We’re pleased to announce that we raised $15M in Series A funding to make it easier for anyone, anywhere to invest in and manage single-family rental properties. Led by Canvas Ventures, the funding round included new investors Camber Creek, existing investors Khosla Ventures, Wave Capital, Pear Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank, and angel investors Tony Xu (DoorDash), Ryan Graves (Uber), and Andrew Marks (TQ Ventures).\n\nSingle-family real estate is one of the most consistent, stable asset classes in the world, appreciating at similar rates as the S&P 500 over the past 25 years.  And yet, more than 100 million people currently invest in the stock market—and only a small fraction of that invest in single-family properties. \n\nWhy? \n\nHistorically, the barriers to owning and managing a single-family property have been prohibitively high. Would-be investors needed significant capital, lots of extra time, and were confined to their local area given poor rental data availability. On top of that, managing the property was a tremendous challenge characterized by low professionalism, outdated processes, and a lack of transparency. \n\nBut residential real estate renting and investing are changing. As in so many markets, technology is breaking down age-old barriers to access—and unlocking widespread opportunities for people to create financial freedom and flexibility that didn’t exist before.\n\nEven still, the average American isn’t aware of these opportunities—nor have they traditionally been empowered to capitalize on them. \n\nDarwin is changing that. \n\nWe’re creating a world where everyone can have a piece of real estate in their portfolio. \n\nTo us, reaching that goal starts with single-family homes. Our aim is to help the mom and pop’s of the world that make up 95% of the market but are typically given short shrift—forced to struggle with outdated, inefficient systems, processes, and technologies. \n\nBy marrying best-in-class technology with Darwin’s local property managers, Darwin is making it easier for anyone, anywhere to participate in the rental real estate market. At the same time, we’re enabling a new type of remote investing and setting a new standard for renting. One where professionalism, expertise, and transparency are the baseline, creating exceptional owner, renter, and vendor experiences. \n\nIt’s time to bring the single-family home category up to speed—and invite everyone into the experience, using all the power our connected world has to offer. It’s time to plant the seeds of financial freedom for everyday people and democratize the market once and for all.\n\nDarwin Homes' Vision - Creating opportunity in every home\nHere’s what the Darwin vision looks like…\n\nFor Owners:\nPowerful technology and product innovation are what set Darwin apart—and ahead. Our automation software solves for the hardest part of the single-family investing equation: dispersed property management. \n\nBy consolidating single-family home management onto a single, intuitive platform that spans city and state borders, Darwin closes the distance between owners and their properties—unlocking instant visibility to vital management and maintenance information, and putting competent, professional Darwin property managers on the scene, so owners don’t have to be.\n\nWith day-to-day management services accounted for, owners retain a source of passive income while providing an exceptional resident experience. \n\nDarwin owners span relocated military personnel, ninth-generation landlords, multi-state real estate investors, first-time property owners, and whoever comes next. These people all have something in common: They don’t want to sell their properties—but they don’t want a second job, either. With Darwin, they don’t end up needing to do either one.\n \nFor Residents:\nResidents want one thing: a place to call home. But for too long, they’ve been neglected—treated as an afterthought rather than a customer. \n\nIn a Darwin home, renters enjoy an enhanced, hassle-free experience. Issues are resolved quickly, maintenance and repairs are a quick affair, and move-in and move-out are made simple. \n\nRenting a Darwin home means residents spend more time enjoying their home, and less time worrying about it. It means reimagining renting without the day-to-day details and management, replacing resident stress with peace of mind, and gaining the ability to reinvest their time into what matters most in their lives.\n \nFor Vendors:\nConsider this: Owners spend 1% of their home’s value in yearly maintenance costs. Multiply that by the thousands of homes Darwin manages repairs and maintenance for across the country. This creates more job opportunities—and increased job security—across all Darwin residences. \n\nFrom local repairmen and handymen to plumbers and HVAC specialists, homes require a lot of upkeep. We hire Darwin Pros and third-party vendors to manage consistent maintenance workflows with better technology, communication, and job tracking capabilities. \n\nResidents and owners both benefit from the part vendors play in maintaining Darwin homes—and the seeds of financial freedom continue to spread.\n\nCreating opportunity in every home starts with yours.  If transforming real estate, and single-family home investing and renting is interesting to you, come \ntalk to us\n.\n\nRyan and Zach\n

