Memphis, TN. Named #1 City For Single-Family Rentals

Realtytrac, the California based on-line foreclosure marketplace has quickly become a fantastic data aggregation site as well and their recent release naming the Top 20 markets to buy single-family rentals made a lot of headlines.  Using data, Realtytrac names the 20 Top Markets by price point and income potential.  At Memphis Invest, we realized several years ago that there were certain dynamics that made Memphis unique when compared to many cities around the country.  This has been fairly well documented by the number of times Memphis appears on man Top lists for everything ranging from affordability, retirement, starting a business, starting a family, receiving health care...and now for investing in single-family homes.

A clear trend in Memphis real estate has become apparent in the last few years. Due to a combination of factors, the inventory of available housing has been on a sharp decline. According to figures from a recent article in The Commercial Appeal, the inventory of houses for sale has decreased from 13,300 in January of 2008 to fewer than 6,000 in January of 2013.

Latest book release from Joe Calloway features Memphis Invest

In 2012, Memphis Invest studied the book "Becoming A Category of One" by Joe Calloway.  InAugust of that year, I picked up the phone and called Joe Calloway and invited him to come to the offices of Memphis Invest and address our staff.  Joe, a member of the International Speakers Hall of Fame, was very well known as a speaker and business consultant whose client list was quite extensive and his expertise was about customer and employee engagement. We had asked Joe to visit with our staff and participate in our staff meeting.  It was the final week of our studying his book and we wanted to give the staff a little extra jolt...a little reminder of all the principles we had studied in the book.

Memphis Invest Nominated for Small Business Award

Memphis Invest, GP was very honored this week to be formally nominated for the Memphis Business Journal Small Business Awards for the second year in a row!  

2012 was an incredible year of growth for our company not only in terms of volume and properties, but most importantly in processes and people.  So many changes and adjustments had to be made as we continued to grow at breakneck speed and yet the entire team did an outstanding job of keeping pace and working through the changes.  In addition, Memphis Invest, GP was named to the Inc. 500/5000 list of America's Fastest Growing Companies in 2012.  The honor and the recognition by other business men and women here in Memphis means a lot to the Clothier family personally and to all of our staff.   

We were honored in 2011 to be selected by the Germantown Chamber of Commerce as the Small Business of the Year and to be nominated for this award given by the Memphis Business Journal two years in a row is a real testament to not only the company and the business model, but really to the team.  With 41 full time employees and a committed group of partners providing excellent services, Memphis Invest has built an incredible group working for their clients.  We are really excited to see what 2013 brings and hopefully it brings the actual award!

Here is a full list of the 5 companies as finalist for the award for 26-60 employee category:

Small Business of the Year, 26-60 employees

• Greenway Home Services
• Herbi-Systems Inc.
• HOG WILD-Real Memphis Barbeque LLC & A Movable Feast Catering
• masterIT LLC
• Memphis Invest GP

We are honored to be mentioned with all the other fantastic Memphis companies.

Premier Property Management Memphis 

So far we are about 65 days into the new year and already business in Memphis is at a record pace!  Both Memphis Invest, GP and Premier Property Management are experiencing tremendous up ticks in business.  Much of that is attributed to existing clients continuing to build their portfolios, but this blog is not about Memphis Invest.  Today, I am writing to absolutely brag on the outstanding team over at Premier Property Management of Memphis.  They are doing a phenomenal job and February was the SINGLE BEST month in the history of the management company!  Not only did the management company close more than 100 rental contracts, but they also reduced outstanding vacancies below 5%.  

How many of us have heard some version of the following story?

"My Aunt Bernice got taken for a ride by this contractor she hired last year. She hired him because he quoted her a great price, but the whole situation ended up being a nightmare. He was never on time, the work was shoddy, and he went WAAAAAY over-budget."

What about this one?

"Yeah, my friend Derrick totally got scammed by some fly-by-night 'contractor.' He answered an ad on Craigslist because the guy sounded legit and only charged 10% up front. The guy took the money and ran. Derrick hasn't heard from him since."

Memphis E.D.G.E. (Economic Development Growth Engine) Announces Plan To Broaden The Regions Economy and Appeal

Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell joined co-chair Christine P. Richards, Executive Vice President at Fed-Ex. Corporation as they unveiled a plan to provide community leadership, continuity in purpose, vision and planning initiatives for creating a more vibrant Memphis economy.  The plan was announced earlier this week and was detailed on a blog post at the E.D.G.E. website.  By focusing on increased exports, technology advances and taking advantage of the opportunities already developed in Memphis, they plan to develop a multi-pronged approach to economic development.  

A new, National Survey sponsored by Premier Property Management Group was released this week discussing the long-term impact of renters in single-family homes.  Real estate investing has been a hot topic for the last few years and the media has really picked up the pace of reporting on large hedge funds buying property around the country.  As investors take a bigger role in purchasing distressed properties, no one has studied what the intentions were or the future plans of the renters who are occupying these properties.  There have been a lot of questions, but not a lot answers when it comes to what are the "new" renters going to do when they have the opportunity to purchase property again?

This post is aimed directly at real estate investors who are buying properties as a way to generate additional income.  So often, we forget that the income that is coming in has value too.  Not just in our pockets, but also as part of your long-term investment strategy.

Memphis Is Ready For A Growth Leader

Over the past two months, we have been reaching out to different community partners, government programs and other business leaders to get a sense of what the real potential was for a new project we have had in mind.  As a local real estate investing business, we have been blessed to grow at a time when a lot of other companies in other industries are struggling.  Why?  Because our business has never been real estate.  Our business has always been customer experience.  So while we have been blessed with growth and the ability to help a lot of other companies grow and thrive as well, we have begun to think what could be next and what impact can we have on a bigger scale within the community.  We have met with some big names to gather inspiration and even traveled the world to meet them, but have always come back to what lies three feet out our front doors.  The great city of Memphis!