United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) ended 2023 as the top U.S. mortgage company, with more than $108 billion in home loans produced in the period, a record purchase volume and increased margins. It was not enough to make its parent company UWM Holdings Corp. financially profitable, which the company attributed to mortgage servicing rights markdowns. 

The Pontiac, Michigan-based lender announced a non-GAAP adjusted net loss of $57.1 million in 2023, compared to a profit of $719.4 million in the previous year. The GAAP net loss in 2023 was $69.7 million, inclusive of a $854.1 million decline in fair value of MSRs, per documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. 

In the last quarter of the year, the adjusted net loss was $361 million, compared to a gain of $234.7 million in the previous quarter. The GAAP net loss was $460.9 million, including a $634.4 million decline in fair value of MSRs. 

“We continue to be operationally profitable, the true measure of a mortgage originator’s health, while our financial loss was driven by the MSR markdown which is a result of interest rate movements,” Mat Ishbia, chairman and CEO, said in a statement. 

In a surging mortgage rate environment, UWM originated $108.3 billion in mortgage loans in 2023, lower than the $127.3 billion reported in 2022. It exceeded the company’s primary rival Rocket Mortgage, which generated $78.7 billion in closed loan volume last year, down from $133.1 billion in the previous year. 

In the last three months of the year, UWM originated $24.4 billion in home loans, compared to $29.7 billion in Q3 2023 and $25.1 billion in Q4 2022. 

Most of UWM’s volume was purchase loans, representing $93.8 billion in 2023, including $20.6 billion in the last quarter. The year’s volume is higher than the $90.8 billion produced in 2022.

The company’s total gain-on-sale margins increased to 92 basis points in 2023, compared to 77 bps in 2022. Margins were close to the 99 bps level before the launch of the Game-on pricing initiative in June last year.

UWM’s servicing portfolio ended the fourth quarter of 2023 at $299.4 billion in unpaid principal balance (UPB), compared to $312.4 billion in the same quarter of 2022. The portfolio increased compared to the third quarter of 2023, when it was at $281.4 billion.

UWM ended the year with $2.2 billion of available liquidity, including $497.5 million in cash. 

The company anticipates first-quarter production to be between $22 billion and $28 billion. Meanwhile, the gain margin is expected to be between 80 bps and 105 bps.

UWM shares were trading at $6.43 on Wednesday morning, down 5.81% from the previous closing.



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It’s no secret that homeowners search online to find a listing agent who can sell their home quickly and for top dollar. But what if you could find them first? What if you could target the right prospects, at the right moment using data? If you’re an agent, team or brokerage looking to keep a pipeline of qualified listing leads coming your way, SmartZip may the solution you need.

SmartZip uses predictive analytics to pinpoint likely sellers from 6 to 18 months in advance, offering a huge advantage in today’s low inventory market. SmartZip’s analytics are based on over 250 data points related to the properties and homeowners in your target market.

In this SmartZip review, we’ll look at how SmartZip’s suite of products use data, predictive analytics, automated marketing and lead nurturing to target homeowners who are ready to sell their homes. SmartZip users can launch targeted marketing campaigns to reach these “hot leads” and capture more listings, and its algorithm gets smarter with every home sale. Let’s learn how.

Summary

How does SmartZip work?

SmartZip analyzes and distills hundreds of data points to predict which homeowners will soon be ready to sell in your farm area. Then, it deploys marketing campaigns on your behalf. Choose one or more marketing tool — including email, online ads, or direct mail — to introduce yourself to every high-potential prospect in your targeted neighborhoods or zip codes.

You choose your territory (by neighborhood or zip code), and SmartZip activates your account. As a SmartZip user, you’ll get immediate access to its customer relationship management (CRM) tool, pre-populated with client data from your target market so you can begin marketing to those potential sellers. Access leads immediately — directly in your inbox.

SmartZip at-a-glance

SmartZip key specs 

  • Artificial intelligence:  Yes. Use AI-powered lead generdation to identify high-priority sellers. 
  • Automated marketing: Yes. Or purchase just the data and the platform, and do the mailing and marketing yourself.
  • Exclusivity: No
  • Trial period: No 
  • Contract requirements: Annual contract required

SmartZip is a lead generation, marketing and CRM solution founded in 2008. SmartZip was the first to use predictive analytics to identify patterns in real estate marketing, determining the most likely sellers. The second largest data provider behind Zillow, SmartZip leverages a predictive analytics model that has been fine-tuned over the last 13+ years. SmartZip’s predictive analytics can help you uncover qualified leads in your farm area.

SmartZip is also a solution to help you streamline your marketing efforts, keeping you in front of potential sellers and positioned to win new listings with its automated marketing. Using SmartZip’s user-friendly analysis, targeting and branding platforms, you can market to your target audience — homing in on thoses prospects with the most potential. Narrow your focus on homeowners with the highest probability of listing their homes and save time, effort and marketing dollars!

SmartZip pricing

SmartZip is discreet about its pricing information, only revealing a starting price of $500 per month for its basic plan. SmartZip pricing will vary depending on the size of your chosen farm area and zip code(s). SmartZip pricing is determined by your market and needs, letting you select the features you need most and only pay for what you use each month.

As a result, ranges vary, but many agents report an average spend of over $1,000 per month on qualified leads. And according to SmartZip’s website, its Reach 150 product starts at $36 per month. Contact SmartZip directly for current pricing, custom quotes, discounts, and terms.

Contact SmartZip

SmartZip pros & cons

  • You get immediate access to a CRM populated with local lead data.
  • SmartZip’s data will help you apply targeted marketing to maximize your spend.
  • You can access SmartZip on your desktop, mobile device, tablet, or laptop.
  • Pricing varies depending on packages. You need to sign up for a demo to get full pricing details.

SmartZip features

From within the SmartZip platform, you can easily outline a precise farming area and access a list of property owners in your target area who have been identified as likely to sell within the next 18 months. From there, SmartZip offers a host of useful features:

Screenshot-SmartZip-captures-your-clients-positive-reviews
  • Smart Data: Accurate predictive analytics to help you market to the most likely sellers in your neighborhood, subdivision, or zip code(s).
  • Smart Targeting: Automated marketing to homeowners, including an eight-week, eight-email drip campaign, targeted online advertising, and direct mail.
  • Smart Home Price: Customized landing pages, including a home valuation tool for prospects and lead capture capabilities; you can make personal contact those who fill out your online form and express interest in learning more.
  • CRM: Within SmartZip’s CRM, you can send specific campaigns to selected lists, automate follow-ups, and arrange and manage leads with ease.
  • Direct Mail: Send direct mail campaigns with custom postcards and letters.
  • Reach 150 captures your clients’ positive reviews and showcases them to your contacts across the web.

  • Smart Data

    With a Smart Data subscription, you’ll have access to a software platform that works with an algorithm to help you find new listings and gain a competitive edge. The platform leverages over 250 data points on properties and homeowners to predict which properties have the highest likelihood of being listed for sale in the next 12 months.

    Instead of wasting time and thousands of dollars marketing to thousands of homeowners, you can contact and directly advertise to targeted prospects on the most popular ad networks, including Google and Facebook. This enables you to focus on prospects who have scored high using the algorithm, and leverage one-on-one personalized marketing combined with targeted online advertising to get listings.


  • Market Pulse

    Market Pulse generates housing market data points for a given zip code, letting you know about days on market, current inventory, median prices, price per square foot, and more. This snapshot can give you insight into how home values are performing for the market you want to focus on.

    Position yourself as a subject matter expert by including Market Pulse info in your clients emails, social media content, and in conversations with prospects.

    Screenshot-SmartZip-Market-Pulse


  • Smart Targeting

    SmartZip’s suite of products includes Smart Targeting, a platform that can take your farming to the next level by using the data from Smart Data to automatically market your brand directly to homeowners who are most likely to sell and help you build relationships with top prospects. Enhance your brand with custom landing pages designed to convert real estate seller leads.

    You can choose from four different landing pages, including Smart Home Price, which is a home valuation page. You’ll also appreciate that SmartTargeting can help you create and share a comparative market analysis (CMA) and local market trend reports with your existing customer base.

    Screenshot-SmartZip-Targeting

    When your top targets visit the pages and enter their contact information, they’ll receive selling and property insights that will move them down your sales funnel.


