It has been a rough ride for the last month. And it is going to be more of the same for a while. Hundreds of thousands of businesses are shut down, or operating on a skeleton crew, or barely hanging on at all. Millions are newly unemployed. Home listings are down in March, and will likely be down even more in April, say experts. But one expert is optimistic about the prospects for real estate when Americans can finally get back to work.

“The minute that people are legally allowed to take a physical tour, the market is going to boom,” writes Rogers Healy, owner and CEO of Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate and Healy Property Management. “It’s like when the new iPhone comes out. We want and expect lines out the door, just no tents, please.”

Real estate agents have been innovative and resilient: With no open houses to run, no appointments to show homes for sale to buyers in person, and no ‘networking events’ to go to in the evenings, agents have had far more time on their hands – and they’re using it to transform the way homes are bought and sold in America.

Specifically, agents and brokers are beefing up their websites, enhancing their local SEO and arranging video tours of houses.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans, now stuck in their homes, are spending massive amounts of time at home on the Internet. “My screen time on my iPhone is up to embarrassingly high numbers. I’m literally averaging 14 hours a DAY on my phone,” says Healy.

These two factors are contributing to a massive pent-up demand for homes and home sales – one that will assert itself in a flood once the economy opens back up and people are back on the job.

“Eventually, we will all find a way to a real estate site, or at least search homes on Instagram,” Healy says. “It’s inevitable, kind of like those cookies in your pantry are going to get eaten by the time you’re done reading this article.

Self-Directed Real Estate IRA Investors Have an Opportunity.

The Coronavirus, tragic as it is, may create an opportunity for Self-Directed Real Estate IRA investors. Thousands of small landlords will run into a cash crunch because of laid-off slow-paying or no-paying tenants. They will be motivated sellers, and many of whom will be happy to sell at a reasonable discount to cash buyers and buyers who are easily able to qualify for a mortgage – such as Self-Directed Real Estate IRA investors.

Because Self-Directed Real Estate IRA loans are underwritten based on the asset itself, and not on income, and buyers typically have between 33% and 50% down or more, Real Estate IRA loans can usually get approved quickly – another key advantage in this challenging housing market.

Indeed, this (hopefully) short-term crisis may be a terrific opportunity for Self-Directed IRA investors using this strategy.

To make it work, start marketing yourself now as someone who can help provide a solution for small landlords. If the law allows, put up signs in the neighborhoods you want to target. Send out a direct mailer. Knocking on doors might not help right now but take a daytime stroll around selected neighborhoods. Talk to people. Listen carefully to them. If people trust you, they will tell you where the opportunities are.

Interested in learning more about Self-Directed IRAs?  Contact American IRA, LLC at 866-7500-IRA (472) for a free consultation.  Download our free guides or visit us online at www.AmericanIRA.com.