How Homes will change after COVID-19

Homes will change due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We can say this because every pandemic in the past had an impact on our way of living and resulting in a change of the traditional layout of homes.

In this pandemic therefore it is worth to consider how home layouts might change in the future – especially if you are planning to build, renovate or buy a house.

How pandemics have changed house layouts in the past? How pandemics lead to improved living conditions? Let’s look at a few examples.

How homes changed after pandemics

Cholera

Did you know that the Planning for Central Park began in the immediate aftermath of New York’s second cholera outbreak? Frederick Law Olmsted whose first child had died of cholera, was one of its landscape architects. In his writings he often highlights the importance of large open places to allow individuals to breath fresh air, enjoy the sunlight, and in his writings we can read how the air could be ‘disinfected’ by the sun and foliage of the trees. He went on to design more than 100 public parks and recreation grounds all across the US.

The cholera outbreak had an impact in many cities all around the world, especially in the area of developing better sewage systems. By doing so, having an indoor toilet became possible for many households. Yes, you read correctly, the bathroom as we know it today is a fairly recent addition to the traditional home layout.

Tuberculosis

Although Tuberculosis has existed since ancient times it caused widespread public fear in the 19th and early 20th centuries as the illness became common among the city’s poor populations. Many sick people were sent to sanatoriums where – beside a lot of rest, high altitude, and good nutrition – the biggest emphasis was put on a lot of fresh air. Some believe that even modern architecture was inspired by the 20th century obsession with Tuberculosis as the spaces of the sanatorium gave rise to the clean, sleek shapes of modern buildings with big windows for fresh air and sunlight.

Spanish Flu

In the 1918 influenza pandemic the great importance of sunlight and fresh air was also identified. That was the reason why radiator heating became popular in cities after the 1918 pandemic. Especially those that overheat! A lot of emphasis was put on sufficient ventilation to battle disease and this pushed engineers to design steam heating systems – some of them still overheat apartments today – so anybody would still open their windows even on a freezing cold winter day. 

Covid-19

The conclusions we can take from all of the above is that we need to live in a space that is not too big – so we are able to clean it quickly, easy and regularly – at the same time we need sunlight and as much fresh air as possible.

At the same time, we need more space to be able to have a bigger distance between people and to allow enough private space for each individual. Especially if you have children, they need space to play and jump around in case they are not able to go out anymore. A big backyard scores big these days.

How homes will change – What we have seen so far

So far, we can see that buyers look for bigger as well as smaller houses – depending on if they are single people or families. Also, we can see a jump in self-sufficient living – at least partially. People lean more and more in the direction to became a bit less dependent by growing some food in their balconies and backyards, installing solar panels or digging their own well if they can.

Unfortunately, the covid-19 pandemic has complicated our life’s and even traumatised some of us. But it is also a lesson for us to learn how we can improve our way of living. It is thrilling to watch new ways and inventions people come up with to tackle this challenge.

If you are looking for a new home have a look at www.all-real-estate.com. Let us know in the comments below what do you believe would be a great home improvement these days?

Bio

Our Property under 20k team are the founders of www.propertyunder20k.com and www.listproperty4free.com with the goal to search the cheapest real estate in the world and make it easy for others to find. The team is made up of landlords, real estate investors, architects and builders from several different countries.  We just love to have a good strong cup of coffee while we write our experiences in this blog.

Image: Image by Peter H from Pixabay

Keep your home covid-19 free

Many things changed since the arrival of the Covid-19. This is also true when it comes to your home. Many took measures to make it easier to keep the house clean. Most important of all, many changed their behaviour of what they do first when they come home.

There are some basic procedures you should do to protect your home.

In order to do that, you need to organize the entrance of your home and observe a few guidelines. Traditionally, in some countries people already do this for many centuries.

It doesn’t need to be a big space, only large enough to be organized in a “dirty zone”, an “in-between zone” and a “clean zone”.

The “dirty zone”

There should be a space right at the front door, where we can take off your coat, leave your bag and keys, take off and put away your shoes. Ideally, you would clean the soles of your shoes with disinfectant.

In this area you always keep a rug on the floor, a hanger to hang your bag and coat, a trash can with pedal, a bottle of disinfectant or diluted bleach and a disposable paper roll (to clean/disinfect your shoes). If you like to add some comfort and you have some additional space you can put a chair as well.

The floor and the rug should be washed regularly.

The “in-between zone”

In the “in-between zone”, always keep some alcoholic gel. Here you disinfect your hands or even better, if you have the possibility, wash your hands with soap here.

The “clean zone”

In the “clean zone” you put on your slippers and maybe other comfortable clothes you only use at home. Now you are all ready to use the rest of your home.