  • Reach 150

    SmartZip’s Reach 150 sends an email survey to your clients after the closing of their transactions. You can then publish your real estate testimonials to your Reach150 profile, much like you would showcase reviews on your Zillow or Yelp profile.

    Additionally, you can use Reach150’s Recommendation Widget to show your published recommendations directly on your website.

    The Reach 150 Basic Plan includes a full-featured testimonial website, one-click testimonial requests with no login required, customizable branding, social media integration, search engine optimization, and referral requests — all for just $36 per month.

    For $119 per month, you can get all the features of the Basic Plan plus Pro features, including automated updating of ads with new testimonials, ad targeting to all your contacts, one-click social media posts of testimonials, and more.

    An Enterprise Plan is also available if you need enterprise branding and a consolidated testimonial website, geo-targeted ads, a branded marketing platform, and ad creation support. Contact SmartZip for Enterprise Plan pricing.

Other SmartZip tools 

Check-in app: The SmartZip app gives you a daily action plan and lead alerts, enabling you to focus on the homeowners who are ready to sell. What’s more, each recommended action includes deep insights into the prospect so you can better understand their needs.

SmartBroker: For brokerages looking to recruit and retain agents, SmartBroker is a benefit you can tout to producing agents you’d like to bring on board, and a way to keep your current team supplied with a steady stream of leads. Deliver value to each agent in your brokerage, whether they are looking to generate listing leads or launch a Facebook campaign. SmartBroker gives your agents access to the exclusive SmartAgent program, featuring a network of plug-and-play apps that can automate critical tasks that agents don’t have time for.

Contact SmartZip


SmartZip alternatives

Also Popular
Market Leader logo: a real estate CRM solution

Market Leader

A strong all-in-one soluiton for lead generation & marketing

Market Leader offers a full marketing suite with email and SMS marketing services, lead capture forms, and a built-in lead management CRM, and its in-house advertising experts send leads exclusively to you.

Starting Price

$139 / user per month

Visit Market Leader
Budget Pick
Top Producer logo; a real estate CRM or customer relationship management software

Top Producer

A strong choice for built-in integration & advanced automation tools

Top Producer offers extensive lead generation options, and simplifies and automates workflows, making its plans well-suited for those ready to scale their business, no matter how small your budget or how big your team.

Starting Price

$109 / user per month

Visit Top Producer
Upgrade Pick
Logo-BoldLeads

SmartZip

Predictive analytics paired with automated marketing tools

SmartZip offers a CRM populated with high-probability sellers in your targeted neighborhoods or zip codes, helping you focus your marketing efforts, spend less, and sign more listings using automated tools.

Starting Price

$500 / user per month

Visit SmartZip

How SmartZip compares

SmartZip Market Leader Top Producer
Exclusivity: No Yes No
Contract requirements:  One-year contract Six-month minimum One-year contract
Customer support: Ticket, email, phone, and live chat Email, phone, live chat, and knowledge base Articles and videos, webinars, email, and live chat
Free period: Undisclosed Undisclosed No free trial
Starting price: Custom-quoted $139 $109

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Who is SmartZip best for?

While SmartZip primarily benefits experienced listing agents, anyone looking to spend less time determining who is ready to buy or sell can use SmartZip’s technology to do their prospecting for them. SmartZip gets you and your brand in front of the right prospects to capture their attention right before they decide to list their home.

SmartZip is ideal for agents and teams who want to leverage data and technology to refine their prospecting efforts. Instead of casting a wide net, you can focus on prospective clients with the most potential to sell, affording you more time to focus on client service, marketing, networking and closing deals.

SmartZip not only gives you vital information to use in targeting prospects, but also provides automated messaging to connect with them. It’s a more time-efficient way to ensure that you’re the agent they turn to when they’re ready to sell. 

Agents who can afford to spend up to $1,000 per month on targeted marketing will benefit from SmartZip, which promises to 2x the turnover rate of your prospecting efforts.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. With SmartZip, you can customize high-gloss postcards to drive targeted prospects to your landing page. For an additional touchpoint, SmartZip offers a digitally hand-written letter with a customizable signature and note capability, as well as the option to add a QR code so recipients can easily visit your home valuation/lead capture page.

What resources does SmartZip provide?+

Considering that only 5% of homeowners are thinking of selling at any given time, having a list of potential real estate leads isn’t enough. If you don’t want to waste time determining who is ready and willing to sell or buy, SmartZip’s predictive analytics is a game changer for you business.

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Want to build a real estate business? When done right, a real estate business could make you hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars a year, even with a small team. You’ll be able to do dozens more deals, scale your portfolio faster, and find true financial freedom in a matter of years. But it won’t be easy. Starting a real estate business is one thing, but scaling it is a different beast. So, we’ve brought multimillion-dollar real estate business owners onto the show so YOU don’t make their early-stage mistakes.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…David with a green light behind him. You know what that means—it’s time for Seeing Greene, where David, Rob, and special guest James Dainard answer YOUR real estate investing questions. Fan-favorite guest Josh Janus is back to ask how to scale a real estate business and what to delegate first. A tax-smart investor asks whether to sell his home or keep it as a cash-flowing rental. Two investors close to retirement ask how to invest $1,000,000 and how to start investing as a later starter.

Want to ask David a question? If so, submit your question here so David can answer it on the next episode of Seeing Greene. Hop on the BiggerPockets forums and ask other investors their take, or follow David on Instagram to see when he’s going live so you can jump on a live Q&A and get your question answered on the spot!

David:
This is the BiggerPockets Podcast, show 902. What’s going on, everyone? This is David Greene, your host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast. Joined today by my buddy, Rob Abasolo, and guess what? If you’re watching on YouTube, do you see it? There’s a green light behind me and that could only mean one thing.
We’re at a green light, just kidding. This is a Seeing Greene episode where Rob and I are going to take questions from you, the BiggerPockets community, and do our best to answer them. Boy, this is probably one of the better shows that we have ever done. A lot of good stuff comes out of today’s show.

Rob:
Yeah, a lot of really good scenarios here. We talked about if you’re getting started later in life in the real estate world, how much should you invest?
What niches should you choose? What’s going to be the most profitable? Is it too risky to get started at all?

David:
We’re going to be getting into scenario questions, different opportunities, people that have done well, people that have struggled. How we would either climb out of the hole that they’re in or capitalize on the advantages that they have. All that and more in today’s show. Rob and I are going to be covering what we would do with $1 million free and clear to invest.
When we would keep properties and when we would sell properties based off the profit of each option. Options for how to invest later in life and setting up future wealth for both you and your children, as well as how to grow a real estate business when it is super challenging. That’s going to be our first question. We’re going to be getting into that right now.
All right. Our first question comes from Josh, who is a former podcast guest on episode 749. James Dainard is here to help me tackle this and then you guys will be seeing Rob again very shortly. He’s just going to go grab himself a burrito bowl.

Rob:
I’ll be a right back.

David:
Remember, before we get to Josh, keep your questions coming. I can’t make the show if you don’t submit questions for me to answer. So head over to BiggerPockets.com/David, and give me the questions that you’ve always wanted to ask when you were listening to the podcast but never did.
All right. Up next, we have Dave Franco’s body double, also known as Josh Janus coming out of Ohio. He was previously a guest on the real estate podcast, episode 749. Josh, what’s on your mind today?

Josh:
I appreciate the opportunity. In my investment journey right now, I’m getting close to 100 units. I’ve been doing some flips. I do a good amount of transactions as a realtor and I’m trying to learn how to delegate properly. I had two really poor experiences with the contractors, kind of being my own property or project manager.
My question surrounds with as you’re scaling who or what responsibilities do you want to focus on delegating first regarding property management, project management, administration work, or even agents under you? Just that whole process from going from being the main operator in all of your businesses, to more of the manager of the businesses.

David:
God, I love it. You’re in that phase where you become incredibly good at what you do and said, “Hey, I’m going to scale.”
The whole thing becomes a flaming dumpster fire as you realize just how hard leverage is. James, speaking of flaming dumpster fires, how have you been able to handle these problems that all of us entrepreneurs are often sunk by?

