According to the experts, the United States officially entered into a recession in February 2020. With economic turmoil and record-high job losses, it’s not difficult to see the ripple effects of recession spread out into the areas of our lives.

As time passes, we’re seeing more encouraging information about the state of the real estate market versus the fearful predictions of a few months ago. That said, there’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has and will continue to impact real estate. For real estate investors, the question is less about whether to invest, but how one’s strategy needs to adjust to changing priorities and both economic and market conditions.

This week’s Transformation Tuesday comes from Memphis, Tennessee. With its peeling roof and yard littered with fallen tree branches, we weren’t quite sure what to expect on the inside of this house. Pink fluffy insulation pooled inside the kitchen and bedrooms, and a massive hole in the wall cursed the living room. But by the time our expert team completed the renovation, this home was completely new again.

If you’re like most people in the world right now, you’re likely fatigued by an overwhelming amount of negative news, doomsaying, constant stress, and fear. As we move through the pandemic — for many of us, the third month of stay-at-home orders and social distancing — it’s important to analyze the market as it is versus worrying about what it will become.

Over the past few months, we have heard over and over again that the world is changing. That there will be a “new normal” that we will all have to adjust to. And it’s true — the world is changing and in some ways that we can’t predict. For our part, our attention has been firmly on how to best serve and communicate with our residents and investors. Taking care of them has always been our top priority. It has only become more important in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

This week’s Transformation Tuesday comes from Dallas-Ft.Worth, Texas. Horrendous might be an understatement for this home; a junked yard, depleted kitchen, and deteriorating bathroom left this house nothing but a pit. Luckily, there isn’t anything our expert team of contractors can’t handle, so we renovated this home into something that was as unrecognizable as it was beautiful.

"What you focus on, you improve."

Over the last few months, REI Nation and Premier Property Management have worked diligently to increase the home inspection scores of the properties under our management. Our scale begins at 1, indicating that the home needs major improvements before it should be available for residency. The numbers on our scale range to 5 with an additional score of Perfect for houses in which the Inspector deems have no discernible issues. Our goal is to have every property reach a Perfect score.

Recently, Forbes published a list of “booming” housing markets amid the COVID-19 crisis. In this case, “booming” means “more quickly recovering” than other housing markets around the United States. These markets share a few things in common. 

This week’s Transformation Tuesday comes from Little Rock, Arkansas. This honey mustard-colored house tucked between towering trees needed some serious attention, both inside and out. The yellow exterior carried over to the kitchen and bathrooms, burdening the house with its outdated feel. But after enough TLC carried out by our expert team of contractors, this home’s potential has been realized.

Big financial decisions are difficult to make. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have as an investor, either. We still feel that rush of uncertainty, that feeling of standing on the edge of something big. Deciding to step off the edge on faith is scary. After all, no investment is a sure thing. There’s always risk. What if you make the wrong move?