Rental Restoration

I was just thinking about my new contruction rentals blog series and realized I didn’t start at the beginning… which is a very good place to start!

I’ve been working with a lot of builders and builder’s agents lately to deal with some of the inventory that is getting a bit stale. A lot of builders are finding themselves in the “Accidental Landlord” position and it’s certainly not at all the worst place for a builder to be… and not just because the rental market is a better place than the courthouse steps!  I think right now seeing a builder who puts their inventory on the rental market shows that they solvent enough to weather negative cash flow for a bit (cash flow being operative words here- some cash flow is better than no cash flow!).  It also shows that the builder either has a solid relationship with their bank to convince them to convert their construction loans into something more permanent or waive restrictions in the existing loans on leasing properties.  Even better yet, I am in negotiations with a builder to manage a portion of his townhouse community that have been on 30-year fixed loans from the beginning!  Holy foresight, Batman!

It’s funny; I’ve yet to meet a builder who wants to be a landlord.  Even the builders I work with who are just finishing up rental projects don’t want to run the day-to-day operations of being a landlord.  All builders want to do is build!  Hmmm…

So, this blog series is my attempt to get some pertinent information out to people who want (need?) to think about the considerations that go along with new contruction rentals!

Eleanor