Norris Group Weary of Optimistic Cali Real Estate Forecasts
Real estate investment advisor Bruce Norris of the Norris Group advised real estate investors at a recent seminar in Costa Mesa to be weary of optimistic reports forecasting an immediate bottom in the housing market.
According to Norris, numerous foreclosures must still be processed before the market approaches anything resembling equilibrium, much less growth. He attributes current lowered foreclosure numbers to Government loan modification programs, but notes that most modified loans tend to redefault, especially in an economy in which unemployment remains at unprecedented highs.
Government and lender efforts have forestalled defaults and foreclosures by the hundreds of thousands, but their main accomplishment has merely been the creation of a shadow inventory of over 350,000 to 500,000 likely future foreclosures in California alone.
Real estate investors with readily available cash can find good prices in the market right now, but shouldn’t expect to become profitable overnight. Opportunities exist at auctions to make a profit on a flip in this market, but you need to have experience and be a real pro to pull that off.
By John Skinner
