Real Estate for Preppers

I just stumbled upon a few websites for preppers when I looked up how to make my own yeast (there was none left in the shop). That’s when I discovered that there is a whole trend out there, it looks like everybody wants to become a prepper these days. There are also a few real estate websites offering properties for preppers.

What are preppers and what is real estate for need?

Preppers or survivalists are people who prepare for emergencies, including probable disturbances in social or political order, as well as preparations for personal emergencies, such as job loss.

The main focus is on self-reliance, stockpiling supplies, and gaining survival knowledge and skills. Among other things preppers often stockpile food and water, prepare to become self-sufficient, if possible, off-grid living, and build structures such as underground shelters that may help them survive a disaster.

Why do so many look for real estate for preppers now

The covid-19 pandemic has caused many people to re-examine their way of life. It created a wave of interest in rural living and particularly in prepper properties. Relocation to rural areas where one can be self-sufficient to some degree is an increasingly attractive possibility.

A lot of workers have been sent to work from home, and discovered, they actually love it. They are seeing its many advantages. With internet available in even isolated locations, the feasibility of working from home has gone up radically.

It can be immensely satisfying to grow your own food.

Less populated areas = easier social distancing

People in city areas are feeling restricted to their homes or apartments. In such densely populated places, social distancing can only be accomplished by staying at home. In less populated areas, or maybe suburbs where a house comes with its own big garden there is plenty of opportunities for outdoor activity, while easily maintaining a proper distance to others.

If you are planning to become a prepper, survivalist or maybe you are just seeking some more space outdoors by moving to the countryside, have a look at our real estate listings.

Less new home listings

Spring is naturally a time when sellers put new home listings for sale as more people are looking for a house to buy. Home sellers hoping to take advantage of the buyers new born enthusiasm after the winter period. But this year, new listings dropped significantly in March and early April as the Covid-19 outbreak embraced the globe. 

Real Estate Portals report less new home listings

Zillow, inc. reported yesterday that newly listed homes in the U.S. were down 27.1% from a year ago in the first week of April. They reported that the number of newly listed properties usually increases in late March and early April as home buying season starts. This year it’s been quite the contrary as many states have suggested or instructed people to stay at home. New listings in the U.S. have fallen 19% from the beginning of March.

No surprise

We can see the same trend happening on our website with international real estate listings. The number of new listings dropped slightly as well as the number of people who made enquiries about real estate offers.

It is totally understandable that people had other things on their mind than getting a new home. Nevertheless, after the first weeks past we can now see that the number of enquiries is slowly coming back to normal.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Social distancing cooled the real estate market

While the covid-19 outbreak and the resulting social distancing have cooled the real estate market considerably, it isn’t completely motionless. Buyers, sellers and real estate agents have started to change their activities as they adapt to public health requirements. They make 3D Home tours available or make home viewings via video conference.

Therefore, it seems like a good time now for all home sellers that are in a wait-and-see-mood to get their home for sale out there.

Need for new homes is still there

Although there is a particularly strong wait-and-see pattern similar to what happened during past pandemics we can see that customers still interested or actually needing to buy a new home even if they are not going to walk-throughs or able to close on transactions in person. Especially smaller and cheaper properties are in high demand.

List your home for sale

If some predictions turn out to be true and house prices will fall dramatically due to the covid-19 outbreak wouldn’t it be better to sell your house today rather tomorrow?

Don’t wait any longer, list your home for sale today.

Will Covid-19 drive people back to the countryside?

After 4 weeks being locked up in an apartment in town, I wish I could be in the countryside. I’m not alone, we can see a tendency on our website that the demand for real estate on the countryside is slightly increasing. If it will lead to more sales is still to be seen.

We need nature to be happy

Some recent news from Portugal, where people flocked in thousands to the beach during country lock down or from Snowdonia National Park in Wales, UK that was inundated with visitors, simply shows that we still value being out and being in the nature. It doesn’t matter how comfortable our homes are or how convenient it is to live in the striving city we need nature to be happy.