What if you have a dog?

If you come home with your dog, you should also clean the animal’s paws every time.

Do not use alcohol or bleach to sanitize the dog’s paws as he might lick it.

Did you create different areas at your home? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Do you like to buy or sell your home. List it on www.listproperty4free.com

4 ways to survive in a tenants’ market

Landlords face increased competition for long-term tenants. With short term holiday rentals being down due to covid-19 – many switched to renting their property long term. How can landlords survive in this tenants’ market?

Here are 4 tips to get landlords through this tough period in a tenants’ market.

Leasing a residential property has always been a challenge, now it got a little harder

We saw a trend in some cities where residential properties where used to rent it out to tourists. This short-term rental was far more lucrative and therefore very attractive for the owner. With that almost coming to a complete hold, we see a reverse effect as those landlords now are entering the long-term rental market.

Another difficulty we face is the social distancing rules – although they recently relaxed those rules slightly. Still, some prospective tenants are uncomfortable about entering a property and worst, if there are tenants still living at the place, they might not like any strangers entering their home at this time.

1 Adapt to new conditions

The smart landlord will do some research to recognise and adapt to these new conditions. Luckily, we can do so by doing our research online.

You may eve find an opportunity here in this challenging tenants’ market. For example, some landlords that own property near hospitals were able to rent out their places to hospitals or medical staff as those needed to stay separate from their family to don’t put them at risk.

2 Stay realistic

Don’t push the rent up to test the limit. This can cost you valuable time and money, in the end, you might only get a smaller rent anyway but maybe wasted 2 months in which you could have already earned. Make sure you are realistic and meet the market.

You may also consider to rent the property for a shorter period than the typical 12-month period. This might be more convenient for some tenants that are in an uncertain situation. Being flexible in that way can give you this little extra advantage.

3 Present your property in the best light

To present your place at its best is crucial. Some landlords or agents who take some quick photos with their cell may not take a good approach. As always, and especially now, the first impression is important. Great photos, with good light, showing a tidy property can make all the difference to stand out from other offers.

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

If it is not possible to show your property at its best because it just isn’t at its best maybe now would be a good time to do some maintenance or upgrading. A little bit of paint and well-chosen decoration can make miracles.

4 Advertise on a wider market

Take advantage of online real estate platforms such as www.listproperty4free.com where you can list property ads for free.  Also, often a local classified portal can get you the right audience.

How Covid-19 affects house prices

Experts are far from agreeing how Covid-19 affects house prices. Most pros advise investors to stay calm.

There is no clear answer to the question of how the prices for residential or commercial real estate will develop as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

House Prices Forecast

The forecasts range from price drops of up to 25 percent to stable prices and even further rising rents to further price increases.

We are currently in a situation that never happened before therefore it is very difficult to predict the outcome as we cannot compare it with any other time in history. There is one thing though experts agree on which can be summed up in the following quote

“There is only one thing certain and that is that nothing is certain.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

House prices forecasts are for this year or a maximum of twelve months. Afterwards, the experts seem to agree, the prices tend to go up rather than down. All on the premise that the recession will be overcome by 2021 at the latest. Nobody speaks of a price bubble that could burst.

Corona would at most lead to a cycle break, meaning a temporary interruption of the general upward trend.

Real Estate is “concrete gold” – a rather safe investment

Although the price boom we saw before covid-19 would be a thing of the past, real estate seems to stay a rather safe investment compared with other ventures.

Researchers cite five factors for their forecast of short-term price declines: rising interest rates, less influx into booming cities, emergency sales due to less liquidity, for example among freelancers, fewer new buildings and less demand from investors.

The good news for home owners is that we currently have no indications of falling house prices.


Capital investors who were interested in buying an apartment before the epidemic are advised to simply pursue their plans. Residential properties still offer relatively good returns.

Conclusion

People need to live somewhere. Even if some who were planning to buy a house can’t do it anymore due to financial difficulties, they still need a place – meaning they rent a place, which in return is good for the owner as he receives the rent.

Surely, we always like to get a good bargain that’s why some buyers are hoping that the current situation will make houses more affordable.

11 years ago, we set on a quest to find the cheapest houses in the world and are surprised with what we found. So much so, that we created a website for cheap real estate. Check it out at https://www.propertyunder20k.com/

Time of opportunity for a real estate investor?

The covid-19 outbreak has affected every industry. As new unemployment numbers come out it leaves people speechless. There is no guide book for times like these. Some real estate investor may see a opportunity to hunt for real estate offers.

Many home owners didn’t have the money to pay their mortgage this month. Also, many tenants could not pay their rent as a result many landlords are in trouble to make their mortgage payments. Looking at the current mess on the real estate market many see this as an opportunity for property investors. Some already speak of a real estate recession.

