrowers current on their loans by reducing their payments to 38 percent of gross monthly income, extending their repayment schedule up to 40 years, lowering their interest rates, or reducing the principal for calculation of monthly payments and adding it to the back of the loan.

Qualified borrowers may begin receiving offers in the mail, and may need help understanding the complex terms of refinancing when the new program begins by Dec 15th.

Now we, the taxpayers, have “invested” and “loaned” AIG, the giant ailing insurance company, a total of $150 BILLION DOLLARS. That is a record, the most money the United States ever has invested/loaned to a private company.

I’ll bet it’s more than the federal government has invested/loaned to some countries….

From what I’ve seen in my own local area over 40 years and what I read about the global economy now, it looks like real estate investors have a window of 6 to 18 months to scoop up bargain-priced properties and hold onto them while the real estate market improves. The key is having the cash to purchase them and to ride out the downturn. Cash has been, is and always will be KING!