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.

Some economists and experienced real estate investors think they know and most will not like the news they have.

I was recently in Los Angeles at a dinner with a group of investors and investment service providers and at one point the conversation turned to the current housing market.  The dinner was sponsored by MOR Financial and one of the partners was recounting an advertisement he had heard earlier in the week.  The advertisement was from a mortgage lender and they were promoting a brand new product they had for home buyers...the 5/1 ARM.  For anyone not familiar with the terminology, that is an adjustable rate mortgage that has an artificially low interest rate for the first year and then can increase by 1% each year for the next 5 years.  Traditionally, an offering like this is tied to the LIBOR, which coincidentally has nothing to do with the housing market.

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.

What does Quality mean?  I am not talking about the qualities of a company - the description that people use to describe the company.  I am talking about Quality as THE description of a companies work.  The way clients and competitors alike describe their work, their craftsmanship and their processes.  All real estate investment companies have qualities, but not all real estate investment companies have Quality.

When my fourth child was born I picked up a comment card at the hospital on our way out.  It had a picture of 4 circles on it and the words "Service ~ Teamwork ~ Quality ~ Integrity" printed around the circles.  The card opened up and there was their Mission Statement and a few questions and lines for comments.  I grabbed two cards.  One so I could respond with how impressed I was with the level of care they showed and the other I kept as a reminder that these were absolutely four characteristics of our company.  These were four areas that not just the owners, but every single person at Memphis Invest had committed to work to improve on every day.  I saved it for a day just like today.