I’ve got an important announcement: the ZOMBIE APOCOLYPSE may be over. At least, the foreclosure zombie apocalypse, that is. And unfortunately, it’s not necessarily good news for real estate investors. I’m Carole Ellis. I’ve got all the details on the official end of the foreclosure zombie apocalypse today, in episode 66. -- So what sounds like the best post-housing-crash news EVER that could end up being bad news for your real estate business: this formal announcement from RealtyTrac. According to the real estate data giant, vacant “zombie” foreclosures – properties that have no real owner and have been allowed to stagnate vacant on the market by lenders that started the foreclosure process but never completed it – are fading fast. In fact, the number of properties in “zombie foreclosure” has fallen by 30.1 percent over this time last year, making fewer than one in every 20 foreclosed houses an actual zombie. Why is this potentially bad news for real estate investors, and how should you start adjusting your “game” to deal with the end of this dystopian phenomenon? I’ll get to that in just a minute, but first, I want to tell you about something else that is NEW and a whole lot brighter – literally – than zombie foreclosures: a fully solar-powered community that is presently under construction in the sunny state of Florida. The development, called Babcock Ranch, will eventually be home to about 19,500 homes that are fully powered by the sun and that do NOT have solar panels. It’s a huge labor of environmentally-friendly love mixed with a healthy eye to profit, and you are going to love learning more about this self-described “town of the future.” I’ve got all the details in the News and Networking section at www.rei.today, so head on over there and check it out. Now, back to the darker, post-apocalyptic side of real estate…Okay, maybe it’s actually not quite that bad. Here’s the deal: According to RealtyTrac, fewer than one in every 20 foreclosed homes in the national housing market today is actually a ZOMBIE FORECLOSURE, and that’s a big improvement for markets all over the country that suffered some serious blight as lenders, realizing that they had a vested interest in NOT being fully responsible for the thousands and thousands of homes that they’d foreclosed on in hard-hit areas of the country during the housing crash (think Detroit, for example), opted to abandon foreclosure proceedings on those homes and just let them sit. Since in most cases the homeowners had already left, those properties basically fell apart (and sometimes right back into the ground; I visited Detroit and Flint, Michigan, in 2012 and huge portions of those cities at that time were nothing but ghost towns) and they took neighboring property values right along with them. Now that the national housing market is in  recovery mode and just about everywhere is better off than it was in the wake of the housing and financial crises, lenders are starting to go ahead and finish up the foreclosure process on those zombie properties, either cleaning them up or knocking them down and creating space for new development. Now, many real estate investors say that they feel like the end of zombie foreclosures means that they missed the boat. After all, how easy would it have been to negotiate with a bank to take a property off its hands that it clearly didn’t care about enough to finish taking ownership? Well, the reality is, it wasn’t actually that great! So don’t you DARE use this as an excuse, ladies and gentlemen! Here’s the thing: those banks couldn’t be BOTHERED with those properties. They didn’t WANT to deal with them. Now that they’re actually willing to foreclosure and throw them up on the market, they’re actually making markets more affordable and accessible in a lot of cases both to first-time homebuyers and investors. In fact, senior VP at RealtyTrac, Daren Blomquist, pointed out just last week that the death of the zombie foreclosure market in areas like Miami and New York is actually making those markets more accessible by relieving the quote PRESSURE COOKER of escalating prices and deteriorating affordability (end quote) in those areas and others. So if you have been feeling sad that you didn’t get in on the zombie foreclosure apocalypse in time, good news: NOW is really the time to start leveraging your investing experience and education in order to truly get involved in real estate .Here are three easy things that you can do to get your investing started NOW in today’s hot, now zombie-less markets: Examine your target market for TIMELINESS This means take a look at days on market, sales price, and how those homes that are selling are looking. This means: are they all HGTV dressed up to sell at top dollar or is there an active investor community? What do you need to plan to do in order to participate in this area? Take a look at off-market options. There are SO MANY WAYS to get great homes at deep discounts via off-market purchases and working directly with motivated sellers. And no matter what ANYONE tells you, there are always off-market homes available. If you don’t believe me, check out an old, old episode (number 2!) in the REI Today Vault and see how one of my early guests gets major action in the hot, hot market of Miami using off-market strategies. Finally, take some action. And I know you’ve heard that a thousand times, but seriously, people, it’s the only way to make money in real estate! Go to the vault (rei.today/vault) and look at episode #2 and also take a look at today’s episode’s list of markets that still have plenty of zombies to go around while you’re there. If you’re not yet a member, text REITODAY no spaces no periods to 33444 and I’ll get you in there right away. Either go to www.rei.today/vault or text REITODAY no spaces no periods to 33444 and I’ll immediately send you the information you need to get that access and ALSO provide you with fast, immediate access to all sorts of great trainings, news coverage, interviews, and lot more timely information that will help make your investing safer, faster, and more profitable. And remember, when you do that, you’ll also be able to GROW YOUR NETWORK by interacting with me and your fellow listeners to REI Today… so stop by to ask questions, make comments and network with other investors across the country. Text REITODAY no spaces no periods to 33444 or head over to www.rei.today/vault right now. REI Nation, thanks for listening in and always remember this: Your best investment is your own education.

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