Want to Play Monopoly?

Ever since I have been old enough to count, I have loved the board game Monopoly™.  Whenever my buddies and I played I wanted to be both the banker and the property card-keeper; an ironic foreshadowing of my career as a combined mortgage broker and REALTOR.  As it turns out, I’ve been playing banker and property card-keeper my entire life!

To this day I still adore the game.  I’m currently biding my time for my girls to be old enough to play (recent attempts just led to slobbery battleship pieces, crumpled bills, and unfinished games).

In the meantime, I am enjoying working with more folks than ever before playing real-life Monopoly buying and financing investment properties.  Due to low prices, low interest rates, rising rental demand, and favorable tax benefits, “playing” Monopoly has become a very wise financial move.

Consider these recent examples of clients I’ve helped:
1.) Mr & Mrs K. purchased a rental property for $158,000 in Fair Oaks.  They are renting it to their daughter who is covering the mortgage payment, which is actually lower than the rent she was paying at her previous apartment.  Talk about a win-win!

2.) Mr. G is purchasing a $200,000 4-bedroom home that already has tenants.  After making a 25% down payment, his TOTAL monthly payment is $1028.  The tenants want to remain in the home, and continue to pay their $1475/month rent…positive cash-flow of $5400/year (annual rate of return of 10.8%).

Examples like these are fairly common in today’s market.  It’s not about finding the “diamond-in-the-rough”; it’s about simple supply and demand.  The supply of houses at decade-low prices is up.  At the same time, the demand of renters is up as every homeowner that has lost their home to foreclosure or short-sale is now looking for a home to rent.  Tremendous investment opportunities are readily available for folks with great credit, document-able income, and at least a 25% down payment.

Ironically, the Monopoly™ board game became a popular game in the mid 1930s, in the midst of The Great Depression.  I can’t help but guess folks of the time became fascinated with a game aimed at buying property when their real life finances were so dire.  This time around, in what many are calling The Great Recession, I hope that instead of playing a board game you consider your real-life opportunities to attain financial health through real estate investing.  My experience can help you find the right loan and best property for your investment preferences.  As I said earlier, I’ve been practicing for this my whole life :-).