Heather Elwing
The Accidental Landlord: Land Contract Gone Awry
When MD’s (name changed) father passed two and a half years ago, she and her brother were left the family home in Wisconsin. The two continued to honor a land contract agreement between MD’s family friend, Alice (name changed), and MD’s father that had been enacted seven years prior to ...
4 Smart Home Tech Options to Drive Rentals & ROI
As technology grows at exponential speeds and now that all of us carry a computer in the palm of our hands more powerful than the first computer used to power a rocket, it is vital to keep up to date on what buyers and renters are looking for in smart ...
Sustainable Roofing Turns to Plants
In Door County, Wisconsin, Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant has been renowned for decades for its grass roof. Yes, it is really grass, and not only is the entire roof growing green grass, but it is adorned with goats. Needless to say, there is nearly always a spectacle while driving down ...
A Ponzi Scheme, the SEC and a Real Estate Developer
What housingwire.com calls a “Mini-Madoff,” Robert Shapiro, luxury real estate developer of the WoodBridge Group of Companies, created a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, pilfering more than 8,400 investors. A minimum of 2,800 of those investors used their IRAs personal retirement accounts for the investment. Shapiro resigned from his position shortly ...
How Housing Agencies are Affected by Government Shutdown
Last week, spending authority for most government agencies expired on midnight, January 29, 2018, as a result of ongoing conflict in the U.S. House of Representatives that prevented a national budget bill from being passed. At time of publication, the Senate had voted to pass a temporary spending bill to ...
Think Realty wants you to stay ahead of the competition, so we compiled a list of predictions and trends for 2018 real estate. Predictions were gathered from Think Realty Resident Experts, industry influencers, and other credible sources to ensure you are making the best possible decisions for you and your ...
Increase ROI with an ENERGY STAR Certification
The ENERGY STAR certified home label might appear small, a mere three by five inches, but it stands for something really big. That little label means a home has undergone a rigorous process of independent inspections and testing to ensure it meets strict U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards. Some ...
Shining Bright with ENERGY STAR
You’ve seen the sticker thousands of times on your own appliances and on those for sale in retail stores. Among the aisles and aisles of appliances there is one universal name, ENERGY STAR. You probably already know that the ENERGY STAR sticker displayed on appliances shows you how much you ...
Pop-Up Shops: A Vital Commercial Tenant
Derelict and distressed properties can lead to the downward spiral in property value for residential neighborhoods. When it comes to the commercial side of real estate investing, empty retail space can easily detract from the location or the buildings’ allure to businesses seeking a commercial location. Pop-up shops can make ...
Labor & Material Shortages Equals Slow Rebuilds
With the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and Irma, came images depicting streets filled with personal property; the guts of beloved homes and business lay in heaps of trash. Many individuals have had to turn to friends and neighbors to help with clean up instead of turning to contractors who coordinate ...
Shining Bright with ENERGY STAR
You’ve seen the sticker thousands of times on your own appliances and on those for sale in retail stores. Among the aisles and aisles of appliances there is one universal name, ENERGY STAR. You probably already know that the ENERGY STAR sticker displayed on appliances shows you how much you ...
A Hidden Gem: The Kansas City Land Bank
As other real estate investing markets are reaching their plateaus, the Kansas City, Missouri, market is just getting started. Thousands of potential real estate investments, residential and commercial, are waiting to be put back into productive use in Kansas City. That is great news for real estate investors aware of ...
When you think of alternative investments in real estate, you might not think of changing the building materials or the physical framework of the property. Maybe you should. Container homes, built from cargo shipping containers, are altering the way people think about and visualize new homes. Upcycling materials in the ...
We all know that a buyer’s first impression of your property will likely make or break the deal. Given that landscaping can add up to 28 percent to a home’s value, taking the time to understand what makes your lawn really work may prove invaluable. According to landscape economist John ...
3 Tips for Hiring OSHA Compliant Contractors
Real estate investors juggle a lot of tasks when buying and selling their properties. If you are into fix-and-flips or any exit strategy that involves second party workers coming and going from your property, you need to make sure they are being safe. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ...
5 Tips to Get Proper Liability Coverage for Your Property
Are your properties adequately insured? How much coverage is enough coverage when it comes to liability insurance? Shawn Woedl of the National Real Estate Insurance Group (NREIG) sat down with Think Realty Magazine after his Baltimore breakout session to share these tips to help investors choose what type of liability ...
5 Common Mistakes Made by REIs
If you’ve never had an opportunity to see Kent Davis of Equistream speak, you need to attend the next Think Realty Conference & Expo. Davis is unique in his presence and the way he connects with the audience. He is knowledgeable, logical, and experienced. Everything you would expect out of an ...
Millennials are on the move! All the data shows that young adults who “came of age” during and in the immediate wake of the housing and financial crises are the most nomadic generation yet. Fortunately, Think Realty Magazine has the run-down on the why they move and what they are ...
Saving Some Green with Green Properties
As a real estate investor, you make myriad choices on a daily basis from selecting paint colors to determining listing prices. You are always looking for ways to improve your return on investment and save money over the long term while offering a safe, affordable home to tenants or buyers ...
Think Realty Launches Veterans’ “Rally Points” with Andy Williams
Location: Sheraton, Downtown Dallas Mission: Support and Outreach As attendees bustled about the conference floor, a small crowd formed around Andy Williams, CEO of Recon Realty and recipient of the 2016 Think Realty R. Michael Wrenn Humanitarian of the Year. As the group started to arrange themselves, Williams thanked them ...
Think Realty Exclusive Content: Street Smart Dallas 2017
At the Think Realty National Conference & Expo 2017 our editorial staff hit the floor running with the popular Street Smart questions. In this recap, we will be sharing with you one of the questions we asked vendors and their responses with the TR editorial staff’s tips and tricks on ...
Are You Looking for Your Lost Shaker of Salt?
You won’t have to worry about blowing out your flip-flop on a pop top in Jimmy Buffett’s retirement community, appropriately dubbed “Latitude Maragaritaville.” Sure, residents might still be searching for their lost shaker of salt, but that seems about normal when you’re discussing Parrot Heads – the old-school equivalent of ...
10 Top Kitchen Design Trends for 2017
Based on a member survey from the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), a nonprofit that owns the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show® and represents nearly 14,000 member companies throughout the kitchen and bath industry, homeowners have some distinct preferences about their kitchens in 2017. NKBA identified 10 trends homeowners ...
As the millennials generation continues to find traditional homeownership less attractive than previous generations, they are embracing a new home craze that appeals to all ages of homeowner: tiny homes. There are many reasons to consider creating tiny home developments for your own use or even just building them for ...
Real estate investment marketplace Sharestates is hoping to expand its reach into more geographical regions by way of strategic partnerships with private lenders. To facilitate these interactions, the lending platform, which offers rigorously-vetted debt offerings to individual and institutional investors, recently debuted a new financing capability they have titled the ...
