For most of us, it’s difficult to know where to invest. There’s uncertainty everywhere you turn, from the stock market –to the fix-and-flip strategies that are all over TV.
With the 07/08 recession still looming in the back of everyone’s minds, most of us are cautious when it comes to investing. The concerns are real –what if another recession is looming on the horizon? What if stock prices are overvalued? What if the housing market experiences a downturn right after you buy a fixer-upper?
In today’s episode, Renters Warehouse’s Chief Strategy Officer Greg Rand and Kevin Ortner share how investing in single family residences (SFR) as rentals –as a long-term buy-and-hold strategy can help you to future-proof your investments.
In this episode, Greg also shares how he took action during the recession, to find a way to make money even during the downturn –while at the same time, looking to invest conscienciously so that they could help others as well.
In the end, Greg ended up finding a way to help those who had lost their homes during foreclosures, opening up opportunities for them to stay in their own local areas, via rental housing. His idea involved advising investors on which areas had the most potential for SFR rental investments –and which type of properties to invest in that’ll help to attract high-quality, long-term tenants.
Greg’s approach formed the basis of what was later to become Own America –a marketplace for SFR investors, providing them with rentals to browse and data that they needed to make key investment decisions, and find properties that would perform best as rentals.
Recently, Own America was acquired by Renters Warehouse, meaning that now for the first time, the data that Own America was built upon, and the valuable service of property management –combine. You can browse, invest, and outsource your rental property management –in one place.
In this episode, Kevin and Greg also discuss the value of:
- Keeping a long-term perspective. When you’re in it for the long-term, recessions don’t matter nearly as much. Property almost always recovers any short-term market downturns –even going on to increase in value.
- Linking your investments to long-term big-picture goals. Don’t just set goals, tie each property to important life objectives in your life that you’d like to accomplish down the road –one property could pay for a child’s college education, or maybe five properties could support you in retirement. Again, get specific. Tie it to your retirement date, and your specific income goals.
- Location, location, location. Always look at where demand will be strongest. Where is there going to be an increase in demand? A lot of this is speculative; however, there are some key indicators you can look for when assessing a property’s likelihood to appreciate. The combination of demand creates upward pressure; helping to drive the rents up, and contributing to your property’s appreciation.
Finally, they’ll discuss how by and large, most (roughly 80%) of investment properties are not fix-and-flip, but instead, are bought as long-term investments.
Buy-and-hold offers tremendous long-term security compared to other investments, in that there are a number of factors that you can know, for certain, when investing in it. For instance, you know that your tenant’s paying off your mortgage; you know that you’re getting cash flow every month, and you know that after your mortgage is paid off you’ll have that much extra cash flow in your pocket.
Today, while things have changed a lot since the recession, some things are still the same. The solid, long-term value that SFR provides is still key. The difference is, today, investors have all of the data that they need, right at their fingertips. It’s easier than ever to run the numbers, and analyze the data, to find properties that’ll perform well as rentals.
Our Renters Warehouse Market Research Center is built on Own America’s software, allowing you to easily look up home statistics in neighborhoods across the USA, giving you information that you need to make key investment decisions. See population trends, migration patterns, housing price appreciations –and other pieces of data that you can incorporate into your analysis –to find out how well a property will perform as a rental.
Tune in to hear how you can future-proof your investment strategy. SFR makes it possible!
At Renters Warehouse, we’re passionate about real estate –and giving investors access to information that they need. Our goal is to transform SFR investing –by making it easier to invest –and manage your SFR portfolio.
Subscribe to the Rent Estate Podcast:
Back to Posts