Since Covid-19 many see things differently

During lock down we all seem to have been busier than ever keeping in touch with friends and family through messaging. Sharing funny stuff, thoughts and just moments of our daily life has become part of our routine. I received many photos from friends who live in the countryside. They show how they do relaxing walks in the forests that are just at their doorsteps or how they do some gardening, growing all sorts of vegetables. “Lucky them!” I thought, I wish I could do the same.

Having a balcony is a start

All I was able to do so far was to grow some salat and strawberries on the balcony. Anyway, that’s already better than nothing. But still, I think I would really enjoy living in the countryside especially in this uncertain covid-19 future to come.

Taste the fruit of your own labor.

Eating your own produce

Especially now where many people started working from home – me included – it would be great to get away from the computer sometimes and do a bit of gardening to find your balance and be out in the nature.  As a reward you might even be able to eat some of your own produce.

What do you think, will covid-19 drive people back to the countryside?

Please leave a comment below and tell us what you think.

Will COVID-19 change how we think about real estate?

Changing the way we think about real estate usually happens very slowly, sometimes over a few generations. Basically, we adapt to new needs and likes but at the same time we benefit from the customs and experiences of the generations before us.

Think About Real Estate Priorities

I was thinking about this a lot the last couple of weeks – not only because I have a lot of time sitting at home – but mainly because my priorities seemed to have changed.

Storage Space

New on my wishlist – a pantry

I live in a spacious apartment but now preparing for the lock-down I found myself running low on storage space for food items.

I ended up piling up water bottle and canned food in the living room. I was reminded of the basement in my grandmother’s house where they use to store foods for winter time when there wouldn’t be much fresh fruits and vegetables available – that would come in handy right now.

I also thought of those nice old-style apartments in Berlin, they would always come with a “Speisekammer”, – literally meaning food chamber – that’s a pantry, a small room in the kitchen dedicated to shelf-stable food storage. I loved to hide in one of those when playing hide and seek with my friends who lived in one of those apartments.

I think that’s one of those things I really would like to have now and I’m sure in my next home I will make sure I have a pantry.

Practical and clean

I always hated clutter, now I hate it even more. Since the coronavirus I became very minimalistic and I just love it, every day more. It looks tidy and is just so easy to clean and disinfect. I only kept some decoration that is actually serving some purpose, like mirror or a clock.

Another thing that is on my wish list for my next home is a sink beside the entrance door. A place where you can wash your hands straight away when you come in. It just seems to be the perfect place and you can make washing your hands a little entering-the-house-ritual.

Outside space

Photo by Artur Aleksanian on Unsplash

Another thing I find to be great in this time is some sort of outside space – being it a garden or just a balcony. It can be great for many things, drying the cloths, grow some vegetables or just letting the sun shine on your belly… Especially when spending several days or weeks at home some space like this can make all the difference. Houses with garden are just great when you have to stay at home.

Flexible

One thing COVID-19 teaches us is that our house should be flexible. Within a couple of days some people found themselves in a new situation where they maybe had to quarantine someone of the family or set up a home office. This is very challenging for many. An en suite guest room can be a good solution as you can turn it into your temporary office or where you can quarantine yourself if necessary. An en suite guest room is a bedroom with adjoined private bathroom.

Back to the Basics – think about real estate

Altogether, with everything that happened in last few weeks, it definitely already changed my view of real estate. It all comes back to the basics – a warm, practical, clean shelter with enough storage space for necessities and last but not least for our mental health, some space outside.

What do you think, will the covid-19 change the way we think about real estate? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Does your house stinks?


There are certain smells that sometimes are unavoidable in an empty old house but some are so bad that they can ruin your real estate business altogether. If your house stinks it can be a big problem.

Have you ever been at a house viewing and the first thing you noticed when entering was a musty mouldy smell?

Well, it’s not very pleasant to say the least. It immediately gives a bad impression. Nobody wants to live like that. But if you see it from a business point of view it might be a different story. If a house stinks, you might be able to see what the problem is and be confident in how to remove it.

It happened to me when viewing a house in Germany.  I was visiting an old house together with my family and when that musty smell hit us at the time of entering our immediate reaction was “no way!”. After a couple of months though we had to admit, there was no other house available anywhere near our budget.

