Most Asked COVID Real Estate Questions

Given the new arrival of COVID-19 there are repercussions that we are seeing across the world that have investors worried.  Although our markets looked to have a good stability prior to this pandemic, many people are now worried about the markets coming back and some of the very real problems we can run into with this new Coronavirus.  We have compiled a list of questions that people have been asking, and our own responses to how we see the future going:

How should we handle tenants who cannot pay?

We have to all realize that we are in this together.  Everyone has become affected in some way shape or form from this virus, and people are trying their best.  That being said, we cannot let Tenants take advantage of these times. Therefore, we have come up with the a plan for our Landlords which will offer our Tenants a rent deferral program for their investment properties.  What this means is that the Tenant will have to notify us within the rent period that they will not be able to pay their rents this month. Once they provide proof, we will help them by deferring their rent due for the current month to help out with the insecurity that is going on right now. 

Should I be giving refunds as a landlord or short-term rental owner?

At Synergy Real Estate & Property Management, we do not specialize in short-term rentals, but what we have been hearing is that short-term rental owners are refunding their Tenants should they not want to go on their vacation anymore, however, this could be a great time, if you have an isolated place you can use as a rental property, that you can rent it out and provide people a respite from their quarantined lives. 

How will this affect rentals near college/universities/hospitals?

We recently had a client purchase a home that they did relatively well on, by the time they closed they had an increased equity of around $20,000, however, they were scared because the Coronavirus, or COVID 19 pandemic had set in and the schools were closed.  Their main idea was to rent the property out to students being that it was about a 2 minute extra walk to campus, but you could have your own home outside of a dorm that also had access to community pools, a spa, and a park. They were worried that now that the schools had been closed they would not be able to rent the property out.  We had to explain to them that although this will definitely decrease the tenant population for the rental, there were other people who would still most likely want to live in these areas, as they tend to be a little nicer than some others. They agreed and had multiple applications for their new rental property within the first week of putting it on the market, with qualified renters.  

As far as hospitals are concerned, I would say that it really shouldn’t affect the investment property in the area because hospitals will need more staff, which means that travelling staff could be added and proximity to the location could be very important.  

As more questions about this pandemic come up, we will be updating you with our own answers about what is going on. 

Thanks for reading!