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Think Realty Magazine October 2017
+ WHAT'S INSIDE Think Realty | Where We’re Thinking Realty • Coaches Corner Cover Feature | Leveling the Playing Field Design Point | Beautifully Engaged Market Update | Atlanta, Georgia Regional Spotlight| Memphis, Tennessee The Big Picture| Entrepreneurialism: A Smart Pathway to Success • Net Zero in Cost Rica • ...
A Closer Look at Industrial Real Estate
Industrial real estate, which includes warehouses and distribution centers, is among the most profitable categories of investment properties. These types of properties offer yields as high as 7.5 percent, compared to between four and five percent for office space and five and six percent for retail space. Furthermore, long-term agreements, ...
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 ...
Mortgage rates are slowly and steadily rising. These current market conditions make buying a home particularly attractive in today’s market. Homeownership has always been viewed as one of the central pillars of the American dream and, because your home is often your largest asset, it can be an incredible means ...
The 401(k) Mistake that Can Easily Cost You $30,000
As an individual retirement account (IRA) custodian, I often encounter investors who have been using their IRA or 401(k) accounts to buy and sell real estate in ways that are costing them serious capital. These sticky situations do not always lead to the so-called “implosion” of a retirement portfolio that ...
Running the Numbers on a Vacation Rental Home
If you’ve always wanted a vacation home but couldn’t afford one, you’ve probably considered obtaining that property via the Airbnb model: buying your vacation property and leasing it out as a short-term rental when you’re not using it in order to cover ownership costs. While this is a fantastic investment ...
Effective Networking at Real Estate Investor Association (REIA) Meetings
Attending a networking event can induce dread, anxiety, and the cold sweats, but don’t be tempted to skip that local real estate investor association (REIA) meeting! The reality is that business and real estate investing require you to build a team. The fastest way to build an effective one is ...
When the 1940s Meets the Modern Rehab
When a housing market heats up and home values start heading northward, the first thing to go is “affordable housing.” While this might seem like nothing more or less than conventional wisdom, when a market loses its affordable housing sector it tends to lose its lifeblood, the first-time buyer, in ...
Why I Moved to Phoenix to Invest in Real Estate
I’ve concluded that Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the best places in the United States to invest in real estate. I’m so confident in this that I moved there! You may not always be able to invest where you live, but investing where other people want to live is a ...
3 Steps to Learning Your Investment Manager’s True Identity
The internet has truly opened up a “brave new world” for real estate investors. However, with this blessing that enables us to put our money in markets that make sense rather than just in our own backyards comes an identity crisis of sorts because the people who would like to ...
Double Down & Play to Win: A Call for Rental Housing Innovation
"If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu.” In his opening remarks at Think Realty’s Baltimore Expo this past June, Maryland State Delegate Marvin Holmes, a landlord and property manager himself, encouraged landlords to get involved and speak out for their cause. This sentiment is ...
In this issue’s section of “Industry Voices,” one of our features is an open letter that a magazine contributor, Brian Wojcik of NAIL411.org, sent the secretary of housing and urban development (HUD), Ben Carson. Wojcik provided plenty of context for his letter in terms of legislation and policy revolving around ...
Glutton for Punishment or Naive DIY’er?
Abby Tillman and her husband chronicled their first foray into real estate investing, buying a rental property, in Think Realty’s “Rookie Investor” blog series. The following article is excerpted from that blog. You know those things that everyone tells you not to do, but you think, “It won’t be like ...
Best Marketing Practices for Investors
Often real estate business owners ask me how they can generate more leads. The other question they ask is closely related: What is the hottest new way to generate leads? While I do stay current with marketing trends and current market opportunities, most of the tried-and-true older methods are just ...
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 ...
Really Big Deals: Getting In on the Farmland Phenomenon
Farmland: Any land used for farming. Rural: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines rural areas as those that are nonmetropolitan and have “open countryside, rural towns (places with fewer than 2,500 people) and urban areas with populations ranging from 2,500 to 49,999.” Over the past decade, international investors have doubled ...
Investing in Corporate Housing: Monetizing the 30-Day Stay
Corporate Housing: A solution for corporate employees who need monthly lodging, usually provided through businesses offering fully-furnished private residences for stays of 30 or more days. Pain-Per-Dollar (PPD): The amount of work that each dollar you invest “costs” you on a property. For example, a typical vacation rental has a high PPD ...
6 Ways to Accurately Assess Rental Property Performance
Whether you have one income rental property in your portfolio or dozens, you should be tracking your investment portfolio’s performance. Part of that process includes evaluating each income property individually to determine whether it is serving its purpose in your portfolio and to assess the viability of future, similar investments ...
Think Realty’s Guidebook to Turnkey Rental Real Estate
Turnkey Property: A turnkey property has historically been defined as a piece of real estate that can be purchased as-is and immediately rented out. Turnkey has expanded in recent years to include anything that can be conducted from a distance (i.e. a turnkey fix and flip) but generally refers to rental ...
5 Keys to Effective Social Media Marketing Domination
As a real estate investor, you need leads to find deals, right? That’s the function of marketing. Done well, it can bring an abundance of opportunity to your investing business. Recently, Think Realty Resident Expert Abhi Golhar shared his recipe for success in social media marketing. ---- In the Netflix ...
3 Disasters Where Self-Directed Investors Made a Huge Difference
Lately, the news has been full of natural disasters and recovery efforts. Everyone in the country wants to help with the recovery from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. In fact, one self-titled “IRA Expert” even implied in a very public promotional campaign that real estate investors using their self-directed retirement accounts ...
The Truth About Tax-Free Profits in Real Estate IRAs
If you love the idea of huge real estate investing returns but dread the tax bills that come with financial success, then you share a common bond with just about every other investor in the country. However, if you realize that there are actually ways to create “tax-free profits” in ...
Is Your Market Too Hot to Handle?
Investing in a hot market can be exciting. Watching the values of your properties climb is absolutely intoxicating, and many investors spend a great deal of time and energy trying to identify the next hot market before their competitors in order to get in early and make a mint. However, ...
