What do you picture when you think of a great real estate investing market?

Depending on who is reading this article, some go to a top-tier market: something like New York City or San Francisco. Despite the fact that these markets are impenetrable for your average real estate investor, they’re the markets that we’re easily dazzled by. And who can blame us? We like glamour. We like pizzaz.

Still others go to smaller markets and the buzz of "middle-america" markets where properties are cheap and plentiful!  

But ultimately, what makes a great long-term real estate investing market, what brings success to real estate investors—the kind of success that allows someone to invest in a glamorous market like NYC—is reliability.

Inc. Magazine released the 2016 version of their annual list of the 5000 Fastest Growing Companies In America....

And the Clothier family was honored to have three Companies on this years' list!

First and foremost, we are so proud of the team at Memphis Invest who is a 5-year honoree.  This is an incredible accomplishment and really highlights the hard work and commitment to excellence exhibited by our entire crew.  Everyone pulls together in support of our mission, which is to create an incredible 'WOW' experience for our clients, tenants, vendors and each other!

It might not get as hot in Memphis as it does in the Lone Star state, but make no mistake—it gets hot! We’ve always believed in Memphis, and it seems like real estate professionals nationwide are paying attention to our hometown, too.

This year, Memphis has been lauded as a market to watch, cited for it’s affordability and growing local economy. While more modest than more out-of-control markets, it’s always had something special that some other on fire markets just don’t have, and something investors really want: stability!

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. As we approach the halfway point of 2016 and get into the heat of the summer, it’s time for an update on what’s been going on with Memphis real estate:

4 Things to Know about Memphis Real Estate So Far in 2016

We have been discussing the positives to the Memphis market as a whole for many years now.  The position of the market is constantly changing based on announcements from new employers, on new projects and new incentives for growing firms in the Memphis area.  

All of these developments weigh on the success of the Memphis housing market as well.  When jobs are growing; when companies are expanding; when there are new opportunities being created in the city, the positives from these types of developments spill over onto the housing market.

The city itself and the surrounding areas grow from a migration of new residents.  Job growth pushes down the unemployment rate.  Job growth helps drive up demand for housing on both the owner-occupied side and the renter side of the equation.  With greater demand comes appreciation, especially in more stable and desirable areas, as well as a rise in rents.

Both developments are great for long-term real estate investing.

Now comes word from Wambrodt Hotel Investments that they are high on the Memphis market and are looking at several hotel projects in the city of Memphis.  This is a big development because Memphis is sorely lacking in this area.  We need more hotel rooms and more updates to existing infrastructure.  

With several hundred rooms under construction or slated for construction in the downtown area, Memphis will be in the position to host future and larger events.  With that construction comes jobs during all phases including after they are complete.  Those jobs are big!  

Here is the newsletter from Herb Wombrodt highlighting why they are excited about Memphis!

On August 21, Inc. Magazine released their annual list of the 5000 Fastest Growing Companies In America....

And the Clothier family was honored to have Four Companies on this years' list.

Here are the 4 companies that were featured:

• Premier Realty Group (#587) - Memphis
• REI Marketing (#2604) - California
• Memphis Invest (#2622) - Memphis
• Premier Property Management Group (#2900) - Memphis, Dallas, Houston

The four companies are all featured on the Inc 500/5000 full list of companies.  For Memphis Invest, this was the fourth year in a row to be included on the list.  What an incredible achievement!

For those that may not recognize the second company listed, REI Marketing, that is the company founded and operated by Kent Clothier, Jr. out of Southern California.  REI Marketing developed and offers services including several educational programs and materials such as the vanity phone number brad 1-800-SELL-NOW,  FindCashBuyersNow.com and FindPrivateLendersNow.com.  Kent and his team have done an incredible job of serving the real estate investor community with quality products and services and they deserve this outstanding recognition!

RealtyTrac recently featured Tennessee in their latest newsletter and even published an article from Memphis Invest.  The newsletter is full of fantastic information and is linked at the bottom of the article.  In the meantime, here is our article with some fantastic updates on Memphis real estate.

Real estate investing, at least investing successfully, has always been about finding good opportunities and understanding what is driving that opportunity.  We always hear about investors who land the big deal and take home an enormous payday.  Sometimes those scenarios are luck and others they are a mix of luck and skill.  

For a real estate investor, expanding your portfolio to properties outside of your realm of knowledge can be a daunting notion. You may, for example, be considering Memphis real estate, but you live out of the city or state. Risk is an ever-important element to investing, and deciding where to invest is paramount. So much more goes into the equation when weighing the risk of investing in out of area investment properties.  One of the biggest risks revolves around property management.  We will get to that in a minute.  First, the decision centers on deciding if investing in another city is right and then deciding which city is best.  Because real estate investing does vary by location.  Not to mention, the real estate market is not the same everywhere — it varies not only by state, but by city.