tracking population/job trends

[people9300]

im trying to build my resources up for tracking population job trends/history.

basically i want to know where jobs are being created, where jobs WILL be created, and compare stats with population growth in that area too. Obviously its not what it was but im sure there is always a good area at some point in the market. any advice for a newbie?

thanks
adam

[sirbeigealot]

I spent years reading Dave Del Dotto material, listening to the tapes,  then some other guy, then finally Carlton Sheets.
I ate, drank and slept Carlton Sheets' program.
I tried everything I possibly could to "buy real estate with no money down" in southern California.
Finally, after giving up, I spent years just "unlearning" all of these things that they teach.
We were able to buy our second house and keep the first one as a rental...we still have it today.
The bottom line for me was this: I could either buy properties convetionally(find a realtor, use the MLS, get prequalified), or I could try to compete against more experienced investors at auctions and tax sales and probates, etc. (who by the way had alot of money, some able to pay cash) and so I went with the latter.
The problem for me has been cashflow.
Believe me, I know that my experience does not qualify me to teach anyone on this forum, but I honestly do not see how you can find decent properties (a property that someone besides you might want) and purchase that property and have a positive cash flow.
I have put 10% down on my purchases, once I put 20% down.
Another time I was able to buy "no money down, simply because the lender was offering that program at that particular time.
However, no matter how much I have put down, I have never been able to cash flow.
The only possible way I could see cashflowing at all, would be to pick up a real dump in a real dumpy part of town, fix it up, and then try to find someone who halfway decent who wants to pay a fair amount of rent to live in a dumpy area.
What am I missing here?
Nothing adds up.
You buy a crappy house, you must put dollars into it to make it less crappy, then you pray that you find someone dumb enough to live in it.
If you but a decent house in good condition, you obviously pay more.
As an investor, the banks dont give you good rates...so your'e gonna have a 90% loan with a higher rate, your PITI needs to be covered by the rent and then some.
Let's say that here in Ca. I find a house for 200K. I put 10% down, so I have a mortgage of 180K. That house will rent for say, 1150.00 month.
Now I understand that I am talking retail sale here, but the alternative is the wholesale foreclosure market, which is already overrun by investors with alot of cash.
My in laws are buying an REO right now...there are multiple offers, and they have asked my in laws for a prequal letter, which means that even in the wholesale market, the lenderrs want to see a traditional buyer who is prequalified by a traditional bank.

I justr dont see how this cash flow thing works...sorry if I sound irritated...I consider myself relatively intelligent, yet I doint see how you guys are obtainging cash flow properties.
I'm listening....

[sirbeigealot]

Okay, Im retarded...this is suppose to be under "difficulty in finding cash flow properties"

Can the moderator move this?

[DeeinAustin]

Okay, Im retarded...this is suppose to be under "difficulty in finding cash flow properties"

Can the moderator move this?

1. This seems like a general question about how to find market information.
2. There is no  ""difficulty in finding cash flow properties" section

[sirbeigealot]

Dee, its called, "The difficulty of finding properties that cash flow"

[DeeinAustin]

Ok, so you responded to the wrong post.  Just copy your post and paste it in the right one. You should be able to delete your post or edit.

PM me if you still have problems.

[Wildflower75]

Back to the origional topic, which didn't mention cash flow, the job market is really really really bad here in northwest Georgia.  We might as well be in a second Great Depression.  I've been out of work and looking and trying REALLY hard to find work, (I'm new to real estate, I haven't done any investing yet, I'm still doing the research) and so has about half the population here, or at least that's what is seems like.  When I went to the Department of Labor looking for a job, someone that worked there said that more people have been coming in from the homeless shelters because they can't find work than they've ever seen before.  I'd think it would be nearly impossible to sell a house here (unless you get really lucky), but you can make money off low income rentals.  Not all poor people are low-life losers, some of us are just down on our luck, and there's plenty of people here who are not illegal immigrants, not on drugs, not alcoholics, and are otherwise respectable people, who need a place to live for really cheap because the economy is so bad.