All Forum Posts by: Franky Aikens

@Monica Johnson

What I love about this post is that you decided to be a human before you acted as the typical landlord during this wildly unpredictable time.

Only compassion and empathy can push the outcome of this crisis in the right direction.

Are you a business person? As an investor, yes you are. But your also a provider of a place that people can call their home. This is bigger than Cashflow. This is about doing the right thing!

You get it. And you’re friggin awesome!!

The outlook on what’s transpiring, for the most part, is trending one of two ways. Optimistically or pessimistically. Since money is at the root of this conversation, few people with skin in the game are neutral. With so many unknowns you can’t afford to take that stance.

The fact of the matter is, never in history (and please fact check me on this) has there been an event that has had such a massively negative correlating effect on all sectors of industry all at once. This is a different type of fear the world is experiencing. It’s the type that touches everyday life. And it’s being exasperated by unknowns. Unknowns about the virus itself and unknowns about how wide spread it will become and how long it will take to start seeing significant containment, then decreases in cases.

Hence, there are few, if any, verticals of industry that are insulated from this. If you haven't seen much of a negative effect in your STR business yet, it doesn't mean you wont in the near future.

There are no fundamentals to reference that can proof or disprove the viability of any businesses in this environment. People are in survival mode. There is no financial model for survival mode.

@Ed Brancheau That logic does make sense from your customers' perspective. These are unprecedented times. In the past, downturns like this had to do with the market, not health and how you live your everyday life. The fear factor here is unique and it's affecting all sectors of business. One of the few times in history when an event has such a high correlating effect across the board. There are very few that are insulated.

I've been watching CNBC all day. There was a segment that highlighted COVID's impact on real estate. They mentioned how some realtors are doing virtual walk-throughs for clients. Not sure if that's something your clients have thought of. Don't even know if it would be good enough for them to move forward with business. Maybe you can pre-book placements for a discount to see if some will take advantage of that option. Whether there will be takers will depend on their confidence in a bounce-back once its all said and done. Only time will tell. 

Everyone seems confident this will pass. The question is - when and how will things look once we get to the other side?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and best of luck!

The sky has been falling over the last two weeks. Market fundamentals are out the window causing fear to spread faster than the virus itself. Some are running scared, others are either looking for opportunities to invest or an opportunity to learn from the events. Maybe both.

What strategies have you followed in the past that has ended up insulated you from this unpredictable event? What’s the lesson to be learned here?

@Joe Villeneuve

Amazing! Sounds like you utilize sizable data sets. How do you import the data inputs for analysis? Is that part automated to extract from the data source or do you import the data manually? Do you compile the data in batches then upload for analysis?

@Joe Villeneuve that’s pretty remarkable. How long did it take you to development the software? Has it been evolving over time.

What are the outputs it provides to help you make investment decisions?

Hope you don’t mind the follow up questions. Just really intrigued.

@Greg Morris great points! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

@Joe Villeneuve that is pretty impressive! Will this software always be for your proprietary use or will you roll it out as a product one day?

@Tj M. I’d go with the refi. But I wouldn’t sit on the money waiting for home prices to correct in the market. Instead, I’d go out and create a deal that gives me the same result a market correction would.

Parking your money to wait on a deal to show up is like taking your best players out of a game to wait for the other team to get tired before you put your players back in. What if the other takes longer than expected to get tired? Or worse, what if they never get tired at all?!

I’ve been educating myself on investing for a while now. One of many things I’ve learned is that most successful investors don’t sit on cash. They move it to deals that throw off an acceptable return for their money. They find a way to do this in any type of market condition.

Good luck!

Proptech. It's coming. Some feel it's already here.

What is it Proptech (Property Technology)? It's technological innovations meant to either support real estate professionals or replace them. They are platforms that automate property management, facilitating real estate deals without agents or brokers and many other things. In some cases, they are brokers and title companies as well. These startups are popping up in growing numbers. It's becoming big business thanks to venturing capitalists that are throwing millions of dollars behind it. Fast, simple real estate transactions at scale are the imperative goals for Proptech players.

The million-dollar question is - what does this mean for smaller investors? As the behavior for real estate investment goes digital should Proptech be seen as a threat or an opportunity to capitalize on the next wave in REI?

What are your thoughts BP?!