REI INK

Making a Market that Works for Everyone

PeerStreet’s “two-sided marketplace” wins across the board. By Carole VanSickle Ellis When PeerStreet co-founders Brew Johnson and Brett Crosby started PeerStreet in 2013, the industry lacked the vocabulary to even describe the innovative online marketplace they had created. Although “two-sided marketplaces” did already exist (think: Amazon, Uber and Airbnb), the real estate industry had a notable lack of them. The new company’s aim was to change this and, in the

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Northeastern States See Recent Changes in Lien Status Priority and Legislation

Regulators, lenders and servicers must keep a keen eye on developments. By Ralph Stebenne Recent legislative enactments and judicial rulings have lenders and their servicers paying close attention to unpaid homeowner and condominium assessments. New Jersey and New York have introduced newly crafted legislation that will require increasing surveillance and expenses in the servicing of loans from these Eastern Seaboard states. The District of Columbia has issued a recent judicial

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Warehousing Some Respect

Greg Rand watched his mother work hard to build her real estate business, even though realtors often didn’t get much appreciation. He was determined to change that image. By Greg Rand My earliest business memories are related to real estate because my mom, Marsha Rand, launched her real estate career when I was in elementary school. She went from a rookie agent to a top producer, to a branch manager

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Demystifying Property Analysis

Understanding property analysis can be the difference  between a big profit and losing everything. By Scott Fahl Property analysis has long been a subjective practice, with as many different opinions on best practices as there are properties. Getting it right can mean the difference between a big profit and losing everything. Why is it so difficult to get an accurate property value? Surely with all the billions that have been

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The Hard-Money Mindset that is Weakening Your Portfolio

With hard money so cheap, more investors should be using it. By Charles Sells The real estate industry stigmatizes hard money and private money lenders. Unfortunately, that is preventing thousands of investors from generating the wealth and returns they are fully capable of creating. Although private money was once (justifiably) considered expensive and sometimes predatory, those days are long gone. Before you lose one more cent, isn’t it time to

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Georgia on My Mind

The Real Estate Investor’s Ongoing Love Affair with Atlanta Housing By Carole VanSickle Ellis It had been more than three years since Atlanta, Georgia, had posted a double-digit temperature, but it did so this past June when the heat index hit 100. It’s also been about three years since the city’s housing market posted double-digit gains in value, but that doesn’t really worry local investors, local businesses or even local

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