In a strong economy like Nashville-2019, I get lots of calls from people looking for “good deals” on real estate.
First, I tell them to buy a time machine that will take them back to 2010.
Then, I commiserate with them about all the awesome deals that I watched other people pounce on over the last 7 years (with, of course, a quick reminder about all the awful deals that brought people to financial ruin in the 7 years before that).
After all that, I get serious and talk to them about buying distressed real estate, and all the forms and forums where that can happen. Bankruptcy Sales. Foreclosures. Sheriff’s Sales. Tax Sales.
It’s, literally, a path full of misery and heartbreak, but it’s probably the only realm in present-day Nashville where you can truly get a good deal.
And part of the reason that there’s so much upside is that there’s so much risk in these types of sales. There’s no way to avoid that risk, and, at best, your goal is to simply mitigate that risk.
TL;DR: You have to know what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’re buying your dream house for pennies on the dollar, only to learn that you’re not getting what you thought you were.
I recently taught a CLE for OutkickCLE on distressed buying, and I’ll post that video link here when it goes live. In the meantime, I’ll be posting snippets from my CLE materials here. Stay tuned.
Creditors Rights 101 