But not so fast

Of course, we can already start thinking about possible consequences for the real estate market. Nevertheless, we need to keep in mind that we don’t know yet what exactly we will have to face as this covid-19 pandemic continues.

A possible scenario

One scenario would be a compressed but normal recession and it would probably look a lot like the 2008 recession, but quicker and deeper. Of course, it is not difficult to imagine other set-ups where a larger disaster awaits.

There is not much else you can do than to…

Stay positive

We should not forget that the real estate market moves very slowly, and the covid-19 pandemic is still young.

It is very unlikely that all of a sudden people will sell their homes for next to nothing. Even if home owners get under pressure because they can’t pay their mortgage anymore, we need to keep in mind that this will happen to thousands of people – most probable they will receive some sort of help to prevent them from losing their home.

Time of opportunities

No doubt, there are and there will be more opportunities for a real estate investor. This is a good time to go hunting for real estate bargains.

Real Estate Investor to the rescue

At the same time, nobody feels good about taking advantage of disaster. Therefore, it has to be noticed that many will be happy to find buyers quickly even if it means to sell for less. A real estate investor may be able to give exactly that help that the home seller needs at this time.

Find great real estate offers on www.propertyunder100k.com

Less new home listings

Spring is naturally a time when sellers put new home listings for sale as more people are looking for a house to buy. Home sellers hoping to take advantage of the buyers new born enthusiasm after the winter period. But this year, new listings dropped significantly in March and early April as the Covid-19 outbreak embraced the globe. 

Real Estate Portals report less new home listings

Zillow, inc. reported yesterday that newly listed homes in the U.S. were down 27.1% from a year ago in the first week of April. They reported that the number of newly listed properties usually increases in late March and early April as home buying season starts. This year it’s been quite the contrary as many states have suggested or instructed people to stay at home. New listings in the U.S. have fallen 19% from the beginning of March.

No surprise

We can see the same trend happening on our website with international real estate listings. The number of new listings dropped slightly as well as the number of people who made enquiries about real estate offers.

It is totally understandable that people had other things on their mind than getting a new home. Nevertheless, after the first weeks past we can now see that the number of enquiries is slowly coming back to normal.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Social distancing cooled the real estate market

While the covid-19 outbreak and the resulting social distancing have cooled the real estate market considerably, it isn’t completely motionless. Buyers, sellers and real estate agents have started to change their activities as they adapt to public health requirements. They make 3D Home tours available or make home viewings via video conference.

Therefore, it seems like a good time now for all home sellers that are in a wait-and-see-mood to get their home for sale out there.

Need for new homes is still there

Although there is a particularly strong wait-and-see pattern similar to what happened during past pandemics we can see that customers still interested or actually needing to buy a new home even if they are not going to walk-throughs or able to close on transactions in person. Especially smaller and cheaper properties are in high demand.

List your home for sale

If some predictions turn out to be true and house prices will fall dramatically due to the covid-19 outbreak wouldn’t it be better to sell your house today rather tomorrow?

Don’t wait any longer, list your home for sale today.

Will Covid-19 drive people back to the countryside?

After 4 weeks being locked up in an apartment in town, I wish I could be in the countryside. I’m not alone, we can see a tendency on our website that the demand for real estate on the countryside is slightly increasing. If it will lead to more sales is still to be seen.

We need nature to be happy

Some recent news from Portugal, where people flocked in thousands to the beach during country lock down or from Snowdonia National Park in Wales, UK that was inundated with visitors, simply shows that we still value being out and being in the nature. It doesn’t matter how comfortable our homes are or how convenient it is to live in the striving city we need nature to be happy.

Since Covid-19 many see things differently

During lock down we all seem to have been busier than ever keeping in touch with friends and family through messaging. Sharing funny stuff, thoughts and just moments of our daily life has become part of our routine. I received many photos from friends who live in the countryside. They show how they do relaxing walks in the forests that are just at their doorsteps or how they do some gardening, growing all sorts of vegetables. “Lucky them!” I thought, I wish I could do the same.

Having a balcony is a start

All I was able to do so far was to grow some salat and strawberries on the balcony. Anyway, that’s already better than nothing. But still, I think I would really enjoy living in the countryside especially in this uncertain covid-19 future to come.

Taste the fruit of your own labor.

Eating your own produce

Especially now where many people started working from home – me included – it would be great to get away from the computer sometimes and do a bit of gardening to find your balance and be out in the nature.  As a reward you might even be able to eat some of your own produce.

What do you think, will covid-19 drive people back to the countryside?

Please leave a comment below and tell us what you think.