Darwin Raises $15M Series A to Create Opportunity in Every Home

Home warranties, or technically Residential Service Contracts, can be a polarizing topic in the real estate industry. Personally, I think they are a waste of money and bad news for a rental property owner. Here's why:\n\n1) They are pushed upon the real estate industry by insurance companies. \nBrokerages and agents carry professional liability insurance, called errors and commissions or E&O. Every E&O application I have seen asks if all contracts are written with a home warranty; agents and brokers will either be denied coverage or pay a lot more for insurance if they answer "no" to that question. Why do they care? If the AC dies the day after closing, a buyer might want to start getting litigious with all parties involved - the seller, both agents, the home inspector... The E&O insurance carrier would be backstopping any claims against an agent - they want that agent to be able to direct the buyer to the home warranty company.\n\n2) The service call fee\n paid to a home warranty company, typically $75-$100, is often the same price as what an owner would pay to have the issue directly resolved, if it is a minor repair.\n\n3) Most policies have LOTS of exclusions.\n The most common & frustrating ones are when an item is still technically working, or it has already outlived its useful life expectancy. I had a client submit a claim for a rusted out hot water heater tank that was on the verge of springing a major leak, which would cause hundreds or thousands of dollars of ancillary damage. The claim was denied as the hot water heater was still technically working.\n\n4) Reimbursement rates are very low, meaning that the majority of the higher quality and more reputable vendors will not work with a home warranty company. \nThe warranty company does not have their own staff - they contract out the work to 3rd parties just like you would. A typical reimbursement for an HVAC service call in Texas is $35 (which you paid the warranty company $75 for). For larger jobs, like a compressor replacement, the reimbursement rate is often less than the wholesale cost of new parts - you end up getting used or second-hand parts.\n\n5) Customer service and responsiveness leaves a lot to be desired. \nGet ready for lots of 30-45 minute hold times when you have to speak to someone live. And when your AC stops cooling in July, expect to wait 5-7 before someone actually shows up at your house.\n\n6) The math just doesn't work. \nYou are basically buying catastrophic coverage insurance for big ticket items. Let's look at the cost and expected lifespan of some major home components:\n\nHVAC = $5000, 20 years = $250/year\nHot Water Heater =$900, 12 years = $75/year\nRange: $600, 15 years, = $40/year\nDishwasher: $400, 15 years, $27/year\nSo if you save $392 per year, you can pay for all of the big ticket items that a home warranty would typically cover. Most policies cost ~$500/year.\n\nSo \nour recommendation\n is to take the $500/year you would spend on the home warranty and stick it in the bank in your rainy day rental property fund (which should always have a minimum of $5K or 3 months of rent in it).\n

Just Say No... to Home Warranties

Welcome to the Darwin Investor Briefing - a recap and our analysis on recent economic and real estate news that impacts our clients.\n\n1) Lack of "Trickle Down Economics" will likely hurt service sector workers for quite some time.\n In a \nrecent analysis\n of economic activity by zip code, consumer spending dropped quickest in zip codes with the highest income levels, and have not recovered as fast as middle and lower income zip codes. ~70% of the US economy is driven by consumer spending. Because of that, what is often a logical personal choice (decrease consumption to increase financial reserves during a time of uncertainly) is problematic on a macroeconomic level (if none of us go out and spend, unemployment will rise, creating more fear and savings...).\n\n Those at the upper end of the income spectrum have greater discretionary spending, which when going full steam, drives jobs and income in the service sectors.\n\nWhat does this mean for a real estate investor? Collections will continue to be a challenge in Class B/C housing, and property types that are over-indexed with service sector employees. New investment dollars will continue to flow to safer asset classes, such as single family rentals.\n\n\n\n2) May home sales in Austin remain strong\n  (tune in next week for updates on the other markets, as data is released). The biggest news is not new, but a continuation and further exacerbation of a pre-COVID trend - lack of inventory. We had a 35.3% reduction vs. last May in closed sales. New listings in May improved (only down 16.2%, an improvement from April), but we still have only 2.6 months of inventory (a balance market would be 6-6.5 months).\n\nPrices are still rising steadily - median sales price was up 1.7% vs. YAGO, and average & median sales prices per square foot also increased ~3%.\n\nIt's a competitive market out there for buyers, especially those looking for investable/rentable homes. Given reduced levels of new inventory coming on the market, and low interest rates, we don't anticipate that changing in the near future.\n\n\n\n

