I know it sounds a bit crazy, but when talking about Memphis real estate and the role that foreclosures have on the market, there are some words that just don't seem to go together.  Take for instance using ‘Stable’ and ‘Foreclosure’ in the same line... or sentence for that matter.  It sounds a bit oxymoronic, right?  I am fairly sure, although not entirely positive, that is a word!  

Chandler Reports, the local real estate information aggregating company, released their monthly tally last week which included 1st quarter totals for all things related to real estate in Memphis and the surrounding areas.  Memphis Invest is interested in many of the numbers including total sales, days on market, average sales price and number of transactions as each of these data points is very important to the over-all health of a market.  But we are also extremely interested in the over-all sales numbers for the area and for the 8th quarter in a row, MemphisInvest.com was the leader in local company home sales.

Memphis real estate investors continue to get good news from independent analysts on the near future for Memphis investment properties.

Clear Capital recently released its' Home Value Index report for 2011 with data on major real estate markets around the country and their chief economists updated predictions for those markets.  As has been the case in the past, there are pockets of the country that seem almost unaffected by the housing crisis and other parts of the country that may never recover.  Memphis appears to be somewhere in the middle as economists are predicting Memphis Real Estate to appreciate 3.2% in the coming year.  That may not seem like a big boost, but Memphis is one of only four markets expected to appreciate in the coming year.

So after reading part 1 of this 2 part posting, hopefully you can sense where I am going with this advice.  Investing in Memphis real estate can be very lucrative and a fantastic addition to a retirement portfolio.  However, there are a lot of companies and individuals who make a living selling bad properties and bad investment in Memphis to outside investors.  Heck, I am pretty sure that is a problem that occurs across the nation. 

Size does matter when it comes to Memphis investment properties.  The average size of a new home has more than doubled since the 1950’s and people have grown accustomed to more space.  If an investment property is too small, it usually is more difficult to rent or sell.  When I say that price does not equal value when buying discounted investment properties, this is one of the "other" factors I mentioned that an investor has to look at.  Does that mean you should avoid small homes?