Every real estate investor starts off somewhere, and that somewhere usually comes with more than a handful of mistakes. Many small, some large and very costly. It’s all part of the journey! Growing pains are just part of investing in real estate and a fact of life, no matter where you go or what you do.

That said, there are some mistakes that can be devastating for new real estate investors—potentially ending an investor’s career before it’s even started.

Granted, nearly every mistake we’re going to mention can be turned around and salvaged for an investor willing to put in the work and effort necessary to push through and bounce back.

Some, however, may take more work than others to overcome.

As with just about everyone, real estate investors can fall prey to hype. While the tried-and-true ways to invest still reign supreme, there are new trends constantly popping up—flavors of the week that don’t last and rarely deliver on their promises.

In real estate investment, hype can look like a lot of different things...

For property owners, making carefully calculated property renovations is one of the surest ways to increase your property value and monthly revenue. Of course, we all know the most obvious places to put our renovation dollars: the biggest returns on your investment are found in kitchen and bathroom remodels.

But where do you go from there?

For real estate investors, it’s important to remember that tenants aren’t like homeowners. They put value in different things because they aren’t usually planning a permanent stay. Your property isn’t their forever home.

They’re going to be less concerned with some things and more concerned with others because of that.

When it comes to renovations, if you’ve already taken care of the kitchen and the bathrooms, where else should you focus your attention? What’s going to help you attract and retain tenants? You might be surprised on how these often-overlooked details make an impact.

5 Overlooked Renovations That Matter

Remote real estate investment: it’s a topic that’s a source of contention among investors. Bring it up, and you’ll have two divisions immediately.

One side will swear by it, saying that they love the freedom they found once they took the plunge and started investing outside of their local real estate bubble, while others will say no, no, no...they’d never dream of investing remotely. They say it’s too risky and too expensive.

Which side is right?

Should you invest out-of-state? Can you find success through remote real estate investment? Is it right for you, or should you just keep your investments local? In real estate, after all, they say location is the single most important factor.

If where you invest matters so much, then the remote versus local debate should probably be talked about a lot more than it really is.

For investors who have stayed local thus far but have wondered about expanding outside of your usual range, we’re going to explore some of the common fears and myths, along with the pros and cons, of investing in real estate remotely—whether that means in another city or in another state, or across the country.

Hopefully, we’ll shed some light on the subject.

It’s been a crazy few years for Houston. They’ve seen one the biggest energy crashes in recent memory, but also one of the most vibrant and downright frenzied real estate markets ever witnessed.

Even in the middle of an unprecedented economic slump in the energy sector, the real estate market seemed to go largely unscathed, with prices surging and demand at an all-time high.

Competition remained steep into 2016, inventory was well below normal levels, and construction could barely keep up. But well into the summer, where are we? Where does Houston stand? Has the energy market finally dragged real estate down with it?

And if it has, is it necessarily a bad thing?

We’re here to catch you up on what’s been going on with all things Houston real estate.

Debating purchasing a property. Weighing the pros and cons. Running the numbers. You wonder to yourself — is this property really right for my portfolio? Am I going to get the positive cash flow I want out of this? What if it’s a lemon?

Purchasing a new property can be thrilling. Exciting. It can also be a big source of anxiety! For new investors especially, the thought of a property not working out can be scary, but the idea is nerve-wracking even for seasoned experts.

When a property doesn’t pan out, sure, you can get rid of it, but there’s a lot of wasted time, money, and energy. It’s just a hassle and a headache.

If only there was a way to tell if a property was going to be a home run from the get go!

While there’s no magic trick to telling the future, there are some signs that can help you predict a positive outcome.

Real estate investors know how to get creative when it comes to money—that’s no secret! Now more than ever there are options available for real estate investors of all experience levels and financial means to get involved in investing. But sometimes, it’s hard to know what method is going to land you with the best returns.

It used to be difficult to compete in hot markets thanks to all-cash investors, but nowadays, it seems more investors are turning back to traditional financing and private money lending. So really, what’s the better option for buy-and-hold real estate investors?

Hopefully we’ll be able to shed some light on the subject.

All-Cash or Financing: Which Route for Acquiring Investment Properties?

Residents are the bread and butter of real estate investment. Because they are the source of our cash flow, it’s critical that we place value in tenant retention. In a market where tenants are abundant, it may be tempting to think that your tenants are dispensable and replaceable: but don’t be fooled.

Memphis Invest has built its' reputation among real estate investors with incredible customer service.  But that customer service reaches far beyond just the investor.  Over the years, we have learned and developed our own way of treating tenants and built an equally good reputation within the rental and property management communities.

Premier Property Management of Memphis and PPMG of Texas are each routinely out-performing local data with shorter vacancy periods, longer occupancy periods, higher rental rates and fewer delinquencies and eventual evictions.  Our tenants have become a cornerstone of our companies' success.  Treating them firmly yet fairly has become the mantra of our team.

But a good tenant is worth keeping, and turnover of any kind is costly!

Tenant turnover. For the real estate investor, that phrase alone can strike fear into your heart. Maybe not a lot, but at least some! No one enjoys going through the turnover phase. Unless the tenant was a real headache, having a vacancy isn’t ideal!

Before getting to the obvious points of the article about vacancies being bad and how to avoid them, I want to give a tremendous shout-out to our incredible property management teams in all three cities.

We learned in our leadership meetings this week that we are managing north of 3,500 properties and that we have fewer than 100 vacancies combined in all three cities!

That alone is an astounding statistic, but even more incredible is that there are only five properties...5 properties...that have been vacant for longer than 30 days.  Each was a move-out and all five have applications working on them.

Premier property management in Memphis and PPMG of Texas have incredible team members and fantastic leadership and they are absolutely destroying the myth that there is "good time" to rent houses.  If you pay attention to details during renovations and train your team to treat tenants firmly, yet with respect, then renting properties at the top of the rent range and for 2-year terms or longer, is not difficult!  

Here are some lessons we have learned!

We could all stand to be more efficient. Our day-to-day lives are hectic, full of things to get done and a million and one things to keep track of. It can get pretty overwhelming at times!

Organizing all the information, prioritizing what we need to do—especially as real estate investors—it’s a skill that takes time to develop, and something that not everyone gets good at.

That’s why we can be grateful for modern technology. With smartphones and computers, now more than ever we have access to tools that can help us be more efficient and connected! We can really dive in and get stuff done.

Instead of being overwhelmed by all the stuff in our heads that we need to do, we can turn to the helpful productivity apps that will do the job for us—or, at least, remind us of when we need to do it.

Check out these innovative apps the next time you feel like you have too much to do and not enough time to do it.