There’s a gleam in the big city that attracts investors. In a lot of ways, they’re attractive. Living in New York City is a dream for some people, as is settling down in big gleaming West Coast metropolises like Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Memphis, while it is a big city, is nothing compared to Dallas and Houston in terms or the size of the city.  Memphis is small city real estate and investors sometimes don't recognize it as a gem!

These big cities get most of the attention from investors and truth be told, you can go anywhere in the world and mention these cities and people know exactly where you are talking about.  Ask them about small and medium cities and the chances of people knowing about them get slim.  Real estate investing is about more than the name and size of the city.

We all have regrets in life. Some of us have real estate investment regrets. If you’re stuck with a rental property that’s weighing you down, you may find yourself wondering if you should just cut your losses and move on. Maybe you want to stick it out and hope for things to get better down the line. There are several options to weigh if you’ve found yourself at a crossroads with a property you own.

At the same time, understanding the big picture is just as important and learning that fluctuations in the way a property performs and the way a property fits into your portfolio are important too.  A down year is not always a reason to let a property go.  It takes careful and thoughtful evaluation before deciding to let got of a long-term investment property.  

If you’re new to real estate investment, you’ll find out pretty quickly that the learning curve can be steep. One of the most important parts of real estate investment is to educate yourself on the legal aspects of the business. The last thing you want to happen is to find out you’ve made a legal mistake...after you’ve already made one.

Investing in real estate may be something you’ve been considering for awhile now. It’s something you think you’d really like to do, but you still haven’t quite committed to jumping into real estate investment.  Maybe you are still in the learning phase and realize there are a lot of questions you need to be asking before moving forward.

Part of that still, perhaps, is that you aren’t asking yourself enough questions (or the right questions). 

If investing in real estate is just a theoretical idea of saving retirement money or building reliable passive income, take that dream to the next level. Instead of daydreaming about all the benefits of real estate investment, it’s time to knuckle down and make your decision.  

Your security later in life - the security of your investments - relies on your getting answers to serious questions now and surrounding yourself with a great TEAM before moving forward.  What better way to vet a great team than to get the answer you need and make sure you are pointed in the right direction as a real estate investor.

It seems odd to open by telling real estate investors how to fail. Sometimes, though, the best advice comes from being told what not to do! While there are always individual circumstances in real estate investment and advice should be taken with a grain of salt, there are certain principles to the business that are universal.  One of them is to never call a buyer a "loser" as the sign points out.  I promise you....that has never happened on our end!  

We have worked with nearly 1,000 investors at this point and there are certain actions that we can all identify as "trouble" for real estate investors.   How you refer to a buyer is an easy one. Here are five REALLY EASY to identify trouble points to watch out for as a real estate investor.  They may not be as obvious as the picture above, but they are crucial and often self inflicted so they are critical to be aware of!  Take notes and shoot us any questions you may have.

Goal setting is an integral part of successfully investing in real estate. Most people do it in some way or another — but are you doing it effectively?

Effective goal setting will help guide you in navigating the complex world of real estate investment.  Goal setting is very different and a far cry from making a list of things to do.  I hate lists!  They show me all the things that I can't do at one time and then feel bad about when I don't get them done in time!  Do you know what happens then?  We stop setting goals because they became lists and we start become haphazard practicers of any type of goal-setting techniques.

We’ve already established that there is no such thing as hands-off real estate investment. “Passive” real estate investment doesn’t usually mean sitting by while other people handle your investments for you as you enjoy a tasty piña colada on the beach of some tropical island (though if you've figured out the secret to this method, please share!).