Flippers Get the Flock Out...

Fortune


"If you're a speculator ... get out now"

"In 2005, investors accounted for 28 percent of the housing market, up from 23 percent in 2004, according to the National Association of Realtors. But the game of buying a home - or two or three or 17 - holding it for a bit, and then flipping it for a handsome profit has pretty much played itself out."

'"Get out as fast as possible," says Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody's Economy.com. "The market is moving away from the investor, and even when it stabilizes, I don't think it's going to come back anytime soon."'

"So don't repeat the mistake that tech investors made during the dot-com bubble. As stocks spiraled downward, they held on, thinking that the market would bounce back quickly. Just accept that you're going to lose money on that Miami deal."

'"Take your lumps," says Jon Duncan, a Tacoma financial planner. "If you're feeding this thing cash flow, it won't take long to make this a very bad investment."'

"Each day brings fresh evidence of peaking home prices."

"The worst mistake a seller can make in a softening market is to overprice a home. Even putting a high price on your home to "test the market" for a few weeks (with the notion that you can always lower it later) is a bad idea."

"If you're asking too much, they'll move on, and your house will get lumped in with the rest of the inventory. And if it lingers too long, "it can become stigmatized," says Pam O'Connor, CEO of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. "Buyers will think there is something wrong with it."'

"And don't cling to memories of what houses were commanding six months ago; if your area has seen a slowdown in sales, you're not going to get top dollar, says Gil Campos, a 25-year Boston real estate veteran."