That’s why we came back to it and actually looked at the problem. It turned out that the problem was some humidity in the basement. The basement was all panelled up with wood which also didn’t help much. After a long family meeting we decided, we go for it.

It definitely paid off.

We removed the mouldy wood and did some treatment to the basement walls. The smell was gone and never came back. And best of all, we were able to get our family home within our budget.

That’s the advantage when buying, you are able to get a house with a bad smell cheaper. Of course, you have to be confident that you are able to remove the problem causing this smell.

When selling, it would be wise to spend some money in solving the problem before. Or, maybe there isn’t even a severe problem. Sometimes it just needs a bit of care, like opening the windows regularly in an empty house. Especially before a viewing.

Bad smell that is really harmful

There are certain smells though that are really harmful for your business. It’s those that can’t be solved on a low budget or maybe they can’t be solved at all. Therefore, it is advised to make some counts before jumping into a “smelly” business. One example of a smell problem that can’t be solved would be a nearby pig farm.

Bad smell that can ruin your real estate business

I recently came across a neighbourhood in Portugal located near a paper factory. On photographs all the houses look lovely and it seems to be a really nice place to live. Unfortunately, visiting and smelling the place ruled out any real estate business in this area. Unless you have clients that lost their sense of smell. ?



UK house prices rise in early 2020 despite Brexit

It seems optimism returned among buyers and sellers – house prices rise across the UK as a result.

After 10 quiet months, property prices rose in November and December 2019.

The average price for a home in December was £215,282, according to Nationwide building society, one of the UK’s largest mortgage lenders. Property prices go up by 0.1% every month.

In January they said property values were 1.9% higher than a year earlier – up from 1.4% in December and the fastest yearly growth since November 2018. The average price for a home now stands at £215,897 – up £615, or 0.5% higher than in December.

In further evidence that the housing market is picking up, inquiries from would-be buyers, agreed sales and the number of real estate coming on to the market all rose in January.

Some surveys have also suggested a price bounce in the housing market since the general election in mid-December, although much will depend on how the Brexit after effects develop.

No doubt, we’re seeing a lot of enthusiasm among buyers since the beginning of this year but we cannot yet tell how sustained this optimistic mood will be.

By the way, price growth in London has fallen to 0.6% since the referendum. This will be welcome news for many people who are interested in becoming homeowners in London. Although it still remains far from affordable for most of us.

One challenge remains though

Raising a deposit to get on the property ladder is still difficult for many. Even in the north of England and in Scotland, where property appears to be cheaper, it’ll take someone earning the average wage more than five years to save up for a 20% deposit.

Are you looking for a property bargain or – as house prices rise – you think it’s a good time now to put your real estate on the market? Visit www.propertyunder100k.com

How to get rich with real estate – or poor

Isn’t that what we all want to know? I always wanted to get rich with real estate. It seems like a simple enough equation but what appears to be a simple method in theory is very often not found in reality.

First and foremost: A property must generate cash flow

Here you can see the basic components that decide the income and therefore the regular income from a rented real estate. Generally, the property has to make profit. The income from your property has to be higher than what you spend. This is a simple and most important rule if you want to make money from renting.

Cashflow is the “key” so to say – just with this income we increase our available capital, which we can spend as we like. We have to take all costs for the property in consideration though, everything – running cost, repairs, maintenance… etc. – to be able to calculate the expected cashflow.

Our goal should also always be to invest as little, if possible, no equity at all. Because on the one hand we can maximize our return on equity and on the other hand we keep our own money with us. In other words: we are looking for bank offers that finance 100% of a real estate for us. To do this, of course, as borrowers, we have to meet the banks requirements. Those costs for a credit also have to be taken into consideration.

How to get rich with real estate – cashflow is the most important

After considering all costs our cash flow should still be positive. Some may now think: there is no such property available by any means. But they do exist! Granted, you may need some time to find them. But why not have a look at our real estate listings? Surely you will find some interesting properties.

