Young Investors Planning for Retirement

Cheap foreclosures and short sales in Fresno are luring young investors who dream of snapping up bargains, renting them out and retiring early.

Matthew Phillips, 34, is one of them. The operations supervisor at Toyota Material Handling made a $75,000 offer Aug. 7 on a short sale in northwest Fresno. If the offer is accepted, the home will be his first investment property and the beginning of a plan to retire in 20 years.

"I was thinking, 'How could I get the most money back on my investment?' " Phillips said. "If you put it in the stock market, it's bad right now. If you put it in a bank, it doesn't grow much interest. When you buy real estate ... you'll make money and keep the money you invested in it."

Phillips hopes to join the flood of investors buying foreclosure and short-sale properties in Fresno. Many of those buyers are fixing up their homes and renting them out. After all, as one local real estate professional notes, people who lost their house still need a place to live.

"There's no greater investment now, especially for young people," said veteran investor Tom Hyatt of Hyatt Real Estate in Fresno. "It's like the gold rush."

But it only works with less-expensive houses and there is some risk. Cheap foreclosures can come with expensive problems, and tenants could decide to stop paying rent at any time. To many investors, however, the potential return outweighs the risks.


Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/10/04/2564682/young-investors-buying-valley.html#ixzz1ZwkOqazX


Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/10/04/2564682/young-investors-buying-valley.html#ixzz1ZwkHRmGE