Equity Angels: Paving the Way for Diversity in Real Estate Tech Startups
In a move aimed at fostering diversity and innovation within the real estate technology sector, Equity Angels has emerged as a groundbreaking force. Launched by prominent leaders in the tech and real estate industries, this organization is set to play a pivotal role in accelerating the growth of startups led by entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. As the real estate industry grapples with unprecedented challenges, Equity Angels seeks to be a catalyst for change, providing fractional executive solutions and accelerator programs specifically tailored for early-stage fintech and proptech companies. Kenya Burrell-VanWormer, the Founder and Managing Partner of Equity Angels, expressed the urgency of the initiative, noting the perfect storm of low sales volume, high interest rates, and the widespread integration of artificial intelligence. Addressing the broader context, Katherine Winston, another Founder and Managing Partner, emphasized the importance of doubling down on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, particularly in the face of headwinds. The real estate industry, like many others, is at a crossroads, and Equity Angels aims to unlock untapped perspectives and innovation from historically underrepresented and underestimated entrepreneurs. Research underscores the significance of diverse leadership in startup success. McKinsey & Company's analysis reveals that founders with diverse gender and ethnic backgrounds tend to deliver higher returns for investors upon exit compared to their peers. Achieving parity for women and minority founders not only holds the potential for increased revenue but also promises to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. The Equity Angels Catalyst Program stands out as a cornerstone initiative, targeting ten startups focused on fintech and proptech solutions. Designed as a "Fundraise-Ready" program running from April to September 2024, this endeavor will provide a platform for selected startups to navigate the challenging fundraising landscape under the guidance of industry experts. Given the evolving market conditions, Equity Angels recognizes the need for rigorous support to ensure these startups can thrive. In addition to the Catalyst Program, Equity Angels is set to offer fractional C-Suite solutions. This unique approach allows startups to collaborate with high-level executives who can contribute to the development and scaling of their businesses at sustainable rates. Ruel Macaraeg, a seasoned technology director and Equity Angels advisor, envisions a redefined future for entrepreneurship through programs like these. The goal is clear: to fuel the next wave of groundbreaking startups with a diverse group of talented innovators. As Equity Angels takes flight, it not only aims to reshape the landscape of real estate technology but also to establish a more inclusive and equitable future for the entire industry. For those looking to learn more about Equity Angels and their transformative initiatives, a visit to their official website at www.equity-angels.com offers a comprehensive overview of their mission and programs. Equity Angels stands as a beacon, signaling a new era in real estate technology where innovation and diversity go hand in hand.