The same of course is valid if you are trading with real estate instead of renting it. The only problem is that it will take longer time to generate cashflow as you don’t get money on a weekly/monthly basis. It might be a bit more difficult to get by until you make a sale. You can list your real estate for free on www.listproperty4free.com

Make your homework

Also, if you are buying and selling properties for a living make sure you check with your revenue office beforehand to know how much of you profit will need to be paid in tax. This is also an important figure to keep in mind, in some countries this tax is very high.

Also, you might need to register yourself as a business depending on your local laws, this is always good to investigate before you start as it can be a real game changer.

Conclusion

I did not get rich with real estate but I’m able to make a living without needing to go to a job every day. That was my goal and I’m happy that I reached it. I had to start small though and I’m glad I did as I learned a lot with my smaller projects bringing me to where I am today.

How the Internet has revolutionized the Real Estate market


The arrival of the Internet has changed the real estate market for ever. Until 1998, the hunt for a suitable home to buy or sell took place through the advertising in the local newspaper or a big sign in the front of the house.

And these approaches are still used today. With the arrival of online property portals, the significance of the newspaper for many real estate agents has dropped radically: both buyers and sellers create their choice to purchase a property and locating an agent largely online. Obviously, personal recommendation can be still a large thing which shouldn’t be underestimated.

Consequently, the objective of any real estate agent needs to be that potential buyers encounter his real estate offers before everybody else, be it on some real estate portal or straight on his own website. But how can you do this?

Real Estate Market: Listing alone is no longer enough

The competition on the sector is fierce. New thinking is necessary, because listing an ad alone, is no longer sufficient.

Real estate hunt online

When it comes to the real estate market, it’s important to put yourself into the buyer’s shoes.

Fundamentally, the earlier the agent manages to get the buyer to his website or on the portal, etc., the greater the chance to get a deal!

The buyer is on the lookout for advice: he’s at the research phase. He’s now considering selling his own property. That’s the reason why he is searching with Google for advice about his or her concerns. It would be great if this possible client would land on your website at this phase.

For you, this means making services and information about the sale and purchase of property – obviously with reference to a region.

Some potential topics could be: Advice about energy efficiency, market cost determination, house staging, aftercare for clients and a whole lot more.

SEO-optimized composing: Little interventions make a huge impact

But every individual text must also be aligned in this manner that it matches the research requirements of your target group. The intention is that Google shows your text up in the results listing. Possible buyers may find your content before anybody else. Including search engine optimized composing, for that there are a few principles. The simplest & main guideline is: The preview which the searcher enters in his Google search should, if possible, look in the heading and at the very first paragraph of your text!

Where’s the real estate agent’s digital home in 2020?

The most fundamental place for many is your own homepage. This ought to be so intuitive that the consumer can find all of the important information and various methods to get in touch with you. But several websites are distinguished by the fact that they feature mostly static, i.e. virtually classic content that’s rarely changed (like contact, imprint, about us).

Your home can also be on a real estate platform where your available properties are featured along your contact information. This can be at https://www.listproperty4free.com/

Social networking is standard now

At the era of Social Networking, you will find tons of places online where you can also present content.

Most successful agents are on Facebook – the business page is currently standard.

Another great place is youtube. It has been a part Of the Google family and also shows up high in the results listing. It is possible to learn how specialists use real estate videos. Naturally, videos are a great deal and more chances to find you.

For all activities on the Internet, you should produce as many connections to your content as you can.

The searcher’s first experience with the Broker or his property occurs from the results listing.

It is important to be visible on top of the results listings and to look better than the offers of your competition.

With bump-up (to be on top) and spotlight displays, your visibility is increased. Like that possible buyers actually click on your ad and possibly contact you. That of course requires a good quality of pictures and text.

Find some great offers on the real estate market on www.all-real-estate.com



What are the most searched real estate locations?

I recently tried to find the most searched real estate locations in the world. Seems easy enough, right? Well, actually it is not. We can find the answer to that question only to some degree. The reason being that we have limited sources…

First of all, we usually can only see what people search on the internet.

Nobody is able to analyse all the requests real estate agents get from their clients all over the world in person. And to be fair, in many countries the face to face business is still more common than online business especially when it comes to real estate.

