Investment advice from a poor realtor

My friend Erica has been house hunting, and so every Monday we have a standing date to go out and look at the cheapest, most "value"- laden properties in Newport - you know, the ugly places that are truly great deals if you can get beyond the 30 or 40 thousand it would take to make them even remotely do-able from an aesthetic standpoint. And what an education THAT'S been...there's a low-end smorgasbord going on here right under our noses!

People keep saying sort of vaguely that "this is a great time to buy" - we'll I'm here to tell you they're not lying, it IS. When Erica first started her search 5 months ago, there was not even ONE single- family house to be had for under $260,000, but now there's a whole bouquet of them to choose from and that list is seemingly expanding daily. This week we saw an almost 1600 square foot house, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, built in 1900, full basement, updated electrical, slate roof, reasonable neighborhood, big yard that was listed for exactly $250 - and that's asking price, you know it'll go for less - right here in Newport. It was ugly as sin of course, but the defects were all cosmetic - green vinyl siding, mucho fake wood panelling - and underneath that unfortunate appearance, all the things that counted looked to be rock-solid. Erica ultimately decided she didn't want to live there, but what an investment for the right person. If I weren't a starving realtor I'd buy it myself...