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How Real Estate Investors Can Prepare For Turbulent Economic Future

Investing in the future is the smartest thing you can do now, considering the economy contracted for two consecutive quarters, the typical textbook definition of a recession. Although, the US is still not technically in a recession, as the National Bureau of Economic Research is the only body allowed to make that call (and they haven’t, yet…), the warning signs are there.

What can’t be ignored is that the economy is contracting while productivity is declining, so it’s best to prepare for the harsh economic days ahead. Because of the unpredictable economic behavior, this article will discuss how to invest in your future so you can ride through the hard times.

1. Create An Investment Plan

The first step to building a financially secure future is to create an investment plan. With such a volatile market, you need a guiding star to help you commit to the master plan and avoid panicked decisions. An investment plan lays down a strategy after gauging all the market variables. That way, you can recognize and weigh all the risks when investing, enabling you to fulfill all your obligations still. The plan should help you realize the best investment vehicles.

The key to creating a plan is to be realistic about what you can achieve. Note that creating an entire financial strategy for the future in one sitting isn’t going to work. Instead, break down each piece into smaller steps that are manageable and achievable. Once you’ve figured out the steps, write them down, so they’re easy to refer back to when needed.

2. Diversify Your Investments

As is often said, never place all your eggs in one basket. Diversifying is an excellent way to get the most out of your money, even in the most troubling economic slumps. It means spreading the investments across different asset classes so that if one class tanks, another will likely thrive. Markets you can try your hand at include:

A) Invest In REITs

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a great way to invest in real estate without owning any property. They’re publicly traded on stock exchanges and often pay out dividends from their rental income. In a risk-off environment such as the current one, REITs are typically the oasis of hope, and it’s easy to see why. REITs offer relative inflation protection and high dividends but bear a low correlation to the stock market and have low transaction fees.

REITs are excellent investment vehicles for the long term, typically outperforming bonds and stocks in some periods. If anything, REIT’s average yield is over 3%, more than double what you would earn from S&P 500 stocks. What’s more, REITs are liquid, so you can get your cash as soon as the market opens.

B) Home Flipping 

You don’t have to own an entire rental property to reap the benefits of investing in properties. A neat trick to try is home flipping, which involves buying distressed properties at discounts, renovating them, and selling them for a profit.

C) Sandwich Lease

In this arrangement, you enter a rent-to-own agreement with a landlord, then lease it to a tenant. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to enter into real estate, as the tenant will allow you to purchase the property after several years.

3. Concentrate On Marketing

Investing in your marketing strategy is one of the best ways to create a sustainable business. Marketing will boost sales and build your reputation, increase your relevance and demand, and cements your place among customers, creating a loyal customer base.

One of the most potent forms of marketing is digital marketing. The main way of doing this is through search engine optimization (SEO) using keywords. You target a range of words potential clients use when searching for real estate properties for Google to drive traffic to your online sites.

Digital marketing could take many forms, such as email marketing, blogging—which 56% of marketers say is effective, and social media. Posting content on social media is exceptionally effective considering 82% of Americans use social platforms.

Whichever form of marketing you settle on, you should try videos. According to Wyzowl’s research, 86% of marketers said videos helped increase traffic and generate leads, while 81% said they directly helped increase sales.

4. Automate Your Savings

Automating savings is a great way to ensure you always have money available for whatever comes up. The best part is you won’t even have to think about it as it works in the background.

It’s also a great way to start investing in the future. You can set up automated transfers from checking to savings and then start saving with every dollar. It’s easy, painless, and will save you money in the long run.

To automate your savings, use an app like Acorns or Qapital. These apps allow you to set up automatic savings plans, plan, and invest without making withdrawals at specific times as traditional banks do.

