Even for those who can afford to buy right now, the current crisis presents as many challenges as it does opportunities. Real estate investors will undoubtedly find more good deals on properties than usual. You better believe there are plenty of motivated sellers out there right now. But what about the risks that landlords face in the current coronavirus pandemic?

As you evaluate the market and decide whether to invest during the COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following opportunities and risks carefully, and make your own personal risk/benefit analysis.

The Opportunity for Real Estate Investors

Early data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that far more buyers have withdrawn from the market than sellers. By late March 2020, fully 48% of Realtors reported buyers pulling back, while only 16% of sellers said they wanted to pull their listings.

So, housing markets are already seeing the balance between supply and demand tilt dramatically to favor buyers. Demand is disappearing, while supply is remaining relatively stable.

Some home sellers can afford to wait this out, of course. But others face some urgent need to sell, and can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. They need to sell now, even if it means a sharply lower sales price than they hoped.

According to Darren Robertson of Northern Virginia Home Pro, those motivated sellers create an enormous opportunity for real estate investors. Motivated sellers have always made up the bread and butter for off-market deals, and in the coming months, many sellers will find themselves forced to accept lower offers, given the dearth in home buying demand.

That makes this a perfect time for investors to pursue distressed sales, using tools like Propstream. It’s a great time to aggressively negotiate real estate deals.

Stock owners don’t need to keep their stocks. But everyone still needs a place to live, which is why real estate tends to do just fine even in recessions.

Read Full Article [Source:  www.sparkrental.com]

A recent study by Apartment List found that a significant share of Americans – three in 10 at last count – haven’t been able to make their housing payment on time amid the economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. With states starting to reopen and mortgage rates hovering near all-time lows, however, some feel the worst may be over. But one expert warns that the road to recovery might be longer than expected.

Chris Salviati, housing economist for Apartment List and co-author of the study, pointed out that 37% of renters were worried that they would face eviction in the next six months, while 26% of homeowners worried about foreclosure.

“It’s certainly the case that the actual number of evictions that take place are nowhere near that 37% of renters or 26% of homeowners,” Salviati told MPA. “These numbers do seem pretty troubling to me, though. How many of these folks will actually find themselves in that situation is obviously a different question. But it speaks to the severe hardship that a lot of these folks are finding themselves in right now financially, and the fact that it’s likely something that’s going to be ongoing for a lot of these folks. It’s not going to be, ‘These shelter-in-place orders lift and everything gets back to normal.’ I do think the recovery here is going to be more protracted than what people maybe hoped or expected at the beginning of all this.”

The broader economic impacts of the pandemic could shift the focus of prospective home buyers, causing them to either downsize or delay buying altogether, Salviati said.

Read Full Article [Source: www.mpamag.com]

Single-family rentals may be one of the few asset classes to see demand growth following the pandemic. According to Jeff Cline of SVN/SFRhub Advisors, demand for single-family portfolios, defined as five or more homes, has skyrocketed in the last month, up 650%.

“Compared to other commercial real estate segments, S&P 500, treasury notes and the stock market, SFR investment is typically more stable and profitable,” Cline, director and principal at the firm, tells GlobeSt.com. “As we’ve seen for decades SFR investment typically grows during economic downturns, we expect this downturn to be no different. We have seen a 650% increase in buyer and seller activity this past month.” SVN/SFRhub Advisors is onboarding 10,000 assets to keep up with demand.
According to Cline, this trend isn’t surprising. The asset class has outperformed other rental product, and has attractive benefits for owners. For example, SFR tenants stay in the property for an average of 8 years and are in higher demand than multifamily units among growing families. “On the consumer side, the major decision components when comparing to a home purchase for tenants are convenience, mobility and affordability,” says Cline. “Culture change has also had a big impact, as renting has become an increasingly more popular choice.”

In the current market disruption, single-family homes have also outperformed multifamily on early rent collections. “The April 2020 reports we have received indicated that SFR rental collections at approximately 5% uncollected are substantially better than multi-family, estimated to be at about 24%,” says Cline, although more recent data shows that multifamily also had about 5% to 10% rent collection loss. “We believe this difference may be due to the typical tenant profile in SFR rentals being made up of families as compared to individuals that may be renting apartments.”

