I try to make this blog a valuable resource for our customers and other people interested in real estate investing. From general real estate information to more specific advice regarding real estate investing, from the latest news in what's going on with Memphis Invest to up-to-date information about the Memphis area, I want you to walk away feeling more intelligent and/or more informed after every post you read on here.

Let's face it: You probably don't have a monopoly on all the rental homes in your area. (If you do, please be kind enough to let us know where you live, so we can take some of that market share off your hands; you must be exhausted.) With so many other real estate investors competing for a limited pool of tenants, it's important to make yourself stand out from the crowd.  Here in Memphis we are managing right over 1,800 properties and, while that may seem like a massive number of properties, we are still a fraction of the total number of rental properties in the city.  Just this week, we have had several meetings to discuss stepping away from the "ordinary" and figuring out how to eliminate altogether properties that are vacant over 30 days.  We have roughly 25 properties in our entire portfolio about 1.3% that have been vacant over 30 days and we have been asking ourselves the same question we posed to you above.  

If we have done our job correctly, each of our clients are investing in real estate for generally the same reason.  They are not looking for quick hits and fast paydays.  Real Estate investors who work with our company buying investment property in either Memphis or Dallas, are all looking for a long-term return on their investment.  Nearly all of our clients are looking for an opportunity to – for lack of a better way to put it – invest and forget. 

There is definitely a change taking place right now in the Memphis real estate market.  Like the picture above, the fog is lifting and the city is starting to come alive again with real estate transactions starting to show improvement in many areas.  The change can be seen very clearly in both the residential retail market and the residential investment market.  The Memphis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) has reported some very interesting numbers over the last two months.  Sales are up.  Pricing is up and properties are moving quicker.  All of those are good signs for the Memphis market.

This may be a first for us.  We are printing a response we received to an article we wrote on our blog.  Not to mention, we hardly ever print articles written by other people.  But this one is different.  This response was emailed to me from a very valued relationship we have in the lending community.  Kathleen Kramer, of RPM Mortgage, has been a trusted confidant for the past two years and has assisted with private money programs for our company. Kathleen also has reviewed and advised us on our procedures and processes and visited our offices here in Memphis.  We have tremendous confidence in her knowledge of the lending industry, so when she sends us an email response to our recent blog article...well, we listen!  

Memphis Invest, GP was on the Inc. Magazine FastestGrowing Companies list for the second year in a row moving up to #303 in 2013 from #1320 in 2012.  This is a tremendous honor as Memphis Invest, GP joins a prestigious - and exclusive - list of companies that has included Zappos, Microsoft, Jamba Juice, Under Armour, Oracle, Clif Bar, and Otterbox, just to name a few.  This is an impressive list and is an incredible distinction for the Memphis real estate investment company.