5. Start Investing In Yourself

Another great way to prepare for the future is by investing in yourself. There are many ways to invest in yourself, such as:

  • Go to class: There are many courses available online or at local community colleges that can help you learn more about real estate and expand your knowledge in readiness for the future. Most of these courses have classes on various aspects of real estate, including how to market yourself, use social media, and manage your finances.
  • Subscribe to emails from industry leaders: By signing up for newsletters from real estate professionals or companies, you’ll stay up-to-date on changes in the industry and what you can do to adjust.
  • Listen to niche podcasts: Podcasts are another great way to learn about topics related to your industry—not just real estate. There’s a ton of valuable information on marketing, management skills, and more.

The Bottom Line – Invest In Your Future, No One Else Has More Of An Incentive

Just because the economy is tanking doesn’t mean you must sink with it. Since business is low, now is the best time to invest in the future and realign your business so you can reap big when the market turns hot again.

Some of the best tactics you can employ include concentrating on marketing, investing in your knowledge, diversifying your investment portfolio, and automating your savings. Before you set out, you must create an investment master plan to guide you through turbulent times.

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Uncategorized

Real Estate Wealth Doesn’t Disappear; It Transfers

The economy is currently enduring a significant downturn, having recorded two consecutive quarters of a decline in the country’s GDP in July 2022 and also demonstrating a significant decline in productivity. The FED is purposely increasing the midterm interest rates to reduce historic inflation, it is not yet actually doing quantitative tightening per se, but is quelling economic by reducing consumer confidence. The FED is unlikely to recover until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2023. For many, this is the textbook definition of a recession, and the signs are everywhere. There’s a bear market, consumer and small business confidence is in tatters, high inflation, and rising interest rates.

While the National Bureau of Economic Research refuses to call it a recession, many are feeling the heat, and the real estate industry is no exception. The Federal Reserve’s 20-year-high rate hikes have jacked up mortgage rates, putting the skid on a hot market. The last time consumer confidence in the housing market was this low (17%) was in 2011. The annual price appreciation rate dropped from 19.3% to 17.3%.

Two of the biggest real estate companies, Redfin and Compass, laid-off workers, with the Redfin CEO citing a 17% decline in expectations back in May 2022. Even REITs, traditionally investors’ safe haven, are taking a beating, with the S&P REIT index plunging 23% as of July 2022.

While the real estate industry may seem calamitous at the moment, it is often said that wealth, like energy, can’t be destroyed; it transfers. There’s a reason why real estate is touted as having produced 90% of the world’s millionaires. All you have to do is join the dots, follow the money trail, and you will be fine recession/downturn or not. Please keep reading to learn how to go about it.

How To Prepare For A Turbulent Real Estate Market

There is a lot of uncertainty in the markets, so real estate investors need to prepare for anything that comes their way. That means getting your house in order, including:

1. Reduce Debt

The average American is $90,460 deep in debt, but that doesn’t mean you have to sink to such depths. Huge debts will dent your credit score, diminish cash reserves you can use to improve your quality of life, eat into your emergency fund, and obliterate your ability to save or invest. Settle debts with higher interest rates and keep away from them. It would be best if you only kept debts with more prolonged and lower interest rate payments. Similarly, only sign up for debt whose investment will yield higher returns.

2. Diversify Your Investments

If you’ve just started investing in real estate, it is essential to diversify your investments because not all real estate forms perform the same. It means having a mix of hard assets in different industries that will help you weather any storm that may come your way. For instance, don’t just invest exclusively in commercial office blocks. Try malls, single-family units, multifamily units, REITs, or others.

3. If You Have The Money, Try A Hedge Fund

True, getting into and maintaining a hedge fund is costly, but it is one of the best vehicles during a downturn. Most hedge fund managers will employ different techniques such as derivatives, leveraging, and especially short selling, where you will make a profit if the value of an asset falls, which is perfect during an economic downturn.

4. Study About Returns

Since the market dictates that we watch the pennies, you have to assess the return promised by each deal before making a decision. For instance, you must be smarter in evaluating whether to pay off debt or invest. For example, instead of increasing payments towards offsetting the mortgage, you would be better off investing that money elsewhere, especially if the returns are much higher than the inflation rate.