iGo Raises $5.5 Million to Strengthen Lead in Home Inspection Tech and Launch AI-based Home Repair Valuation
It's great to see technology innovation in all aspects of the real estate transaction. If you haven't checked out InspectionGo yet, you need to take a look. Led by industry veterans Celeste Starchild and Mark Wise, iGo is shaking up the home inspection sector and enabling independent home inspection companies with breakthrough tech to deliver a more comprehensive and actionable home inspection report to consumers and the professionals that support them. Read the full news release below: InspectionGo (iGo) Announces $5.5 Million Series A and the Acquisitions of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder Transactions allow iGo to build next-generation platform for home inspectors to unlock the full value of inspections for homeowners and single-family investors TYRONE, Pa., (July 19, 2023) – InspectionGo (iGo), the leading provider of cutting-edge technology and services that helps independent home inspection companies be successful by unlocking the full value of home inspections for homeowners and real estate investors, today announced it has closed a $5.5 million Series A funding round. The company also announced the strategic acquisitions of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder, moving iGo closer to its vision of providing home inspectors with a seamless platform to manage their business and extending the value of a home inspection throughout home ownership. The Series A was led by existing investor Wasatch Equity Partners. The acquisitions were all-stock transactions, reinforcing the confidence of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder's investors in the partnership iGo has forged with the inspector community and the company's long-term vision. In addition to enhancing iGo's service offerings to its growing community of home inspectors who perform an estimated one million home inspections annually, the capital raise and acquisitions will bring hundreds of jobs to Central Pennsylvania by 2026. "We are thrilled to welcome Repair Pricer and HomeBinder to the iGo family. The addition of their product offerings accelerates our strategy of giving the inspection community the ability to provide homeowners with valuable tools for managing their home for as long as they own it," iGo Co-Founder and CEO John Russell said. Russell added, "We also couldn't be more appreciative of the confidence that Wasatch and our other investors have placed in us. They not only share our vision for giving home inspection a new meaning, but they also are committed to bringing more employment and economic opportunities to our local community and putting Tyrone on the map as an emerging tech hub." Repair Pricer leverages artificial intelligence and national language processing to turn any inspection report into an accurate home repair estimate. Since 2016, homeowners in nearly 42,000 ZIP codes throughout the U.S. have used Repair Pricer to generate more than 1.1 million home repair estimates to gain assurance they are receiving a fair price on their home purchase. Offered by a network of 9,000 professionals to more than 950,000 homeowners nationwide, HomeBinder is aresidential home management platform that allows homeowners to manage their home at their fingertips. With HomeBinder, homeowners have a centralized location to store valuable home documents, set up home improvement projects and maintenance reminders, stay up to date on appliance recalls, access a network of recommended service providers and maintain records of their single largest asset. As part of the acquisitions, iGo strengthened its leadership team. Repair Pricer CEO Christian Adams will serve as iGo's Chief Revenue Officer and Jack Huntress, CEO of HomeBinder, joins the company as Head of Consumer Products. Both are newly created positions. Since its founding in 2019, iGo has focused on building a community that empowers inspectors to operate more efficiently while ensuring that they offer buyers and their agents a better experience. The acquisitions of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder add to iGo's comprehensive suite of existing solutions. These offerings include Keystone, a plug and play back-office platform; access to coaching, marketing and management resources through the iGo Community; and iGo Academy, which provides a steady stream of highly trained home inspectors to the inspector community. "With this new series of funding we are unlocking new opportunities to impact a growing market in a unique way. Through these newly announced strategic acquisitions we anticipate an offering of services like never before seen in the space that captures AI technology and tools that brings home inspection services to the forefront of innovation for homeowners. Our commitment to the growth and future of the business remains stronger than ever, "Scott Stettler, Managing Director, Wasatch Equity Partners said. The Series A raise brings iGo's total funding to $10.3 million. In addition to Wasatch, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Allegheny Angel Fund, The West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust, Twenty Five Ventures, Mountain State Capital, and Hamilton Ventures have shown their commitment to iGo through early stage investments.Like Wasatch, they share iGo's commitment to creating opportunities for underserved communities by bringing technology-based companies to the region. About Wasatch Equity Partners Wasatch Equity Partners, a subsidiary of The Wasatch Group, specializes in identifying and investing in high-growth companies across key market verticals. Wasatch Equity Partners delivers results driven impact through strategic advisement and a proven record of performance. With integrated specialty support through Finance, Marketing, HR, Tax and Legal, WEP brings an innovative and comprehensive approach to their diverse investment portfolio. Bringing over 30 years of combined experience and with over $4 Billion AUM, WEP is uniquely positioned to drive growth and strategic alignment that has driven results for both investors and companies. Wasatch Equity Partners is located in Logan, Utah with a portfolio expanding the industries of PropTech, Medical, Energy, CPG and more. About InspectionGo (iGo) Founded in Tyrone, Pa. in 2019, iGo is on a mission to revolutionize the home inspection experience by uniting and equipping the community of home inspection companies with a modern technology platform. Through strategic investments and acquisitions, iGo empowers home inspectors to deliver exceptional customer experiences and become industry leaders. Learn more at inspectiongo.com. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Invest in Your Business
We all know real estate is a cyclical industry. According to the latest projections from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the first three quarters of 2023 will see a substantial decline in existing home sales compared to a year ago, meaning leaner times ahead for the industry. But by the end of the year and into 2024, they are predicting a rebound in sales, meaning the good times will be back again before we know it. The most successful companies know to make hay when the sun shines and save some of their pennies for a rainy day. And in fact, as the most successful real estate professionals today learned during the 2008 mortgage crisis, rainy days are often the best time to make investments in your future growth. Let's look at why, so this current opportunity doesn't go to waste. When cash is tighter, you need to find efficiencies All businesses, in all industries, rely on cash flow to keep the doors open and lights on. When there's less cash coming in, you need to find strategic ways to keep too much cash from going out. This means taking a hard look at your processes and asking yourself, "What can we do better? Where are our biggest opportunities for cost optimization?" This deeper, strategic thinking is a catalyst for change with long-term implications, the kind that sets businesses up for their next decade of success. One way to improve your cash flow is to leverage strategic investments in your tech stack to help your team do more with less, spend more time where they add value, and ultimately make a significant ROI. If you saved when sailing was smooth, you've likely got a comfortable cash cushion you can put to good use now. Investing in new tech takes time, something you suddenly have more of The process of finding, researching, vetting, and eventually integrating new tech for your MLS, association, or brokerage takes a lot of time and effort. Sales cycles are long, and buying decisions are important (and big!). For better or for worse, slower periods mean you have a lot more time on your hands than usual. Once you've taken a well-deserved break, spend that time wisely by looking for ways to optimize your workflows and find the kinds of solutions that could help you reach your goals once business picks back up again. When your team needs extra help, they'll be honest about changes There are two ways to manage business change—top-down, when management imposes changes on their team, and bottom-up, when change comes from the rank and file. Slow times are a valuable opportunity to loop agents, admins, assistants, and others into the conversation: what brokerage benefits aren't helping them anymore? What kinds of tools do they expect to need to weather the storm? If you initiate an honest conversation, you'll get honest answers. By looping your team into the discussion and giving them a seat at the table for making important investment decisions, you'll increase buy-in and adoption, improve their sense of belonging and loyalty, and create a more cohesive team in the long run. Consumer and agent expectations are only going to keep shifting towards technology Nearly all consumers begin their buying or selling journey online, making your online presence more important than ever before. They also expect responsiveness that can only be achieved by onboarding new technology and moving to the cloud. The same is true of agents, who are more remote and flexible since the pandemic forced some major changes. Waiting much longer to make strategic technology investments might mean your business won't make it through the next downturn unscathed. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

