David Fisher avoids the extra risk involved with flipping homes from afar.
“You’re sure to fail when you have a long-distance flip,” said Fisher, who rehabs and resells distressed properties in Northeast Ohio. “Forty miles from my home is the farthest I’ve gone.”
Most distressed property buyers are like Fisher in that respect, according to an Auction.com buyer survey conducted in February 2021. More than three in four respondents (78 percent) said most of their investment property purchases are within driving distance of their homes.
Technology Empowers Local Buyers
Innovation and technology are enabling the remote buying of distressed properties by empowering local buyers who can now buy a house down the street while relaxing at home or while taking a break from their day job.
“My side hustle is real estate. It’s my hobby, I love it. It’s kind of my escape from my consulting job, which is high stress,” said Fisher.
Karen Tyler enjoys bidding for local investment properties from her Virginia Beach home — which she also bought in an online REO auction.
“With Auction.com it’s great because I get to do it in the safety of my own home where I’m in my PJs,” said Tyler, owner/broker at Prodigy Realty. She has purchased about 20 local REO properties online over the past decade.
Investor Michael Hallman only purchases properties in three Chicago-area counties close to his home, but he has purchased some REO homes via online auction while away on vacation with his family.
“I’ve bought properties on the Auction.com platform when I’m on vacation: when I’m on a cruise boat, in a lobby somewhere, off the road somewhere,” said Hallman, who said he rehabs and resells between 12 and 20 properties a year. “There are some amazing places where I have won properties. I can’t even keep track of them. I was in Hawaii on a beach on my cell phone, and I bought a property.”
For more on local buyers and distressed housing, read “More local buyers bode well for distressed housing,” the latest article by Daren Blomquist, Auction.com VP of market economics, in the Scotsman Guide.