5. Take Advantage Of Opportunities To Sell Your Home

Median home prices hit a record high of 440,300 in July 2022, the Fed continues to jack up interest rates, leading to higher mortgage rates, and the supply of homes is still lower than expected. Now might be the perfect time to sell your home if you wish to make the most out of the market. Since there’s little supply, there’s little competition, but you have to act fast before the spiraling mortgage rates lock out all potential buyers.

6. Think Long-Term Investment

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a good investment opportunity, but it’s essential to keep things in perspective. You could lose money if you lose your head and make an impulsive decision. Instead, take time to consider all options before making any moves.

7. Curb Appeal

If you have a home that needs some work before it’s ready to sell, now is the time to get started. Although home repairs can be costly, they add value to the property.

HomeLight research suggests homes with good landscaping fetch between 5.5% and 12.7% more than poorly landscaped ones. There’s even an instance where a new $20,000 worth of curb appeal returned $200,000 more for a home they had bought a year earlier. It would help if you considered painting the walls in neutral colors, manicuring the lawn, and replacing old and broken stuff and appliances.

8. Build Relationships With Other Realtors

You don’t always have to compete, especially in a low-supply environment. Instead, team up with other realtors to create a network of peers for the common good. That should improve your craft, get referrals, and serve your customers better as you exchange valuable input from each other and find the best deals for your clients.

9. Make Use Of Technology

Instead of requiring clients to make a trip to view the property, you can provide virtual reality tours to help save some money. Additionally, you could use customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to keep track of listings and customers to ensure they get the best service.

There are plenty of real estate platforms and apps that make it easier to market listings to a broader audience. Some even utilize AI to match buyers to their most preferred listings, making it easier to find suitable homes.

Wrap Up

Whenever there’s an economic downturn, you should note that wealth doesn’t disappear; it just transfers. It may not be transferring to another visible entity, but may be transferring in time, or it may be transferring in nominal currency (for example, the US$ is increasing in value compared to the Euro, and although US$ denominated Real Estate prices are declining, they are increasing against the Euro). Your job is to follow the trail to ensure you maintain a profitable real estate business.

Some ways you can achieve this include diversifying your real estate portfolio, reducing debt, trying other forms of investments such as hedge funds, making use of technology, and opting for investments that provide the best returns.

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Real Estate

How Hybrid Working Environment Has Impacted Real Estate Industry

The COVID-19 outbreak and accompanying move to remote work have impacted real estate. Many firms have rethought their physical workspace needs as workers work from home. This has reduced demand for traditional office space and increased demand for co-working spaces. Some commercial real estate developers have had to focus on residential properties or retrofitting office buildings for hybrid work environments. This comprises specialized workstation locations, social distancing techniques, and increased cleaning processes for in-office and remote workers. Hybrid work settings have affected real estate development. With the option to operate from anywhere, corporations may seek properties in lower-cost places, changing real estate values and development patterns.

According to the 2022 Accenture report, 68% of fast-growing companies have adopted a hybrid work model, and more than 83% of employees prefer it. Although the hybrid workplace model has been around for some time, it increasingly became common during the pandemic because of the lockdowns.

Inevitably, the real estate market is changing in response to the evolving trends in office attendance and the widespread belief that hybrid working models are here to stay. Here’s a look at the impact of a hybrid working environment on the real estate industry and how investors can adapt to its changing demands.

Impact Of Hybrid Work Models On The Real Estate Industry

Reduced Demand For Office Space

It is no secret that the widespread adoption of hybrid work models has revolutionized the commercial real estate market. According to a report from CBRE, demand for office space fell in September for the fourth month in a row as occupiers delayed lease decisions.

One of the reasons for the decline is evaluations of hybrid working arrangements by companies. Some organizations may also reduce the size of their workspace due to underutilization.

