joec – where are those “blocks of homes” in the NYC area that are for sale and being bought up by Chinese buyers? There are very few recent developments with identical tract houses around NYC. And the foreclosure crisis hit the area differently. There really weren’t any overbuilt places where 8 out of 10 houses were up for distressed sale. Really nothing like parts of Riverside County out here. Nothing like Detroit either, except maybe in Camden, NJ outside of Philly.

The only thing I can think of are apartment and commercial buildings, but those tend not to be for amateurs. Probably some REIT buying. Also, some Indians (not Chinese) buying in very specific neighborhoods.

I’m watching the market around NYC (particularly in NJ). Inventory has tightened A LOT in NYC itself (at least in the good parts), but not much is changing in the NJ suburbs. If anything, the number of REOs has more than doubled over the past year and a half due to delayed judicial foreclosures hitting the market.

Lastly, what you’re saying is exactly what they were saying in the 1980s. Japan will buy the US up, etc, etc, etc. Didn’t happen so fast 🙂 Cash investors aren’t as strong hands as you think, either. If the market burps, they’re actually more likely to sell at (say) a 20% loss than mortgaged investors. Why? Because they can, unlike people with 3% down which have to wait for a short sale, deed in lieu, or foreclosure. There’s really no way to manage how many people run for the hills at once.