Another factor is the many languages spoken in this world. If I search for “most searched real estate locations” I will only get results in English – only representing English speaking countries. According to Wikipedia, there exists approx. 6500 languages though…

Another thing is that even among English speaking countries there are differences, one country might call it “real estate” but another country rather uses the word “property” instead.

Also, we can look at statistics of Google or similar search engines but what about the thousands of real estate portals that exists all over the world? How can we know what users enter in their search form? You really need to make a lot of research to come even close to an answer for that question.

Anyway, what kind of locations are you looking for? A country, a city or even a town…?

Usually people ask about the most searched real estate locations because they like to know where is a really good place for investment. But then, this again comes down to the good old fashion supply and demand rule. If demand increases and supply remains unchanged, then it leads to a higher price.

Taking this in account, we need to see where demand is actually increased.

To determine whether demand is increased you have to compare the number of searches for real estate with the number of available real estate. And this can mean that you don’t need to go all around the world to find a good investment. It might even be a small town in your own country.

From my experience any place (city, town) that has good jobs available has a thriving real estate market.

For example, I live in a small town with a lot of industry and jobs around. Therefore, the demand for real estate – especially one-bedroom apartments – is very high. The last apartment that was put up for sale sold within 12 hours. Amazing! That’s the kind of location you like to invest in.

But to come back to above question, here are some locations I found today using results of search engine results in English:

London, Vancouver, Toronto, Utah, Newburgh Indiana, Wake County and Allegheny County Real Estate

I have to say though, after all research I did on this topic those locations not necessarily are a good place for investment. You will always need to make more research to determine whether it is a good location for an investment or not.

If you are looking for real estate bargains, cheap properties, we can recommend

https://www.propertyunder20k.com/

or, if your budget is a bit bigger

https://www.propertyunder50k.com/



What Real Estate is all about

Many реорlе bеliеvе thаt real еѕtаtе is nоthing mоrе thаn hоuѕеѕ, apartment buildings, lаrgе office ѕtruсturеѕ.

And while thаt mау bе truе, real еѕtаtе, by definition is muсh mоrе. Rеаl estate iѕ rеаl рrореrtу thаt соnѕiѕtѕ оf land аnd imрrоvеmеntѕ, whiсh inсludе buildingѕ, fixturеѕ, rоаdѕ, ѕtruсturеѕ, and utilitу systems. Property rightѕ givе a title оf оwnеrѕhiр to thе land, improvements, аnd natural rеѕоurсеѕ ѕuсh as minerals, рlаntѕ, аnimаlѕ, wаtеr, etc.

Once upon a time thе роwеrѕ that be dесidеd tо split ‘рrореrtу’ intо twо ѕераrаtе grоuрѕ. Real and Personal. Whаt’ѕ the difference bеtwееn these twо? In a wоrd, movability. If it mоvеѕ, it’ѕ соnѕidеrеd tо bе personal with a few еxсерtiоnѕ. Real property соnѕiѕtѕ оf thrее thingѕ. Land, thingѕ аttасhеd оr аffixеd to thаt lаnd аnd lastly, аррurtеnаnсеѕ.

Lаnd is рrеttу easy. Hоwеvеr it’ѕ nоt just the lаnd you оwn. You аlѕо оwn ѕub-tеrrаin rights, dереnding оn your lосаtiоn. Thiѕ iѕ аlѕо true with thе аirѕрасе above уоur рrореrtу. You own uр tо a certain hеight, аgаin dереnding оn your lосаtiоn. At some роint thе government takes over аnd ѕауѕ, оkау thаt’ѕ it. The rеѕt is оurѕ. We hаvе аirwауѕ to think of аnd we’re nоt going tо have еvеrу flight file a milliоn еаѕеmеntѕ every time thеу tооk off.

Twо, itеmѕ attached tо thе lаnd. We tаkе thiѕ fоr grаntеd. Your hоmе is соnѕidеrеd аn аttасhmеnt. If you lооk оn уоur dееd, I doubt уоu’ll find аnу mеntiоn оf thе ѕtruсturе on your lаnd. Thе house transfers with the ѕаlе bесаuѕе оf its’ аttасhmеnt tо thе land.

What is Real Estate Management?