James:
Handling might not be the right word. Dealing with it is probably the right word. Well, first Josh, 23 years old, you’ve accomplished a lot, man. I love to see it. I got in the business at your age, so you already got a jump on a lot of people, dude. That is awesome. It also means that you are a grinder and a hard worker and not everybody is cut that way, so you’re going to keep growing.
The hard part about that is if you’re getting to that many doors, that many transactions and doing this many flips at one time at your age, you’re cut differently. What’s hard is you’ve got to hire people that aren’t going to be cut of the same cloth as you. That’s going to be the reality, because I also am a person that puts my nose down and just gets to work. That’s okay, but you got to figure out how to scale and take those steps.
Over 18 years, we’ve grown eight different businesses in the Pacific Northwest and now we have almost 100 employees. We build homes, we flip homes, we run a brokerage, we lend money, we have property management, and it is a lot of work. The first thing is is it’s hiring the right people, not the cheap people. And finding people that are motivated and love what you do, not recruiting them, has been one of my other ways I’ve hired.
When people come to me and are asking for the opportunity and they really want themselves in the door, we make them earn it. To be honest, when we hire someone, we don’t pay them much on purpose. They go through the six to 12-month phase because when I got in this business, I made $0 for a year. It was up to me whether I wanted to stay in it or not, so I like setting the tone that way.
But as you try to scale, the first thing I would do is what is the most important part of your business that is bringing in the most amount of income? I would keep your focus on that when you’re at a younger age and you’re growing, because that is your cashflow that’s going to be coming in that’s going to help you grow. Also, write down what your skills are and what you do enjoy and what you don’t enjoy.
As a broker, do you enjoy providing services, working with clients and then bringing a team around that? Or are you more geared towards an investor that wants to rip apart houses, be in the middle of construction and manage those things? Those are two totally different businesses that usually require two different totally personalities. I would write down which one that you’re better at and that is more important.
Then look at how you can scale and free up time in those other businesses. If you’re really good at being a broker, you can start bringing in assistants working with you and it’s not as hard as a shift. Construction is a lot higher learning curve. Like you said, two contractors ripped you off, not enjoyable. It’s going to affect your other businesses too because it takes time and energy from you.
What I would say as you’re trying to scale, is bring in professional partners in those businesses, so they can help teach and grow you. And give up maybe part of the deal, because you’re bringing in the right partner so they’ll manage it for you. But if it’s vice versa and you want to be in the construction, focus on that and you can start hiring a small team beneath you.
Then systemize your leads and businesses through your brokerage. As I tried to scale my brokerage, it’s about hiring the right management, making sure they’re the right people, but it also came down to how organized is my lead flow in my systems. Because you can get after and grind and not be that organized, and still get a lot of deals done.
But to scale, it has to be organized, documented and that the team can plug and play, because if it’s not set up for them, they get stuck in the weeds and then you can’t grow.

David:
All right, Josh. Hearing all of this first off, it’s got to feel good to know that it’s not just you. You don’t suck as a human. This is every single person’s problem. Certain elements of business and real estate don’t get talked about as often because they’re just ugly and negative.
No one likes to be the one to come out and say how hard it is to deal with hiring. It’s much easier to talk about it like it’s fun, but it’s not, so it’s not just you. When you hear James’s advice, what type of objections are popping up into your mind? What specifics are you thinking about that we can help you with?

Josh:
For sure. I was on the podcast around a year ago and I’ve had a lot of people reach out since then, even locally. When they come in, I’m training people. I’m almost trying to make them become me and I’m not really focusing on what skill sets that they want to focus on.
I think a good thing for me and honestly, anybody else trying to scale that has people around them, is to focus on the individuals, like what they like. I’m also going to need to pay more attention as to what I enjoy, what I don’t enjoy. That was very helpful, James.

James:
No, and I think that’s great, Josh. One thing I would advise because I’ve learned that same lesson. As I have people come in that are interested, because you’re a salesperson, you’re going, “Hey, what do you want to do? How do you want to grow?” You want to shape it around it. Naturally as salespeople, we do that. I do the same thing.
I’m like, “I like this person. I want to find a spot for them. I want to find out what they’re passionate about and stick them there.” One thing I would say though that has hampered me in scaling is tailoring positions too much around the people I liked, rather than defining the role that I really needed first. And then going, “This is specifically what I want,” and then finding the person that fits that role.
It’s not putting that square peg in a round hole. Because they can be great people, but if they’re not really prepared for that job, it has definitely set me back because I used to only hire on people. I’m like, “They’re great. I’m going to make it work.” It would definitely blow up on me and then I just became inefficient. I’d have to restart my processes and restart the whole thing all over again.

David:
I got a couple pieces of advice to share with you when it comes to this very topic. The first dimension, if you imagine Mario from Mario Brothers running along the ground from left to right, okay? That is what I call learn. You start at one end of a spectrum where you suck, you’re at zero, and then you learn how to be good at something, that’s like 100.
Most of us are on this first spectrum, moving our way from left to right, trying to be good at what we do. You became good at flipping houses, you became good at being a realtor. When you got close to the end of that spectrum, you hit a wall. The only way to grow is to get into another dimension, which I call leverage. That’s like if Mario jumps, now you’re going up and down, okay?
The hard part about it, Josh, is you have to go from being close to 100 at learn to zero at leverage. You don’t know anything about how to do things through other people. You know how to get on the phone with the seller and get that deal locked up. You know the exit strategy, you know how to tell someone what needs to be done. You have zero idea how to make sure they do it or who to delegate it to.
Or how to prepare them for what’s being delegated, or how to manage all of these things going on. Because when something crosses your path, you just get it done. You’re good at learn. It takes a lot of humility to start all the way over and realize, “I have no skills in this second thing. I have to go to 100 down to zero.” Most people won’t do it.
If you do get good at leverage, you’ll be very successful, but the only way to grow from there is the third dimension, which is leadership. You got to start all the way over at zero again. You know how to run your teams, you know how to manage people, you know how to delegate. You have no freaking idea how to franchise something or scale it or inspire other people to be a you.
When you’re talking about your problems, I think what you’re describing is you’re trying to learn leverage and leadership at the same time. You know what to do, how to do things. You’ve hired contractors that you want to do the job, but you’re not good at managing them. You don’t know how they think. You don’t know how their business operates.
You don’t know how to communicate in a way that they’re going to take you serious. You’re trying to inspire them and inspire the people that come work with you, and hire these agents to work on your team. And keep all your clients happy and not run out of money as money’s flying out of your bank account, as projects are taking too long. You’re trying to learn two new dimensions at the same time, when one of them alone is super hard.
I would be asking myself if I was you, my ultimate vision is to scale to this point this vision that you have. How do you reign that back in and get good at leverage just within your flipping business? Just within your real estate agent business? But until you get to that point, you got to take it one step at a time.

Josh:
That’s very helpful.

David:
We’re going to be hearing a quick word from one of our show sponsors and then we’ll be right back.

Rob:
Welcome back to the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast. Let’s jump back in.

Josh:
Yeah. I’m going to choose one and see if I can delegate and pay attention. The two contractors that I hired in the past, I liked them and I don’t think I operated relationally in a way that was going to help them be successful and it created a storm.
I need to figure out more as to who can do this job, who enjoys this job, whether it seems to be the most comfortable thing for me to start with or not.

David:
You got to look at incentive. Maybe they got paid regardless of how they performed so they weren’t incentivized to do it well. You have to know what’s going on in their business. A lot of the time, I’ll find a bookkeeper that’s great. I’ll find a property manager that I love, and I’ll hire them to manage my short-term rentals. Then they get it and then they delegate it to their virtual assistant or their staff member that sucks.
That’s the person who’s looking at my properties, not the one that I talked to. I’m just looking at the P&L like, “Man, why is this so bad? That person’s so good at what they do.” I go talk to them and they jump back in, and they fix it and it goes great. Then three months later, it’s back to sucking again because they delegated it to someone else on their team that wasn’t good.
Until you’ve run the business yourself and understand these dynamics, you won’t know why things are going wrong, which is why entrepreneurship is so freaking difficult. James, anything you want to add on that topic, as you run several different businesses and you’ve dealt with these problems yourself?

