Does it make sense to invest in Real Estate?

I attended a class earlier this week on investing in real estate for the long term.  This graphic quickly caught my attention:

A quick, simple comparison of investing $100,000 for 30 years in these 6 different ways. 

The red line below is purchasing a $100,000 condo/home with cash.

The grey line is using that same $100,000 to purchase 4 properties – financed.  For example - $25,000 down on each of 4  - $100,000 properties.

Graphic prepared by YCRE based on “conservative” assumptions and analysis of historical trends. 
For general information only.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to see more details from this presentation. 

As an investor and real estate agent, this has confirmed (once again), that I will continue to look for great investment properties!.

YCRE Quarterly Meeting

I recently attend the YCRE Quarterly meeting where Charles Roberts presented the current trends in the Denver Real Estate market.  I found both of the charts below interesting and encouraging:

Inventory Levels are still low - the current levels for 2014 are labeled in the bottom right corner - still about 1/3 of what they should be for a "healthy" market.

Average home price in Denver continues to increase - the values for 2014 are plotted in pen ...

Note:  If you would like a complete copy of the YCRE Real Estate Trends booklet 

for the 2nd quarter, please let me know ...

A couple additional comments from the owners of YCRE:

• Although the local media is talking about the possibilities of a new "housing bubble", they feel strongly that this is not possible with such a low inventory of homes for sale.
• The price increase of single family homes over the past 12 months has been about 7% - just a little higher than the average over the past 45 years of 6% increase.
• Investors continue to purchase 25-30% of all real estate transactions in Denver ... this number has remained constant over the past several years.
• Both owners believe that there is most likely a strong market in Denver for atleast the next 2 years ... however, they are not willing to predict past that! 

August Market Update