In my latest post on the Bigger Pockets real estate blog, I discuss reformatting your mindset due to the latest economic real estate conditions.  Also I discuss emerging trends over the next 12 months.

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I was fortunate enough to attend Standard & Poor’s Market View of Credit Risk here in New York.  David Wyss, Chief Economist there, shared his views on where the economy is headed and zeroed in on the housing market.  You can find the entire article on the Bigger Pockets real estate investment blog.

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In addition to writing for Geek Estate, I’ve also  joined Josh Ferris and the team at Online Real Estate 101, which is a new online real estate media property.  The site is focused on the real estate community and the online efforts behind it.  You’ll find a varying degree of voices committed to keeping the real estate industry current through interviews, demos, reviews, and general thoughts on today’s changing real estate economy.

I hope you’ll enjoy the post I’ve put together for you on the 4 Essential Building-Blocks for Agents New to Online.

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I joined the team over at GeekEstate and will be contributing to their blog with regards to real estate tech and tools.  I’m looking forward to the community this real estate technology blog offers.  There are many great writers over there led by community manager and Zillow business developer Drew Meyers, so I urge you to take a look.

Look for my next post here after the New Year.

Thanks for making 2009 memorable!

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I remember a few years ago being upset when someone was marketing a house I was selling as their listing.  At the time protectionism was in full force by NAR and they had us convinced that all the data needed to be protected.  For why, I can’t remember.  I only remember there being some doomsday scenario about licensed real estate people who weren’t “REALTORS” screwing unsuspecting buyers.

Fast forward to 2009.  RealComp in Detroit is appealing the FTC’s decision to force RealComp to publish listing data to promote cooperation.  NAR’s continued protectionism strategies have me personally baffled.  I’ve had run in’s with several real estate agents this year who did not like my firm picking their listings out and advertising them.  Even though they haven’t opted-out of the provision which allows us to do so.

I actually ran across other people marketing some of our properties only to stop and call them in a thankful way.  Why wouldn’t we want everyone to market our properties?  I hope my properties are on 100 different websites.  I hope my competitor’s like my company’s listings well enough to push them to their clients.

Take a quick peak at the busiest real estate portals according to Property Portal Watch and ComScore:

Website (Total Unique Visitors by ‘000)
SouFun.com Limited (13,056)
Yahoo! Real Estate (10,225)
focus.cn (10,087)
Move Network (7,599)
SINA Real Estate (6,099)
ganji.com (5,123)
ImmobilienScout24 (4,396)
MSN Real Estate (3,956)
Enormo Sites (3,590)
AOL Real Estate (3,259)

Although many of these are foreign, where is REALTOR.com?   Of course they have arrangements to populate many of these sites.  Don’t we go on assume we are the best marketers?  In fact we aren’t.  These large data portals are able to do marketing better than we can ever hope to.

Visibility is your friend.  I love nothing more than getting stat updates from Zillow, Trulia, and other hubs showing how many property views and inquiries each home has had.   How many agents are assembling this data and presenting it to their listing owners?

Make your data shareable.

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As a landlord, enterepreneur, and real estate investor since 2000, for 10 years, there has been a significant evolution in the real estate investment industry. Given the current financial climate of 2009 and likely the next few years, many real estate investors are following the US trend of a more conservative approach to investing. People are now focused on less on speculative plays and more on real estate investments that actually pencil from the cash flow perspective. People can no longer secure investments with no money down strategies which will rise to inconceivable heights.

I am seeing a return to safety particularily in emerging markets within the US. These markets have been safehavens, typically out of the spotlight, in less exciting areas than coastal markets. These markets include areas within the South and Midwest which didn’t see massive price appreciate during the economic boom and therefore have fallen less, and are quickest to recover. This includes cities like Indianapolis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City, and others in this geographic south and central area of the US. Many of thes cities are highly affordable for buyers, have low price to rent ratios allowing real estate investors to easily enter these markets at affordable price points and receive good cash on cash returns, providing them a safe alternative to other investments. These markets felt the current economic downturn and many of them overcorrected on price. Economic principles have proven that markets which overcorrect don’t require job growth to see price appreciation. This is being overlooked by many investors who are looking only at unemployment levels.

I’ve been quietly building my portfolio with properties in areas like these as rents have been holding steady and prices are well below market levels due to high foreclosure rates. While these emerging cities are less glamorous than traditional investment markets like California, Arizona, and Florida, these areas are relatively stable and have solid long term growth prospects.

Upon choosing a market, a new investor will need to identify which properties within those markets are offering the best opportunities. My suggestion? Focus on quality. Quality deals are available in these markets at ridicoulously low prices. I’m focusing primarily on 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom homes, preferably with car storage. Also a new investor should zero in on areas which solid employment numbers within the cities. These areas will have less vacancy and lower crime rates. A quick way to evaluate neighborhoods are ones which have big box retailers near them. If Home Depot, Lowes, and Target have determined these are good areas to put stores, then you can piggy-back off their due-diligence.

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It’s taken a while to sink in but now I see it everywhere. People are saving, conserving, making better decisions in an overall bid to return to sanity. In real estate, during the last half of 2007 to the Lehman implosion in late 2008, we were booming. Arrogance was everywhere in the investment property market. With speculators the markets on the coast were overpriced and people started migrating dollars to cities like Memphis, TN. We were projecting 2009 to be an incredible year until the fateful day the financial markets collapsed.

It was easy to think I was a highly-talented mistake-free entrepreneur. Demand outpaced the supply of our investment homes. People bought at a feverish pace which ultimately caught up with many of them. But with prices solid, rents high, and economic growth happening locally how could it just suddenly stop?

Fast forward to 2009. Real estate investment has followed the US savings trend and has returned to more of a dividend stock approach. Deals must pencil in order for them to be purchased. Smart decisions, less frequency in purchasing and more price negotiation. And frankly, I’m humbled by 2009. As a real estate entrepreneur, the margin of error on business decisions is minuscule. Hell, I was speculating with the best of them. I bought in emerging neighborhoods within Memphis (which I’m still long, of course, since I have no choice but to be).

I like the new direction, although I wish the hangover of the big party wasn’t lasting so long. The lingering effects often make it hard to channel entrepreneurial energies. The relationships I’ve forged in 2009 have been the difference. Meeting new entrepreneurs with the burning desire, even in this climate, have kept me motivated. In fact, this year has made me a much smarter entrepreneur and real estate investor. Our team has been scrutinizing real estate deals for our clients to the nth degree. Problem is, appraisal issues are everywhere even though the conditions are now optimal for buying. I have enjoyed seeing monies come off the sidelines to purchase property in times like this. It shows American are a pretty resilient bunch with a deep bench for the tough times.

My bet is 2010 will see continued smart purchasing by better heeled investment home buyers. They’ll snap up incredible deals out there, rely less on creative financing schemes, and clean up in the profit category when the market returns. And when it does return, signs point to the recovery being very strong. I think to myself, what an interesting time in this world. I wish the crazy hours were producing as much revenue as they were in 2007-2008. But it feels the business is improving and evolving, because of the crisis, for the better. Technology will only compound this evolution and the real estate business will be better off than when it entered the crisis (albeit with lower prices).

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