5 housing markets to invest in during the rest of 2007 – and 4 to stay away from
With all of this real estate doom and gloom out there, the sky is falling, no one is making 
money in real estate talk… there are a lot of people still making a lot in real estate.
What’s the difference between those who are making money and those who say there’s no money to be made?? Well… a lot of differences… but one huge one is that those who are still making a ton of money find the hot markets and leave the down markets.
It’s simple economics. Hit a market while it is just hitting the growing stages…(or just before that, if you see good indicators showing impending growth)… and leave a market before it begins to fall. There are thousands of different real estate markets in the U.S. alone. In the thousands of markets, there are a big hunk of them who are booming, a big hunk who are slumping, and a bigger hunk who are just kind of there.
So… what are 5 real estate markets in the U.S. that you might consider jumping into? Well, according to a recent CNN Money article, here they are:
City 12 month forecast
1. McAllen, Texas — 9.8%
2. Tulsa, Oklahoma — 4.3%
3. El Paso, Texas — 4.3%
4. Scranton, Pennsylvania — 3.9%
5. Rochester, New York — 3.5%
Now, by looking at those 5 markets you are probably saying… “those appreciation rates aren’t that great”. Well, not compared to recent years anyhow. You also have to remember that these are city-wide statistics and forecasts. Each city is made up of many micro-markets that can vary by huge percentages. So, in McAllen, Texas for instance, there is a micro-market that is on tap to have double digit appreciation rates… and some micro-markets that have mid to lower single digit appreciation rates.
Look for the good micro-markets in each city-wide market and capitalize on your investment.
Now… here’s a few markets to stay away from. Once again, there might be micro-markets within these markets that are still doing quite well, but the overall markets are on tap for a bit of devaluation.
1. Miami, Florida — -8.8%
2. Suffolk, New York — -6%
3. Phoenix, Arizona — -5.5%
4. Fort Lauderdale, Florida — -5.5%
If you look at these markets, you’ll see that most of them have seen heavy appreciation in recent years. Now, the markets are correcting a bit… but will turn into strong markets when the cycle comes around again.
Other markets that the CNN Money article don’t mention a whole lot that are noteworthy are Biloxi, Mississippi, the pacific Northwest, and the Carolinas. Those are pretty broad markets, but I’ll leave it up to you to do your own due diligence 
If you know of other markets that are HOT right now, shoot me a line!
If you liked this post be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed.
Digg this – Post to del.icio.us – Post to Furl
Related Posts:
Hey, my name is Trevor and I'm the founder of The REI Brain and a real estate investor since the age of 21. Right now, my focus in real estate investing is multi-family income properties and I have plans on moving more into the commercial real estate investment world in 2008 and beyond. 
Leave a Reply