June Housing Market Update

We are living through a chaotic and uncertain time. We've been relatively fortunate thus far that the number of cases in Texas has remained low. Regardless of the local illness levels, it seems likely that the impact on the global and American economy will be significant, likely pushing us in to a recession.\n\nWhat does all of that mean for your single family rental home investment, now and in the future?\n\nWhile every recession is different, we can look to the 2008-09 Great Recession for some indicators of what might happen.\n\nDomestic migration could increase\n. We have seen very low levels of movement from state to state in the last 10 years relative to the previous 50. As unemployment levels increase, people will be more motivated to pick up and move to the parts of the country where jobs are less scarce. This contributed to the population increases seen across all 4 major Texas metros in the aftermath of the Great Recession.\nFewer people could be buying homes.\n After the GR, due to tightened lending standards, fewer people could qualify to purchase a home. They still desired the benefits and lifestyle offered by a single family home, so ended up significantly increase demand for rental properties.\nMonetary policy significantly lowers borrowing costs.\n The much-reported Fed Funds rate, which dropped to levels near zero, does not directly impact mortgage rates. 10 Year Treasury bill yields  correlate to mortgage rates much more so than the Fed Funds rate. Yield on those bonds goes down as prices go up. Bond prices go up when stock prices go down. Yields also go down when The Fed commits to buying significant amounts of mortgage backed securities, as they have indicated that they will. Low mortgage rates offer great opportunities to refinance existing debt or add to your portfolio and lock in low financing costs.\nUncertainty creates Fear. \nHistorically, great fortunes are made by those that are willing to be bold & take risks. Investing in rental real estate is never a short-term activity. Will the current unrest fundamentally change the demand for rental housing in attractive markets with low unemployment rates? If you believe the answer to that is no, then use the broad fear to be a contrarian buyer.\n\nIs everything rosy? Absolutely not. There's definitely risk for Landlords today, and that risk will likely continue for the next weeks or months. Those risks, in our opinion, are:\nIncrease in delinquencies\n. Many service sector workers are already feeling the impact of decreased earnings. Those workers are likely to be renters and will have trouble making April rent.\nDecreased willingness to visit occupied homes\n. Showing a home that is currently occupied by an owner or departing tenant will becoming increasingly difficult. Tech-forward companies like Darwin will leverage the ability to allow self-showings at vacant properties. The time to sell or lease a home will likely increase, at least temporarily.\n\nWe will continue to share our thoughts and insights as this situation evolves. Stay safe and feel free to \ncontact\n any of the Darwin team to discuss investment strategies in more detail.\n

