I can only tell you what I see in my little world.
Yes, there have always been bidding wars for the top-quality premium properties. I listed those addresses and stories to show how even the marginal properties are getting a lot of attention.
Look at the one on Alabama.
We had five all-cash offers come in, and I probably had 30-40 phone calls, which, once I tell them that we have all-cash offers in hand, they give up.
There were probably 20-30 people who would have bought it if they could have gotten it under list price, or financed their purchase.
Look at the photos to see how much work is needed, and compare to the resulting end-value. Our contractor visited the property and quoted $30,000 to restore.
What’s a flipper going to make, $10,000 or $20,000 max? That’s a big gamble to try to make that little $$ on such a marginal property.
Maybe an investor would keep it for income?
He’s going to blow $400/month on taxes and HOA fee, so what is the max net rent, maybe $1,000 per month? That’s a better return than he’d get from having $170,000 in his savings account (sales price + repairs), and probably the reason many people are in the game.
But once you factor in vacancy, property mgmt fee, and worry, let alone any unforeseen expenses like HOA special assessments – is it worth it?
Not for me, but for others, apparently.
If others here aren’t experiencing the same results, then it’s just my little world that is abuzz, and I’ll apologize for causing a stir.