TPP381: Serviced Accommodation and COVID-19

This week on The Property Podcast, The Robs are joined by special guest, Chris Ryder, who is a serviced accommodation expert.  Serviced accommodation has been an ever-developing strategy for a number of property investors over the years and it’s becoming increasingly popular.  But a twist of events this year (we’re talking about you, coronavirus!) has seen investors struggle to get tenants through the door of their serviced accommodation. Some unlucky investors are looking at at least 3 months of no rental income up to now! So today we have serviced accommodation expert, Chris Ryder, dropping the truth bombs on what’s happening in the (slightly battered) sector at the minute.  If you were to believe the media, you’d have seen many investors pivoting away from short term lets towards long-term during the pandemic, in a bid to avoid lengthy void periods. But interestingly, Chris hasn’t had to do that. It’s actually quite amazing how quickly he adapted his business model to make the best out of a bad situation. If you’re thinking of going down the serviced accommodation route, you’ll certainly want to listen to this episode first and note down all the tips Chris has to offer.   For our news story this week we’re sharing the latest HomeTrack report. We know our listeners enjoy hearing the latest updates on where’s performing well and where isn’t. We know you’re also all dying to know if The Robs were right about their predictions at the start of the year. It’s interesting to look at the data from the last three months. According to the report, house price growth is up 2.4% compared to last year - which has climbed even higher over the last month. Incredible for what’s currently going on across the world.   This week’s Hub Extra is something that Rob B has been using against his son to beat him at chess! It’s a website called chess.com and it’s a great tool for improving your logic and your chess skills.  There’s lessons on there if you’re a complete beginner and want to learn how to play and there’s sections where you can work on your strategy. Then you can play a game against a random person that the system matches you to based on your ability and put it all to the test.   We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.   Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.