Coronavirus Impact on the SFR Market

The US stock markets really got hammered yesterday due to concerns about the global economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic. A large part of my personal net worth is invested in real estate, but I also have equity holdings. While I love real estate, it usually doesn't make sense (for a variety of reasons) to hold those type of investments in tax-deferred accounts like an IRA or 401K. Plus, diversification.\n\nSo, I have a decent chunk of money in the market, and it's invested fairly aggressively, as I have a long time horizon before I'm old enough to tap in to those accounts. As a result of the market downturn, I booked a paper loss greater than the size of a typical downpayment on a single family rental house in Texas. Hence the somewhat tongue in cheek title of this post - I lost a house yesterday.\n\nHow did my real estate assets perform yesterday? Well, they are worth pretty much the same as they were the day before, and about the same as they are worth today. They are marching ever forward, steadily without the daily and weekly gyrations that are all too common in the equities market. All the while, during that appreciation march, these houses are throwing off passive income in the form of rent while paying off the debt used to acquire them.\n\nAnd, I never have to wake up in the morning and see that through panic, investor sentiment, or some other factors outside of my control that one of my houses has disappeared.

I Lost a House Yesterday

Being a rental property owner in Texas over the last several years has been both good and bad. Home values have been strong in most of the major metros, especially Austin. However, rents have not been growing at the same pace.\n\nThat means your net worth is increasing on paper each year, but until you sell that asset, you're likely putting less money in the bank due to property taxes and other expenses rising faster than rents.\n\nCoreLogic, one of the largest real estate data providers, just releases their November 2019 single family rent index.\n\nAustin, Dallas and Houston all had positive rent growth at this time last year. The rate of growth increasing substantially in Austin and Houston, while essentially remaining flat in Dallas.\n\n\n

Single Family Rents Are Accelerating

The Austin Board of REALTORs just released the \nDecember 2019 housing report\n. Up, up and away!\n\n

Austin: December 2019 Stats

The one that makes the most money! I know, I know - I'm due for a "thank you, Captain Obvious" for that response.\n\nIt's a valid question, though, and one we get from many folks that are interested in investing in residential real estate. The answer can have many facets - price point, neighborhood, building type, age, etc. Over time, we will re-visit each of these other facets of rental property selection, but today we will focus on the house itself.\n\nIf I could design my perfect rental home in Austin, it would be a 3 bedroom, 2 bath single story home between 1,400 and 1,800 square feet, built in the last 20 years.\n\nWhy come? Let's examine the various elements outlined above.\n\nSingle story: cheaper to maintain & operate, generally more desirable, and less wasted space.\nTwo story homes in Texas and other hot climates really need 2 HVAC systems to properly cool the home. Damper systems help but are not perfect. So your options are either 1) be miserable in the Summer upstairs, 2) use an inefficient damper-based system that requires more repair expense or 3) have 2 HVAC systems (expensive!)\n You can put a single flooring type (luxury vinyl plank, please & thank you) down throughout the entire area and forget about flooring for 10+ years\n No 2nd story plumbing leaks wreaking havoc on the downstairs finishes\n Relatively easy attic access to all of your duct work and mechanicals\n3 bedroom / 2 bath\n This satisfies the broadest spectrum of housing demand. Works for singles, families, roommates and many other resident configurations\nDoes not directly compete with apartment communities (I don't like competing on price with people whose pockets are 100x deeper than mine)\n1,400-1,800 square feet\n This is the sweet spot size for a single story 3/2. Below 1,400 feet and the rooms start feeling very cramped, you have a galley kitchen or space for about 4 hangers in the master closet. While I don't have an issue with a 3/2 larger than 1,800 sqft, generally the price point relative to rent income make it a non-starter\nBuilt in the last 20 years\nNo popcorn ceilings!\n Real master bathrooms\n Relatively open layouts\n\nSo there you have it - my dream house. \nLet's go find one for you to buy!\n

What makes the best rental property?

