Marc Guzman's West County Blog

Welcome to 2012!  I hope everyone celebrated the New Year in style.  Last year presented many interesting changes and trends to the real estate industry; this year I do not expect any less.  So as the first post for 2012, I decided to give you my predictions for the 2012 real estate industry.  Here you go!

#1.  Investor Purchases will Increase.  It seems like every week, big industry leaders are making predictions that the real estate market will rebound and make a recovery.  First it was predicted in 2009, then 2010, then 2011 and now many are making 2013 predictions.  The reality is until we go through all of the delinquent loans, then a true market recovery will happen.  The market bottom will probably be somewhere in between 2020-2022 (click here for my article and stats).  But for 2012, I think many investors will realize this to be the case.  As investors realize this, they will get off the sidelines and start buying more properties as investments; especially when there are properties that make you a 19% return.  Last year we also saw many big investment firms start raising money for buy real estate and this year we will see them start closing on many investments.

#2.  Property Management Boom.  As investors purchase more properties in 2012, investors will be hiring property management companies to manage their assets.  Property management companies are vital to maximizing the return on investment of each asset.  They help analyze and strategize the investments to minimize loss, maximize return and relieve the property owner of lots of work.  For a good local referral in the Bay Area, contact Dynamic Property Management.

#3.  80% of Buyers will use Social Networks to Buy Real Estate.  Last year, a little over half of all buyers used online social networks to find their real estate agent and look for properties.  This was much higher than the prior year.  For 2012, I only see this trend becoming bigger.  Our society is going through a culture shift with the use of social networks for many things that we buy, including real estate.  We will see more use of real estate apps for smartphones and more social engagement by real estate companies.