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ARE PROPERTY REHABS THE BEST WAY FORWARD ?

Over the last 12 months we have seen a dramatic increase in demand for “rehabbed” or “Turnkey” properties, this is not just unique to Global Investments but seems to be a general trend with US real estate properties. One may ask why is this happening now and would it not be better to buy a tenanted property without all of this extra hassle ? The reasoning behind this trend is because some investors are seeing the added benefits of buying a refurbished property as compared to an older tenanted property. The first big advantage is your yearly maintenance bills, with refurbished and updated properties you tend to have lower yearly maintenance bills due to the fact that most things items are upgraded or replacing, you tens to find new plumbing and electrics and well as updated kitchens and bathrooms, with some refurbished properties they even go as far as replacing the roof. With non refurbished properties we generally see that some things will need to be fixed or replaced due to general wear and tear. Another reason is that you tend to find that refurbished properties offer better value for money and are generally available in the better parts of the cities. Buying a refurbished property gives you the opportunity to buy a run down property have it refurbished and therefor add value to the property. Looking at some of our recent refurbishment’s we can see that houses in the same areas that have already been refurbished are generally 20-30% higher in price. A rehabbed home, by definition, makes the home move-in ready. This immediate usability makes it attractive to investors, having real estate ready to go means you can start earning income instantly and get your new tenants placed. Once the property is ready your management company can then start the process of placing your tenants which can be either private tenants or Section 8 tenants given your preference. Again people may ask surely it makes sense to buy properties with tenants already in place, well not really, with a vacant property you are starting with a clean slate and not inheriting tenants. The management companies will screen your tenants make sure they are fully vetted and take a security deposit from them, you are therefore confident that you are getting good tenants placed. Management companies love receiving refurbished properties as they know tenants are constantly looking for these, especially in the good areas, what tenant would not prefer new carpets and paint and updated bathrooms and kitchens. Buying refurbished properties can help you transform your property portfolio and opens up different avenues as an investor. Maximising a property’s capital and rental value is clearly a key motivator for investors, but the most important factor is ensuring that the property is in good shape for tenants and have your tenants placed as quickly as possible. With a refurbished property you also have the option of putting your own stamp on the property, maybe choose the colour of the kitchen cabinets or decide on the colour of the paint, some investors love this part of the process or you could just leave it to the contractor. Every refurbished property we offer for sale will have a full inspection report carried out once the contractor has completed their work, a sang list will be drafted and each item will be fixed before you close on the property, you will also receive pictures and videos throughout the whole process. As a company we use some of the best building contractors in the US who have competed on 100’s of properties, we have a solid team both in house and on site and always deliver on time. Here is an example of a large property in Cleveland that has recently been refurbished by one of our contractors, tenants are now in place and the property is under management by a great company. Before rehab After rehab If you would like more information on any of our new refurbishment properties please email invest@globalinvestmentsincorporated.com.