James:
No. Sometimes there’s a lot of noise out there that you have to scale and grow and get bigger and bigger and bigger, and it’s just not true. Make sure when you’re scaling, that it’s going to be efficient on your time and your profitability and it’s worth it. Because I have grown businesses to where they’ve gotten really big, and I was like, “This is so unenjoyable.”
Even though we’re selling more, our name’s bigger, I’m like, “I would love to just take a step back, unwind this down,” because there’s a sweet spot in every business. I used to flip over 100 houses at a time in 2014, miserable. I was like, “Nope, not doing that anymore.” I used to grow the brokerage in the off-market company. We were trying to get as big as we could do as many deals we could.
It just became too big because it can become too big to manage in an efficient manner. Just as you’re scaling, really make sure that you’re being efficient and that you’re not stepping over a nickel to get a penny or whatever. Yeah, that’s the saying. Step over a nickel to get… Don’t waste profit because you’re just trying to get bigger.

David:
Dollars over dimes, I think it is.

David:
Dollars over dimes, that sounds way better. Yeah. Make the dollars, don’t go for the dimes.

Josh:
I like it. That was a really big topic in a short timeframe, so my brain’s going around.

David:
All right, good stuff. If you’ve ever felt crazy or like a failure, you’re not alone. Josh goes through it, I go through it, James goes through it. This is a normal thing to experience as a business owner and a real estate investor, so hang in there, it’s normal. If it’s painful, it gets better. All right. Thanks to everyone for submitting your questions to make it work in today’s market. Get those questions in at BiggerPockets.com/David so we can have you featured on a Seeing Greene episode.
We hope you’re enjoying the convo so far. Thanks for spending your time with us. We would love it if you would like, comment and subscribe to the show, and maybe even leave us a review where you listen to your podcasts at. Those help us a ton. All right. This next segment of the show is where we cover questions out of the BiggerPockets Forums, comments that we’ve received in the YouTube channel or podcast reviews that we’ve had from other listeners.
Our first comment comes out of the YouTube comment section. Get in the Space 7715 says, “I’m building a house this year in a tourist-trappy market. I’ll have the option of selling it two years after living in it and making a $500,000 profit tax-free by selling my primary residence. Or I could make 40K to 60K a season on short-term rentals. I’m thinking of building two houses and selling them to build a $1 million cash to invest.
“Then I’d switch to building rentals. If I build five smaller rental houses, they could cost $200,000 and be worth over $500,000 each, but they’ll bring in 40K a season from each place all debt-free. We’ll see how it goes. I think I could make more money faster by just building and selling, also has lower tax and legal liabilities. What would you do if this was you?” Rob, what are you thinking if you had these options?

Rob:
Well, I think first and foremost, is it safe to assume when he says that he can make 40 to 60 a season, that that’s net profit?

David:
I took it like that’s gross revenue that he’d be making and these are properties that don’t rent year round.

Rob:
I’ve gotten in this game where you build houses and you sell them and you make a profit. The thing is when you stop building houses, you stop making money, but it is a really, really good way to make money. I think that $500,000 is one of the most amazing runways that you could have to get started in the world of real estate. Most people get in this game and they say, “I don’t have any money.”
It’s a lot harder to give them advice, but this person has the opportunity to sell their property. Not pay any capital gains because they’ve been living in it for two years, or they can make $40,000 to $60,000 a season with short-term rentals. As much as I love short-term rentals, I don’t think $40,000 to $60,000 is really all that much money that they could reinvest into their portfolio.
But $500,000 is a lot, so I would probably go that route, but I would ask myself, “What can I do with that $500,000 to make the most money possible?” Right now, it looks like they’re thinking about building a couple of houses, and then selling them to build $1 million cash and invest. They’ve already got a pretty good method to do this. I would say if someone’s walking into real estate and they say, “Hey, I want to make $1 million. How do I do that?”
I’d be like, “I don’t know. It’s not easy. You have to have a lot of money.” But they’re coming in with $500,000 and so because of that, I actually think the $1 million blueprint is there. I would probably crank out a couple of houses just to build up my cash reserves, but then figure out how to deploy that into actual cashflowing assets that don’t require you to build a house.

David:
Yeah, that’s a great point. The question here is, is it better to build and sell or build and keep? If he builds and sells, he believes that he can make a million bucks off the first two properties. Then he could go build five smaller houses where he could make $300,000 off each of them. He thinks he’s going to make $1 million and then $1.5 million off of seven homes.
Just based on my experience, I think that this is wildly unlikely that there’s actually that much profit, but it’s possible if this person knows how to build and has some special in. There’s not enough supply there and everything lines up perfectly, I suppose that could happen. $1.5 million can buy you cashflow pretty much anywhere.
I don’t see any reason why you would need to keep these properties if you’re trying to get cashflow, because you could just turn equity into cashflow if you have enough of it. You could buy anything and it’s going to make a lot of money if you have enough cash. It’s going to be much harder to find a way to get 1.5 million bucks than it’s going to be to find properties that could bring in $40,000 to $60,000 if they were owned debt-free.
I see we were going there, Rob, but I agree. You should build, sell, take that equity, put it into more properties, but I would not be surprised if you don’t make anything close to as much money as you’re thinking on these.

Rob:
Yeah. I like the idea or the concept in real estate of build one, keep one, build one, keep one. You can’t do that at the beginning because you’re so focused on building up cash to keep building.
I would say, yeah, let’s try to build a couple, sell them. But as long as you promise me that that money will eventually be used to buy properties that can actually build you wealth and not make you temporarily rich.

David:
That’s a great point. I’ve said this a lot. People get stuck in start by building cashflow and let the cashflow make you wealthy, it’s incredibly hard to do. If you start by building equity, you can later convert it into cashflow and it will happen a lot faster. If you have that opportunity, take advantage.
All right. Up next, we have an Apple review from 1981 South Bay who says, “I love the Seeing Greene episodes and it’s a great addition having Rob in this series. My wife and I have been listening to BiggerPockets for two years. We finally just bought our first two duplexes and are planning to acquire more properties.
“We could not have done it without this podcast and the community. Thank you, David, Rob and the entire BP community.” Rob, how do you feel in getting a special shout-out?

Rob:
Hear, hear. Wow, it’s really nice because every time I do the Seeing Greenes, all the questions are like, “Hey, David, thanks for all you do. Here’s my question. We appreciate you, David.”
I’m like, “Listen, I appreciate you too, but I’m standing right here, Carl.” So it’s nice to be acknowledged in the reviews.

David:
Awesome. Thanks for everybody for showing some love to Rob on my show. I love hearing this and we love you as well, and we appreciate the engagement. Please continue to like, comment and subscribe on YouTube, as well as giving us a five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts at. That would help us a ton.
Right after this quick break, we’re going to be getting into sitting on $1 million in equity but not being sure what to do with it, and restarting later in life while using the proceeds from a profitable business exit. What strategies may work, what may not, so stick around. We’re going to get into that. All right. Our next question comes from Jason.

Jason:
Hey, David. My name is Jason Baker from DeLeon Springs, Florida near Daytona Beach and my question is this. We’re sitting on over $1 million in equity between our primary residence and we own two single-family residences that are currently rentals. They’re free and clear. My question is, what would you do in this scenario?
What’s my best path forward to build long-term wealth and just passive income for the future generations as well? Would it be best to just buy a bunch of DSCR properties or fix and flip? I have construction experience, as well as contacts with contractors in the area. I could self-fund. What would you do in my scenario? Thanks a lot, man. Appreciate it.

David:
All right, Jason, what an awesome question and what a great dilemma to find yourself in. I’m going to start by maybe laying a little bit of groundwork.
Then turn it over to Rob and then jump back in, so a few things here. You mentioned build passive income, but then you mentioned a bunch of active activities.

Rob:
Right. Like flipping, I was like, “Oh, I’m sorry, man.”

David:
Yeah. I think when you said passive income, what you meant was cashflow so let’s maybe clarify that. Then you also mentioned that you are looking to build generational wealth.
You did a great job of explaining to Rob and I where you have an advantage and skills, which should be in construction, subs and the ability to self-fund.
Everyone, this is a perfect example of the best question to submit on Seeing Greene because you gave us all the pieces we need to give you a really good plan. All right, Rob, what are you thinking?

Rob:
Yeah, so I was going to say the same thing. Flipping is perhaps the least passive aspect or niche in real estate, but he sounded like he was down to do it and that’s good. For that reason, I’m actually pretty happy to hear that he’s got contacts, he’s got contractors that he’s worked with. He said the most important aspect of this, which is self-fund.
Meaning he’s got the capital to actually do a flip or two and build up some capital, so I would say let’s go that route. If you’ve got the experience to do some flips, if you’ve got the money to do some flips, and you’ve got the contacts to actually execute all of them, then it seems like the stars aligning here for him, I think.