Should Brokers Embrace Fractional Ownership?
Real estate is a great investment, but for most Americans, buying a second property is a bridge too far. In America today, we have witnessed the private equity takeover of investment properties because of the intense up-front capital loan requirements. Historically, most property investments have been held by individual owners who buy a single property, flip it, or hold it long enough to develop enough equity to borrow the down payment for a second property, and so on. In 2021, many housing markets recognized that 1 in 5 homes were being purchased by private equity, in some cases deploying more than a billion dollars in single family home acquisitions. It appears that the lessons learned in commercial property and multi-unit residential property investments are informing a movement into single-family residences. In recent years, several companies have imagined the opportunity to develop fractional ownership opportunities for investors who cannot afford to purchase a whole property. These companies sell fractions of the property, allowing smaller investments without undercutting the value of real property investing. Fractional property investing has many benefits: Potential for regular income in the form of monthly payments Opportunity to build equity as the property appreciates over time Tax benefits, such as depreciation and deductions for costs of ownership Diversification of an individual's investment portfolio Greater liquidity opportunities For the most part, the opportunity for fractional property ownership is concentrated around the ability to attract investors to purchase fractions of properties. Wouldn't a brokerage be in the best position to offer fractional ownership investing opportunities? Brokers sit in the center of real estate property transactions. They have the inventory, the sales professionals, the marketing power, and the customer records of potential investors. Imagine a home buyer who cannot get a mortgage on their own for the entire purchase. Through fractional home ownership, the buyer can get investors who will purchase the property alongside them, depreciating the loan risk for a share of the home equity. The fractionalization process also invites more investors to diversify their investment risk. Also, the number of fractional investors allows for liquidity where one fractional owner can buy out another fractional owner or a new fractional owner can step in. The biggest benefit of fractional ownership is delivering a path to homeownership to an enormous number of home buyers who have bad credit, but good income. It would be delightful to see the door of homeownership open up to so many who face impediments today. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Milestones Locks in $10+ Million Series A
WAV Group has been highly focused and engaged in a new emerging category of real estate technology that wears many names: homeowner portals, client portals, or customer portals. Compass agent Melissa Menard explains it the best; she says that in real estate we have been "Frankensteining our business" with a bunch of apps and we need to put it all in one place for our clients. Milestones is the newest entry whose development efforts began more than three years ago to do just that. This investment from industry partners is to allow the company to launch widely and powerfully. Check out this video to hear what agents are saying about Milestones. If you are a broker or MLS who has not seen Milestones, check out the website: Milestones.ai. It is super easy to set up a demo. If you are a MoxiWorks customer, reach out to Georgia Perez. MoxiWorks has a special program that was announced in May that is launching now. Their sales leaders are Ashley Terrell, who moved over from Buyside, and Mike Malinowski, who moved over from Constellation. You can also just hit the "get demo" button on their website. The website features a great video from respected industry leaders who are very excited about how Milestones can help agents, teams, and brokerages create forever clients. If the cohort of companies like Milestones gain high adoption among agents and consumers, there is a strong chance that this will disrupt the lead generation business that feeds off of the disconnection between agent and client after the close. Customers are not likely to go to Zillow.com or other paper broker lead generation websites if they have a portal that informs them about the value of their home, their refinance options, and other related housing information all in one place, backed by a service professional that cares. Full press release follows: Milestones Closes $10+ Million Series A Round Led by Updater Announces new Board of Directors and numerous strategic investors AUSTIN, Tex. – July 28, 2022 – Milestones (milestones.ai), the all-in-one homeowner portal making it easier for consumers to buy, move, sell, and manage their home, raised $10.3 million in Series A funding. Updater, the national leader in moving technology, led the investment round. The raise comes after three years of product development in stealth mode and will help fuel a rapid go-to-market strategy. Other strategic investors in the round include Second Century Ventures (the strategic investment arm of the National Association of REALTORS®), Peerage Capital, McLaughlin Ventures, WAV Group Ventures, T3 Partners, Sellers Shield, as well as individuals and other large brokerages. Milestones is the first technology firm to deliver a home ownership portal similar to consumer offerings for managing healthcare, personal finance, and education. Milestones monitors the value of your home, provides search for homes for sale, and even manages the transaction when you are ready to sell your home. Milestones is available to consumers at no cost, in partnership with real estate professionals in brokerage, mortgage, title, and insurance. The most significant benefit to consumers is having the support of their real estate advisors in managing home ownership between transactions. "Managing a home is complicated," says Dustin Gray, Milestones Founder and CEO. "The average home has more than 150 systems that need to be maintained and consumers need help keeping it all organized. Gutters need to be cleared, water filters replaced, concrete sealed, dryer vents cleaned and so on. Milestones has checklists for all of it, complete with DIY videos, or access to professionals who will do it for you." "Convenience and simplicity are core to the Updater mission" says David Greenberg, Founder and CEO of Updater, the nation's leading relocation technology platform. "With our shared vision for simplifying the complex homeownership processes, Updater's investment in Milestones is a natural fit." "It is gratifying to see a wide spectrum of the real estate industry support such a profound effort to better serve consumers," says Dave Garland, Managing Partner at Second Century Ventures, the venture capital arm of the National Association of Realtors®. "This investment represents our focus on promoting innovation in the real estate industry and its supported verticals." For more information, please watch the introductory video to Milestones. Milestones Board of Directors Announced Joining the Board of Directors for Milestones will be Dustin Gray, Milestones Founder and CEO; David Greenberg, Founder and CEO of Updater; Brian Maughan, EVP of FNF; Mark A. McLaughlin, CEO of McLaughlin Ventures; and Scott Gordon, CEO of Open Mortgage. About Milestones Milestones is a customer-for-life experience platform for buying, selling, and managing home ownership – provided to consumers by professionals in real estate, mortgage, insurance, and title. The integrated and open platform creates private personalized client portals where agents can stay connected, educate, and create value at every stage of the homeowner journey. Learn more at Milestones.ai. About Updater Inc. Updater is the go-to destination to conquer your move. We started in 2010 with a vision to transform the painful and complex process of moving into a frictionless and delightful online experience. Today, Updater is the industry leader in relocation technology, facilitating more than 25% of annual household moves in the U.S. We provide both consumer and business-facing solutions to drive value for all parties in the relocation ecosystem. Our portfolio of relocation brands includes Updater, Dolly, and MoveHQ. Dolly, a subsidiary of Updater, is the premier app to book on-demand moving and delivery services, with a 4.8-star rating in the App Store across over 20,000 reviews. MoveHQ, a subsidiary of Updater, provides widely-used technology that helps moving companies run their businesses, from driver applications to warehouse management solutions, and more. Updater is headquartered in New York City. For more information, please visit www.updater.com. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

