Tough COVID rules have created one of the most significant migrations of the US population and commerce we’ve ever seen. If those restrictions and mandates are rolled back, will it be enough to halt or even reverse these real estate trends?

Florida, Texas, and Tennessee have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of this activity, as well as other southern states. Now the biggest losers of residents and businesses are talking about relaxing some mask mandates in some of the toughest cities and states. Will it make a difference?

Pausing Mask Mandates

California, New York and Illinois are some of those that have driven away the most residents, property owners and businesses over the past couple of years. Now they seem to be coordinating on allowing some mask mandates, for some people, in some situations to expire.

This may be directly in contradiction to the current advice and guidelines from WHO and the CDC. Though they are really still just now catching up with most of the rest of the country which has not enforced masks.

Governors in these states may finally be feeling the pain of losing voters, tax revenues, businesses and investment dollars.

Will It Last?

This is an important question to ask. How long this pause will last may make a big difference in real estate trends and related capital flows.

The latest data from the CDC and WHO shows that the best face masks may offer even more protection from infection and transmission of the omicron variant of COVID, than the protection many have from their vaccine shots. In fact, some may argue that simply letting the vaccinated go maskless may be a major driver of the recent huge spike in COVID cases and deaths.

If that is accurate, any relaxing of COVID rules may not last very long at all. Don’t get caught changing your real estate investing business plan, only for it to be shut down again.

It is also worth considering all of the motivation and dollars to keep this crisis, or a similar one going. Pharma and tech companies stand to lose tens and even hundreds of billions of dollars in value, profit and cash flow if COVID is over. Pfizer alone found investors weren’t happy and its stock sliding when it recently announced it may only make $54B from vaccine shots and pills this year. CVS has also forecast its COVID testing business and shot administration may fall by 40% to 80% this year.

Migration: Will It Change?

Some may realize they want to go home after this news. Fewer may feel the same urgency to leave their home states if rules are being relaxed. Though much more of their decision may be  resting on vaccine mandates and passports and living costs.

Many have moved, and realize they’ve been missing out on better life and better financial dynamics.

Others will never forget how they were victimized, were not allowed to see family members in the hospital, and their businesses were broken. They won’t go back. Though it is true that in this generation we also suffer from severe memory loss and short sightedness, and some may quickly forget the past couple of years.

Summary

A rollback of mask mandates may moderate and slow the recent tidal wave of migration between states. Still, affordability will be a big driver of movers. Especially with extreme inflation at work. These changes may not last either.

In conclusion, it may still pay to be diversified between these types of states with varying approaches to rules to keep up your real estate deal flow and profits.

 

Check out the latest real estate news and trends that could impact your investing…

There are a lot of changes in play in the property market. Many may influence where the best deals are to be found in 2020, and make it difficult to do business in other areas. Here’s what you should know.

Counties Using Delinquent Property Taxes To Boost Revenues

Some counties across the country are becoming increasingly aggressive in using property taxes as a tool for seizing property and making big profits. Such as this case in Michigan, where the owner lost his home for just $8 in unpaid tax related fees. The county made a profit of over $24,000 on it. These may sound like good deals, but it is also a warning to watch the mail and not let a dollar in unpaid fees cause you to lose your assets.

Millennials Have Given Up On Home Buying

So much for the massive tsunami of millennial home buyers which were expected to drive the market, and all the dollars real estate companies have put into marketing to them. According to a new survey from Apartment List, over 12% of millennials say they never plan to buy a home. Even among those that would like to one day only 20% to 30% are on track to being able to do it.

Illinois Regulates Real Estate Wholesaling

IL has become the first state we know of to implement new laws requiring real estate wholesalers to hold a brokers’ license. This applies to anyone wholesaling more than one property per year in the state, including assigning contracts.

Mass Unemployment Coming Soon?

Truckers are suing California after a newly proposed law would kill off 70,000 jobs. After malicious lawsuits and perhaps some poor employer behavior, The Golden State has stepped up to stomp out the gig economy and contract labor. This is a rule that would impact some of the largest tech companies who use remote employees as a substantial part of their workforce, including Apple, Amazon and Uber. It’s a warning to self-police the industry and keep up good peer pressure. Most should be able to find alternatives, such as hiring outsourced labor as vendors who are paid through an LLC or other entity, instead of as independent contractors.

Texas Turns To Taking Over Hotels To House The Homeless

If you thought moving to TX sounded like a good idea for avoiding high housing costs and taxes in coastal states, think again. It’s so bad in Austin now that the city plans to take over hotels to house their exploding homeless population.

Check out more upcoming trends, real estate taxes and laws impacting the real estate market in 2020 in our report here.

Looking for easy and efficient ways to spark more inbound real estate leads as we break into 2015?

The moves real estate wholesalers make now will not only determine how well they bounce forward in January, but for the rest of 2015, and beyond. There are plenty of distractions and extra expenses at this time of year, and most need a sharp kick start in new lead flow to load the pipeline. So what are some of the affordable, fast and effective ways to make new connections, convert existing contacts and get some momentum going?

1. Launch a New Twitter Handle

Twitter continues to be a great platform for real estate professionals and spreading the word fast, even without engaging in paid Twitter advertising. So launch a new Twitter account. Perhaps a niche account or a personalized account will help gain more visibility and click-throughs. Some property wholesalers might even find that simply switching their Twitter handles can help them quickly stack up new followers and gain more retweets.

2. Send Those Emails

Regardless of whether you already send weekly emails, or have been slacking this is the ideal time to send out a new round to lead lists, past clients, industry professionals, and friends and family. Thank them for their loyalty, or celebrate the New Year, but don’t be afraid to keep it short and sweet, and to make a big, bold call to action.

3. Publish Guest Articles and Blogs

Tap the existing followings and traffic of others by reaching their audience through fresh guest blogs and articles published on third party sites. Right now many of these online portals are needing extra content to bounce back from the holidays, making it the ideal time for new collaborations.

4.  Unleash a PR Barrage

January is a fantastic time to make some noise, capture attention, and dominate mind-share in your niche with self-published press releases. Let the world know about your new services and product additions, give the media something to spread, create a buzz, put the competition on the defensive, and generate new internet and phone leads. There are both free and paid publishing options to choose from. Test them both.

5. Launch Competitions

Competitions and contests are a great way to spark a buzz, ignite sharing, and get people excited about contacting you. Very basic contests can be launched on Facebook in minutes, though some highly successful ones have involved branded sponsors, toll free numbers to call in on, and attractive giveaways such as paying winner’s mortgage payments.

6. Arrange a Meet Up

Meet ups can be great ways to bring together new prospects, past clients, strategic partners and new referral partners in a powerful way that can generate live warm leads on the spot. Consider getting together in coworking spaces, over ‘eat-ups’, hosting a real estate trends panel, or doubling them as open houses.

Authored by Best Transaction Funding

BestTransactionFunding.com is the leading source of transactional funding and hard money loans for real estate wholesalers in the US, where 100% financing, and saying “Yes” is what we love doing all day long.