Are recent survey from move.com shows investor buyers (12.1%) have doubled since March 2009 (5.6%). The survey found:

  • 15.8 percent of those interested in investment property were men
  • 8.1 percent were women
  • 52.6 percent of the investment buyers were between ages 35 to 49  

Of the 25.3 percent of buyers who are focusing on foreclosure properties the survey found:

  • 42 percent regard the purchase they are considering an investment and don’t plan to live in the property themselves
  • 13.2 percent plan to rent out the property
  • 11.3 percent are going to fix up the property and resell it
  • 17.4 percent plan to house a family member until the property can be sold profitably

Of the 9.8 percent of buyers who say that they plan to purchase and live in a property in the next two years, 5.4 percent plan to purchase in the next 12 months; 48.3 percent are first-time buyers; 52.8 percent are women, and 44.1 percent are men.

Investors buying up our foreclosed homes is both a blessing and curse. Unfortunately, investors have flooded the Phoenix market to scoop up low priced homes and turn them into rentals. This is causing a flood of rentals in the market, reducing the rents, and turning neighborhoods into a high volumn rental area.

Some banks, very few though, market a foreclosed home to primary homebuyers only for a select amount of time. If they get no offers, then they open it up to investors. I wished this was more of the standard than the exception.