More Funding in Client-for-Life Category for Brokers
The real estate industry has been plagued with something akin to bad breath when it comes to staying connected to customers. After the trade, the agent and brokerage disappear. They do not even provide helpful services to help with the move. A number of companies are supporting brokers with concierge solutions that solve this problem – and it's a big problem. Up to 45 million consumers move a year, and the real estate industry is the tip of the spear that can connect their customers with service providers. Updater is the leader in providing moving and utility connection services. Ramping up behind them is MooveGuru, followed in a smaller way by MoveEasy. In the release below, MooveGuru just announced a $5 million raise on top of the $3.6 million from their earlier round. WAV Group's founders are investors in MooveGuru and Updater. We believe that this is an enormous opportunity for our industry to create Client-for-life programs. Consumers want homeownership applications that allow them to track and manage their most valuable asset. Today, they can look at their home valuation, but there is no consolidated place for ordering and storing records of home services and improvements or filing and executing transactions as a buyer or seller, etc. Consumers access a bunch of disparate systems being used by the listing and selling agents that mainly go dark after the closing. Real estate agents, brokers, mortgage, title, insurance, and the hundreds of thousands of home service providers need to stay connected to the customer. The Race is on NAR consumer satisfaction studies say that consumers are more than 90% likely to use their agent again in a future transaction. Unfortunately, only one in five actually do. The top reason why consumers do not use their agent again is because they did not stay in touch. This is the problem that these services seek to solve. With MooveGuru, the entire move and all of the services related to homeownership are in the YourHomeHub portal. From a distribution perspective, MooveGuru is gaining a ton of traction with more than 316,000 agents across over 2,000 brokerages accessing the platform and inviting their customers. I do not know who is going to win the race. We are investing in all of them. These companies are likely to battle for market share. Milestones is also coming online with a very competitive product along with some strong partnerships. The Zillow Risk Zillow is coming. Zillow also has a major advantage over real estate. Over the decades, they have collected identity information on homeowners. We really do not know what their super app is going to do, but we encourage all brokers to get a strategy with a vendor in place now and tow in their customers. Congratulations to the MooveGuru team. Keep on crushing it. Please see below for the full press release. MooveGuru announces equity raise of $5 million Victorum Capital and two other undisclosed parties invest in fast growing proptech startup; MooveGuru has raised a total of $8.6 million Atlanta, GA — March 22, 2022 — A fast growing Atlanta proptech company continues its rapid growth plans: MooveGuru has just closed on $5 million in new equity raised from Victorum Capital and two other undisclosed parties. To date, MooveGuru has raised a total of $8.6 million. The mover engagement platform MooveGuru, operators of the YourHomeHub and HomeKeepr brands, has been expanding its reach both with consumers and realtors in its network over the last year. 320,000 real estate agents now use MooveGuru and their wholly owned company HomeKeepr. MooveGuru also has exclusives with ERA Real Estate, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Exit Realty, Realty Executives, Vylla, and HomeScout. More than 110,000 Keller Williams agents are on the network. Additionally, MooveGuru has preferred vendor relationships with REMAX and Berkshire Hathaway. MooveGuru's owned and managed network of over 350,000 local home professionals are all referred by real estate agents. "We own our home professionals network and that helps us maintain customer satisfaction with the consumer," said Scott Oakley, CEO and founder of MooveGuru. "Some other platforms use a third party. Honestly, I wouldn't want the consumer in the hands of a third party where you cannot control the experience." MooveGuru just launched YourHomeHub, an "everything home" platform that allows homeowners to manage both the financial details and physical elements of their home. It includes the most effective features from MooveGuru and HomeKeepr—hundreds of thousands of consumers already trust these solutions for moving and home maintenance—and adds additional functionality to help people manage all parts of their home. About MooveGuru MooveGuru Inc. is based in Roswell, GA. In 2016 the company launched a free mover engagement program to real estate agents and brokers with the idea of connecting home buyers and sellers to convenience and savings on moving services. Using just-in-time delivery through artificial intelligence algorithms, MooveGuru Inc. ensures consumers receive agent-branded savings and convenience from national and local retailers and utility connections as they step through the relocation process. Today, more than 2,000 brokerages, 316,000 agents, and millions of homeowners are connected to the MooveGuru and YourHomeHub platforms. Learn more at MooveGuru.com. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Are You Ready for Real Estate Investing?
