Whew! We made it. Barely. Through a series of last-minute sessions, Congress somehow managed to hash out and pass the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. In doing so, they narrowly averted the fiscal cliff. So…what does that mean, exactly?  Will it have any effect on Memphis real estate or the investors what are buying investment properties here in Memphis?

As a valued member of our extended family and a Memphis Invest client, we wanted to bring something to your attention and address it openly and in an upfront manner.

This past Friday, one of our local closing attorneys was indicted on a single count of fraud dating back to 2003.  Sharon K. Anderson was charged and will now have the opportunity to defend herself and her company as it relates to this charge.

Turn on your phone. Check the date. Does it say it's January of 2013? Good. Now take a look out the window. Did the sun come up?  Sky still blue? Grass still green?  Super. The world didn't end. Someone somewhere read the Mayan Calendar wrong and has a lot of explaining to do.  The country didn't tumble over the fiscal cliff into oblivion and believe me, real estate investing is still an excellent bet for investment dollars. And dollars to dough nuts that somewhere right now Michael Bay is working on a summer blockbuster. (It's Ninja Turtles, and it's due out in May of next year. What? I checked IMDB. I couldn't help myself.)

86% of Customers Will Pay More For Better Customer Experience

So today I was researching different Memphis real estate terms and I just wasn't finding anything that excited me for the blog.  I will definitely have something out tomorrow highlighting some local real estate news with a wrap up of 2012 tomorrow.  However, while I was researching, I came across an excellent article in The Daily News from Lori Turner-Wilson, Customer Pay More For Better Experience, and seeing as how we are customer experience fanatics, it grabbed my attention.

Fortunately for real estate investors everywhere, there are a lot of real estate titles that have some great information on real estate investing.  Unfortunately, there are also a lot of books on real estate out there by get-rich-quick schemers and authors who may have completed a small handful of transactions and now want to tell everyone else how it is done. Many of these books are little more than promotional fluff to get you to buy whatever "can't lose" investment system these fast-talkers and new-comers to the real estate world are shilling. It can be difficult to wade through all the snake oil and "too-dumb to know I was lucky" books to find quality information. Here at Memphis Invest we have done some of the work for you by selecting a few good books. Here are three real estate book recommendations, in no particular order, that can actually leave you smarter than they found you. 

So now we know that the Bass Pro Shops plan to be right on track with the opening of the Memphis Super Store in Downtown Memphis Pyramid and just in time for the Holiday season of 2013. I think this gives Memphis real estate investors a big reason to cheer.  The positives of a project like this one go far beyond simply economics.  As Memphis continues to reach out and recruit more major international companies to relocate to Memphis, having family friendly attractions that also add to the tourist draw of the city can do nothing but improve the cities positives.  That growth makes for a stronger over-all real estate market in Memphis.

In case you've been asleep for the entirety of the smartphone era thus far, here's a news flash: There's an app for everything now. If you can think of it, there's probably an app for it; if not, there's probably one (or more likely 50) in development for it somewhere. Heck, even if you haven't thought of it, there's probably an app for it. (If you don't believe us, check out Ghost Radar. It's an app that supposedly gives you everything you need to measure paranormal activity.)  Here at Memphis Invest, we released our first real estate investing App about 2 years ago and are already working on two new Apps.  One will be just for our clients and the other will be for any real estate investor out there that finds it useful.  We certainly are not going into the App business, but we definitely see it as a way to continue to put distance between ourselves and other companies.  Plus there seems to be an App wave going on!

Preachers encouraging squatters? A recent NBC news report revealed an unusual development in the housing market. In one Atlanta neighborhood, residents and church members have seen a rise in distressed property that is foreclosed and then abandoned, growing dilapidated and becoming what neighbors call "crime magnets." In order to preserve their neighborhood, residents have encouraged families to move into distressed property, fix it up, and keep the neighborhood clean and safe.  This approach is being encouraged to prevent neighborhoods from sliding further into disrepair and decline while also trying to bring in families from shelters and off the streets, especially during the winter months.  I can't say that I agree with this approach, but I understand where they are coming from.  I also think there may be another option.