4 ways how to survive in a tenants’ market

Landlords face increased competition for long-term tenants. With short term holiday rentals being down due to covid-19 – many switched to renting their property long term. How can landlords survive in this tenants’ market?

Here are 4 tips to get landlords through this tough period in a tenants’ market.

Leasing a residential property has always been a challenge, now it got a little harder

We saw a trend in some cities where residential properties where used to rent it out to tourists. This short-term rental was far more lucrative and therefore very attractive for the owner. With that almost coming to a complete hold, we see a reverse effect as those landlords now are entering the long-term rental market.

Another difficulty we face is the social distancing rules – although they recently relaxed those rules slightly. Still, some prospective tenants are uncomfortable about entering a property and worst, if there are tenants still living at the place, they might not like any strangers entering their home at this time.

1 Adapt to new conditions

The smart landlord will do some research to recognise and adapt to these new conditions. Luckily, we can do so by doing our research online.

You may eve find an opportunity here in this challenging tenants’ market. For example, some landlords that own property near hospitals were able to rent out their places to hospitals or medical staff as those needed to stay separate from their family to don’t put them at risk.

2 Stay realistic

Don’t push the rent up to test the limit. This can cost you valuable time and money, in the end, you might only get a smaller rent anyway but maybe wasted 2 months in which you could have already earned. Make sure you are realistic and meet the market.

You may also consider to rent the property for a shorter period than the typical 12-month period. This might be more convenient for some tenants that are in an uncertain situation. Being flexible in that way can give you this little extra advantage.

3 Present your property in the best light

To present your place at its best is crucial. Some landlords or agents who take some quick photos with their cell may not take a good approach. As always, and especially now, the first impression is important. Great photos, with good light, showing a tidy property can make all the difference to stand out from other offers.

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

If it is not possible to show your property at its best because it just isn’t at its best maybe now would be a good time to do some maintenance or upgrading. A little bit of paint and well-chosen decoration can make miracles.

4 Advertise on a wider market

Take advantage of online real estate platforms such as www.listproperty4free.com where you can list property ads for free.  Also, often a local classified portal can get you the right audience.

How Covid-19 affects house prices

Experts are far from agreeing how Covid-19 affects house prices. Most pros advise investors to stay calm.

There is no clear answer to the question of how the prices for residential or commercial real estate will develop as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

House Prices Forecast

The forecasts range from price drops of up to 25 percent to stable prices and even further rising rents to further price increases.

We are currently in a situation that never happened before therefore it is very difficult to predict the outcome as we cannot compare it with any other time in history. There is one thing though experts agree on which can be summed up in the following quote

“There is only one thing certain and that is that nothing is certain.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

House prices forecasts are for this year or a maximum of twelve months. Afterwards, the experts seem to agree, the prices tend to go up rather than down. All on the premise that the recession will be overcome by 2021 at the latest. Nobody speaks of a price bubble that could burst.

Corona would at most lead to a cycle break, meaning a temporary interruption of the general upward trend.

Real Estate is “concrete gold” – a rather safe investment

Although the price boom we saw before covid-19 would be a thing of the past, real estate seems to stay a rather safe investment compared with other ventures.

Researchers cite five factors for their forecast of short-term price declines: rising interest rates, less influx into booming cities, emergency sales due to less liquidity, for example among freelancers, fewer new buildings and less demand from investors.

The good news for home owners is that we currently have no indications of falling house prices.


Capital investors who were interested in buying an apartment before the epidemic are advised to simply pursue their plans. Residential properties still offer relatively good returns.

Conclusion

People need to live somewhere. Even if some who were planning to buy a house can’t do it anymore due to financial difficulties, they still need a place – meaning they rent a place, which in return is good for the owner as he receives the rent.

Surely, we always like to get a good bargain that’s why some buyers are hoping that the current situation will make houses more affordable.

11 years ago, we set on a quest to find the cheapest houses in the world and are surprised with what we found. So much so, that we created a website for cheap real estate. Check it out at https://www.propertyunder20k.com/

Change Orders and Cost Control-All That You Need to Know

When it comes to the completion of construction projects, change orders happen to be one of the major sources of frustration for contractors. At the same time, they have a far-reaching impact on the project scope, cost and timelines, yet it is something that cannot be avoided. However, having a proper change order management system in place enables teams to mitigate the disruptions in costs and schedules. But effective change order management remains a crucial pain point for a majority of construction companies.

Thankfully, big and small firms alike have realised the value of effective project management and cost control software solutions in construction, which have the potential to steer change management in the right direction. But before we talk about these solutions, it is vital to understand the costs associated with change orders in the first place.

Calculating the actual cost of change orders

Even before you start working on project cost control strategies in the face of change orders, it is vital to grasp their actual impact. Apart from the quantified costs, change orders also result in a significant loss of productivity. There is a lot more that exists below the surface. Let us explain the true cost of change orders as segmentation of direct, indirect and consequential costs.

Direct Costs: As the name implies, these are the costs directly influenced by the change order. Typically, this includes labour, equipment, material and other expenses related to the change. Apart from these costs, less obvious expenses such as the cost of the structure redesign, expenses of extra set up and clean up and cost of communication with engineers and crew specifically for implementing the order also come in this category.

Indirect Costs: Essentially, indirect costs include overheads. They may be a fixed or variable part of the project, based on the accounting practices followed by the business. When indirect costs are calculated as a percentage of the overall job, they tend to rise.

Consequential Costs: These are the costs associated with the timing of the change order. It is common for these orders to slow down the efficiency, which can result in consequential expenses that are hard to quantify. This can happen due to factors such as reassigning supervision, diluting labour power and more.

Cost Control with a Digital Solution

Considering the myriad of costs associated with change orders, managing them can be more challenging than you may think. Handling them manually can take a lot of work, right from budgeting for the change to tracking costs, analysing them and preparing reports that are to be passed on to the stakeholders. Apart from the complexity of the manual cost control operations, the chances of error run high when you have to record, access and process information across multiple spreadsheets. To handle such scenarios effectively, a project cost control software solution can prove beneficial as it automates the entire lifecycle and provides actionable insights to take the right steps for monitoring the change order-related costs.

Project managers should look for a holistic project management software solution that not only facilitates cost control but also encompasses other aspects such as ordering supplies, planning deliveries and scheduling labour. One that enables real-time updates in project information is a plus because it will keep the stakeholders informed about cost deviations at all stages.

About the author: The author is a construction project manager with Zepth.com and has a flair for writing as well. Since She has a rich experience in working on construction projects of diverse sizes and scales, he likes sharing them as articles on leading blogs and online platforms.