David:
Yes. I’m going to answer the question because it’s a great one, but before I do, I want to answer a question that he isn’t asking but everybody should hear. There is a, I don’t want to call it a lie, but maybe a misunderstanding that happens in the world of real estate investing, that passive anything is possible. I bit into this apple, the apple if you will, and took a big bite of it, and had to learn the hard way that it is not true.
I started businesses, I bought real estate, and I heard from a lot of the people that were mentors to me, that you need to build passive income. I interpreted it to mean I don’t pay attention to it. I bought it and I set it and I forget it, and it falls apart. There is no passive fitness. You can’t get in shape one time and stay in shape. There is no passive relationship success that you make your girl fall in love with you and she just stays there.
There’s no passive parenting where you raise your kid for 10 years and then they got it. You will always be doing these things and business is the same thing. There is passiver investive and passiver investing and passiver fitness. Once you hit that point where you’re fit, it is easier to stay there than it was to get there. Once you’ve got a business down, you can delegate things.
People build experience, they build knowledge, they can help you run it and it takes less of your energy, but it never goes away. Here’s what I’ve been telling people since I’ve had to learn this lesson the hard way. Don’t look for passive income, look for something that you love doing. Look for work that you like because you’re always going to be doing something, but it doesn’t have to be something that you hate, okay?
I like lifting weights. That’s one of the ways that I like to stay in shape. I’m not a super big fan of other forms of fitness, so I avoid those. I’m not going to go to Pilates or I’m not going to do Prancercise, but somebody else might like that type of stuff. For you here, Jason, you’re mentioning that you’ve got a background in construction. You specifically mentioned people that can do the work.
That lets me know that you have relationships in place with people that you like and trust. That is a valuable asset. It is even more valuable or just as valuable as properties in your portfolio. You took years building these relationships and this knowledge and this skill set to know who you could trust. I’d love to see you use that to continue growing a nest egg. Keep building and flipping houses.
Keep doing work, keep running a construction company. Keep making income in something that you love, and then just keep putting that money into more properties. If you can keep doing that debt-free, man, that’s a great way to go about it to keep your risk very low and build generational wealth for your family. What do you think, Rob?

Rob:
I love it. I think he’s already built a little nest egg there. He’s already built a wealth over his life. He’s proven what he’s been able to do over the course of his life.
I don’t think he needs to take any unnecessary risk doing things in real estate that aren’t aligned with his skill set, which to me, I think seems to be more in the flipping/contracting side of things.

David:
There you go. I had another question that I wanted to ask you. He mentioned he owns property free and clear. I hear this all the time in the real estate space.
Free and clear comes up all the time, but you know what I’ve never asked myself? Free and clear of what? Have ever thought about that? Why do we say free and clear when we mean that there’s no mortgage?

Rob:
I would say it means free of any mortgage, clear of any liens, is my guess.

David:
That’s what I was thinking too. It’s literally I was like free of debt and clear of encumbrances or something.
But if you know the answer to that question, let us know in YouTube what you think free and clear actually means.

Rob:
Clear of anxieties, which doesn’t exist in real estate.

David:
Yeah, that’s the unicorn. That’s exactly right. You’ll never get that clear of anxiety property. Good stuff. Yeah, and I’ll just recap this. If you’ve got a skill that you’ve built, you’ve got a thing you like doing in real estate, adjust your workflow so that you can continue working, but do it in a way that you like. If you like your weekends off, if you like your nights off, just make less money but do something that you love.
If you like taking on certain types of projects but not others, just do those projects. When you’re nearing the end of your journey, you don’t have to be pedal to the metal like when you’re getting started, but you still want to be doing something. I love to see people that have built up skills in real estate, as well as assets that are paid off in real estate, continue to use those to help the next generation.
All right. Our last question comes from Sanjay Kumar who says, “I purchased a few foreclosure properties about 20 years ago. Around 10 years ago, I sold all of these investment properties to concentrate on my e-commerce business. I’m 59 now and I’m in the process of diluting my businesses, which I currently own, and would be receiving around $500,000 every year for the next 10 years.”
Sounds like he’s going to be selling on terms. “Based on the current interest rates and my age, please advise me on the right approach. I’m a US citizen, but I currently live in India so I’ll be an out-of-state investor. I’m looking into Columbus, Ohio at Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania where I can still breakeven or get close to it in good neighborhoods.
“The population and job growth in these areas have been going up for the last few years and there’s a lot of demand for rentals. My sons live in the US and so I would like to build my wealth there, and I’ll be traveling to the US four to five times a year. I’m in great health. I want to get back to investing for long-term rentals, primarily to create wealth for the rest of my family.
“I don’t need immediate cashflow from each of these purchases, but at the same time, I don’t want to be too negative in each of the properties I buy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks again for sharing your knowledge.”

Rob:
Lots of interesting things on this one because they’re obviously pretty close on the retirement side of things. The last thing I’d want them to do is buy a breakeven in hopes that it appreciates and eventually cashflows. But on the flip side, they did say that they’re doing this to create wealth for his family.
If the idea is, “Hey, I don’t need to make money, I just want to create a nest egg for future generations,” I think this is fine. But I would say, I don’t know, I think I would lean more towards derisking as much as possible, maybe looking at a really, really, really passive syndication or something.

David:
I was a little confused when Sanjay mentioned buying in areas where they might not cashflow when he’s going to be making $500,000 a year, as well as the money that he’s already got.

Rob:
Yeah. I’m just like, “Yeah, why?” Getting into real estate when you’re so set up now and just like at the end of your career.
I’m like listen, I love it, but I do wonder if there’s better places to make a return.

David:
Yeah. Cashflow tends to be where people start because there’s several reasons. One, they don’t have a lot of money, so they want more of it. When I say money, I mean capital in the bank.
Because equity in a property is a luxury that you can only really value if you already have cash in the bank. You can’t buy Chipotle burritos with equity. Rob, you know that better than anybody. Can’t get that double chicken if you don’t have cash in the bank, right?

Rob:
Not yet.

David:
Second, cashflow will reduce risk on properties, but it’s not as good as having it completely paid off. That’s the best way to be reducing risk on properties. Now, here’s the downside to cashflow that’s not talked about. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but generally speaking, you have to go into lower and lower price points to make traditional real estate work if you want it to cashflow, which means you often end up in the worst neighborhoods.
Which is okay when you’re getting started and you’re trying to figure out this whole thing because you can get in, then you can get out again. It’s definitely not something you want to be dealing with when you’re 59 years old, and you’ve already crushed it in business and sold your e-commerce things. I would prefer to see Sanjay put his money somewhere where it’s going to appreciate over time, but more importantly, there’s not a headache factor.
I want Grade A real estate. I want the best tenants, I want the best opportunities, I want the safest investment. I want the least volatility and the least amount of risk, which is the opposite of most cashflow real estate. Now, there’s a couple of things that jump in mind. He could buy a short-term rental and pay cash for it. You can get yourself a nice little cashflowing property if there’s no debt on it with $500,000. Buy one of those every year for the next 10 years, you’re going to be set.
That’s also going to provide more generational wealth for your family because they’re owning real estate in the best areas. Now, if you’re trying to invest $500,000 in some of these other areas, you’re going to be putting say like 20% down on a $200,000, $300,000 property. That’s going to be like $40,000 to $60,000, so now you’re going to have to buy eight to 10 of those things every single year. After 10 years, you’re going to be left with 80 to 100 properties that are not super strong cashflowing and a big headache.
It’s going to be like herding cats. I’ve been there before where I had a buttload, that’s a technical term, Rob, of residential properties that were all just traditional real estate. It was every single day that a new problem was coming my way because something had to be fixed. I eventually sold that portfolio and reinvested that money to where I went from 50 or 60 single-family homes, into 12 luxury, short-term rentals. What do you know, a lot of my problems went away? What are you thinking?

