People need a place to live and businesses need a place to work, and those who can invest in real estate are positioned to take financial advantage of this demand. However, investing in residential real estate can be confusing, especially if you are new to the process. If you’re thinking about becoming a real estate investor, you probably have some questions. Here’s everything you need to know about commercial real estate.
Residential real estate is real estate that is invested for families to live in. Single-family homes, condominiums, and townhouses are good examples. You can buy rental properties, find tenants and rent them out, giving other families a place to live. It is important to find a particular market in your area with a high demand for rental properties before investing.
Residential real estate is the best option for many first-time investors. If you don’t have a lot of money, residential is your way out. You can slowly build a portfolio and increase your wealth over time through additional purchases.
When investing in residential real estate, make sure you are buying an investment with a high enough rental value. They need enough rental income to pay off the mortgage and give you extra money to pay for taxes, repairs, and maintenance while still earning some income.
Here are some advantages and things to consider as a first-time investor.
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If you’ve been thinking about investing in residential rental property, we’ve put together this guide to SFR investing in 2022 to help make your research a little easier.
SFR real estate refers to single-family residences that are owned and operated as rental properties. Single-family homes are standalone properties with their own lot (as opposed to duplexes or apartments with multiple units on one lot). Many investors begin with SFR real estate because single-family homes are typically easy to find and easier to finance than commercial buildings. They may generate recurring income and equity appreciation over the long term.
Additionally, tenants are often attracted to these properties because they offer more space and privacy when compared to apartment living.
As for any other type of investment, there are positive and negative aspects. We will detail a little of both to help you learn more about this asset class.
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There are several considerations to make when deciding if SFR real estate is right for you. First, you will want to identify possible strategies for purchasing your first property. There are numerous financing options available, but the one you decide on can directly impact your bottom line — and the speed at which you can acquire another SFR property.
It is also important to consider the responsibilities associated with property management. Many real estate investors, especially when starting out with an SFR property, will opt to take on the role of landlord. This can come with some pros and cons. For instance, if you own more than one SFR in different locations, travel between properties to manage tenants and repairs can become a hassle. Consider your schedule, as well as the costs of working with a property manager.
When compared to other real estate investing strategies SFR properties can be a great opportunity. However, they do not offer the same protections as multi-family investing. If you face a vacancy in a single-family home you lose 100 percent of that cash flow. In multi-family properties, multiple units can shield some of the missing rental income that comes with vacancies. With SFRs, there are no other units to help offset your loss. Also, keep in mind that SFRs are bought one at a time. It can take longer to scale your portfolio.
All that being said, there are a number of ways to counteract these potential challenges. From finding the right source of financing to marketing your property, new investors can find success with SFR real estate.
One of the most common ways to generate profits in real estate is by buying and holding property, but did you know that’s not the only way? Below we are going to give you a list of different strategies so that you can profit from your investment in a single-family property.
The differences between the short-term rental and long-term rental properties cannot be ignored; take some time to understand which type is best for your business goals. For some investors, the ultimate goal is all about making a profit, but for others, managing a real estate business is a secondary activity.
Short-term Rentals have become extremely popular in the past few years. Most people define a short-term rental as any rental that is furnished and is available for lease on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
We often refer to this type of rental as a vacation rental. Since guests need to stay for only a few days or weeks, they may prefer a rental instead of a hotel. That way, they can enjoy more space and better amenities, such as a washer/dryer or a kitchen. The duration can depend on the market where your house is located.
An investor will typically begin by purchasing a vacant home, apartment, or waterfront property. Next, you will furnish it with televisions, furniture, art, tableware, towels, and shampoo–essentially everything that a hotel would provide. The main difference between hotels and short-term rentals is that STRs don’t provide daily housekeeping services, nor do they have on premise staff to assist guests.
The investor who is interested in spending more time on this real estate investment compared to a traditional single-family rental with a long-term tenant (e.g. 12 months or more). This is a real business and not as passive as long-term tenants. The unique needs, risks, and costs are all factored into the higher return that STRs provide. For example, some homes that rent for $2,000 on a long-term lease, will be able to gross over $6,000 a month as a short-term rental. However, you have to amortize the cost of furniture, deduct booking fees, cleaning fees, credit card processing, additional insurance, hotel occupancy tax, property registration (if applicable), etc.
It can be easy to see how a higher gross potential can lead to lower take home amounts if there is a strong decline in booking rates. If you are interested in building a short-term rental business, you can add additional properties to reduce your risks and improve your expertise in the market.
The best way to start a short-term rental business is to conduct market research using a site like Airbnb, etc. Find a unique niche where you can become the best in class. What types of amenities or unique experiences will be a draw for guests? Secondly, find a market that can sustain growth. The best businesses have room for additional properties. Only by scaling your business, can you achieve financial freedom through a short-term rental business.
