Blog

Post COVID Real Estate Investing: where are the best opportunities now and why?

Over a year has passed since the world has changed as we know it. I remember when in March 2020, as we were going through our lives in denial of what was going on in the world, all of the sudden we were put in a situation of total lockdown and quarantine. So what happens post Covid with real estate investing?

“Remote working” and “social distancing” became household words. We reorganized our lives to keep working from home with minimal personal contact. And everyone was wondering … how is this going to affect real estate? How are we going to show properties if we cannot even leave the house?

Here comes the new era of post COVID real estate investing. Real estate investors are entrepreneurs and creative ones at that. You don’t thrive and survive in the business for a long time, through ups and downs of the economy and world crisis unless you have a surviving spirit and persistence. As an investor for most of my adult life (30+ years,) I have always known that there are new doors that open all the time. You run with something that works in real estate as long as it does, but sooner or later you have to reinvent yourself or you have to quit the business.

This time in history is no different. When the lockdown happened, I did a sequence of Facebook Lives stating that we are going to see amazing things happen in real estate over the next year. And we did.

I am going to share with you in this article some real interesting facts and trends. If you put them to practice, they will change your real estate business overnight and you don’t have to worry about competition in this all-time “hot” real estate market.

Where are the best opportunities now and why?

• Small Towns Investing – with remote working and social distancing, people prefer moving to the suburbs or staying in smaller cities. When I state “small towns,” I mean a population of 100,000 or more. You still want to have enough demand as an investor for either your wholesale deals, or properties that you rehab or rent out. Plus sellers are nicer, less competition and more profit per deal.
• Quality versus Quantity – take the time to select your leads. Don’t rely on buying huge lists, which every other investor has access too anyway, and burn through thousands of frustrated leads (“you’re the 10th person that called me this week!”)

The good old driving for dollars locating properties that are distressed, before they make it on any list. Approaching landlords when the moratorium has been lifted (and looking into eviction filings.) These are just a couple of the ways to connect with motivated lists proactively.

• Become your Own Private Investigator – in the last few years, investors got lazy. Buy lists. Use a batch skip tracing service and call or text everyone. This is not working any more.

Instead take the time to really research every lead (or your virtual assistant.) The ones harder to find are the best leads to pursue, because most likely other investors have passed on them (too much time and effort.)

Research them online, talk to neighbors and if you can’t still get anywhere, hire a private investigator who has experience in dealing with tracking these impossible leads.

As Warren Buffet rightfully stated, “Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”

This is it. This is the time. I have personally made more money in times of drastic changes than any other time (housing crash of 2007 … 9/11 … 1991 war with Iraq). I am not saying to capitalize on chaos, but to be a survivor and the force to help others not lose hope and strength while creating win-win situations.