Rob:
The other one little thing that he said is that his son lives in the US, and that they’re going to be traveling to the US four to five times a year themselves. I might maybe start to empower, if the whole idea here is creating wealth for the family, then I think maybe we need to start empowering the family to do some of the work here. Maybe training the younger generation to manage this for them.
Because what I don’t want is for Sanjay to be reaching retirement, but having to deal with the nonpassive aspect of real estate. Because I think if you put too much money, $500,000, that’s a lot of money. I’m not saying they’re going to deploy all of that into real estate. But if they deploy a significant amount of it into real estate, they are creating some work for themselves that I just want to make sure that they’re ready for.
My biggest advice to Sanjay is scale accordingly. Just because you have $500,000 a year does not mean you should invest $500,000 a year right out the gate.

David:
That is great, great counsel, Rob. Well done. BiggerPockets Podcast is different than other podcasts where we’re actually going to shoot straight with you. A lot of real estate influencers and people that talk about real estate, they just tell you about the end result. Here’s the cashflow, here’s the money, and you know what? They only share the stuff that went well.
You don’t have a lot of people out there saying, “Here’s where I took it in the shorts and it went terrible.” It gives this impression that every investment is always a great investment and it works out well, which is not the case. When we’re listening to this question, Rob and I are thinking about all the headaches that are going to come from buying those types of properties.
When you could just go buy great properties, primo stuff, great locations, great appreciation, great rent increases. If you get good management, like if it’s a short-term rental, you could do largely for the most part, pretty passive. It also gives your children an opportunity to get into real estate because they can learn how to actually do the work. They can help manage the short-term rental.
You can have them out there cleaning the property or learning how to market it better or learning guest communication, and you can see which of them have a propensity to get into that space. That’s a great opportunity as you’re teaching them how to fish, rather than just handing them a bunch of fish. Because we all know when you hand your kids a bunch of money or a bunch of fish, it can get smelly if they don’t know what to do with it.
Lastly, I will say this. If you take my advice and you buy one $500,000 short-term rental every year and just pay cash for it and you decide you don’t want to be in that space, or for whatever reason you don’t love it and you have 10 of those things. You’ve got $5 million of real estate plus whatever appreciation that you’ve accumulated over that time to sell and put into something like commercial properties, multifamily, residential properties, triple net properties.
Something that might be better suited. Whereas if you buy a whole bunch of residential properties, it’s a pain in the butt to try to sell a bunch of $200,000, $300,000 houses. You have to try to sell them all at the same time to get a 1031 going on to move that money into the same property. Much more difficult than if you bought a bunch of short-term rentals, and you could either sell less houses to move into something else or refinance them and use that money to buy bigger properties.
There you go, Sanjay. You are set up. Thank you for asking this question and good luck. I got my fingers crossed for you, and let me just say congratulations on what you did in the e-commerce business and your success there. Heck, yeah.

Rob:
Yeah, it’s amazing.

David:
All right, everybody. Thank you all for your engagement. Remember to head over to BiggerPockets.com/David to submit your question. If you’d like to reach out to Rob or I, pick our brain, pick our nose, pick whatever you want.
You can find our information in the show notes, so please go check us out there. This is David Greene for Rob the tag along Abasolo, signing out.

 

 

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.





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Pretium Partners, one of the nation’s largest investors in nonagency residential mortgages, announced the signing Tuesday of a strategic partnership with Hunter Point Capital (HPC) that is designed to support Pretium’s long-term growth.

The deal gives HPC a minority investment stake in Pretium, which has more than $50 billion in assets under management and is the largest owner-operator of single-family rental (SFR) homes in the U.S. Its has 90,000-plus rental homes in its portfolio, with more than half in Sun Belt markets like Florida, Georgia and Texas, according to SFR Analytics.

“During a time of significant growth and consolidation in the alternative asset management industry, HPC’s investment advances many of our top growth initiatives and strengthens our ability to capitalize on the compelling opportunities we see in the residential and credit markets,” Jonathan Pruzan, president of Pretium Partners, said in a statement.

“The persistent undersupply of homes coupled with the disruption in the banking landscape will offer significant investment potential for the foreseeable future.”

Pretium has about 4,400 employees and owns assets in 30 markets across the country. Within the past year, it has announced two other major deals to expand its presence in the investment home market.

In June 2023, the firm acquired 4,000 finished and unfinished homes from builder D.R. Horton in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion. In early February 2024, it announced that it had raised $1 billion with the intent of purchasing built-to-rent properties.

“Pretium’s strategic focus and execution have accelerated its growth into a multi-strategy firm with a national presence and an expanding opportunity set,” Avi Kalichstein, CEO and co-founder of HPC, said in a statement. “We look forward to supporting the talented team at Pretium as the firm builds on its success and expands its platform.”



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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) this week announced the awarding of more than $14.5 million that will be distributed by public housing agencies (PHAs) across the country in an effort to house veterans.

The funds will be distributed by the PHAs through more than 1,400 HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers. While the highest concentration of vouchers are going to Tucson, Arizona; Philadelphia; and Spokane, Washington, the footprint covers a wide range of states, according to the list of awards.

“HUD is committed to ending veteran homelessness once and for all,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in an announcement. “These HUD-VASH voucher awards help us to reach that goal. We will continue to work with our local Veterans Affairs Medical Center partners at public housing agencies across the country so we can get veterans and their families off the streets and into affordable housing.”

Veteran homelessness is a chronic issue that VA Secretary Denis McDonough intends to eliminate. The vouchers are an important tool to accomplish that goal, he said.

“HUD-VASH has been one of the most effective tools in our toolkit, empowering VA and HUD to provide more housing and wraparound services to more homeless and at-risk Veterans than ever before,” McDonough said in a statement. “Together, we will not rest until Veteran homelessness is a thing of the past.”

The vouchers combine rental assistance from HUD with the individualized support many veterans need, including case management and clinical services provided by VA.

“Thanks to the joint efforts of HUD, VA, and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness has fallen by 4% since early 2020, and by 52% since 2010,” the announcement stated. “Additionally, VA and HUD partnered to permanently house more than 46,000 homeless Veterans in 2023, surpassing the calendar year goal by 22.5%.”

In total, than 110,000 HUD-VASH vouchers are being administered by more than 700 PHAs nationally, HUD reported. New HUD-VASH vouchers have been issued every year since 2008, and more than 81,000 of these vouchers are actively under lease by veteran recipients.



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Financial services consulting firm ThoughtFocus appointed Santhosh Ananthakrishnan to the position of chief business officer. In his new role, Ananthakrishnan will oversee growth strategies and report directly to ThoughtFocus CEO Shylesh Krishnan. 

“I am very impressed with the rich portfolio of long-term customer relationships that the firm has built,” Ananthakrishnan said in a statement. “The culture of excellence built by the founders and their aspiration to leave a legacy resonates very well with me.

“All of this is getting a major boost with the latest round of growth investment from H.I.G. Capital. I am looking forward to working with Shylesh and the board to accelerate the firm’s growth.”

Before joining ThoughtFocus in January, Ananthakrishnan led the global mortgage business at Tata Consultancy Services. Ananthakrishnan, a 2023 HousingWire Vanguard, also previously worked at Freddie Mac as a senior director of product development. 

“We are delighted to welcome Santhosh to our team as we embark on our growth journey together,” Krishnan said in a statement. “Given his exceptional track record in crafting digital business solutions that drive transformation, coupled with his deep expertise in strategic business growth, Santhosh is ideally poised to spearhead and expedite the growth trajectory at ThoughtFocus.”

ThoughtFocus is a consulting, software engineering and business process management firm. It serves clients in the financial services, manufacturing, education, aerospace and technology industries.



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February is almost over, but it’s not too late to say that it is a very important month, especially for 50 million Black Americans. Black History Month is a time set aside to recognize and celebrate the contributions, achievements, and history of African Americans throughout U.S. history. It’s an opportunity for everyone to learn more about this important history, and to better understand what this group has overcome.

This is important for anyone who wants to understand Black consumers and do business with them. By honoring this history, we honor the descendants of those who lived through it.

As diverse as any other ethnicity, many Black Americans are, at their core, hard-working, family-centric, church members who live, for the most part, in urban areas. Like the cities they inhabit, many have had a troubled past. For some, their present lives are troubled, often through no fault of their own.

The thing about history is that we make more of it every day. The actions we take today should serve to advance everyone in the system. My experience in the financial services industry tells me that there is more trouble for the housing economy on the horizon, for Americans of all ethnicities.

Here is why and what can be done about it.

