LD2 Development

Can I ask your opinion on this?

Here's a great feature I saw in a $1.5M new construction home recently!

I thought it was a great idea, but I use the sauna at my gym almost every day , so I'm sure I would use it a lot.

I've had steam showers at home and found I didn't use the steam very often.
(of course a steam shower doesn't require additional space and would also cost a bit less)

What do you think?

Imagine for a minute that you were getting a new home, is this a feature that you would like?

Would you prefer it to a steam shower?

Would you want it in your primary bath instead of a big tub?
Or would you prefer a soaking tub?

(BTW, it's not apparent from the pic, but the shower has a porcelain tile that looks like wood and the sauna interior is wood.)

Are we now experiencing the bottom for commercial and multi-family real estate?
It's amazing how quickly market sentiment changes!

While there are always plenty of people who will tell you that the sky is falling, I can't help but notice that a couple people (whose opinions I respect) have started pointing out signs that the market is turning around and posting that we are now experiencing a bottoming in the CRE market.

As a real estate developer and a director on a community bank that focused on real estate lending, I had a front row seat for the 2008-2010 meltdown.

BIG difference then was that so many had lost so much equity either in the stock market or in real estate. The stock market had a huge sell off in 2008 and didn't see it's previous levels again until 2012 or 2013.

If investors hadn't lost their capital in the stock market, they lost it in real estate.

Many banks had been shut down and lenders were gun shy for years.

Today things are much different. While some deals have suffered due to rate jumps and some investors have gotten hurt, for the most part, investors still have their capital.

The stock market is on it's highs and lenders, while cautious, are still looking at the market positively.

With inflation and rates easing, it seems like a good time to look for bargains and good opportunities.

After the 2008-2010 debacle, most investors missed the opportunity to take advantage of bargains in the market because they just didn't have the capital. Only the very wealthy and a very select few had the capital to take advantage of bargains.

This time around, it is shaping up very differently!

With the stock market on it's highs and a lot of investor capital available, this may be the opportunity for the "other 98%".

It may be that Jerome Powell has pulled off his "soft landing". If so, be looking for opportunities and be ready to act on them!

Check out this recent survey from John Burns Research and Consulting.

Are investors really scooping up all the lower priced homes? These articles are misleading and miss the whole story of what is really happening in the market.

This article focuses on markets in Chicago and California. It uses data from a recent Redfin market study , but both miss the real story.

The fact is that any investor would tell you that finding a low priced home that you could buy and just turn around and rent out is practically impossible.

The vast majority of these "low priced" homes that are bought by investors are houses that are in need of major renovations.

Very few home buyers are interested in buying a home that needs a couple months of work before it will be ready to be lived in. Often, the cost of renovation work required may be more than the cost of the house itself.

Much of Chicago's housing stock are buildings that may be over 100 years old. The average home buyer does not have the construction expertise, or financial capability to handle a job like this. They need to buy something that is ready for them to move into when they purchase it.

Investors often buy houses that are in need of full gut rehabs. After renovation, they may rent them or sell them, depending on the market.

Investors can't create or control the market, they just try make money by following it. They provide a valuable service to the neighborhoods by improving the quality of run down housing stock that would otherwise be unliveable.

Whether they rent or sell (fix & flip) the houses they purchase, there has to be existing demand in order for them to make money. In order to be successful, they follow that demand.

Investors Are Buying a Record Share of Low-Priced Homes—What Does It Mean for the Market? In Q1 2023, investors bought 49% fewer homes than the year prior. Now, we're seeing a rise in investor activity again, with certain property classes more popular than others. What are investors doing, and what should you be buying?