Real estate investing is among the oldest and most rewarding asset classes. It's a great way of building wealth and can be one of the more reliable types of investment. New investors are usually aware of these benefits, but some are not aware of the several different categories of real estate investments available. For a savvy investor, focusing your efforts on a specific niche can be the first step in succeeding in your pursuit of financial independence and the benefit of a passive income. What do you need to know about the best types of real estate investment opportunities for your needs? Let's find out. Types of Real Estate Investing In 2020, the revenue from the property management field reached an unprecedented $88.4 billion in the U.S. If you're a prospective investor determined to develop, acquire, own or flip real estate, you should first understand the industry by dividing property investment into its various categories. Residential Based on US Census Bureau records, renter-occupied housing units accounted for about 30.4% of the overall inventory during the fourth quarter of 2020. Renting just makes sense for a large portion of the population, even if they have a choice to rent or own a property. These properties include houses, apartment buildings, vacation houses, and townhouses where individuals or families pay you to reside in the property. Details about their length of stay are stated in the rental or lease agreement. Pros: short leases (due for renewal every 6-12 months) allowing you to capitalize on any positive adjustments in the market conditions. Commercial Office buildings and skyscrapers basically constitute commercial buildings. Property owners lease out these spaces to companies or small business owners, who then pay rent to use the property. Commercial real estate prices have been on an upward trend. This statistics indicates this category has a considerable ROI in the long term. Pros: Benefit of longer leases, usually multi-year. Typically, this approach helps generate greater stability in cash flow and often cushions you as the property owner from rental rates decline. Cons: Markets fluctuate, and its possible rental rates may increase rapidly within a short period. Due to the dated agreements, a property owner may not have the flexibility to increase the rent to match the competitive market rates. Industrial These properties generate income from customers who frequent properties such as industrial warehouses, storage units, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, and other purpose-built properties. As a real estate investor, you charge significant fees and earn service revenue as a means to increase your return on investment. Retail Retail properties include shopping malls, strip malls, retail storefronts, among others. Depending on the agreement type, property owners can also receive a portion of sales generated by the stores alongside a base rent. This strategy helps create an incentive for them to maintain the property in remarkable condition and attract shoppers. Mixed-Use Typically, mixed-use properties blend any of the above classifications into one project. This catch-all category of real estate investments is attractive for those with considerable assets since they offer a level of built-in diversification that helps control risk. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) REITs have risen in popularity in the real estate investment community as an alternative way to invest in real estate. They are popular with investors who don't want the responsibility of overseeing the management of an investment property. But what's a REIT? This real estate investing strategy involves investment in shares of a corporation dealing or owning real estate properties and allocating a considerable amount of its earnings as dividends. Cons: tax complexities. Dividends don't enjoy the same favorably low tax rates common stocks attract. But REITs can be an excellent addition to your investment portfolio, preferably when you buy them at the right value—with an adequate margin of safety. Besides, you can also opt for more esoteric areas like tax lien certificates. As a rule of thumb, lending money for real estate is regarded as real estate investing and can also be accounted for as a fixed-income investment. Akin to investing in bonds, you generate your returns by lending money in favor of interest income. Investing in a real estate/building and later leasing it back to a tenant, for instance, as a restaurant, is at par with fixed income investing instead of an actual real estate investment. In this case, you're simply financing a property—but this somewhat hedges between investing and financing. Overall, you technically own the building and have a claim to its appreciation and profits. Getting Started in Real Estate Investing Every kind of investment has its share of potential benefits and shortcomings, and real estate investing is no different. Smart investors minimize their risks by anticipating the twists in cash flow cycles, economic cycles, potential for natural disasters, and changes in lending traditions. So, it's best to analyze and weigh the opportunities very thoroughly before deciding if real estate investing is the right choice for you. Real estate investing can carry many rewards with benefits potentially lasting a lifetime. If you apply due diligence, you can capitalize on the available opportunities in what can be a fun and lucrative path. To view the original article, visit the iHomeFinder blog.