Well, it's official - Texans want to remain Texans more so than residents of any other state in the union. As a long-time resident of the Lone Star State myself, I can't say that I'm that surprised. I find myself frequently teaching an informal "Texas 101" class to my colleagues at Darwin that have recently relocated here or to clients visiting Texas to purchase an investment home. One of the key principles of that class is that Texans frequently think of themselves as Texans first, before any other local or national identity.\n\nA recent \nstudy from LendingTree\n shows that 93.9% of Texans want to stay put. Nationally, Texas is also the top destination for people looking to move from one state to another. In addition to states adjacent to us, Californians and Alaskans apparently can't wait to trade in their surf boards and dog teams for a set of spurs.\n\nJokes aside, the Texas economy has been a bright spot since the Great Recession, and continued job growth will continue to be a draw for residents from other states. Austin has a booming tech economy, pulling jobs from higher-cost and less business-friendly cities in California, while Houston & Midland-Odessa have a huge employment base in the oil & gas sector (like Alaska does).\n\nWhy does this matter for you as an investor? \nTLDR:\n Continued employment & population growth drives housing demand, increasing the rents you can receive as well as the value of the underlying asset.\n\nNeed help buying, leasing or managing an investment home in Texas? \nContact Darwin today!\n

Texans Want to Remain Texans

We’ve all been there. The HVAC tech doesn’t show up for a job. The new handyman takes a shortcut and the problem returns a week later. The contractor sends a bill for 50% more than you expected. For owners and property managers alike, finding, managing, and retaining third-party maintenance vendors is a big challenge. Indeed, 61% of rental owners cite maintenance as their top pain point1.\nParamount to reducing these problems is selecting a great vendor. As author Jim Collins says, “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.” Finding these folks is easier said than done, but we’ve got some tips and best practices drawn from our own experiences and those of our colleagues.\n1. Start with Indeed over Craigslist and Yelp.\nOur default is usually to search for techs through Craigslist and Yelp because they are established, friction-less, and free. Instead, try spending just dollars a day with an Indeed post. Indeed is not just for full-time employees; it’s how Darwin has identified some of its top vendors. Importantly, you can require resumes (not possible through Craigslist), and you know that the candidates you identify are actually looking for work (not always true through Yelp).\n2. Search for vendors when you don’t need them.\nThe best time to build your vendor network is when you don’t actually need to. Too often, we settle for whomever is immediately available because we’re understaffed or in a pinch. By adopting a process and mindset of near-continuous recruiting, you can remove time pressures and build a deep bench.\n3a. Call references. Always.\nBeware the Yelp star rating or assuming quality from years-in-business. It sounds obvious, but make sure to always call a reference before dispatching a new tech. This can be an owner or resident, and even better if you’re able to do it blind.\n3b. Develop a consistent question list for references.\nNearly all given references will be positive, so don’t just ask general questions. We always complete a 1–10 scorecard on four key dimensions: quality, reliability, price, and professionalism. This allows for consistency and ranking across candidates.\n4. Meet in person before dispatching.\nInvite the vendor over to your office to meet in person before sending out for a job, even if only for 15 minutes. There’s still nothing that can replace a face-to-face, and meeting attendance demonstrates commitment and seriousness.\n5. Do a background check.\nYou just never know. We recommend using Checkr for fast and cheap background checks across all the relevant categories.\n6. Start with a low-risk or test job.\nWe’ll often test a prospective new vendor with a first job at our own residence or office. You can always learn more about someone by watching them do the actual work, and these internal calls can give you a unique front-row seat.\nAs always, if you have questions about what we’re doing at Darwin Homes, please visit us at \nwww.darwinhomes.com\n.\nThat’s all for now. We hope this helps ease the pain a little bit, and wish you good luck out there!\n1. https://www.buildium.com/resource/2017-property-owners-perspectives-report/

