According to a recent Gallup poll, both high-income and low-income Americans have lost faith in their stocks. Interest in stocks and mutual investing fell dramatically in the first quarter of 2020. Of course, these are unprecedented times and the market has certainly shown it.
Thirty-five percent of Americans say real estate is their favored long-term investment. This has been the case since 2013 and remained so especially during the time of the pandemic. The reason for this can be twofold: one, real estate is tangible, and even during a pandemic, it is still there. You can see it. Feel it. Touch it. Two, the markets will always come back, at some point or another, but they do come back, and when they do, people will always need a place to live.
Tips For Preparing For a Recession as an Investor
We don’t actually know what is going to happen to the markets as the country begins to open up. There are plenty of analysts and market gurus projecting their predictions. Some claim that there is likely to be a recession coming out of this. That may or may not be the case. In fact, it may be that the markets bounce back as people are eager and able to get back to work immediately. After all, we’ve never had a self-imposed economic shut down before. Yet, as a real estate investor, you always want to be prepared and have a few things in mind in case a recession does hit. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- If you have properties or assets, you might consider selling some so that you have more liquidity.
- If you are prepared, consider making cash offers on properties likely to go back up quickly, that is, places with desirable schools, good neighborhoods, etc.
- If you have the capital, buy properties that you see have potential. Many real estate investors, after the great recession of 2008, figured out that they could have bought more properties since prices went insanely low.
- If you’re a house flipper, you can work on building relationships and using several lenders, so you have trusting relationships before a recession hits.
Well, that still doesn’t answer the million-dollar question directly. Does that make now a good time to put in an offer on a property?
The truth is, there is likely no straightforward answer to that question. The answer will largely depend on what you plan to do with the home, your current situation, your other properties, etc.
It might very well be a good time to buy an investment property if there is inventory at a good price. The challenge is, of course, that there were a lot of pauses put on the home selling process, that inventory is quite low in many American cities, including El Paso.
How the Stay at Home Orders Upended the Home Buying Process
Many companies that specialize in buying or selling homes have put a pause on operations. New listings, according to Market Watch, were down 44% in April compared with the previous year. This translates to about 189,000 fewer homes on the market than during the same period in 2019. New home construction was also halted, as many builders became wary about the state of the housing industry.
So there might be a lower amount of inventory due to these reasons:
- Seller uncertainty
- Real estate companies halting services
- The rapid rise of unemployment and sellers pulling their listings
- Lack of foreclosure homes.
All this being said, it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a bad time to buy an investment property. A deal is a deal. And if a deal pops up in a market that you, as an investor, see as a good investment, it is the right time to buy. The returns will come later, as the market picks up. In fact, there is already data suggesting that buyers are returning to the markets and slowly things are picking up.
It’s important to keep in mind that all of the above reasons are only temporary. Seller uncertainty tends to fade as the market begins to reopen and states go back to normal. Texas is one of the states that is opening the fastest after coronavirus. And while El Paso seems to be slower than the rest of the Lone Star State, there are still plenty of listings in the El Paso market. That being said, Texas is a robust state with a strong economy and a business-friendly environment. This will likely mean a quicker recovery.
Get Confident, Look for a Deal, and Be Ready to Invest For Your Future
Every investor knows that investing—whether it be real estate or stocks—always involves some risk mitigation. Uncertain times, certainly call for more attention to detail and keeping your eye on the markets. That doesn’t mean, however, that it is not a ripe time to capitalize on the market downturn. Finding a good deal means that your returns will likely increase as the market picks back up. Here at Entrust Capital Funding, we encourage investors to go with their gut and use their entrepreneurial spirit to seek the right deal for the best price. If you’re looking for some funding to invest in that diamond in the rough, give us a call today.
