As COVID-19 continues to tighten its grip on the world, we at MartelTurnkey are carrying on with business as usual, with a few differences. We wanted to take time this week to share with you some of the ways in which we have demonstrated the flexibility of our company to ride out whatever hurdles the market can bring to bear. As you’ll see, we are more committed than ever to adhering to our original mission statement of making the highest quality turnkey rental properties available to our investors.  

Following No Contact Best Practices

We have altered our property viewing protocols in order to adhere to no contact best practices. When a prospective tenant sees one of our turnkey rentals online that they are interested in, they can click on the “I’m Interested” button. That’s always been the case. However, rather than have them meet with a leasing agent at the property, we’ve implemented a new process. After they click the “I’m interested” button, on the next screen they can make an appointment to view the property. When they arrive on the designated date, they’ll find a lockbox on the door. They’ll receive a text message on their phone at their appointment time with the lockbox code. They can then tour the unit by themselves—no contact. They then leave and return the key to the lockbox. The prospective tenant then receives an email asking if they would like to fill out an application for the property. The rest of the process is completed entirely online.

Protecting Our Contractors

Our property contractors are still working hard, but with fewer workers at any one time. This enables them to more easily adhere to social distancing protocols while on the job. We have also equipped each of our contractors with official company letters stating that they are doing essential work, in the event that they are approached by law enforcement while en route to or from the turnkey rental property site.

Our Virtual Team at Work

The MartelTurnkey family team has always worked in a virtual office environment. Each of us have fully equipped home offices and access to a secured intranet of software applications and documents that enable us to conduct all aspects of our business from the safety of our homes. In the past, we did sometimes make a point of joining together in person to meet for quarterly meetings. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to take advantage of online conferencing software for our weekly and quarterly meetings. This has proven to be just as effective and even more convenient than meeting in person.

Protecting Our Assets

Rather than blindly rush forward, we are taking a managed approach to growing our company. We have dozens of turnkey rental properties either under contract or under construction, and we are maintaining a steady supply in balance with demand from our investors. In other words, we are still buying properties as long as demand warrants it, but we are holding back on buying new properties until existing inventory is sold. This cautiously optimistic attitude has served us in good stead so far. In fact, this month is set to be our biggest sales month so far!

 

It’s clear that our investors agree with us that now is the best time to invest in real estate, especially in light of the historically low lending rates and growing demand for rental units in our key markets as companies in the healthcare and shipping sectors continue to expand. Of course, it’s impossible to predict the future, but we continue to be bullish in our outlook over the next ten years or so. Whatever turbulence lies ahead, we are confident that by following guidelines and being steadfast and sturdy, we can weather any storm.