How to Select a Great Vendor for Property Management

Residential Property Management — Slow to Adopt\nResidential Property Management has a notorious reputation for being slow to adopt technology, even in its most basic form. Given that the vast majority of Property Management firms are local mom & pop shops overseeing between 50–100 doors, the time and investment required to vet, train, and deploy technology solutions hasn’t been worthwhile. In most instances, using pen and paper and Microsoft Excel is more than sufficient for these smaller operations.\nHowever, the amount of institutional investment dollars flowing into residential real estate is forcing significant change, and investors are now demanding the same level of transparency and reporting as any of their other investments. We’re now seeing a new breed of tech-driven Property Management companies filling this void, investing in technology to automate, track and drive efficiencies, and provide investors an unparalleled amount of insights into their investments. These companies are also growing at breakneck speeds through acquisitions and paid marketing channels, gaining massive economies of scale and cost efficiencies.\nSo what part of the PM process needs can benefit the most from technology? And what are some of the available off-the-shelf solutions which allow PMs to realize these benefits?\nMake-Readies\nTime is literally money when it comes to Resident turns. Owners are not collecting rental payments while their homes sit vacant, and instead, are paying for repairs, maintenance and resident placement fees. This is when it’s time for a Property Manager to demonstrate their worth, and execute like clockwork.\nDuring a turn, Property Managers must execute the below tasks in 3–5 days:\nConduct a move-out inspection\nSchedule and 3rd party vendors to make unit rent-ready\nPerform a final walkthrough\nTake professional photos\nThe scheduling, coordination and execution required to make this work is complex, and this is where technology can play a pivotal role. Here are some companies who are leading the way in this area:\nElectronic / Mobile Inspections\nThe below mobile app solutions provide an easy way for Property Managers to conduct mobile inspections. The apps allow for pictures, and custom notes to ensure every room, fixture and appliance is property documented.\nHappyCo — https://happy.co/\nzInspector — https://www.zinspector.com/\nOn-Demand Repairs & Maintenance\nHomee On Demand allows you to request licensed maintenance professionals on your phone. Often times, they’ll be at your doorstep within 30 minutes!\nHomee On Demand — http://www.homeeondemand.com/\nOn-Demand Professional Photography\nSnappr has come in handy on so many occasions! They’ve helped book same day shootings for units and homes that have become rent-ready!\nSnappr — https://www.snappr.co/\nRepairs & Maintenance\nWhile getting good vendors to actually fulfill maintenance requests is a challenge in itself, often times, the communication and coordination among three parties: the PM, Vendor and Resident causes headaches and delays.\nMaintenance Coordination\nProperty Meld helps facilitate 3-way communication. When a Resident submits a maintenance request, they also provide their availability, allowing Vendors to quickly book a time for the visit and fix.\nProperty Meld — https://www.propertymeld.com/\nCall Center Support\n24/7/365 call center to help you answer maintenance call, diagnose issues and dispatch out your preferred vendors. This helps reduce the workload on your team and frees up your time to focus on growing your business!\nLatchel — https://latchel.com/\nPayments & Accounting\nPayments and accounting are still one of the largest opportunities for innovation within the Property Management space. While Cash, physical checks, and money orders are still very common and generate inordinate amounts of time to process and reconcile, electronic Payment processing and accounting is typically bundled within off-the-shelf Property Management software.\nBuildium — https://www.buildium.com/\nAppfolio — https://www.appfolio.com/\nIf you have any other suggestions or companies that are innovating in the above areas, definitely let us know!\nAs always, if you have questions about what we’re doing at Darwin Homes, please get in touch with me directly at zach@darwinhomes.com and visit us at \nwww.darwinhomes.com\n.

