T&H Realty Services Blog

Last week, we discussed leasing your home during the COVID-19 crisis. 

This week, let’s switch gears and discuss an equally important component of successful property management: renewing the Lease. 

Keeping a Tenant in place, especially in this unstable environment, is a very good thing. We’ve always taught that vacancy is a cashflow killer.

Below are a few basic points to consider when renewing a lease during the COVID-19 crisis. In a lot of ways, we will continue to operate in the same manner, but there is one big change along with some trends that you need to understand:

Every Monday, we meet and discuss, among other things, the previous week’s rental marketing activity. 

We discuss our showing levels.

Number of applications we processed.

Leases we signed.

And a host of other stuff.

All these Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) give us a good sense of the health of the rental market in Central Indiana. 

Admittedly, this past Monday, I wasn’t excited about reviewing the previous week’s numbers. Given all the turmoil in the world right now, I was convinced we would see a sharp downturn in our numbers.

And… I was totally wrong.

Showings? Up.

Applications? Very strong.

Leases Signed? Right in line. 

Hmmmm…….

Now, clearly, we took a big turn last week here in Indianapolis, as our Governor announced a “stay at home” scenario that will last until April 6th. 

So, we’ll see if showing levels continue to stay strong.

But, how do we explain why showing numbers and general rental activity continue to show strength?  

From cap rates to cash-on-cash return, there are a number of tools Landlords and real estate Investors use to determine whether or not a potential investment is a good one.

It certainly has been an eventful couple of weeks for the real estate and property management industries here in Indy. 

We've been getting questions and concerns from Clients about the state of the market and what impacts we may be seeing.

So, we thought we would provide a quick update on a couple of hot topics and share some insight into what's currently going on around us. 

We provided a nice “State of the Indianapolis Real Estate Market” during last week’s blog.

It’s not a secret… buying rental real estate in this market is tough. 

And, frankly, it has been for a few years now.

Our brokerage group works hard - every day - to find deals.

We write a lot of offers and, more times than not, we get outbid. 

Losing out on properties is part of the territory. Our job is to continue to provide opportunities for our Clients, which educating them along the way. 

As one of the Agents here at T&H Realty, I speak with numerous investors on a weekly basis. 

Most of those conversations go something like this:

“HI, I’m Joe Investor and I’m looking to purchase properties in Indianapolis. I’ve heard it’s a great area to invest, and real estate is much more affordable than where I live. I’m looking for cash flowing properties in good areas that meet or exceed the 1% rule.”

Then, I typically have to be the one to burst their bubble a bit. 

Now don’t get me wrong, Indianapolis certainly is a great place to invest. Our economy is thriving and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. 

However, with a thriving, growing economy comes a more popular and competitive real estate market. 

When you decide to invest in real estate, you have to have the proper expectations, and I’m finding that some investors just don’t, and that creates a very frustrating experience all around. 

So, as an Indianapolis investor, here’s what you can expect in 2020.