By M.P. MCQUEEN

Looking to snap up some investment properties on the cheap?    You may want to consider Durham, N.C., Indianapolis and Huntsville, Ala.    They are among the best places to invest now, according to a new report that ranks the best and worst markets for conservative residential-real-estate investors.    Hard-hit Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., are among the riskiest.

Local Market Monitor Inc., a Cary, N.C., firm that analyzes real-estate trends for lenders, builders and investors, compiled its first Investor Suitability Report using economic data through July 31 for 315 U.S. markets. The firm is best known for its housing-market forecasts, which use “equilibrium” home prices: what home values should be in relation to incomes, job growth and population. In its new report, it uses similar data to rank communities by their investment prospects, focusing on single-family homes.

Regions that rank highly for investment suitability are those where there is a low probability that home prices will fall further, says Local Market Monitor President Ingo Winzer. They are places where income is growing moderately; where employment is relatively stable because of a large percentage of jobs in health care, education or government; and where a relatively small share of jobs is in construction or financial services, which have been volatile. (Job losses in government and education tend to come later in an economic cycle, so some areas could be hit harder in coming months.)

The report, which excludes towns with fewer than 200,000 residents, focuses on price-appreciation potential instead of rental income, since falling home prices usually result in higher vacancy rates in apartment buildings and lower rents overall, Mr. Winzer says.

Good markets for conservative investors are those that already have stabilized and should yield average returns, Mr. Winzer says. Dangerous markets probably will see further price declines and have little potential for a turnaround because of poor local economies.

So-called speculative markets, by contrast, are those where prices could fall further, but which also have potential for greater appreciation of 3% to 5% annually after bottoming out—making them more suitable for investors with stronger stomachs. Local Market Monitor identifies Hagerstown, Md.; Jacksonville and Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Modesto, Calif.; and Myrtle Beach, S.C. as speculative areas.

In the best markets, home prices already are stabilizing. Durham, N.C., for instance, is home to Duke University and is near the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Big companies like International Business Machines Corp., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Nortel Networks Corp., as well as numerous biotech start-ups, have facilities at the nearby Research Triangle Corporate Park. About 40% of area jobs are in health, education or government, according to Local Market Monitor.

Haywood Davis, owner of a Century 21 real-estate brokerage in Durham, says home-sales volume in the area increased 13% last month over July 2009, though prices rose only slightly.

Some other metro areas with large percentages of relatively stable jobs and moderate growth include Knoxville, Tenn.; Lexington, Ky.; and Indianapolis.

Jason Moore, a 34-year-old auto-sales manager in Baltimore, took advantage of plunging home prices in his hometown of Indianapolis to snap up an investment property there—a brand-new four-bedroom, two-bath home—for $56,000 late in 2008.

Prices in Indianapolis were falling because of foreclosures and rising unemployment. Disappointed with their stock-market investments, Mr. Moore and his wife, Keisha, 32, decided to buy an investment property to add to their portfolio. The Indiana house is generating a positive cash flow of about $300 a month in rent after mortgage, insurance, taxes and fees, he says.

“It has been adding income, and the tax benefit has been helpful,” Mr. Moore says.

Yet in gambling-and-tourism-dependent Reno, Nev., home prices slid 50% from their market peak in 2006—and don’t seem to have bottomed yet. Mr. Winzer calls the city “frankly dangerous” for investors, along with Las Vegas and Naples and Orlando, Fla., because home prices are still tumbling and local economies are shaky.

John Burns, chief executive officer of John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. of Irvine, Calif., says he thinks Reno and Las Vegas have “overcorrected,” but he agrees prices could fall further.

Dana Hall-Bradley, a real-estate agent in Florida’s Orlando-Kissimmee area, near Disney World, says sales were up 39% last month over July 2009. But prices are still sliding because most sales involve so-called distressed properties—bank-owned homes or short sales, where lenders agree to sell properties for less than they are owed.