Leveraging Tech in Residential Property Management

Job growth and attractive cost of living dimensions in Southern states create opportunities for rental property investors in 2019\n\nEach year, the Urban Land Institute (with PWC) publishes a report outlining key real estate trends in North America. \nThe Emerging Trends in Real Estate\n® report is a leading report in the industry and covers key real estate trends, capital markets analysis, market dynamics, and other issues related to the sector. You can read the full report here.\nAs we kickoff 2019, there has been much talk about a slowdown in the United States real estate market. However, it is clear from this report and our own research at Darwin Homes that there are opportunities to invest in the Southern submarkets, where favorable job growth is coupled with a lower cost of living. When these factors are combined with attractive price-to-rent ratios, we believe this creates a compelling investment opportunity.\nHere is a list of markets to watch in 2019\n:\nDallas, TX:\n The latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area has experienced the biggest population growth in the United States over the last year. The main driver of this population growth is the low cost of living in the city. Interestingly, a significantly high percentage of the population is in the 0–24 and 25–44 age cohorts looking for rental properties, which bodes well for rental property investors looking to add to their portfolio. 
\nMedian Property Price\n: $296,726
\nTraditional Rental Income\n: $1,570
\nPrice-to-Rent Ratio\n: 15.75\nOrlando, FL:\n This tourist destination has set record-level visitor numbers for the past several years as the economy continues to improve. Many Orando-area jobs are created by the hospitality sector tied to Disney and other large entertainment operators. These low-skill workforce positions often preclude homeownership, supporting local rental demand.
\nMedian Property Price\n: $323,826
\nTraditional Rental Income\n: $1,588
\nPrice-to-Rent Ratio\n: 17\nAustin, TX\n: The Texas capital is one of the fastest-growing metros in the nation and maintains a strong and growing base of tech firms that attract young workers with higher disposable incomes. In addition to demand created by the University of Texas, Apple’s new campus is based in Austin and will employ thousands of millennials and Gen X residents.
\nMedian Property Price\n: $518,686
\nTraditional Rental Income\n: $1,842
\nPrice-to-Rent Ratio\n: 23.46
\nRaleigh / Durham, N.C.: Home to the Research Triangle and three major universities, demand is anticipated to remain strong. The Research Triangle is a high-tech research park that hosts 200 companies and 60,000 workers. Nearby universities that provide these firms an educated pipeline of workers include Duke University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University.
\nMedian Property Price\n: $433,433
\nTraditional Rental Income\n: $1,553
\nPrice-to-Rent Ratio\n: 25\nNashville, TN: Nashville claims the title of having the lowest unemployment rate of any metropolitan area with more than a million residents. Given its strong job market, more people are relocating to live permanently in Nashville for work and the job opportunities the city has to offer.
\nMedian Property Price\n: $413,592
\nTraditional Rental Income\n: $1,753
\nPrice-to-Rent Ratio\n: 19.66\nAs always, if you have questions about what we’re doing at Darwin Homes, please get in touch with me directly at ryan@darwinhomes.com and visit us at \nwww.darwinhomes.com\n.

Five Real Estate Markets to Watch in 2019

The Darwin Blog is a resource dedicated to educating rental property investors\nDarwin began with a simple mission: to enrich the lives of rental property investors and residents. We believe we can regularly contribute to this mission as we expand our property management business by sharing our key insights and best management practices with the rental real estate community.\nThe Darwin Blog will feature exclusive content from our leadership team and our advisory council, which is comprised of thought leaders in the real estate industry. We will also actively share our research, case studies, and latest industry reports so that our community can stay on top of key issues and market opportunities.\nBy transforming the traditional model of property management by integrating technology to enhance every touch point of the management process, we are elevating a long-standing system. In doing so, we are unpacking industry dynamics and finding ways to manage properties more efficiently. Here are a few of the KPIs we believe that all rental property owners should thoroughly understand as they look to operate a rental property efficiently:\nTurnover Rate\n: measures the average duration a resident lives in the property. This is one of the most important metrics to consider given that a rental property investment forecast will be predicated on some % of turnover. Remember, turning over a unit after a resident moves out is the single costliest expense for an investor. 100% turnover = Your residents on average stay for 1 year. 50% turnover = Your residents on average stay for 2 years. 33% turnover = Your residents on average stay for 3 years. \nAverage days to turn\n: measures how many days it takes to turn your property and get it ready for a new resident. This significantly impacts time to lease, so efficiency during this process is critical to rental home returns.\nAverage time to lease\n: measures how many total days it takes to fill your vacancy. This metric greatly impacts the NOI of a given property and can be improved greatly by quality photographs and competitive rental rates. On average, a home with professional photography generates 60% more leads than a property without visual references.\nWe look forward to continuing to create and share content to contribute to the rental real estate community. If you are interested in learning more about what we are building at Darwin, please get in touch with me directly at ryan@darwinhomes.com and visit us at\n www.darwinhomes.com\n.