Dan Gilbert the Detroit legend

When Dan Gilbert was 11 years old he took a drive with his grandfather down Woodward Avenue in Detroit. He sat in the back seat of their ’71 Oldsmobile as his grandfather pointed at an empty retail location on Detroit’s main drag and said there “usta be” something over there. Then he pointed out how there usta be streetcars downtown, there usta be this, usta be that. Gilbert says that memory captures how he saw the city while growing up in the neighbouring middle-class suburb of Southfield in the 1960s, and he shared it in a keynote speech with several hundred real estate professionals gathered at the Urban Land Institute’s annual meeting in May, at Detroit’s Cobo Center. “Doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from: I can guarantee that people have been pointing to things for a long period of time and saying ‘usta,’” he said. “And when you look back at the sort of symbolic bottom of Detroit, I couldn’t think of any worse or sadder word to describe it than ‘usta.’” Detroit is a large city that lost hundreds of thousands of residents over decades. Its downtown, where Bedrock’s development is focused, became increasingly vacant. This is now finally changing, and it’s in no small part because of Gilbert, the billionaire founder of mortgage company Quicken Loans and the owner of NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Over the past ten years, as media reports, films, and books churned out negative slurs portraying Detroit as a hollowed-out dystopia, Gilbert and his real-estate firm, Bedrock, were buying swaths of property at bargain prices and pumping in billions of dollars. Right now there are about 100 properties in Bedrock’s Detroit portfolio. Since its founding in 2011, Bedrock has invested and allocated a total of $5.6 billion into the city. Rock Ventures, Gilbert’s umbrella company of more than 100 businesses, accounts for 17,000 jobs in Detroit, making it the city’s largest employer, minority employer, and taxpayer. He moved Quicken Loans, now the US’s largest mortgage lender and the foundation of his fortune, to Detroit in 2010. As Detroiters struggled with the results of years of poor governance at the city and state levels, Gilbert continued a spending spree with the aim of breathing life back into the heart of the city. Now, for the first time in years, not only are Detroiters and Michiganders interested in what’s happening downtown. Global Investments have seen an increasing demand in the last 2 years from investors eager to capitalise on the early days of picking up the best bargains in the best locations in Detroit and Cleveland. Dan Gilbert is looking to save Detroit again ! Obviously many clients have contacted Global Investments recently concerned about investing right now during the global Covid 19 pandemic. For a more detailed answer here is a link to a great previous blog on this very subject : Rental property investment could be the safer option in today’s struggling stock market It is great news then for our investors to hear the positive steps being taken by Dan Gilbert in Detroit and Cleveland during these crazy times. This will no doubt give those still sitting on the fence a little but a reassurance. The next few weeks will most certainly be a buyers market. Dan Gilbert has donated $1.2 million to Detroit organisations to help them fight the outbreak of COVID-19. The donation from the Quicken Loans Community Fund and Gilbert Family Foundation includes $500,000 for the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, $250,000 to the United Community Housing Coalition and $450,000 for small businesses and existing grant partners to ensure they can maintain operations in the weeks ahead. “Our actions today will impact the trajectory of the coronavirus tomorrow, which is why it is so critical that we, as a philanthropic community, immediately support Detroit residents through direct investments in families and those nonprofits that provide crucial services,” said Jennifer Gilbert, co-founder of the Gilbert Family Foundation. “The Gilbert Family Foundation is proud to invest in United Way and United Community Housing Coalition in order to mitigate the impacts of this virus today and for the foreseeable future. We encourage other organisations to join us in supporting this necessary cause.” The money provided to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan will go straight to its COVID-19 Community Response Fund, which supports families and nonprofits to ensure access to health care, emergency financial supports and food, as well as addressing long-term needs that result from loss of jobs and income. Quicken Loans is also matching fundraising for team members who donate to organisations in Detroit, Cleveland, Phoenix and Charlotte. Dan Gilbert is also waiving rent and parking payments for up to three months for the small businesses located in buildings. Select businesses that are located in Bedrock buildings will not be charged for rent, parking, or other expenses through the end of June, the company announced in a statement released on Monday. “As with all of our tenants, entrepreneurs and small businesses play an incredibly important role in our local economy, which has been central to Dan Gilbert’s vision over the last 10 years of his investments in Detroit and Cleveland, ” Bedrock CEO Matt Cullen said in a statement. “It is going to take the entire community to mitigate the effects of this pandemic on the region, and we are happy to do our part to help our portfolio’s most vulnerable businesses weather the storm. In Detroit, Bedrock houses 125 retailers and restaurants, in addition to another 210 businesses in office space, according to a press release. The company said in a statement that none of the small businesses it leases space to had folded due to the virus thus far. So if you are looking to take advantage of buy to let opportunities in Detroit or Cleveland, Speak to a member of our team today and we’ll help guide you through the process. Email Mike or any of his team at Global at invest@globalinvestmentsincorporated.com .

The Virtual Investor – Is this future of US Real Estate ?

