Memphis Invest has earned a reputation among our clients and even our peers as a company that truly understands how investors want to calculate REAL value.  Too often, investors are fooled into thinking that the value of real estate is the price you pay for it.  I cannot tell you how often investors contact us after having bought "great property" right here in Memphis from a company located in a state like California or Nevada and they are having trouble getting it renovated and occupied.  Their idea of great is the cheap price they paid for it.  The reality is a 900 square foot 4 room shack located in an area that very few want to visit, much less do renovation work and management. 

As a real estate investor myself and as a partner who works with real estate investors from around the world, it is music to my ears when I hear about the leadership of our city being proactive in telling the great story that is Memphis, Tennessee.  I have spent countless hours on the road over the past 18 months, talking to investors from coast to coast about the advantages of Memphis as a real estate investment city and how companies like MemphisInvest.com are not alone in turning the city around.  When stories like this one come out, it makes my job easier and makes my investment portfolio poised for growth in the very near future!

Many of the recent articles you read on the housing market seem to convey almost polar opposite messages.  Markets are up, other markets are down and no two pollsters, spinsters or prognosticators seem to agree on exactly what is happening.  Real Estate Investors have to get past all the white noise of the national housing market and get down to the fundamentals of particular markets that provide quality, stable investment opportunities.

If you've heard Memphis Invest speak at various events around the country, you've heard us talk about the 'intangibles' that make Memphis investment properties unique when compared to other real estate investing cities.  One of the unique characteristics that makes Memphis a great city for real estate investors is the location and, because of location, the industries that support the city.  Here is another great example of the tremendous economic growth that is expected for the city and how that growth effects real estate investors.

As I was reading a report last week on the status of real estate investing in different markets around the United States, one number kept jumping out at me - the percentage of real estate investors paying cash was huge!  In some markets around the country, real estate investors paying cash made up more than 75% of the transactions.  Since real estate is a hyper-local industry, with each individual market able to vary wildly from the next, keeping an eye on the trends of investors before making assumptions is a huge task.

About 8 months ago, the owners of MemphisInvest.com recognized a trend taking place in the investment real estate market and moved to capitalize as soon as possible.  That trend has bore out over time to be a new marketplace, a new investor that wasn't taking part in the real estate buying frenzy of 2008 and 2009.    We even developed a whole new strategy and business model to help us take advantage of that trend.

Than Merrill was in Memphis to meet with MemphisInvest.com on some future projects and also to speak to the Mid-South Real Estate Investors Association.