As human beings, we’re all prone to making  excuses for ourselves. Everyone deals with insecurities and fears—it’s natural. For anyone looking to have a successful business of any kind, getting past the excuses born out of these fears and negative thoughts is a crucial first step.

Getting into the business of real estate is an infinitely rewarding journey. Investing now means building up a solid financial future: something you, your family, and future generations can depend on and enjoy.

Investing in real estate, however, isn’t as simple as just starting. It’s a business that demands a lot of education and time to be done right and profitably, and, really: the stakes can get high. Should that deter you from starting? Absolutely not! The reward is worth the work it takes, and many times over.

Investing in real estate just isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, and if that’s what people are expecting, they’re in the wrong place!

Beyond getting started, there are questions you as an investor have to answer for yourself: what kind of investor do you want to be? There are endless opportunities out there to fit the particular style that captivates and excites you.

In residential real estate investment, there’s always contention between investors that prefer single-family investment properties and those that prefer multifamily investments.

We’ll go ahead and say this: absolutely every investor will have their own preferences. Every type of investment will have its own pros and cons, and what attracts certain people may not sway others. What might be your deal-breaking flaw might not be someone else’s.

That said, there are some very clear advantages and disadvantages between single and multifamily properties that should be considered. As a real estate investor, you may want to experiment and try it out for yourself!

Many investors choose to start with single-family properties simply because the barrier to entry is lower. Some prefer to invest in both, while others prefer to deal exclusively in multifamily housing. Others specialize in something else altogether!

Ah, procrastination. It’s a big bugaboo for  at least 20% of people in the United States, according to psychologists. Most of us think of procrastination as just putting off work, but it can be more than that. Procrastination means coupons expire, gift cards go unused, and the laundry gets done only when the clean clothes run out.

Procrastination is missing out on opportunity. If you’ve ever struggled with procrastination personally or professionally, it can be stressful and frustrating—especially when you don’t know why you keep doing it.

For the real estate investor, seizing opportunity is at the forefront of your responsibilities. Overcoming your patterns of procrastination will take time and small, consistent efforts. When you examine why you procrastinate and discover what gets you motivated, you’ll finally be able to achieve your true potential as a real estate investor.

Who doesn’t love a good podcast? If you haven’t decided to start listening to podcasts, we encourage you to give them a shot. They’re great when you’re traveling, commuting, or even doing low-focus tasks that allow you to listen.

We live in a world where pretty much anyone can start their own radio show over the Internet, and while there are definitely some duds out there, there are some real gems, and ones that real estate investors can learn from.

These are just a few business and finance podcasts we’ve found that you might want to check out!

April 29th & 30th, 2016 in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas...

We're Bringing The Team To Texas To Meet Our Clients and New Investors!

Memphis Invest Is Bringing Our Team To Our DFW Metroplex offices in Grapevine, Texas and you are invited! 

Every week, more and more first time investors head onto the road to learning about their options and getting started in real estate.  There is a lot to learn.  What is even better is the fact that there are millions of experienced investors in both real estate and other markets that are making moves daily to get into the real estate investing game. That’s great! But hey—there are a ton of options out there in real estate. It’s not enough to decide that you want to be a real estate investor. You have to think about what kind of investor you really want to be.

You can go the fix and flip route for a hands on approach, you can assume the role of landlord for a handful of properties or apartment units, you can dig deep into commercial real estate, or look to land and development...There are plenty of ways to invest.

One way, however, offers opportunities to earn passive income in the most passive way possible. Is there still work involved? Absolutely. All investments require, well, investment. But if you’re in the market for a more hands-off approach to investing, turnkey real estate just might be right for you. So much of deciding what kind of investments to pursue just depends on what you as an individual enjoy and value.  

To help you decide, we’re diving deep and looking at the the ins and outs of turnkey real estate: what it is, how it works, what you have to gain, and what red flags you should watch for to ensure the best outcome for your financial future.

For real estate investors, nothing can really match the expert eye of a licensed CPA—but if you choose to rely on technology, we like to ensure that we’re picking reliable software!

Not all programs or apps are created equal. Tax software doesn’t always come with the features investors need to manage our unique financial circumstances. These are some tax software and programs that take investors into consideration so, come tax-time, you’ll get the most from your deductions!

As we head into Spring, it’s time to take make room on the bookshelf from new reading! You may have some of these on your shelves already, but there’s no doubt some new releases you’ll want to check out, too.

For this list, we’re specifically covering books on retirement planning since many real estate investors look to use their investments as a way to save up for the future.

We’ve talked a lot about millennials on the Memphis Invest blog. That generation, roughly spanning college graduates to thirty-somethings, are the up-and-coming generation that gets a lot of flack in the world of real estate. Post-recession, they took a lot of blame for lack of recovery: namely because they weren’t buying homes.

We’ve talked about how a combination of student debt and wage stagnation has kept them from saving for down payments and how shifting lifestyles has kept them renting. No matter how we as real estate professionals feel about millennials, it doesn’t change the fact that this generation is important—particularly when it comes to real estate.