In addition to catering to employees’ interests in working from home, many companies realize they can make substantial savings by minimizing office space.

Reduced Market Value For Commercial Spaces

A working paper by experts at NYU and Columbia warns that the value of commercial real estate across the country could drop by as much as $500 billion from its pre-pandemic level by 2029 if current trends in working from home don’t change.

The locations of both workplaces and residences significantly impact real estate values and development. When there is less demand for office space, the lease income that the building generates decreases, and so does the building’s market value.

That’s a disaster for commercial space owners, equity investors, and lenders and may lead to bankruptcy and foreclosures.

Increased Demand For The Residential Real Estate

After companies started adopting hybrid working environments, many employees considered moving out to the suburbs, rural areas, or smaller towns because of preference and the high cost of living in the city.

As people no longer commute to and from work daily, there’s no need to live close to a place of employment or a public transportation hub and incur high costs of living. That has led to a dramatic increase in the demand for suburban real estate, which may cause a rise in average prices.

What Can Real Estate Investors Do?

Low occupancy is costly and may render your office building redundant if you do nothing. That said, you can optimize your property in a few ways to help attract occupants, increase demand, and enhance tenants’ satisfaction.

Repurpose Existing Buildings

Office space is becoming obsolete due to the rising popularity of home office workstations. Overbuilt office buildings in areas where property values are declining, vacancy rates are growing, or places far away from public transit are particularly at risk.

RentCafe believes that in 2020 and 2021, 41% of apartment conversions resulted from previously used office space. Investors whose assets are in this position may find that converting their property into residences is their best choice to avoid foreclosure.

Integrate Home Office In Living Spaces

Recent 1-year estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) by the Census Bureau show that the number of persons who work from home increased from 5.7% to 17.9% between 2019 and 2021.

The necessity for several home offices to support two or more persons working from home has expanded in recent years. Investors can introduce a home office idea tailored to the specific requirements of people working from home. Adding a space specifically for work can drive up the price of new houses and raise the value of existing ones.

Open Data Centers

Companies used to host their private networks and resources locally. However, companies are recently shifting their IT operations to data centers to reduce the need for expensive commercial real estate while improving their IT assets’ performance, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.

Further, the need to securely store and share data among employees who spend time in and out of the workplace has prompted businesses to explore new solutions to accommodate mobile workers.

Hybrid work may cause a surge in demand for data centers, which would be good news for investors in the sector. One thing that is certain about cloud, colocation, and managed data centers is that their global relevance will grow with the speeding up of digitalization.

Co-Working Spaces

Research and forecasts indicate that the co-working space industry will grow by 11% annually ($13.35 billion) between 2021 and 2025. In reality, not everyone can work from home. To make use of time when they don’t have to be at the office, employees who need to clock in a few days a week of office time may look into renting a shared office.

After over two years in business, 72% of co-working spaces reported a positive financial return. That bodes well for real estate investors who put money into shared office spaces.

Short-Term Leasing

Landlords rarely signed short-term leases in the past because it was easy to find new tenants prepared to commit to longer terms. The economic situation is not as rosy at the moment. Currently, landlords are eager for any kind of tenant they can get, as many experts believe it will be years before occupancy rates return to pre-pandemic levels.

Companies that wish to keep a physical office presence but are still unsure about their long-term needs often opt for flexible lease terms. You can increase your office space occupancy by providing shorter lease periods, cooperative rates, and adaptable layouts.

Final Word

There is little question that the hybrid working model is here to stay. However, this may not inevitably indicate a sharp downturn in the real estate industry. It is essentially an opportunity for the sector to adapt in response to consumer and market demands. Real estate leaders must conform to the shifting preferences of their customers by offering fresh, cutting-edge products and services.

By Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA

www.redpillkapital.com

If you simply need more information. have questions, or want to discuss a specific deal, I’m always excited to help. Reach out to me at info@redpillkapital.com

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