Investors, especially those from Canada, the U.K., Brazil and Venezuela, are buying vacation and retirement villas, condos and townhouses in the area, Ms. Hall-Bradley says, because prices already are 40% to 50% below what they were as late as 2007. Many are paying cash.

Condos are even cheaper. “Right now you can get a condo for $30,000 that was selling for $150,000 to $200,000 in 2005 or 2006,” she says.

Eamon Lavin of Locust Valley, N.Y., recently purchased three condo units and a single-family home in Celebration, a planned community outside Orlando designed by Walt Disney Co. Mr. Lavin, 43, says he knows prices could tumble further but he isn’t worried because he plans to rent out the properties for 10 or 15 years.

“I love the area, and I think it is going to come back,” he says. “I get more of a return on investment than putting it in a bank or anywhere else.”

Raleigh’s population count crashed through the 400,000 barrier in 2009, according to new population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

North Carolina’s capital city, with 405,791 residents as of July 1, 2009, moved up a spot in the rankings, supplanting Colorado Springs as the 45th biggest U.S. municipality. Raleigh posted a population increase of 3 percent compared to the 2008 estimate of about 393,000.

For the decade, Raleigh added more than 117,000 jobs between 2000 and 2009 – the 10th largest gain in the United States over that period.

Durham’s population, meanwhile, is quickly catching up to Winston-Salem’s population with an estimated resident count of 229,174 in 2009 compared to Winston-Salem’s population of 229,828. Durham is the nation’s 85th largest city.

Cary’s population grew almost 6 percent in the past year with a population estimate of 136,600 in 2009. It ranked at No. 179 in country.

The U.S. Census Bureau‘s 2009 population estimates are calculated for every incorporated city, town and village across the nation.

Elsewhere in the Triangle, 2009 population estimates were the following:

Chapel Hill at 53,546 people.

Apex at 34,022 people.

Sanford at 29,922 people.

Wake Forest at 27,852 people.

Garner at 27,525 people.

Holly Springs at 21,743 people.

Carrboro at 18,368 people.

Fuquay-Varina at 17,905 people.

Clayton at 16,362 people.

Morrisville at 14,018 people.

Smithfield at 13,201 people, and

Knightdale at 10,157 people.

Charlotte still ranks as the state’s largest municipality with a population of 709,441 people, which ranks at No.18 in the country.

1. Low fixed rate financing – 4.5% for 30 years.

2. No mortgage insurance

3. Do Not need to be a veteran.

4. No property limit for investors

5.  Low downpayment (5%)

For more details, click on this link https://va.equator.com/index.cfm?event=public.vaVendeePage and save in your favorites.

Actually, it is neither.The truth is it is actually a lender’s market!  It is also true that to a degree it has been a buyer’s market for most of the country.  This occurs when the supply of homes for sale exceeds demand, creating a situation where homes take longer to sell and where prices become more negotiable in favor of the buyer.  There is a new phenomenon in today’s real estate market.  This phenomenon is affecting today’s buyers, especially those buyers who are highly motivated, wanting  to take advantage of today’s lower home prices and today’s low interest rates.  What home buyers are discovering is that the biggest obstacle to purchasing their new home is the lender!  It is no longer the case where a buyer can simply pick from a long list of homes that fits their needs.  Now, it is more important than ever that the buyer has their financing prearranged.   Clearly the momentum has shifted and today lenders are making it more difficult for buyers to borrow money.  Underwriting guidelines are not just set by the secondary market but now are dictated by company policy.

A perfect example of this phenomenon is experienced by today’s real estate investor.  Back in 2008, when the financial market started its meltdown, banks and mortgage companies pulled many products from the market.  Sub-prime mortgages quickly disappeared.  Fannie Mae (FNMA) introduced stricter underwriting guidelines.  One of the guidelines that affected investors the most was the reduction in the number of mortgaged properties from 10 to 4.  As the markets stabilized, the guidelines were changed again.  Fannie Mae announced that it was going back to the 10 property maximum.  Despite this change by FNMA, most lenders want no part of this new guideline.  As a result, most of the industry is refusing to make loans to investors who can meet all of the FNMA guidelines.  These lenders have established their own guidelines and have decided not to loan money  to certain borrowers.  No matter how qualified the borrower and how good the property is, the two are unable to get together simply because the lender is not going to do the loan.

