Like lots of other professionals, Realtors need to keep up with continuing education in order to keep our licenses current. Recently I spent the best part of a week attending CIAS training with some colleagues. Nope, nothing to do with CSI (I've never watched that show) or the CIA, CIAS is Certified Investor Agent Specialist. A mouthful, but really the course had to do with polishing up my skills representing investor clients
Say the word investor, and an image springs to mind of some incredibly wealthy person that is wheeling and dealing, fixing and flipping, all at such a high level of real estate it doesn't even seem like something the average person could do. I've represented many investor clients and in fact I'm an investor. All of us have something in common: we are pretty average folk, we generally buy the property and manage it successfully ourselves, and we hang onto it as a long term investment that will bring us cash flow over time.
Nonetheless, to a first time investor just getting set up it can be daunting. The course provided lots of resources to assist an investor in determining what's a good investment, and then providing a little help getting set up to manage the investment. Frankly, right now is as good a time as I've seen to start investing--interest rates low, prices reasonable, and rents are on a sharp rise. In fact, one article I read put Portland in the top 10 markets for rental increases, great news if you're a landlord.
Some clients of mine recently bought another small apartment building to go with the one they purchased a few years back. This is a retirement vehicle--by the time they're ready to retire the buildings will be generating an income stream that will be a nice source of revenue to add to their other investments such as 401Ks and IRAs.
If you're wondering about investing in real estate and how it all works, give me a call or shoot me an email. I can give you the benefit of both my experience and all that fresh education!
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