Well now this has to be good for Seattle’s housing market-
Yahoo Inc. has leased a large chunk of office space in downtown
Bellevue — giving itself enough room for 500 to 600 employees a
short drive from rival Microsoft Corp.’s headquarters.
* Read the full article at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/335150_yahoo12.html
Part I - Risk
According to www.websters.com, Risk is “the hazard or chance of loss.” Of course everyone wants to create sound investments that yield high returns while mitigating exposure and losses. To be perfectly blunt, EVERY investment has some sort of risk involved with it. If there were no risk or chance of loss, it would not be called “investing.”
Still, there are methods of investing that can create safe, steady, and greater than average returns when done properly.
It’s no secret that real estate tends to appreciate over time, no matter where you are. It would be extremely difficult, for example, to locate a property anywhere in the country that is worth less now than it was….say 50 years ago. Not to say this possibility doesn’t exist somewhere, but it would be an extremely rare case. The logical explanation for the appreciation that occurs in real estate is simple- They’re not building any more land these days, and the world population continues to rise. Property is a commodity, and everyone MUST have a roof over her head. Shelter is one of the basic human needs. According to data collected from the US Census Bureau, the number of people in the US is projected to increase from its current level of 285 million people to a level of 315 million by 2010. It may not seem like it, but 30 million is an awful lot of people to add to the books in the next 2 ½ years! This is just a case in point. Considering the big picture, if you own property, history shows that it will be worth considerably more tomorrow than it is today. It’s that simple. Furthermore, it is a well known statistic that here in the Puget Sound Metro area, property tends to double in value every 10 years. And typically, the highest rates of appreciation are experienced during the second half of every decade. This can be tracked over about an 80 year period. Without a doubt, this makes Seattle an extremely attractive venue in which to invest. When you think about it, the risk isn’t bad! It’s actually quite minimal. Our cycle is predictable and our returns are high. Of course, the flip side to our fantastic Seattle market is that traditional investing with the “cashflow” model does not work very well Rather, our market springs forth an “appreciation” model, therefore requiring more out of the box thinking and a competitive edge.
So, “How do Lease Options relate to all of this?” you ask? Oh, don’t you worry your curls. We will discuss this later in our series.
Until then, just bare in mind that all investments present an inherent level of risk. It is up to you to invest wisely in a market that appreciates year after year, while minimizing exposure and risk to your hard-earned nest egg. If you want to play the game “risk free”, then I suggest you stick to Monopoly or Quiz Night at your local pub.
Until next time,
Ciao
Let’s talk a moment about an hollistic approach to investing.
Not only do Sunny and I work in real estate, but we’re avid investors as well. We like to say that we are our own best clients. It’s true. The opportunities are endless, and working within this industry allows us first dibs on the best deals, often before such deals are formally listed on the open market. All this talk about the sky falling has gotten many people paralyzed with fear. To some, it’s a sign that they should wait it out, that they should do nothing…..to us, it means we simply need to shift our focus to where the opportunity is. I’m terrible at paraphrasing, but as the old saying goes, the best time to invest is when there is blood in the streets. Well, it hasn’t come to that in Seattle, at least not yet. With that said, if you work in Real Estate and are not buying at least 1-2 homes per year, especially now, then you may want to ask yourself why you’re here?
For those of you out there, agents or otherwise, who do invest in real estate and prefer it because it tends to yield much greater percentages than the average 5% certificate of deposit, etc., this is a discussion you most definitely will want to participate in.
Because of time restraints and the depth and intricacies of the subject of “Lease Optioning” property versus the traditional “Buy and Hold” method of investing, this will be a five-part series.
During this series, we will discuss the following-
This is going to be fun. Stay tuned……
It’s semiannual property-tax time again. If you pay your own taxes, you have until midnight October 30 to get your payment postmarked and avoid delinquency charges.
If you’ve misplaced your tax statement, call your county treasury office to learn what you owe. It’s important to pay on time because extensions are not given.
King County, call 206-296-3850. For an automated line call 206-296-0923.
Pierce County, call 253-798-6111. For an automated line call 253-798-3333.
Snohomish County, call 425-388-3366.
Kitsap County, call 360-337-7135.
Additionally, property-tax statements and information may be available online. The above phone numbers include information on how to access those counties’ sites.
*Info courtesy of the Seattle Times- www.seattletimes.nwsource.com
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