Be sure to place all of your real property assets into a corporate entity such as an LLC. If you have a partner, be sure to discuss the Joint Venture or Operating Agreement which determines how disputes are resolved including selling or distribution of profits. The short-term rental business is also unique because there are significant portions for the property management company to handle. If you self-manage, you should create a separate LLC for the management of the properties. In addition, a management company will help offload the risk of liability onto this entity instead of your real estate.
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A long-term rental is the traditional type of rental property that is typically used for residential purposes. This rental property type is usually protected by a lease agreement of at least 6 months or more. Additionally, the lease typically has more binding terms than a short-term rental would. Many homeowners choose to rent out their properties to tenants at a higher price than their mortgage to bring in stable, monthly income that remains consistent regardless of the economic conditions. Most people are usually more familiar with this type of rental property as it is more traditional and widely known.
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Student housing as a real estate investment is one of the most attractive investments and is very popular with young people. Although it was quite affected by the pandemic, this asset class is once again recovering strength.
In the past, college students would simply live on campus. Sometimes they’d live at home to save money and commute. But as the average dorm complex has aged to 52 years old, developers have come in to create new units and redevelop old ones. Real estate investors have slowly realized that this is a major opportunity, especially as the demand for attending college has never been higher.
Not all student housing is the same; potential real estate investors should consider the market dynamics and risk/reward profile of each property before investing. Here are some important aspects to consider:
If you want to increase the profitability of your property or investment properties, consider renting by room instead of renting the property as a whole. This will allow you to increase your profits.
If you want to start investing in real estate, room rentals may be the right place to start your journey. However, even experienced investors can reap the rewards of room rentals. Whether you’re thinking about renting out a room in your own primary residence or renting out rooms in an investment property, read this article to discover the costs and benefits of doing so.
Renting out individual rooms gives you access to multiple tenants, which means multiple rent checks. While it can be a great financial strategy, renting this way comes with some warnings.
Here are some advantages and things to consider before investing in room rentals.
Pros
Cons
As the name suggests, multi-family real estate includes residential properties that comprise more than one housing unit. Multi-family real estate includes 5 units or more on a single legal parcel. For most investors, multi-family typically begins around 40 units where you can apply “commercial” lessons of scale and cash flow.
The residential apartments that tenants live in will either be a studio (no door between living/sleeping), 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, or 3 bedroom (rare). Each building will have different amenities or features such as a swimming pool, fitness center, dog walking area, bicycle storage, entertainment rooms, grills, etc.
The tenants are typically on 12-14 month leases paid monthly on a gross lease. That means the owner must estimate and pay for all expenses not included in the lease. This typically includes property taxes, common area maintenance, property management fees, interior unit appliance repairs, exterior building maintenance, etc.
Before investing in a multi-family property, you should consider certain factors to see if a property has the necessary potential and if it will be a good long-term investment that will provide you with the expected returns.
Look for areas that offer high returns and high growth; these types of properties in desirable locations will always attract demand from high-paying tenants. Focus on the type of tenant you are looking to attract, and look for properties in the most popular areas for them.
Remember to take into account the number, quality and configuration of the units.
If you are a beginner, there are three types of property configurations that meet the attributes you are looking for- duplexes (two units), triplexes (three units), and quadruplexes (four units). This will provide you with lower risk and higher affordability.
Take into account all means of active and passive income, as well as the expenses of the property, to determine the income potential of a multi-family asset.
Financing options for a multi-family asset may differ based on whether you choose to rent/flip the whole building, or whether you choose to occupy a unit yourself while renting out the others.
We represent a variety of commercial real estate investors and have closed hundreds of millions of multifamily transactions. This has allowed us to identify two main types of multifamily investors.
The first investor is someone who already has money, has been investing, or has been working for a long time (10-20-30 years of experience) and has accumulated a significant amount of investable assets. They may choose to take it out of the stock market or simply reallocate part of their portfolio.
This type of investor is an individual who primarily seeks to preserve existing wealth while growing at a steady rate without risk. Their main goal is the preservation of capital with inflation, they tend to be only a small group of individuals or single owners.
The second group of investors are people who want to make their money grow; they are people who are looking to build wealth through multi-family.
They’re typically going to be looking for more aggressive value-add, they’re not going to buy at the top of the market for a stabilized product. This type of investor wants to get in, get the plan in place, raise rents, find the right buyer and then get out. Often within two or three years, they don’t have a long-term holding period.
Multi-family is right for a lot of people, whatever your goals are, there’s a multi-family property, there’s a multi-family location, there’s a portfolio, there’s a scale. All of your needs can be met by multi-family if you are interested in building wealth through real estate.
It is by far the most liquid type of commercial property type, it has a lot of buyers at all levels. Everyone is buying multifamily and if the price is right, you can always find a buyer. Multi-family real estate investing can make your portfolio look great if you are planning to diversify your real estate investments.
Multi-family investments have the potential to be highly profitable, however, you may not be earning the maximum profit you could be on your multi-family investment. Let’s explore how you can make the most profit on your multi-family investment.