We are all facing a time of economic uncertainty, builders have ceased working on sites across the US and US cities have gone into lockdown. All forms of work have virtually stopped and new stringent measures makes us adopt a more cautious approach when it comes to investment. There is no denying that the current global situation is having an impact on the US housing market but the scale and size of this impact has yet to be ascertained. If we take the last week of March as an indicator we can see that the number of newly-listed properties fell by 13.1% and 34% respectively when compared with the same period a year ago. This is an indication that some Sellers may be holding off on listing their properties right now afraid they may take a hit due to the current market conditions. During this period we have also seen that house prices did not rise but more or less stayed level as compared to this time last year according to realtor.com there is no doubt that the current situation is disrupting the normal momentum we see in the US housing market. Claims of mass unemployment and a foreclosure crisis may keep some investors on the side line but one key difference now as compared to the 2000s is the housing market stock levels, the US housing market is now not over-built. Mark Fleming, Chief Economist for Title Insurance Company First American Financial Corporation has worded it very well “While housing led the recession in 2008-2009, this time it may be poised to bring us out of it,” Rising home values and stricter lending standards have also meant that homeowners are sitting on historically high amounts of home equity as compared to 2000s, that is because before this current global situation the US housing market was on a very strong footing, we do not have to make mass gains to get us back to where we were. Due to the lockdown we all have more time to surf the web and dig a little deeper into areas of interest, we can now spend more time building our knowledge studying how certain markets work and listen to what other people are saying. In recent weeks we have seen a surge in online courses and activities as people try out new things. In the US we have seen many people trying their hand at buying and selling properties to make a profit in anticipation of an economic downturn, which is impacting the inventory levels. There is no doubt that the housing market will not come out of this unscathed but some investors are seeing this current market condition as an opportunity, they label themselves the iBuyers. iBuyers are individuals that purchase homes outright from doing their own research on the web, they are looking at the properties age, condition, and zip code some of them even use mathematical algorithms, the iBuyer predicts the home’s future value, with the hope to eventually list them on the open market or sell them for a profit. While this does seem appealing especially since we all have more times on our hands we do need to take into consideration the cons of going it alone. iBuyers have to make a profit, and to do that, they can’t offer sellers full market price for their homes. This typically means sellers get significantly less for their home than they would if they used traditional methods. iBuyers also need to cover repairs and maintenance in order to make the home marketable. These expenses can severely impact the potential to make any profit. The other risk for iBuyers is being unable to resell the property quickly enough, having costs can add up, they might have ended up buying a property that is different to what they originally thought. The convenience of iBuyers is definitely intriguing. However, it seems like the overall cost of this convenience will need to come down before it becomes consumer-friendly and more mainstream to investors. Our advice is to trust the experts, years of experience and a solid network of trusted suppliers lessens the likelihoods of entering stormy uncharted waters. As a company we always do extensive due diligence on every property we list, we are currently pushing our suppliers to provide us with properties just below market value, to give us all a little bit of room should the market drop slightly. Our purchasing power enables us to get the best deals for our clients given the current environment, going it alone as an iBuyer is not always the right decision. We are also working hard to expand our inventory of Section 8 and other assisted income properties as these are seen as a very appealing investment in this current market. Like other US Real estate companies we are adjusting to the current changes, safety of our staff is paramount so we also have adapted to working at home, carrying out virtual tours, using teleconferencing platforms and working with authorities in relation to their guidelines and advice. It is the same with the Partners we work with, from the management companies to the title companies, they too have adapted to this new environment while maintaining the same level of service they have always provided. We think our new inventory is better than ever, very reasonably priced properties from the top suppliers in the US. This current situation will end one day and the market will come back strong, there is no doubt prices will rise in the future far beyond what they are today. If you would like to see our latest inventory please email invest@globalinvestmenstincorproated.com

The Cleveland Clinic, things you didn’t know and how the brand is putting Cleveland on the Global map.

