Texas Real Estate Expectations for the 2nd Half of 2023

Texas Real Estate Expectations for the 2nd Half of 2023 with Tim Cook of West DFW REI Group.

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TJones (0:00) - Hello, everyone, and welcome to foreclosure.com. My name is Tim Jones, and I'm excited to introduce our guest today, veteran master real estate investor Tim Cook. Tim, great name!

TCook (0:12) - Hey, thanks, Tim. Welcome to the TNT Show.

TJones (0:17) - We might have to start that moving forward. Well, thank you again for taking the time to speak with us. And would you mind telling the audience, you know, a brief background of your real estate history and maybe your role in the West DFW Real Estate Investor Group?

TCook (0:36) - Sure, glad to do that. So, I spent a career in the Marine Corps. After that, I took on a civil service job or a government contractor job like many do, but that's when I started studying the real estate investing business. My dad kind of gave me the bug in my younger days, but I didn't really take it seriously till I retired and had time to focus on it. But I started studying the business in 2000; Here it is 2023, so I've got 23 plus years under my belt. Learned all sorts of strategies really focusing on the creative deal structuring and helping homeowners prevent foreclosure and doing rehabs. The market has been great for rehabs over the last couple of years. So, it just was a natural thing to get into that business. Along the way, you know, part of my interest was to give back and help new investors in this business. So I launched the West DFW REI Group in Fort Worth, and we've been doing that for 14 years this October, this November. We teach all the different strategies of real estate investing, including preforeclosures and foreclosures. So, it's been fun.

TJones (1:58) - Well, first of all, thank you for your service. Much respect. What are you currently seeing in distressed assets like preforeclosures or foreclosures in the Dallas, Fort Worth housing markets?

TCook (2:10) - I deal with what I see. What kind of leads I have coming in; what kind of leads that my REIA group members and students are talking about. And honestly, I just don't see a big influx of preforeclosure type deals there. There are some, but they're not huge. I happen to be working on one right now that's related to a death in the family. She lost her job, no longer can afford the property, and has a problem, and I'm trying to prevent it from going to foreclosure. But you know, I talked to a couple of different agents about the market, what they're seeing, and again, they're not telling me that there's a huge number of preforeclosures going on here in Dallas, Fort Worth.

TCook (3:06) - I personally think part of that is because we have such a strong job market here. We have such a high demand for houses that, you know, many sellers know that they put their house on the market, they can have it gone in a couple of days. I think that's one thing that's preventing a lot of preforeclosure type properties in this market. There are some you know. Foreclosure.com has several in my area right now.

TJones (3:35) - What are your expectations for the rest of this year, and really this fall? Do you see anything switching up or do you, or do you think it's going to continue as-is?

TCook (3:44) - The hard thing to tell is, you know, what are the feds going to do with interest rates? They're already high. I heard a comment the other day that they're thinking about another increase. You know, because of that, I'm hearing from the local realtors that home sellers that would normally be talking about selling or they're discussing selling, they're putting it off because they know if they sell, they have to go buy, and then the interest rates are too high. So our inventory is super low because the, you know, people are afraid to list their property and go buy something else. As far as the rest of this year goes, I think you're going to start seeing investors have a problem because these investors that maybe are paying too much to start with. And I see that happening all the time here in Dallas Fort Worth. It's hard to buy anything at a reasonable price anymore. But for those that did pay too much and they rehab it when they get to the other end of the road, and they have to get a buyer, and they have to go qualify with the seven-plus percent interest rate, They may find their buyer pool is much smaller than what it would have been a year ago. And if they aren't planning for that, they could be in for a surprise. I hope that's not the case, but I'm afraid that's gonna happen.

TJones (5:12) - Well, Tim, I think that's all the time we have for today, but I do want to thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Is there anything else you want to mention to the audience before we get out of here?

TJones (5:36) - Perfect. Well, I hope you, I hope you get lots of new members from this video. We hope you enjoyed this interview. Don't forget to sign up for our free email alerts over at foreclosure.com. Until next time, I'm Tim Jones. And, see you later, Tim Cook.