Investing in real estate can very easily become a full-time job. As we’ve talked about before, a truly “hands off” investor is a myth. Real estate investment is a business and a job — and what you put into it is often what you get out of it. Investors have to follow up on leads, check in with their staff, keep up with real estate news and statistics, create strategies, deal with banks and agents and contractors…

It can be a big job!

Memphis Invest, GP Hits 500 Closings!

500 is a big number for us.  Yes, we have been on INC Magazines 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies In America list for three straight years...but, that is not the 500 I am talking about or even wanting to brag on our company for.  This is a very unique, family-owned company with a strong culture and now over 50 full time team members.  We are providing services to close to 900 real estate investors and are managing just under 2,700 properties in three cities.  These are all incredible milestones, but none of them are the number we are wanted to celebrate our team for.

When it comes to real estate investment, it’s vital to be well-informed. It can be incredibly daunting, because there’s a lot that real estate investors need to know in order to be successful in this business. In many cases, you can afford to make a few mistakes while adjusting to the learning curve — but not when it comes to matters of the law.

We had the pleasure of participating in the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever podcast hosted by Joe Fairless this week and had a great time talking real estate investing with Joe.  There are not a ton of great real estate investing podcasts online today.  They are really a mixed bag as far as the content and the quality.    

Ah, Fall. Who doesn’t love fall? It comes with pumpkin spiced lattes, cozy sweaters, brilliance in the changing colors of the leaves and a sense of family togetherness. Fall is great — but real estate investors would do well to prep their investment properties for the season. We’re not just talking curb appeal, either (although that is one of the steps for you to consider)— whether you're selling a property or looking for new tenants, there’s plenty you can do to stand out this season.

A little work can go a long way to preventing vacancies or long listings on the MLS.  Here are 3 steps for you to consider this Fall if you have a property for rent or sale.

Greg Herlean is an expert on how American's can take control of their financial future.  He is also an experienced real estate investor and got his start in real estate investing by using his Self-Directed IRA.  His Self-Directed IRA provided him with control over the decisions he wanted to make in his IRA account.  

On a broader scale, a Self Directed IRA will allow you to diversify your portfolio, receive tax benefits, and increase your savings.  As the founder of Horizon Trust, Greg has an inside perspective on the strategies that self directed account holders are using successfully.  

We had a great day on Saturday October 11th at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine Texas.  Thank you to all of the real estate investors who came to spend the morning with us!

We have several events each year around the country to visit with real estate investors directly.  Each fall we host an event in Dallas and each spring, we host an event in Memphis.  We also travel once a year to Southern California and New York.

Some times real estate investing can get a tad bit mundane.  We like to keep our team motivated and happy since that is the atmosphere where they are going to provide the best customer service in the industry!  So, when our teams wanted to have some fun in the month of October, we came up with a contest where all our main offices decorated their lobbies in honor of the Breast Cancer Awareness month.  It is fun for us and keeps us up beat and motivated while also supporting a great cause.  So there is a lot of pink going on in the office corridors!

There’s some crazy tech out there. For real estate investors, the ever-increasing pool of technological advances poses opportunities to increase efficiency and save time and money. Whether you’re looking for a nifty gadget or smartphone productivity tools, there’s plenty out there!

One of the great things about all these tech advances is that it does not matter if you are an entrepreneur and looking for business style apps or a small investor needing smaller more individual style apps, there are some great ones out there.  

Here are a few apps that we like and I would LOVE IT if you shared some of your favorites in the comments below!  Let us know what you think of the list.

Everyone has something to say about the real estate market. That’s no surprise, considering local real estate markets vary and can’t really be used to gauge or predict the overall national market.  Watch the national news for five days in a row and you are likely to get five different stories on the real estate market with five different "revelations".  

You’ll hear a lot of conflicting information from plenty of people, and many of them are considered credible in their field and others just claim the mantle of credibility.  So how do you know which headlines to trust?  How do you know when the source of information is real or when, say a magazine, is carrying the water for their advertisers.  It can be very confusing to know where good advice can be found in today's real estate space.