This is just one case where you can see that we are in a lender’s market.

 Without the right financing programs and access to the right lender with products to service the buyer’s needs, the purchase cannot occur.  Fortunately, there is a solution to this particular problem!  I have located one of those very rare lenders who is following the FNMA guidelines and will make loans to this group of investors.  So if you’re a real estate investor who already owns 4 mortgaged properties,  you now have an option for owning up to 10 mortgaged properties.  For more information about this program, please email me at Kevin@kevinmcvicker.com !

Watch for future announcements with solutions to other financing challenges facing today’s home buyers! 

Durham has won the attention of U.S. News and World Report.

The Bull City has been placed fifth on the magazine’s Best Places to Live 2009 ranking released Tuesday.

The magazine praised the town’s rebirth as a medical and tech hub for its strong performance, saying: “Once a tobacco town, Durham, N.C., has evolved into a world-class center of all things advanced.”

Albuquerque, N.M., topped the list, which was determined by studying a database of 2,000 locales that contained crime rates, local economies, living costs and entertainment options, among other factors.

The other cities on the top 10 list were Auburn, Ala.; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; La Crosse, Wis.; Loveland, Colo.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; St. Augustine, Fla. and Upper St. Clair, Pa.

To see the entire article,  click the link below.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/real-estate/2009/06/08/best-places-to-live-2009.html?PageNr=2

Charlotte ranks as Southeast’s No. 3 city

A new study ranks Charlotte third among nine Southeastern metro areas on a range of factors affecting economic growth.

The benchmarking index was compiled by Harrison Campbell, associate professor of geography at UNC Charlotte.

He ranked the metro areas on employment and labor; income and productivity; livability and connectivity; new economy; and equity and diversity in a report prepared for the Charlotte Chamber.

The report, dubbed Benchmark Charlotte 2009, ranked the Charlotte area first for income and productivity and second for livability and connectivity.

Charlotte fared worse, however, on having a new economy (fifth place), employment and work force (fifth place), and equity and diversity (sixth place).

The Raleigh-Durham area achieved the No. 1 overall ranking, followed by Austin, Texas. The Atlanta area ranked No. 4, followed in order by Dallas; Richmond, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tampa, Fla.; and Jacksonville, Fla.

U.S. migration may be down overall, but these vibrant metro areas are still attracting newcomers.

In Depth: 10 Cities Where Americans Are Relocating Unemployment is on the rise, credit is tight, and consumers aren’t spending–which means they aren’t picking up and moving much either. Very few places in America saw significant population growth in 2008.

But the buzzing metropolitan area of Denver bucked that trend. Its population increased by 2.17% in 2008. In 2007, it increased by 2.09%. In 2008, Denver was the 10th-fastest growing metro area in the U.S.

Despite the overall economic slowdown, some parts of the country keep on moving ahead, attracting more and more newcomers–even if it’s at a slower pace than in more sound economic times. These places still offer a semblance of stability, as well as great weather, cultural life and, in many cases, affordability.

Behind the Numbers
To determine the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, we used 2008 population estimates for metropolitan statistical areas with a population over 1 million, released March 19, 2009, by the U.S. Census Bureau. MSAs are geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.

We then compared the 2008 population estimates to the previous year’s data to see which areas had grown the most, percentage-wise.

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Nine places fared even better than Denver, though they share similar qualities: more business opportunities, better weather and more affordable housing. The top three areas according to the data are Raleigh, N.C., ranking first, which jumped 4.29% to nearly 1.9 million; Austin, Texas, which came in second, with a 3.77% increase to almost 1.7 million; and Charlotte, N.C., which moved up 3.36% to 1.7 million.

Read the entire report by clicking the link below:

Top Ten List