When it comes to real estate, it’s all about … location. Multifamily properties are no different. Tenants want to live in safe areas with easy access to schools and other amenities. It’s also a good idea to pay attention to high-growth locations with properties in high demand.
If you want to maximize occupancy, increase rental income and raise the value of your property, there’s a straightforward way to do it: make improvements. The more you invest in your multifamily property, the more money it will likely make for you. Keep everything in working condition and keep upgrading. You’ll likely find yourself with a highly desirable money-making machine in your real estate investment portfolio.
Determine the income that a property can generate. Investors should practice due diligence, taking everything into account, including rental prices and income.
One of the most significant benefits of investing in multi-family properties is a wide range of property types within the sub-asset class. But like any other investment, you need to understand the differences to determine what type is right for you.
Due to the diversity offered in the multifamily industry, there are a variety of implications, benefits, costs, and scales needed when it comes to operating and managing different asset types in multi-family depending on the type and classification of multi-family real estate you choose to invest in.
There are various kinds of multi-family homes to consider, with different offerings in terms of layout and living space. Each type of house has its own pros and cons, as well.
Not only can initial expenses be costly, but with a greater number of tenants also comes increased management needs and other complications. While many of the drawbacks that come with residential investments can be minimized, they usually cannot be completely avoided and should be accounted for before making any investment.
One of the biggest challenges with residential investments has to do with evictions. While tenants may be evicted for a variety of reasons depending on the terms of the lease agreement, some of the most common reasons for eviction include a failure to pay rent or illegal use of the property. While evictions can be powerful for landlords, it can also lead to vacancies and tremendous legal headaches, costing the landlord time and money in the process.
While everything is subject to the terms of the particular lease agreement, most leases require the landlord to give the tenant 3 days’ written notice to vacate the premises. However, if the property participates in certain federal programs, the CARES Act requires the landlord to give the tenant 30-day notice to vacate. Even with notice to vacate, a tenant may still refuse to move out, therefore the landlord will have to file an eviction. Even then, this still does not allow the landlord to remove the tenant or tenant’s property until the eviction process is completed. If at trial the tenant is ordered to vacate but does not comply, the landlord may submit a writ of possession and have the constable remove the tenant and their belongings.
While this short summary has simplified the eviction process, depending on the circumstances, evictions can become incredibly complex and costly, therefore using a lawyer can often be your best course of action in these situations. Additionally, events like COVID-19 can even prevent landlords from evicting tenants, leading to greater financial burdens and difficulties for landlords.
Inflation can lead to greater risks for investors in residential properties, therefore it is important for investors to assess the risk before making an investment. While inflation also has many benefits for residential investors, such as higher rental rates and potential higher demand for rentals due to rising home mortgages, it can also cause investors to lose.
For example, initial costs may be high to invest in a residential property during a period of inflation, however, when inflation rates decrease, the investment may go down in value, including the rental rates. Additionally, the costs of construction and renovations on residential properties can be very expensive during periods of inflation.
A short-term lease is generally described as a lease that is six months or less in duration. In fact, many people are often drawn to multi-family rentals because they allow tenants to lease on a short-term basis such as month-to-month or three months.
The landlord has the advantage of being able to charge higher rates for shorter-term leases with the opportunity to frequently increase the rate if the tenant chooses to extend the lease. However, landlords face greater risk of vacancies with shorter-term leases, meaning months may go by before a new tenant is found. While a longer-term lease may have a lower monthly rental rate, it provides consistent and reliable cash flow to the landlord and does not subject the landlord to vacancy like a short-term lease might.
For example, it will be more lucrative to the landlord if the space is occupied by a tenant who has a one-year lease paying $2,400 a month than if two separate tenants occupy the space throughout the year on a month-to-month basis paying $3,000 a month for six months total. However, with longer-term leases, the landlord will not be able to increase the rental rate or terms of the agreement as often.
Multi-family properties may lose what exactly makes them so attractive to many tenants if they do not offer short-term leases, therefore it is important to consider lease term lengths when investing in multi-family.
While high demand makes residential properties a great investment in many aspects, it also can create a higher risk for investors. High demand means tenants will be willing to pay higher rates, providing investors with consistent and reliable cash flow.
In particular, class A properties located in major cities continue to benefit from high demand. However, older properties or properties not located in as desirable areas may not fare as well in comparison to a newly built apartment building located in downtown with a resort-style pool and roof-top lounge. Thus, this competition may require investors to spend money on major improvements and amenities to keep up with the demand for “higher class” properties.
The U.S. has entered a period of inflation that is impacting everything from gasoline to groceries. As inflation continues, apartment asset valuations may rise, especially given this sector’s history of strength and stability.
The question is, “Can multi-family prices be too high? The general answer to this question is yes, but also in some areas, investors are more likely to find deals at reasonable prices.
Here are some of the factors that increase multi-family prices during the inflationary period and how they can be mitigated.
As we mentioned before, multi-family is a great investment, and over time many people have come to realize this, and multifamily has become largely overheated. Many syndicators and investors are paying too much for multifamily housing of all types and sizes.