Memphis Invest Increases Home Buying Events

Monday, September 27, 2010, Vol. 125, No. 187
SARAH BAKER | The Daily News

With the recent completion of Memphis Invest LLC’s office space expansion for its sister company, Premier Property Management Group, and new implementation of traditional rehab services for those wanting to remodel their home, the family-owned company continues to do the majority of its business with out-of-town investors.

A 1,200-square-foot development on the west side of Premier’s existing building was completed earlier this year by the Memphis Invest rehab services. The expansion offers offices for the staff of five full-time and 14 part-time employees.

The addition is also equipped with closing office and tenant waiting room where tenants can come inside and wait for an appointment, make a rental payment, receive a receipt or wait for their closing.

Chris Clothier, director of sales and marketing, said Memphis Invest built a separate entrance just for Premier’s tenants.

“It definitely makes it a more formal process, which benefits everyone – not only the tenants but also the owners whose properties we’re managing because it really makes it a more professional approach to managing the properties,” he said.

Memphis Invest now also provides rehab services, refurbishing full renovations on more than 200 properties a year for investors around the world. A supplementary service company, Memphis Invest Renovation Services, renovates investment properties and performs rehab work for homeowners looking to upgrade their houses.

The majority of Memphis Invest’s clients – 75 percent – are located outside of the Memphis market. And it’s all due to exposure and the lure of Memphis investment properties, Clothier said.

“Local investors are just a little more timid about buying here in town because of their preconceived ideas about what Memphis is like,” he said.

Memphians are “insulated,” and often overlook the treasures right in front of them, Clothier said. And investors inhabiting other cities with a higher cost of living cannot buy properties there for $20 to $40 per square foot.

In fact, investors came this past weekend to learn about the Memphis market and the Memphis Invest process and, of course, to buy property.

Memphis Invest hosts these buying parties once a quarter, bringing in anywhere from 40 to 60 investors at a time, with 30 to 40 serious buyers, and the rest wanting to learn more about the market or Memphis Invest.

“We go to Graceland, and depending on the time of year, we’ll go to a Redbirds or Grizzlies game – just little things so they can see that Memphis is more than just the bad crime list that you hear about each year,” Clothier said. “There’s a lot more to the city than just that, and that’s really what these weekends highlight.”

But since the demand is so high, Memphis Invest is changing the event to the second weekend of every month, limiting the attendance to 25 investors who are qualified and ready to invest in the Memphis real estate market.

And now with its new 400-square-foot multimedia room at its 130 Timber Creek headquarters, Memphis Invest will begin these smaller tours the weekend of Nov. 6.

Just one weekend is all it usually takes for many investors to get hooked. They not only return to purchase more, but they also bring colleagues, friends and family to invest as well.

Brack Shaver of Fort Worth, Texas, attended the weekend event in April and returned this weekend, bringing his son with him.

Shaver, a registered investment adviser, said Memphis Invest spares him the one thing that matter the most – time.

“As an investor, you are always looking for a situation that lends itself to you that is turnkey,” Shaver said. “This way, I get a good property, it’s already been rehabbed – in my case, it’s already been rented – and I get a check every month.”

Brian Rowan, on the other hand, is one of the select few investors from Memphis. He has bought 15 properties from Memphis Invest and hopes to acquire five more within the next two and a half years.

“I want to get in, get out and have my properties paid for before the market changes,” Rowan said.