Located in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit, multi-specialty academic medical centre that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Today, with nearly 1,300 beds on Cleveland Clinic main campus and 6,026 beds system-wide, Cleveland Clinic provides safer care for more people in more places than ever before. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170 acre campus in Cleveland, as well as 11 regional hospitals and 19 family health centres in northeast Ohio, and hospitals in Florida and Nevada. Outside the United States, Cleveland Clinic also operates the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital and a sports medicine clinic in Toronto. Cleveland Clinic is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States. In 2018-2019, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Cleveland Clinic as the number 2 hospital in the Best Hospitals Honor Roll, as it was nationally ranked in 14 adult and 10 paediatric specialties. Cleveland Clinic’s cardiology program has ranked No. 1 in the nation since 1995. Cleveland Clinic patents & innovation : Cleveland Clinic, the renowned hospital and medical research centre is also entering the venture capital business, in a manner of speaking. To be sure, Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit organisation. But it’s a well-heeled one, with more than $12 billion in assets, according to its most recent financials. What’s more, the organisation has always been savvy about the intellectual property and innovation potential residing under its roof. Since 2000, when it launched its Cleveland Clinic Innovations division, CCI has secured more than 660 patents and spun off 76 companies. CCI investing $500,000 of its own cash into Tatara Vascular, a startup which makes a coronary guide wire. Combined with $1 million in investment from partners operating under CCI’s umbrella in the project, the total investment has reached $1.5 million. The Cleveland Clinic Global Brand : Currently, more than half of Cleveland Clinic’s patients come to its main campus from outside Ohio. To grow these numbers, and to increase the organisation’s name recognition and national presence, Cleveland Clinic has undertaken a national marketing campaign. This has involved strengthening the Cleveland Clinic brand across all of its facilities, turning the organisation from a local medical centre to a nationally-recognised brand of healthcare. Along with robust branding efforts, Cleveland Clinic has led the way in measuring and publicising its outcomes. This has helped it land bundled payment arrangements with some of the country’s largest employers, such as home improvement giant Lowe’s, based in Mooresville, N.C., and Chicago-based Boeing, which sought top quality for employees’ more expensive and invasive procedures, such as heart surgery. Globally, the Clinic is building a seven-story, 185,000-square-foot cancer centre at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, which is scheduled to open in 2022. They are also building Cleveland Clinic London, a 200-bed facility near Buckingham Palace, set to open in spring 2021. Cleveland Clinic is also working with Luye Medical Group on the Shanghai Luye Lilan Hospital in Shanghai, China. The new hospital, set to open to patients in 2024, is the first project by Cleveland Clinic Connected, an international affiliation program the Cleveland-based system launched. Cleveland Clinic, A Vital Local Economic Force : Economic and Fiscal Impact reports shows that by fulfilling its mission, Cleveland Clinic also serves as a powerful economic engine in the communities it serves. As the largest employer in Northeast Ohio and the second largest in Ohio, Cleveland Clinic has made significant contributions to the state and local economies, totalling $17.8 billion in 2016. The activities of Cleveland Clinic also supported more than 119,000 Ohio jobs, representing more than $7.5 billion in total earnings. Cleveland Clinic Florida, one of the largest employers in Broward County, had a total economic output of up to $1.2 billion, including 7,450 jobs and $426 million in wages and benefits. Cleveland Clinic Student Housing program : Obviously hundreds of Students attend The Cleveland Clinic every year and the Clinic provides On-campus housing. This housing is available only for medical students enrolled in their elective program. The bed rate is $500 per student and the accommodation includes a double-occupancy room, refrigerator, microwave and shared bathroom. So for 2 students $1,000 for one room. For this reason many students and also employees elect to find alternative private rental accommodation in the local areas such as Hough, Fairfax, Glenville, St Clair Superior, and Mt Pleasant. This enables students and Clinic employees to find much larger accommodation and also at cheaper expense. Cleveland Clinic actually works with reputable local Real Estate companies and has an alternative student housing program to help students arrange their housing needs. Whether it’s for the short term (up to one year) or long term (one to five years), Cleveland Clinic helps find housing accommodation in the surrounding area. The property has to be reviewed and meet certain standards, very much like the Section 8 standards. The rental contract is between the student and the rental agent. So if you are a future student on The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio or will be shortly moving to Cleveland to work at the Cleveland Clinic and you need quality rental accommodation then contact Global Investments today. A special thank You : On a last note we must give thanks for the great work Cleveland Clinic are doing in the fight with the current Global Covid 19 crisis, leading the way in providing urgently needed testing, please see the following link from the Daily Mail online as of today April 2nd : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8104803/Top-hospital-Cleveland-Clinic-develops-coronavirus-test-deliver-results-EIGHT-HOURS.html