Against the backdrop of a devastating global pandemic that has affected the lives of every person across the world, the current economy is balancing on a knife’s edge. With just a little push, the whole system will come crashing down, bringing everyone’s hope for financial stability with it. In response to such severe economic depression, most people have chosen to reduce expenditure and maximize savings. However, what many people do not realize is that opportunities for profitable property investments exist even during these times of uncertainty; all you need is the necessary knowledge and experience to distinguish a valuable investment from a fruitless one. By sharing some of our own experiences working in the field of construction design and engineering, we are hoping to provide you with some property investment recommendations that may prove to be worth your time and your hard-earned cash.
CRU Mixed-Use Building
Some of the most common commercial properties purchased by investors these days are the CRU mixed-use buildings. These multi-storey commercial buildings can be spotted all across the city; they are often comprised of one or two floors of retail services with rental suites located on the upper floors. The primary reason that these medium-sized commercial properties often yield such profitable returns for their owners is due to their low investment. In fact, many CRU properties cost around the same as a residential property, which is drastically lower than the average cost of a larger commercial real estate. In addition, it is possible to minimize construction costs by hiring an experienced engineering company for the design and management process for the building. For one, we at MR Engineering have helped countless investors save money and avoid headaches by providing cost-effective and time-efficient designs.
Another defining aspect of CRU mixed-use buildings that makes them so attractive to investors is their flexibility. As the name suggests, CRU mixed-use buildings can be made into any commercial space you wish, including retail stores, restaurants, medical/dental clinics, office spaces, living quarters and many more. On top of that, each floor of the building is able to function separately, which allows the investors to easily repurpose portions of their building to satisfy the demands and maximize revenue. In today’s world of unpredictability, where trends and fads can change on a dime, flexibility is truly the single most important factor for any successful investment.
Daycare
When it comes to more specific recommendations for commercial property investments, we strongly recommend daycare as a service that is in very high demand at the moment. For better or for worse, many adults, especially those with a family to support, need to continue to work from the office despite the ongoing pandemic just to make ends meet. To make matters worse, with public schools constantly going into quarantine due to COVID-19 outbreaks, many children are forced to stay home with no supervision. As a result, daycares become very important for plenty of families, and entrepreneurs are choosing to invest in the daycare business in order to take advantage of its growing industry. Generally, daycares have very reasonable start-up costs with fairly low operating expenses. As a matter of fact, a standard-sized daycare can be easily set up in a CRU mixed-use building, the benefits of which have already been presented in the section above.
Car Wash
Our final recommendation for upcoming investors is the car wash business. Even amidst this global economic crisis, the City of Edmonton continues to push for new land developments and urban expansions. With every new zone or subdivision comes the need for new amenities, and car wash is an essential service that is convenient to have but is often neglected. Contrary to popular opinions, car washes are very profitable thanks to the extremely low investment cost for both start-up and maintenance. As a matter of fact, a car wash building could be the most economical option amongst all of our recommendations; the reason being the majority of car washes are constructed as very simple building structures and are able to function with very minimal operating costs owing to their self-servicing nature. At the end of the day, the combination of practicality and cost-effectiveness makes the car wash business a very desirable investment when it comes to commercial real estate.
