Minimizing risk during an economic downturn.

[Ben M.]

Show 250 with Grant Cardone was very informative and I thought he had a great point when he advised to purchase property in the middle range of the market with rental rates falling between $800 to $1200 to minimize your risk.

After his interview, I started to wonder what more could be done to minimize risk during a downturn and was hoping someone would be able to provide feedback on the following:

During the last downturn, which type of properties continued to have success with rents (less vacancies, monthly rents not fluctuating too much, etc)? Were there any advantages to owning one type of property than the other? House, Duplex, Apartment? Did SFRs continue to have success or were there more success with duplexes and apartments? I don't have experience yet, but to me, it seems like people would not overlook renting an sfr during a downturn as long as the monthly rent cost is within the middle/affordable range? A duplex or aparment would not have a desirability advantage over a sfr would they?

Now that I think about it, I guess the sfr would have a desirability DISadvantage since it would usually not be able to compete with the rental pricing for duplexes or apartments..?

[Marcia Maynard]

We have single family rental houses, duplexes, and an 8-plex.  All did fine during the downturn. High demand for affordable housing, which worked well for us since we operate in the low-income to mid-income range.  

The biggest advantage of the economic downturn was the greater availability of tradesmen (or tradeswomen) at better rates. Building materials were at a better price too. This was the time to do renovations, rehabs, etc. Also, more owners were getting out of holding real estate (by necessity or by choice), so it was a great time to buy.