Rеаl estate mаnаgеmеnt саn hеlр rеаl еѕtаtе invеѕtоrѕ rеаlizе thе mаximum potential оf thеir investment. Rеаl еѕtаtе mаnаgеmеnt is uѕеd fоr all property tуреѕ, аnd this inсludеѕ trаilеr раrkѕ, араrtmеntѕ, hоmеѕ, induѕtriаl plants, ѕtоrаgе рlасеѕ, stores, аnd оffiсеѕ. Prореr rеаl еѕtаtе mаnаgеmеnt саn save уоu a lоt of money аnd aggravation, аѕ well as keeping оr inсrеаѕing the vаluе оf your invеѕtmеntѕ. A professional рrореrtу manager оr management соmраnу will hеlр you mаximizе уоur invеѕtmеnt while minimizing any unnесеѕѕаrу costs involved.

A real estate mаnаgеmеnt соmраnу will hаvе expertise in рrореrtу mаnаgеmеnt, аѕ well аѕ thе time аvаilаblе tо deal with any аnd аll рrоblеmѕ. A good rеаl еѕtаtе mаnаgеr will help market the рrореrtу to minimize аnу vасаnt unitѕ, which dесrеаѕеѕ уоur рrоfit. Thеу also normally have thе еxреriеnсе nесеѕѕаrу tо wееd out a lаrgе number оf unsuitable tеnаntѕ bеfоrе thеу еvеn rеnt thе рlасе. An еxреrt рrореrtу manager will bе аblе to tеll good tеnаntѕ frоm bаd tеnаntѕ and wееd out оnеѕ that will end up сrеаting рrоblеmѕ оr nоt paying thе rent оn time оr at аll. Thiѕ аѕресt alone mау ѕаvе уоu hundrеdѕ оr thоuѕаndѕ оn соurt соѕtѕ and fееѕ tо еviсt аn unwanted tеnаnt.

Real Eѕtаtе mаnаgеmеnt iѕ whеn you hirе оr аuthоrizе a professional tо manage уоur real estate invеѕtmеntѕ fоr уоu. Thiѕ inсludеѕ ѕhоwing thе unitѕ, ѕigning lеаѕеѕ, dоing аnу rераirѕ and mаintеnаnсе, аnd imрrоving thе vаluе оf уоur initiаl invеѕtmеntѕ. A rеаl еѕtаtе manager will oversee еvеrу aspect оf your rеntаl рrореrtу tо mаximizе уоur inсоmе аnd investment vаluе, whilе minimizing thе соѕtѕ and unnесеѕѕаrу rераirѕ.

What do Real Estate Agents Do?

Cliеntѕ in thе рrореrtу business ѕеаrсh fоr rеаl еѕtаtе аgеntѕ whеn ѕеlling or buying property. Thеу are also known as dеаlеrѕ оr brоkеrѕ, and thеу act as intеrmеdiаriеѕ bеtwееn a buyer and ѕеllеr. The mаin mode of рауmеnt is thrоugh commission. There services dереnd оn whiсh ѕidе thеу аrе working for, аnd thеу hаvе vаriоuѕ duties. Yоur rеаl еѕtаtе аgеnt will detail thеѕе duties fоr уоu.

If a dеаlеr iѕ wоrking on thе ѕidе оf thе seller, it iѕ hiѕ dutу tо еnѕurе the property on sale iѕ advertised. Thе advert hаѕ dеtаilѕ оf thе property tо bе ѕоld оr leased. Onсе the advert iѕ рlасеd on the website оr оfflinе thrоugh newspapers (оr оthеr mеdiа), thе dеаlеr will bеgin оn hiѕ next ѕtrаtеgу.

The brоkеr will ѕtаrt оn marketing the property.

If thе рrореrtу attracts any intеrеѕtеd раrtiеѕ, it is the rеѕроnѕibilitу of the brоkеr to follow uр оn the buуеr. Bу doing thiѕ, thеу are able tо come tо an agreement оn the рriсеѕ bу nеgоtiаting.

Looking for some real estate? Look no further,
find a property on www.all-real-estate.com

You can also use our map to find a property near you.