We don’t hide the fact that we love Memphis. Memphis, TN made its mark on the world with pioneers in the music industry — founding and shaping genres like Blues, Rock n’ Roll and Gospel in ways that were felt across the country. Between jazzy compositions, mouth-watering barbecue and good ol’ Southern charm, Memphis isn’t to be overlooked.

We had a great day on Saturday October 11th at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine Texas.  Thank you to all of the real estate investors who came to spend the morning with us!

We have several events each year around the country to visit with real estate investors directly.  Each fall we host an event in Dallas and each spring, we host an event in Memphis.  We also travel once a year to Southern California and New York.

It seems like there are as many predictions about the recovery of the real estate market as there are stars in the sky. A quick Google search will lead you to opinion after opinion, tackling the issue from all angles. In fact, you’ll find glowingly optimistic predictions in one article and doom saying in another. For real estate investors, how do know who to trust when the same data is being interpreted in vastly different ways?

What if you choose to put your future in an opinion that turns out to be wrong? There’s a lot of risk there.

Memphis Invest had the pleasure of interviewing Mark earlier this week and spending some time going through his slides on the economy, real estate investing, passive income, long-term borrowing and leverage. 

Mark has a background in finance and was a Sr. level director with Freddie Mac from 1989 to 1994.  He has a deep knowledge of financial markets, models and how leverage works in and effects the housing industry.

This is a fantastic 45 minutes and I urge you to watch and take notes.  Mark has a wealth of knowledge and the presentation is both quick and informative.   

Some times real estate investing can get a tad bit mundane.  We like to keep our team motivated and happy since that is the atmosphere where they are going to provide the best customer service in the industry!  So, when our teams wanted to have some fun in the month of October, we came up with a contest where all our main offices decorated their lobbies in honor of the Breast Cancer Awareness month.  It is fun for us and keeps us up beat and motivated while also supporting a great cause.  So there is a lot of pink going on in the office corridors!

Only three things happen naturally when investing in real estate. Confusion, under-performance and apathy.  The rest requires leadership!  If part of your real estate investing goals includes moving away from Turnkey investing for part of your portfolio and into an active role, you are going to have to provide leadership to the team you choose! I hope you enjoy this article.

There’s some crazy tech out there. For real estate investors, the ever-increasing pool of technological advances poses opportunities to increase efficiency and save time and money. Whether you’re looking for a nifty gadget or smartphone productivity tools, there’s plenty out there!

One of the great things about all these tech advances is that it does not matter if you are an entrepreneur and looking for business style apps or a small investor needing smaller more individual style apps, there are some great ones out there.  

Here are a few apps that we like and I would LOVE IT if you shared some of your favorites in the comments below!  Let us know what you think of the list.

I love reading books. I read new books, old books, real estate books, business books and even straight-up horror fiction books!  I like reading.  We looked back over our blog and realized it had been several years since we made some suggestions for our readers on great business/real estate related books to read.

Should cool factor matter to real estate investors? You bet it should. “Coolness,” while not typically a quantifiable measurement, certainly is something to pay attention to when looking at real estate. Where are young people flocking to? Which cities are experiencing rapid growth?  

Cool does not pay the bills...or does it?  Cool is an important factor for today's millennials as you will read here in a second.  They are your potential renters and are the ones who will drive the values and demand for your properties into the future.  So does a "Cool" city matter?  I think it matters a lot...

Real estate investors have always looked for the little subtle advantages they can get.  When you are investing in a city away from where you live, you need to look for every advantage you can get.  Those advantages are found in locating the best team possible to do business with.  The best property management available.  Highly qualified people to help you locate the best neighborhoods, streets and properties.  And lastly, the city itself plays a HUGE factor in your decision.  You want to invest in real estate located in cities where people want to be.  Good culture, good potential and good outlook are all important...but so is the cool factor!  Whether we want to consider the coolness of a place as a contributing factor or as a matter of opinion, the fact remains — people will go where the “action” is.

So you’ve decided to become a real estate investor. Congratulations! If we had confetti, we’d certainly celebrate your decision. Joining the business of real estate investment is an exciting prospect that holds endless opportunities to make passive income for any number of reasons, from retirement to Aruba.

As exciting as it can be to join the community of real estate investors, it’s daunting, too. There’s a lot to learn and take in when you’re starting out — but you don’t have to do it alone.