In the last five years, more people have become rental property owners than ever before. More people have also showed interested in becoming long-term real estate investors. Why? Because low home prices coupled with low interest rates is making home purchase more affordable than it was a decade ago.
To top it off, the real estate market in the U.S. has just started to recover. Remember that, five years back the loss due to housing crisis was close to $4 trillion in the nation, and according to experts that specialize in real estate investment, that number has to stabilize somewhere in the future.
In Search of the Right Rental
Buying a rental property for long-term investment makes sense in every way. However, for a first-time investors it is important to pay close attention to location of the property. However, selecting a location, like so many other decisions in the world of business, tends to be a hit or miss affair.
You might make a choice based on a recommendation from a colleague, or maybe just by combing through the real estate portal online. Depending on your budget and how much time and effort you want to put into it, there are a number of things you can do to improve your chances of finding the right property.
Homes that are in high-populated areas in the city center are your best bet. Look for homes that are with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms and in area where the crime rate is low.
If the area is bad, it is much more likely that you will be able to anticipate extra delay is getting the renters or extra costs in repairing the damages caused by property crimes, and ultimately make the investment experience a nightmare.
Defining the Current Rental Market Trend
The best time to buy a rental property is now – when the money is cheap to borrow and the house is cheap to buy. There is reliable historical data about how real estate market performs.
The successful lending practices that are now in place barely existed when the economic meltdown took place, and the ones that existed were tame compared to what we have now. Nobody knew how the housing downturn would affect their lives. The lessons of bad loans have been learned. There is no more overworked banks and institutions making loans and selling them to people who can only afford zero down payment.
These banks are no longer dealing with borrowers who have bad credit and who aren’t documenting their incomes. Things are changing at a faster pace. People from all over the world are showing interest in the US real estate. More people are also finding the option of renting easier and safer in the middle of this confusion.
This kind of behavior makes perfect sense in the upside-down logic of the housing bubble, for renters as well as buyers. Those who are going ahead with the investments aren’t the ones who bought expensive houses in the downturn and felt buyer’s remorse, but the ones who were responsible with their money.