A new look at why the rental market can make you big money

The apartment market is hot and that means there’s a real money making opportunity for you.

You’ve heard the saying about how it’s so much easier to get into trouble than to get out of it? Well, there’s a shortage of apartments and a surplus of condos. Think about how many apartment complexes were converted to condos. Yet it’s nearly impossible to go the other way, from condos back to apartments.

The problem is right now if you’re a renter, there’s just not the supply of units. That says to me that it’s the perfect situation to be a landlord: There’s a shortage of apartments and rents are rising. Now is the time, if you are able, to buy some distressed real estate and fix it up to turn it into a rental property.

City after city is suffering a massive oversupply of condominiums while apartments are in short supply. The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story spotlighting Atlanta’s huge supply of distressed condos.

People have asked me why not just buy a condo and turn it into a rental? The reason is because condos have strict caps on when you can rent. So you might buy a condo for a steal of a deal and then find out you’re not allowed to rent it out.

That said, there will be people who are very savvy who put together a group of investors and buy up all the units and convert them back from condos to apartments. But in most states, the way the condo laws are drawn, it’s very difficult for condos to go back to apartment rentals.