Homeownership in the black community

You don’t have to be in the real estate business to know that homeownership is a cornerstone of the American Dream, representing stability, wealth building, and community ties. Black Americans know this well and see the path to homeownership as a way to build generational wealth and leave behind a legacy for their families. But they have found this path has been fraught with challenges, shaped by historical, systemic, and economic factors.

In the early 20th century, Black Americans faced significant barriers to homeownership, including racial segregation, discriminatory lending practices, and exclusionary covenants that prevented them from buying homes in certain neighborhoods. The practice of redlining, initiated in the 1930s, where banks and insurers refused services to entire neighborhoods based on racial composition, further entrenched these disparities.

After World War II, the GI Bill provided veterans benefits, including home loans. However, due to discriminatory practices, Black veterans often found it difficult to access these benefits, missing out on one of the most significant opportunities for wealth accumulation in American history.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s led to significant legislative changes, including the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which aimed to eliminate discrimination in housing. But it wasn’t enough.

Despite these legal advancements, Black Americans still face challenges in achieving homeownership at rates comparable to other demographics. Systemic issues, such as unequal access to credit, discriminatory lending practices (like redlining persisting in different forms), and income disparities, have continued to impact the ability of Black families to own homes.

Today, homeownership among Black Americans still lags significantly behind other demographics. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the homeownership rate for Black Americans remains the lowest among all racial and ethnic groups the bureau tracks in the United States.

Even when they win, they don’t. When they are ready to finance a new home, Black applicants are more likely to face tighter credit standards compared to other demographics with similar financial profiles.

Despite this, millions of Black Americans are homeowners today, the majority of them living in urban areas. They don’t know it, but they will be the first to be impacted by the next financial downturn.

Why I see these issues the way I do

I currently serve as CEO of a minority-owned asset management company focused on facilitating transactions that deliver high-yield returns for investors. My success is based on my skill at identifying, targeting, and acquiring distressed mortgage notes and properties that earn these returns.

If you want a high return, you’re more likely to find it in portfolios of distressed assets and REOs. You’ll find most of these assets attached to real estate in urban areas. Often, these homes are owned by Black homeowners.

I have a lot of experience with these markets in my portfolio. Where others in my industry might avoid these markets due to the uncertainty of generating returns, I lean in. I understand these markets very well.

I also know the inner city. I grew up in Paterson, N.J. Today, our headquarters is in Newark, N.J. Every city is fundamentally the same at its core. Sure, each urban center has its own flavor and each is special in its own way. But they all look very similar to me, both in terms of the real estate assets you find there, the relative value of its assets, the population that makes the area its home, and the distress many residents share.

Drop me into the middle of any city in America and I’ll find my way around. It’s home to me. I run a company that specializes in finding distressed assets and I can tell you that the distress is in our inner cities and it’s having a disparate impact on Black Americans.

I’ve seen it again and again in the portfolios we trade. People living in the inner cities are most at risk when times get hard. Those loans are always the first loans to go bad and it’s about to get worse.

The hard times that are coming

Getting more than one economist to agree on any prediction of future economic conditions is challenging. While they often agree in principle, they usually disagree on the details. After two years of a down housing market that followed on the heels of two years of an extremely hot market, everyone wants to know when the business will return.

Today, many predict that the U.S. might avoid a recession in 2024, or at least experience a soft landing. But even if the economy slingshots around the drain, commercial real estate, the skeletal structure of our inner cities is faced with many challenges.

The normalization of hybrid working arrangements will continue to limit office demand growth, and the biggest wave of new apartment supply in decades will temper rent growth, improving affordability for renters. Multifamily and neighborhood retail sectors are expected to remain strong, while the future of office buildings remains uncertain, especially as central business districts evolve.

Local governments are anticipated to focus more on housing affordability, with actions such as adopting land-value taxes and promoting building to make homes more affordable. Of course, this won’t work in urban areas where all the available land has already been divided up among the various stakeholders.

Those with the least power and the highest likelihood of being called upon to make up for any tax shortage caused by a floundering commercial sector are the homeowners. These residents, mostly Black, took out their loans when mortgage rates were very low and when they needed more cash, they opted for a HELOC instead of a cash-out refi, for a lower blended interest rate.

What we’re seeing now is higher delinquency in these second liens and more non-performing mortgage assets based on them. Homeowners are struggling with high credit card debt, but they are still managing to make their first lien payments.

The risk is that the problems with their seconds could cost them their homes in 2024.

The difficult solution that banks should embrace

Foreclosing on a second lien may be the easiest solution to this problem, but it’s not the best one. It’s certainly not the solution Black homeowners need now. Sending them back to the starting line won’t serve them. Besides, it’s unnecessary.

Any investor with a portfolio of non-performing HELOCs has a number of tools available that can get these loans back on track and help keep homeowners in their homes. But most of these solutions are not easy.

Some may involve partnerships with community organizations, non-profits, and even governmental agencies that can provide outreach, education, financial assistance, and advocacy to support Black homeowners.

Banks working alone will find that success requires consistent outreach to these borrowers to get them to engage. This can be challenging and costly for banks as delinquent loans require more time and resources to resolve. Additionally, borrowers will avoid contact with their bank, which creates additional challenges to finding a workable solution.

These delinquent loans are an extremely small portion of the banks’ portfolios. Most banks don’t have the time or resources to modify these liens.

Part of the problem is that many banks don’t know they can offload entire portfolios of non-performing second liens, but they can. If they sell it to an investor who understands the inner city and the homeowners that live there, it can be a win-win that also delivers a win to the city.

What the industry does now will become part of the history that future homeowners look back upon each February. I hope that Black History Month will remain a source of pride, empowerment, and connection to a heritage that we must not lose.

The best way to ensure that, to honor that history, is to build a better future by working together to keep Black homeowners in their homes.

Jason Lewis is CEO of AryMing Asset Management, a boutique private alternative investment firm

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:
Jason Lewis at jlewis@aryming.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tracey Velt at tracey@hwmedia.com



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Real estate investment trust Rithm Capital, the parent of multichannel lender Newrez, has agreed to issue a one-year loan, purchase common stock and become the external manager of its peer Great Ajax Corp.

New York-based Rithm Capital engaged in acquisitions last year to become a global asset manager focused on real estate. This year, it restructured its distributed retail business in a shrinking mortgage market, cutting managers and reducing compensation at NewRez, a top 10 mortgage lender and servicer.

Michael Nierenberg, CEO, chairman and president of Rithm Capital, said in a statement that the company’s transaction with Great Ajax represents ”another step forward in our evolution as a global alternative asset manager.”

“We believe Great Ajax will be well-positioned to execute on a commercial real estate-focused strategy and generate significant value for shareholders,” Nierenberg said.

According to the deal announced Tuesday, Great Ajax will borrow $70 million in a one-year term loan agreement with one of Rithm’s subsidiaries. The proceeds are expected to repay Great Ajax’s outstanding convertible notes.

The companies noted that Great Ajax will also issue five-year warrants to Rithm, exercisable for its common stock, based on the amounts drawn under the loan facility.

Meanwhile, Rithm will purchase $14 million of Great Ajax common stock to be issued in a securities purchase agreement subject to stockholder approval. Great Ajax has entered into support and exchange agreements with certain institutional stockholders representing more than 40% of the shares of its common stock.

As part of the deal, Rithm will also replace Thetis Asset Management LLC as Great Ajax’s external manager, which will enable Great Ajax to “shift its strategic direction and capitalize on commercial real estate investment opportunities,” the companies stated.

Citi is the financial adviser for Rithm, while Piper Sandler & Co. is advising Great Ajax. Meanwhile, BTIG LLC is the financial adviser for the special committee of the Great Ajax board of directors.  



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Real estate marketing isn’t just about posting a few property listings and hoping for the best. It’s a multifaceted strategy that encompasses branding, lead generation, social media management, content creation and more. The most successful real estate agents aren’t always the ones with the most experience — but rather those who know how to leverage the best real estate marketing companies and digital tools for their success.

Ahead, we list the best real estate marketing companies to help you grow your business. We examined factors like pricing, features, support and customer reviews. Whether you’re looking to build a custom website, launch effective email campaigns, enhance your social media presence or manage your client communications more effectively, these real estate marketing companies can help you do it.

Summary

At-a-glance: 8 best real estate marketing companies for 2024

Best all-in-one marketing solution

Market Leader

From $139/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Market Leader

Best for custom web design

Agent Image

From $399 + $99/mo.