Read Full Article [Source: www.globest.com]

The COVID-19 pandemic has left no industry untouched. Many Americans and property owners didn’t have the cash to pay their rent this month. Which means some landlords are going to struggle with the mortgage, which means an opportunity for some property investors.

During the last financial crisis, there was a lot of distressed property to be had in South Florida.

Daniel Lebensohn, co-founder of the investment firm BH3, said buying that distressed debt built the foundation of his company. He said nobody feels good about taking advantage of misfortune, but firms will be looking at this pandemic in the same light.

But KC Conway, chief economist at the CCIM Institute, thinks market changes will come in two phases.

“Phase one is really a repricing opportunity. And I think then the acquisition comes a little bit later, maybe six months down the road,” he said.

That’s because the real estate market moves slowly, and this pandemic is only a month old in the United States.

“It’s not as if anybody who owns anything is suddenly going to step up and say, ‘Oh, sure. A month ago, I could have sold this building for $400 a foot, but because I’m afraid of what’s happened in the market, you can buy for $200 per square foot,’” said Jim Costello, senior vice president at Real Capital Analytics.

He said it could get there at some point, it’s just not there yet.

And the hospitality sector is going to have an especially difficult time weathering this storm.

“Some of the areas like the hotels and the travel related … the restaurants, many of those are fairly tight on their cash flow and could actually be facing a situation where they need a buyer fairly soon,” said Calvin Schnure, senior economist at Nareit.

And retail office space, one part of the market that many viewed as fairly safe, could be compromised because so many people have learned to work from home.

See full article [Source: www.marketplace.org]

Recently The Federation of REO Certified Experts (FORCE) held virtual regional Townhall Meetings to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on residential real estate listings. Members discussed sustainability and business operations in a time of crisis, and how each region is responding differently. FORCE found that while each county is affected slightly differently, the core influence is the same in each region.

State by state, REO experts are facing different challenges. For example, in Washington, agents and brokers are not considered essential, while agents are considered essential in other states, including Nevada, Ohio, Arizona, and California. In areas real estate agents are not labeled as essential, operational strategies should heavily involve online strategies

Business can still be done, with the right technology in place, and as FORCE members note, there are still buyers who want to buy and sellers who want to sell. Technology is the way to not be held down in your operations, and with stay-at-home orders in place, many are doing virtual and 3D tours. Make sure you and your staff have the proper internet speeds, and make use of services such as Zoom, Facetime, and Skype for virtual open housings and showings.

Members also discussed the potential for break-ins and squatters. In order to mitigate damage, FORCE members suggested working with your community to keep an eye on properties, and maintaining weekly inspections.

As members note, there should be no problems with cash deals right now, especially as many credit lines have been pulled. Many FORCE members have stated that they are not taking properties off the market right now to not weaken days on the market, as you can still be doing what you can to get your properties sold, and asset management companies are being more lenient on scorecards during this time.

Read full article [Source: www.dsnews.com]

Reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak have varied greatly around the United States. While some areas are under shelter-in-place orders, others are responding in different ways, including pausing evictions. One of the challenges in pausing evictions is that how they are handled can vary both by state and by county.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it’s suspending all evictions and foreclosures until the end of April (2020). The Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do the same for a minimum of 60 days. The CARES Act puts a 120-day eviction moratorium in place nationally for tenants in properties that are part of government programs or that have a federally-backed mortgage loan. The National Multifamily Housing Council put out a release on March 22, 2020 asking apartment owners and landlords to halt evictions for renters who were experiencing job loss or reduction in income due to COVID-19. The council went on to request a 90-day pause on all rent increases.

Read full article for city and state specific responses to COVID-19. [Source: www.fool.com real estate}

1. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
2. Richmond, VA
3. Cleveland-Elyria, OH
4. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
5. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
6. Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
7. Rochester, NY
8. Tucson, AZ
9. Pittsburgh, PA
10. Birmingham-Hoover, AL
11. Jacksonville, FL
12. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
13. Oklahoma City, OK
14. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
15. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
16. St. Louis, MO-IL
17. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
18. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
19. Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY
20. Kansas City, MO-KS
21. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
22. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
23. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
24. Memphis, TN-MS-AR
25. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

Read Full Article [www.hubzu.com]