Aidentified Secures $10 Million in Series A Funding to Accelerate Its Growth
Very exciting to witness Aidentified evolve; it's no secret that I'm especially passionate about the work we do with AI-based technology. The WAV Group Consulting division runs into a lot of cutting-edge ideas emerging in our industry, and this is undoubtedly one of them. Their service integrates with your CRM and accomplishes three pretty magical feats: They can match and append missing contact information. The service allows you to see the friends of the people in your CRM, expanding your sphere to second- and third-tier contacts. That widens your contact audience remarkably. Aidentified watches for money in motion events – like stock sales for fundraising.

What Real Estate Stocks Suggest about Life after Shelter-in-Place
If you are an active trader in the stock market who purchased shares during the free fall, you may have witnessed the greatest gain in 30 years. Many real estate stocks rebounded quite nicely, but others still have much to gain. For the purposes of this article, we are choosing the two-year chart.

Elm Street Technology on Acquisition Trail with Fresh Private Equity Bank Backing
Real estate technology firms attracting private equity saw another year of record deal flow in 2019. There was a 105% increase in equity and debt raised over 2018, and there were 78 raises of more than $20 million. For the most part, venture capital focuses on startups, while private equity focuses on companies who already have about $20 million in revenue (or are targeting that run rate in the near future). The firms with lots of activity in the space are Brick and Mortar Ventures, Providence Equity, Camber Creek, Fifth Wall, JLL Spark, Moderne Ventures, Vista Equity Partners, RET Ventures, Vector Capital, and Second Century Ventures. GCA shared this data at CEO Connect in NYC last month.

