Want to get rental deals after COVID-19? Here are some ideas. Personally, I believe buying rental properties is one of the wisest things we can do today. The combination of higher rents and higher property valuations is going to do wonders for our wealth.
The below is a guest post from a rental property owner trying to navigate the pandemic just like the rest of us.
How To Get Rental Deals After COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all aspects of living, including property rentals. The impact on the economy has changed how we do things; most people are only willing to spend on basic needs.
This consumer behavior is most likely to carry over even after the crisis, which will affect other industries including apartments and vacation rentals. In this light, property owners need to position themselves properly in order to score rental deals past coronavirus.
They must look carefully on tenants’ preferences and create unique aspects in their properties that will support the new normal way of living. Here are a few ways property owners can align themselves to attract rental deals after the crisis.
1. Prepare for cramped up spaces with travelers
The world is slowly opening up to more travel. While the crisis has greatly affected the financial standing for most people, the majority will still take the much-awaited breaks to travel. After all, it has been a long while indoors and people are craving fresh air.
Most likely, vacationers will travel in groups in order to cut costs. Vacation rentals in Florida, for instance, will have no choice but to hold excess numbers of people in one room for the upcoming spring break Florida. The impact will be dealing with noise complaints from neighbors, limited parking spaces, and overflowing dustbins.
Vacation property owners who will be able to handle such situations will gain an upper hand in attracting tenants. They then need to rethink alternative parking spaces and regular cleaning out of dustbins. They also need to install soundproofing systems in their properties to reduce noise disturbances.
2. Incorporate coworking areas
Covid-19 forced most people to move out of their offices to work from home. The majority of these people have now realized the benefits of flexible working and are more likely to prefer this new way of working even after COVID-19. Property owners who want to score rental deals after the crisis need to start thinking of ways of accommodating people working from home.
One way is including coworking areas and business rooms in their properties. These rooms should be designed in ways that inspire productivity and networking. Talk of ergonomic workspaces, high-speed Wi-Fi, conference rooms, and sufficient natural light.
Here's the ideal home size and layout for a post-pandemic world where more people are working at home.
3. Rethink package deliveries
Social distancing and avoiding large crowds during the pandemic has greatly influenced the way people shop for supplies. The last few months have seen an increase in online shopping. Of course, people now love the convenience of scrolling through items from the comfort of their homes. This is a comfort that will most likely influence the continuity of this trend.
In preparation for attracting rental deals post COVID-19, property owners should build models around this trend. This means enlarging package holding areas to accommodate increased deliveries as well as offering home delivery services.
If you live in a condo building, package deliveries can really pile up from multiple owners and tenants. Further, there is safety issues if tenants let delivery people in. The huge rise in package deliveries really is one of the biggest unexpected issues that has arisen due to the pandemic. Landlords need to figure out a good way to manage them.
4. Offer flexible paying options
As the new COVID variant rapidly spread across the world, many organizations were temporarily shut down and others were forced to work with minimal people on-premise. This meant that a bigger percentage had to take unpaid leaves while others took salary cuts.
The financial impact of the crisis has seen many people defer on rent payments for several months, a situation that will see them struggle to gain back their financial freedom even after the crisis is over. If property owners are to score rental deals after the crisis, they will have to rethink payment arrangements to accommodate the financial deficiency of potential renters. Those that will offer flexible payment options will surely gain a competitive edge.
5. Guarantee tenants’ safety
Even after the crisis is over, people will be conscious of their health and the possibility of contracting the virus. Properties that will be able to guarantee tenants’ safety from the virus will stand a chance of scoring rental deals post COVID-19.
That means regular cleaning and disinfecting common areas, decongesting common areas such as common laundry areas and strategically placing sanitization stations in the common areas.
Conclusion To Getting Rental Deals
The COVID-19 crisis has been hard on people. It will definitely take a while before things go back to normal. While some aspects might go back to how they were before the crisis, others will take a longer time or even never go back to normal.
Rental deals are getting tougher to come by because so many retail and institutional investors are buying up rental properties. But if you can successfully provide the above accommodations, you will be able to get better tenants and better opportunities.
Thus, business owners including property owners need to think of ways of accommodating these changes if they are to score with their consumers after the crisis. For more resources, see the Real Estate Learning Center.
Achieve Financial Freedom Through Real Estate
Real estate is my favorite way to achieving financial freedom because it is a tangible asset that is less volatile, provides utility, and generates income. By the time I was 30, I had bought two properties in San Francisco and one property in Lake Tahoe. These properties now generate a significant amount of mostly passive income.
In 2016, I started diversifying into heartland real estate to take advantage of lower valuations and higher cap rates. I did so by investing $810,000 with real estate crowdfunding platforms. With interest rates down, the value of cash flow is up. Further, the pandemic has made working from home more common.
Take a look at my two favorite real estate crowdfunding platforms that are free to sign up and explore:
Fundrise: A way for accredited and non-accredited investors to diversify into real estate through private eFunds. Fundrise has been around since 2012 and has consistently generated steady returns, no matter what the stock market is doing. For most people, investing in a diversified eREIT is the way to go.
CrowdStreet: A way for accredited investors to invest in individual real estate opportunities mostly in 18-hour cities. 18-hour cities are secondary cities with lower valuations, higher rental yields, and potentially higher growth due to job growth and demographic trends. If you have a lot more capital, you can build you own diversified real estate portfolio.