The Truth About The Property Market During Covid-19
What Happened To All The Pandemic Crisis Property Buys?
The year is ending and the pandemic is still with us, but crisis real estate bargains aren’t popping up around the world as we all imagined they would back in March.
Certainly, good opportunities can be found, but markets haven’t moved to a “buy anything and you’ll make money” position, as we expected at least some would.
I believe some markets may reach that level in 2021.
Meantime, What’s A Global Real Estate Investor To Do?
A seasoned investor with lots of experience in the United States went looking for property in Costa Rica, where he made dozens of research trips over four years and never bought a property. He then turned his attention to the Dominican Republic at a time where you could have bought any property in that country and made money.
I met the guy two years after he’d begun researching in the DR.
As he explained when we spoke, he’d invested six years in research and had not one investment to show for it.
Why?
He was looking for the “best” deal rather than the best deal in front of him.
He had passed on well-priced properties that would have generated good yields as well as on properties that would already have appreciated at decent rates over the years he’d taken to do his research.
I’m sure you see my point.
Just because we’ve all been expecting significant buying opportunities to be created by the pandemic doesn’t mean there will be any. Certainly, it seems at this point these opportunities won’t be happening in all markets… and they won’t be presenting themselves until early 2021 at least.
Don’t let that reality keep you from missing out on what still could be very good deals.
Don’t stand on the sidelines waiting for crisis deals of a lifetime… while letting the good or great opportunities that cross your path get away.
Stick with the fundamentals. A property that is generating a good yield is a good investment. Those may be hard to find right now as the lack of tourists in many markets means short-term rental properties are currently producing negative yields. Look ahead to after the pandemic. How quickly will the market recover? That’s the key question to be asking for every buy you’re considering. Don’t evaluate based on current data. Make your buying decisions based on informed post-pandemic projections.
Good Buys Are Out There
My Global Property Advisor team and I are working overtime to scout these out.
We’re particularly interested in pre-construction projects in normally active tourist markets that will be completed in a year or two. By that time, global tourism is expected to have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Belize and Panama, for example, have already reopened their borders. The tourist flow has been slow so far, but the high seasons in these countries start early January. My developer contacts on the ground report enormous interest in early 2021 travel and many confirmed visits for January, February, and March.
In other words, I believe these two markets in particular will enjoy quick recoveries. Both offer pre-construction opportunities that will come online in late 2021 and 2022.
Meaning now is the time to be shopping.
Again, my Global Property Advisor subscribers will get the details of the best deals we uncover first.
Lief Simon