Investing in Opportunity Zones
Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones were created with the idea of providing incentives for private investors to revitalize economically distressed communities, rather than using taxpayer money to do so. The main incentive is offering investors a way to shield their proceeds from capital gains taxes by investing those proceeds in these zones and hitting specific benchmarks. Some of you might be wondering how this is different from a 1031 exchange? The key is that these investments don't have to be like-kind exchanges. To learn more about the rules behind these zones, review these frequently asked questions. Now that we know what Opportunity Zones are, and why this act was initiated, lets see how it's playing out in the real world from the perspective of Chad Gleason CCIM, with PENTAVIRATE in Seattle, Washington. Q. From your perspective, why are Opportunity Zones good for the commercial real estate sector and communities in general? A. Anytime you are in a situation where you can have the added benefit and incentive to invest in real estate, it's a great thing. We are working with groups who are looking at exit strategies from properties, but are hesitant to do so due to high capital gains tax costs. These zones offer an alternative to lower, and in some cases, totally negate the majority of capital gains taxes while providing the community with the benefit of improving dilapidated buildings or developing raw land. Q. How are local economic development groups using Opportunity Zones to attract investors? A. I am hearing of tax and zoning incentives being added to the already great benefits of the Opportunity Zones. This could be as simple as upzoning, as is the case here in the Seattle market, or with the addition of new market tax credits to the site, if applicable. Having designated assemblages within the zones are also key marketing tools for sites who are recruiting companies that are looking to develop, move or expand. Q. Let's say I want to invest in a property in an Opportunity Zone. Can I just sell my Amazon stock and take those gains to buy a building? A. There are a few options here: you can place all of your sale proceeds into the investment, partial proceeds or simply your gains from the prior investment. I would suggest sitting down with your REALTOR® and tax specialist to devise a strategy for your personal investment plan. The Opportunity Zone has great value when you are willing to place your funds in the project for up to 10 years. Q. What is your go-to example of an actual project in an Opportunity Zone and what difficulties have investors encountered in trying to set themselves up to take advantage of these benefits? A. I usually don't point to a specific example, but instead try to break down the impact for that specific client. Many investors are not willing to sell due to the large amount of capital gains taxes they would have to pay after the sale, so walking people through the process, showing them the pathway for reducing their capital gains taxes and showing them what that means to them in a cash on cash investment scenario, is the proper way to introduce them to an Opportunity Zone investment. The difficulties have been few outside of the timing of the roll out of rules that are now available to everyone. Over the course of the introduction of the program to the last round of the rules that were shared in May of this year, the relatively new program is only one and a half years old. Q. How are properties marketed differently when they are in an Opportunity Zone and what has been the impact of that fact on potential investors you work with? A. Investors who are aware of the program and are looking to reduce the capital gains tax from a previous investment are now asking about properties in Opportunity Zones upfront in the process. In response, listing platforms as well as the agents using them are making sure that it is very clear their property is in a zone when it is, which makes finding properties easier and connects us to the other data we need to perform due diligence on projects. Q. What advice would you give to a REALTOR® who is counseling a client on the purchase of a property in an Opportunity Zone in order to take advantage of the capital gains incentives? A. Use the information that is available to you through RPR along with NAR, CCIM, as well as your state and local associations. Learn as much as you can about the process, key points and timelines within the program. I strongly suggest you also work with the client's real estate attorney and tax specialists to make sure the plan is right for them. The sale and reinvestment of the client's sale proceeds is an important decision and needs to be very well understood for the success of everyone in on the transaction. See the Commercial Opportunity Zone Layer in action: To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

Upping Your Game with Real Estate Investor Content
What is so different about real estate investor website content? It's not as much about different topics as it is about a higher level of content treatment. Don't get offended, but some real estate investors are spending more hours in educating themselves each year than your Continuing Education requirements. They're using their money for courses and taking on risk, and the successful investors are constantly bulking up their knowledge base to reduce risk and increase profits. Do you really want to work with real estate investors? Perhaps you're busy enough that you don't have to. However, if you would like to build a client base of buyers and sellers who need very little hand-holding and bring you repeat business, then investors are desirable. Here are real estate website content hints to help you build an investor client niche.

How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing, According to the Experts
Meet Our Panel of Experts REALTORS are natural entrepreneurs who constantly look to grow their businesses and increase efficiencies. As I travel the country, the most common questions I receive are "How do I break into investing in real estate?" and "Where do I go to get training to take the next step?" So I wanted to talk to the people at the forefront of investment.

Brokers Need to Know that Bitcoin Has an Economic Flaw
...but the biggest gains may be ahead. If you took an economics class in college, you understand that currencies of any type have a relationship between four very important metrics: MV=PQ. M is the total amount of money supply in circulation V is the velocity of money and the frequency that it is being circulated P is the price level Q is the inflation adjusted index of goods and services. The economic flaw with Bitcoin is that you cannot buy much with it. Sure, we hear these isolated discussions about people buying houses with Bitcoin, but those are isolated one-offs. There are companies like Filecoin that pay people in coin for hosting files, another called Steam that allows bloggers to earn coin by writing. Many more are emerging every day, but generally speaking, Bitcoin is investors investing in a currency that nobody uses for goods or services. This is a major problem for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and others. Investors Caused the Bitcoin Bubble

Don't Just Sell Real Estate. To Build Real Wealth, You Need to Buy
Real estate offers great opportunities for building your income potential, but as Linda McKissack, owner of McKissack Realty Group pointed out in her recent webinar, "The day you sell your last house is the day you make your last dollar." So selling 25, 50, or even 100 more houses won't change that. For McKissack, the solution was to not just sell real estate, but to invest in it as well. She flipped a few houses when she was just getting started, but found that the real income potential is reached when you hold onto your investments to create recurring monthly income. Using lessons from her book, HOLD: How to Find, Buy and Rent Houses for Wealth, McKissack explained how to invest and earn money even with a zero dollar bank balance.

