There are dozens of ways to engage with the real estate marketplace as an investor, but it’s important to take care of your health as you navigate this asset class. With the relentless spread of COVID-19 during this unprecedented public health crisis, it’s more important than ever to remain safe and socially distanced from hazards. However, at the same time, the major market correction that came during the onset of its spread has taught investors that securing your financial future is equally important. The stock market or any other investment opportunity could again present an elongated downward trend at any moment that lasts for months on end. Dropping from record highs in February, the stock market still shows signs of trauma that make for an uneasy marriage of investor capital and precarious corporate health.
Property investment is a different market, and as such, it is not exposed to these same shocks. Certainly, the property market possesses its own vulnerabilities, but during a pandemic, reliable housing becomes a sanctuary rather than a frivolous extra. Investors have found that real estate can and does create this security that is so desperately sought in times of crisis. That’s why so many high net worth individuals include multiple properties in their investment profile.
Nevertheless, the question remains as to how one might maintain these equitable real estate relationships without sacrificing health and safety through a pandemic that remains shrouded in mystery. The CDC recommends that COVID-19 patients and healthy individuals remain socially distant and wear masks while in contact with others. In addition, the pharmaceutical industry is hard at work creating and testing treatments like gimsilumab in clinical trials that may reduce the COVID-19 infection rate or eradicate the virus altogether. Thankfully, real estate can be engaged in close contact or at a favorable distance, so you can be sure that your family will remain safe throughout, no matter the progress of antiviral treatments or its continued spread.
Find a property manager for day to day business.
Property management has always been a great way to transform your real estate holdings into a more traditionally passive income stream. Outlets that provide management services like Venterra Realty do all the legwork required to keep a rental property humming and the cash payments each month flowing directly into your bank account.
Rental properties require a considerable amount of low impact maintenance, but they act as a great place to begin when engaging with the property market. Buying a home with a low-interest mortgage loan can give you the ability to make some quick and necessary upgrades to the property in order to list it on the rental market. Bear in mind that, once a tenant moves in, you are responsible for nearly all of their maintenance issues. A burst pipe in the middle of the night, a leak in the roof, or a resident locked out with the keys on the coffee table all fall under your purview as the owner of the home.
Likewise, as a homeowner and landlord, you should consider having a self-storage unit for transferring property into and out of the home to create a furnished or unfurnished rental. Maintaining a public storage Denver unit with easy access and plenty of extra storage space is a great way to keep the costs of this requirement low while keeping up the flexibility to add or remove furniture or decoration in keeping with your renter’s needs. The ability to pass the buck on to a landlord is the premier advantage that renters have over homeowners, but while your tenants are living mostly carefree, you are building up equity in a real estate asset that is only growing in value.
Instead of handling these small-time issues yourself, passing the mantle to a property manager like the kind Venterra Realty provides gives you the freedom to take a hands-off approach to the property, while making sure that your tenants enjoy a friendly staff who take care of all their needs. The manager fields and organizes all maintenance requests collects the rent, and even advertises the property when new tenants are required. This is great during normal business, and you simply pay out a small service fee from the collected rent for the pleasure. However during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to remain distant from the rental property, and by extension, the renters living in it means one less household that you must interact with on a regular basis. The best part is that you don’t have to meet face to face with your property manager either, the entire relationship can be conducted digitally through email and bank transfers.
Reconsider the REIT market.
REITs or Real Estate Investment Trusts are a feature of the stock market. These are typically a property owner’s first foray into the real estate marketplace because they are accessible as stock market commodities and cost an order of magnitude less than their brick and mortar equivalent. REITs are bundled, traded mutual funds that float the overall value of a portfolio of real properties on the market for investors to claim pieces of — in the form of stock. REITs often see a similar return on investment increases that a real structure might and therefore are favored by investors looking to make the jump, yet haven’t quite built up enough cash or collateral to secure a mortgage loan yet. Returning to the REIT marketplace can add to your overall property-adjacent holdings without the need to physically interact with anyone.
These funds may be a bit more volatile however. As a stock market listing REITs are more prone to market swings than physical property because their home is on the stock market, unlike the commodities themselves that underpin the value of any one of these funds. REITs are a great place for first-time investors to get a taste for the property market, too. Not only does a property-forward mutual fund give lower net worth investors an avenue to buy into the property market, but it also gives you access to unparalleled research that can help you devise your strategy going forward into physical holdings. Investors receive access to the quarterly prospectus and earnings calls and can utilize the data in order to identify the markers of success in a high-quality property. This research capacity — and of course, taking advantage of it — will serve you well as you venture into the market on your own to seek alternative investment properties that offer up fantastic growth potential.
Likewise, a seasoned investor can learn a thing or two by returning to the basics. A regressing back into the REIT market can give you more time to focus on these elemental factors that can make or break an aggressive property acquisition strategy. The longer you have been in the market the less likely you are to fall back on your fundamentals, so a brief pause for a refresh here will help you start anew once this time of uncertainty has passed and you are ready to re-engage with the physical marketplace.
Consider alternative investment platforms for increased access.
Alternative investment platforms like Yieldstreet give investors access to funds that are not available on the stock market. Instead of investing in a housing fund, you could engage in a fund that owns a curated list of high-value buildings in New York or Los Angeles. The Yieldstreet platform provides investors with plenty of recent data and advice it comes to their investment opportunities and has received a lot of positive feedback from new and seasoned investors who use the investment platform to manage their alternative investments. You can read Yieldstreet complaints, reviews, and a prospectus for more information on the particulars of what Yieldstreet offers. Just like the advantages baked into REITs, you don’t have to physically interact with anyone in order to buy into a property fund on an alternative investment platform.
Real estate doesn’t have to put you and your family in harm’s way during this pandemic. Take a step back and consider your alternatives when expanding your holdings.