Good morning, all. My name is Kevin. I have invested heavily in real estate over the last decade... primarily rental properties. I have decided to simplify my life and begin investing in the market, primarily long-term investing in ETFs. My first four properties will close later this month, so I am searching for insight on other investor strategies. I look forward to learning from you all. Cheers!
Good to meet you Kevin and welcome. Quick question if you will. You are in rental properties. Were any of your properties used for Airbnb income? I hear that industry has been completely beaten up lately forcing fire sales of many that were doing well prior to January.
In the small town where I live, AirBnB has gone from doing great to doing even better. At this point, people will rent a cardboard box. Locations that feed off tourism, no doubt, have seen a cessation in business.
Welcome, Kevin. We are a decade ahead of you but walking the same path. If you can make AirBnB work, it can be a great alternative to long term renting. You can block off time in your calendar for vacation. When you have a bunch of rental properties, it can be tough to get away. We have really enjoyed the move to AirBnB but it is entirely dependant on location and the business you can feed from. I mention AirBnB because it's a sort of semi-retirement for us while we sell down our real estate. It may be something of benefit for you, as well. One of the great aspects of AirBnB (and other retail, short term, rental situations) is that your property is perfectly staged for showing. As for future investments, I go out of my way to not advise anyone on this. I will say, however, as a landlord you are well equipped to analyze certain companies like REITs. Look for the same things you would look for buying a real estate management firm. If the executives are chauffeured in limousines, you can be sure the money isn't being returned to the owners. Compensation and benefits are part of corporate financial reporting requirements. There is also index investing. Best wishes in your new life phase.
I tried AirBNB for a few months on one of my properties. This was pre-COVID. I found that the reward was not worth the hassle. So... I switched it back to a long-term rental.
No, AirBNB for me... at least not for my properties. However, I use it almost exclusively when I travel and stay in a house/apartment. I have been spending a lot of time in my van over the past couple of years (seen in my profile pic).
I want to tell about my observations. An interesting thing that the real estate market hasn't fallen down seriously after lockdown restrictions. Just look at prices here, for example. Maybe huge cities like London are exceptions but I think that it is a trend everywhere.
The only time real estate "prices" will go down on pre-existing homes and commercial properties is after the wave of forclosure and vacancies appear. That is a laggard indicator of our current market. So yes it will happen with fire sales in the next 12 months imo. Replacement cost or new builds valuations are based on the commodities costs of building. That will only go up. Remember how long it took the market surpluses in 08 and 09 took to wash out? What? A decade?
I want to invest in real estate, thank you for sharing your thoughts. By the way, I studied the real estate market and found great offers on real estate in Bulgaria. But I don't know if it's worth the risk, because we don't know when the pandemic will end and tourism will revive. So I would be grateful if you could give me a couple of tips. Anyway, I will contact the real estate agent to make a final decision. But something tells me that soon the world will return to normal and I will be able to make a profit on my investments. I wonder if you would take that risk?
Do you want to give up investing in real estate? Why? I find this area much more interesting and profitable to invest in than ETFs. The real estate world is in continuous development, and it will be more developed every year; there will be more and more real estate, and prices will increase because there will be more people on the globe, and, respectively, the demand will be higher. But ETFs don't depend on anything and seem too volatile to me. At any moment, you can have something to lose. I was also thinking of investing in real estate and collaborating with those from https://www.sjonessurveying.co.uk/ to make reports on the houses they sell, reflecting the pluses and minuses. I think I will do this as soon as possible.