Opening Doors to Real Estate Investing
Garland Harris Jr., REALTOR® Masters in Community Development, BA in Architecture from Prairie View A&M University Garland Harris Jr. may be new to the REALTOR® family, but he is already primed to make his mark on the Houston area. By keeping his eyes open for opportunities, he has moved from watching developers as a service provider, to building an investment team and client base driven not only by profit, but also positive community impact. Our conversation with Garland should encourage anyone looking at real estate investing to become a sponge for knowledge and enact a plan for 2017. When did you become a Realtor® and how did you start working with investors? Garland: I joined the REALTOR® family in 2016, but started working with real estate investors in 2014. My first exposure came from working as a design architect for some local townhouse developers. After learning the development side, I gained interest in real estate investing, and became a REALTOR® to get access to data and build relationships with agents, affiliates and lenders. How is working with investors different from working with a client who intends to occupy a property? Garland: The main difference is what drives them to a buying decision. An investor is not focused on things like street appeal, but on how the numbers work and how the investment fits into their overall business goals. Understanding your investor's financial wants and goals is critical.

Student Housing: the Hottest Real Estate Investment
Multi-tenant rental properties are big, according to a Business Wire press release announcing this latest in real estate trends. What makes student housing in the U.S. so lucrative? It is not simply the ease of renting out student spaces to a captive student audience in need of four walls and a roof each school year. The changing nature of student demographics and preferences is now skewing toward a wealthier market, courtesy of state funding cuts and ever-inflating college costs that are driving up student-housing on the “want list” of successful investors. Forget drab dormitories Luxury apartments are where it’s at, with students in search of buildings close to campus with added security, as well as on-site management and an array of amenities like fitness centers and swimming pools. Supporting the trend? Parents who don’t seem to mind throwing their kids a little extra green to maintain their usual lifestyle. Ditching declining enrollment concerns Despite declining college enrollment, the right type of properties offer success, specifically buildings close to campus at top-tier schools that aren’t suffering the same enrollment pressures of smaller community colleges and four year schools.

Let's Invest: A Look at Real Estate Stock
There is a small percentage of Americans who pay their bills, fully fund their 401K, fully fund their child's education fund, and still have a bit left over. That extra money needs to go into non-sheltered savings accounts. Where do you invest? Perhaps the safest place for the money would be in a government savings bond. I checked today, and depending on the term of the bond, you might get about 1% interest on your money. If I invest $10,000 at 1%, after 10 years I will have a whopping $11,051.25. Because interest rates are so low, it may make more sense to invest in the stock market. The Dow Jones yield in 2013 was 26.5%. Moreover, if invested in an index like the Dow Jones Industrial average, there was a 2.07% dividend. In other words, investing in the stock market in 2013 would blow away the earnings in a savings bond. Even the dividend alone is double! Suffice it to say, smart money is in the stock market. I use the term "smart money" loosely. There are 30 companies in the Dow Jones. 3M does $30B in sales and earns $6.7B. Microsoft does $77B in sales and earns $8.4B. But the truth is, I really don't know those companies. I know real estate technology companies – Z, TRLA, CLGX, MOVE. Here is how they stack up. So, if I am still trying to be that smart money investor and I look at these four stocks, using the Dow as my guidepost – I but CLGX – CoreLogic – They are the only company with earnings. The company losing the most is TRLA. The company losing the least is MOVE.

Brokers Finding New Business With 1031 Exchanges
Brokers finding new business with 1031 Exchanges Many property owners see the values of their properties lower today than in the past few years and are reluctant to sell those properties at declined values. Some investors, however, see today as the time to attack the market. Consider the past for a moment. A few years ago, an investor may have sold an investment property that he owned free and clear for $275,000. He could have taken that money, done a 1031 exchange, and leveraged the proceeds into two properties worth $200,000 each. He would have needed additional funds in the amount of $125,000 to achieve this goal, which he would have contributed out of his own funds or, more than likely, borrowed. Once acquired, the investor may have rented those properties for $1,300/month each. The monthly cash flow after debt service may not have been strong, but the investor may have hoped for future appreciation.

Where Are Your Advertising Dollars Going?
According to a survey last year by IPSOS Marketing and Media Survey the general business climate in the United States has taken a big turn in deciding how to allocate advertising dollars. The survey indicated a major change in attitude resulting in some significant shifting of ad dollars from one sector to another reflecting new direction.