The first step when investing in real estate is to decide in what area of the market you are going to go into. Whether you start small by buying apartments with 1 bedroom to rent them out or by buying larger commercial properties, there is a place for you in the real estate market. 

You can use this list to help you find your niche but you should definitely consider build-to-rent. This is a real estate investment that often gets overlooked even though it has many benefits. Read on to find out everything you need to know about build-to-rent investments. 

What Is Build-To-Rent?

In most cases, real estate investors will search for existing properties to put their money into and then fix them up before renting them out if needs be. However, when working with build-to-rent experts they will design and construct a new property for you to rent out. In many cases, build-to-rent investments are large property developments with lots of different homes, but that isn’t always the case. If you wanted to build a single property to let, that’s a great option too. 

What Are The Benefits?

So, why would you go through the whole process of building your own property from scratch when you could just buy an existing property? It’ll be much quicker and less stressful to buy an existing property but there are some great reasons to choose build-to-rent. 

Customizable properties

The most obvious benefit of build-to-rent is that you have complete control over the property and you can make changes during the design process. Instead of going through the whole search process and having to make sacrifices because you can’t find exactly what you want, you can design and build the perfect property. Before you get started, you can do research to find out exactly what tenants want. 

Longer tenancies

Short tenancies are a nightmare for landlords because it costs money to keep an empty property and find new tenants. In most cases, build-to-rent properties result in longer tenancies because they meet the needs of the tenant more closely and the quality of the property is better.

Higher rent rates

Tenants are also willing to pay higher rates for brand new properties that meet all of their needs. If you have an old property with maintenance issues, you have far less negotiating power when it comes to rent. 

Lower running costs

The running costs are often overlooked by new property investors and they are surprised just how much it costs to look after a property. It’s down to you to cover the cost of maintenance and, depending on the renters agreement, you may be covering the utility bills too. A brand new property won’t have anywhere near as many maintenance issues, so it’s far easier to run. New properties can also be designed to be more eco-friendly, which is a big plus for tenants. It also means that you save money if you are covering the utility bills. When you consider the lower running costs and the higher rent, that adds up to much larger profits. 

If you are considering a real estate investment, don’t overlook build-to-rent options because they are often the most lucrative choice.