The coronavirus has completely disrupted our economy, as well as our entire way of life. Businesses have been shut down, people have been laid off, and there are businesses that we will never see reopen again.
The retail and the hospitality sectors have been especially hard hit, as because of the quarantines that we’ve been dealing with, this now requires people to do either less business, or even no business, with the companies within these two sectors.
In addition, we have to ask ourselves the question, “When the “all clear” is finally given to us, and we are told that it’s now OK to go out and mingle with everyone like normal once again, how much will businesses still be impacted?” With this in mind, do you think people are going to immediately feel comfortable sitting among large groups of people in the movie theaters once again? How about in restaurants and in concert halls? In addition, how are people going to feel about even staying in hotel rooms, in knowing that other people and their families have been staying in these same rooms within the past several days? These are the kinds of questions and realities that we’re all going to be facing in moving through all of this.
While we’d all like to believe that this will be just a short, temporary blip on our radar screen, this isn’t likely, because among other reasons, many people will still be out of work 6-9 months down the road, and many of the businesses that have still survived will still be facing their challenges.
But in the midst of all of this, I would have to say that there will probably be some very good opportunities coming for investors. With the hit that’s been happening now to our GDP, and with the other factors that have already been mentioned, there are going to be people who will be under pressure to sell their real estate, and this is when investors will make their best buys.
With all of the pressure that’s going on right now for people to continue on in making their loan payments, it is likely that we will see lenders tighten-up their requirements for obtaining new loans to purchase real estate, too, meaning that buyers who can pay all cash and who don’t need financing to purchase, will then be in the driver’s seat.
In addition, as one important reminder, if you ever feel the need to negotiate a deferment in your payments on a loan, make sure you do this while you are still current with your payments on it, as otherwise you’ll risk a delinquent status showing on the loan within your credit report.
These indeed are very, very, challenging times, and if I can ever help you to navigate through everything that’s now going on, please give me a call.