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Agent Image

Best for design templates and graphics

LabCoat Agents

From $59/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit LabCoat Agents

Best for social media branding

Coffee & Contracts

From $59/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Coffee & Contracts

Best for low-cost lead generation

RealGeeks

From $299/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit RealGeeks

Best for search engine optimization (SEO)

iNCOM

From $49.95 per month plus $249.95 setup fee

Jump to Details ↓

Visit iNCOM

Best for direct mail marketing

ProspectsPLUS!

From $0.91 per postcard

Jump to Details ↓

Visit ProspectsPLUS!

Best for upscale website design

Luxury Presence

From $500 per month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Luxury Presence

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At-a-glance: 8 best real estate marketing companies for 2024


Best all-in-one marketing solution

Market Leader

From $139/month

Visit Market Leader


Best for custom web design

Agent Image

From $399 + $99/mo.

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Agent Image


Best for design templates and graphics

LabCoat Agents

From $59/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit LabCoat Agents


Best for social media branding

Coffee & Contracts

From $59/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Coffee & Contracts


Best for low-cost lead generation

RealGeeks

From $299/month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit RealGeeks


Best for search engine optimization (SEO)

iNCOM

From $49.95 per month plus $249.95 setup fee

Jump to Details ↓

Visit iNCOM


Best for direct mail marketing

ProspectsPLUS!

From $0.91 per postcard

Jump to Details ↓

Visit ProspectsPLUS!


Best for upscale website design

Luxury Presence

From $500 per month

Jump to Details ↓

Visit Luxury Presence


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.wpdt-c.wpDataTablesWrapper table.wpdtSimpleTable.bt[data-has-header=”1″] td.wpdt-header-classes,
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background-color: #ecd6d5 !important;
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Market Leader

Market Leader logo: a real estate CRM solution

Notable Features: 

  • Mobile app syncs email activity with your desktop CRM
  • Tailored drip campaigns and marketing automation

Pros:

  • Provides a CRM + mobile app
  • Websites are totally customizable
  • Flat rate for 100% exclusive leads
  • Provides access to real estate training guides

Cons:

  • No free trial or money-back guarantee
  • No discount for annual subscriptions
  • Zip code-specific leads can be inconsistent
  • Not ideal for tracking deal flow
  • Additional fee for social media

If you’re looking for a comprehensive real estate marketing solution with an emphasis on automation, Market Leader should be on your radar. Positioned as an all-in-one hub for real estate marketing, this platform helps to boost everything from lead generation to client management, website development and email drip campaigns. 

With Market Leader, you can design a fully customizable, brandable website that’s optimized for lead generation, complete with landing pages, search engine optimization (SEO) and internet data exchange (IDX) capability that lets you display MLS listings on your website. 

What sets Market Leader apart, however, is the its leads packages which let subscribers pay a flat rate for a specified number of exclusive leads. Rather than pushing leads to multiple agents at once, Market Leader pairs potential buyers with the best suited agents for them, eliminating the competitive mad dash and ensuring a calmer process for everyone involved. 

(A word of caution here: Reviews suggest the leads provided are not always the most qualified, but experienced real estate agents who feel more confident screening buyers report decent satisfaction with this feature.)

Let’s also not forget Market Leader’s sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) system. Agents can automate email drip campaigns, set up paid ads on social media and order print marketing materials — all from one, single platform. 

There is even a Market Leader app that delivers real-time contact management notifications directly to your phone. Finally, the platform gives subscribers access to original monthly newsletters that can be repurposed as your own.

Customer Reviews:  

  • Some real estate agents report inconclusive results from generated leads, but overall they love that Market Leader offers a comprehensive solution to their marketing and lead generations needs

Visit Market Leader

Agent Image

Agent-Image-logo
Agent-Image-website-example

Notable Features: 

  • IDX-enabled, super functional and attractive real estate websites
  • Choose from DIY options to completely done-for-you website design

Pros:

  • WYSIWYG drag & drop content editor
  • Multiple price points to choose from
  • You own your own website
  • Beautiful, well-thought out templates to choose from

Cons:

  • Fully customized websites are pricey for individuals (but they are top-notch!)
  • Ongoing website support is available (Yay!) but it’s an investment

Agent Image offers a suite of packages for every budget and team size. If you want a completely done-for-you website that you own (meaning you’re not tied to them forever), you can have that. But their most customized, fully supported options are expensive. But not more expensive than hiring a design agency. And the best part is that they’re designed by and for real estate professionals so they understand the unique needs of agents, teams and brokers — which makes Agent Images websites a far better options than hiring your local web designer who may not understand the unique features you’ll need as a real estate agent, team or brokerage.

Customer Reviews:  

  • Many users appreciate that their Agent Image website is beautifully designed and very user-friendly.

Visit Agent Image

LabCoat Agents

LabCoat Agents logo

Notable Features: 

  • In-app direct mail feature

Pros:

  • Team plans are comparatively affordable
  • In-app design and mailing capabilities
  • Stylish designs for social media posts, events, invitations, ads and more

Cons:

  • Higher-than-average cost for individual plans
  • Designs are not always customizable for your brand
  • Limited video templates

Known for its humble beginnings as a Facebook group for real estate agents (which quickly grew to one of the largest online watering holes for real estate industry professionals), LabCoat Agents (LCA) understands the unique marketing needs of real estate agents. 

LCA has taken the concept of DIY design platforms like Canva and infused it with real estate-specific marketing expertise — resulting in eye-catching templates that help any real estate agent prepare for open houses, create custom signage, print business cards and more.  

The LCA website now offers a vast collection of real estate templates, scripts and design assets to help real estate agents communicate effectively with their potential clients. Whether you’re creating listing presentations, invitations or online ads, LabCoat Agents provides the designs you need to make a splash on Facebook, Instagram and in real life.

Pricing starts at $59 per month for individual agents; at $240 for teams of ten or more; and $499 per month for teams of 50+.

Customer Reviews:  

  • The site itself grew from a highly engaged Facebook community of over 162,000 happy members.

Visit LabCoat Agents

Coffee & Contracts

Logo-Coffee-and-Contracts

Notable Features: 

  • Monthly content calendar templates

Pros:

  • Ready-made social media templates for real estate agents
  • Trendy designs and scripts to boost engagement
  • A searchable database of content and marketing collateral organized by topic
  • Templates for Instagram Stories, Facebook Reels, TikTok, YouTube and more

Cons:

  • Designs are not exclusive to your brand and may be used by other agents
  • No marketing automation or scheduling features

If you’ve ever wished someone would create a ready-to-use social media roadmap for you (at the fraction of a cost of a creative director’s salary), then Coffee & Contracts is the membership for you. 

Founded by Florida-based real estate agent Haley Ingram, who recognized the struggles of fellow agents with their social media content, Coffee & Contracts is tailored specifically for real estate agents and brokers, and provides content calendars and social media strategies for all major platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

Signing up for the Coffee & Contracts dashboard gives real estate agents unlimited access to tools, templates, content calendars and strategies to help them excel in their digital marketing efforts. 

The site also offers video templates for various platforms, a database of content categorized by type, and a wealth of marketing collateral. Interested subscribers can join the waiting list to access the database of resources, along with exclusive discounts.

Customer Reviews:  

  • Some agents wonder whether it’s worth paying more for a social media manager and custom designs that can’t be repeated elsewhere on the internet, but generally agents report overall satisfaction for the price.

Visit Coffee & Contracts

Luxury Presence

Logo-Luxury-Presence

Notable Features: 

  • Website analytics
  • Comparative market analysis tools
  • Custom-branded IDX integrations
  • Real estate agents networking app

Pros:

  • Stunning design used by over 8,000 agents and brokerages
  • Options for both customizable plug-and-play tools and agency services are available

Cons:

  • Minimalist luxury feel may not fit with every brand
  • Costs can exceed $6,000 per month

Luxury Presence lives up to its name by emphasizing the high-end market and helping real estate professionals design websites that reflect their impressive style. The company specializes in creating personalized websites and marketing tools that exude sophistication and elegance. 

Notably, Luxury Presence’s in-house design library boasts a vast repertoire of customizable templates and designs. These templates are the foundation of captivating websites that prioritize lead generation through SEO tools and MLS integrations. 

Agents can request full-service website design, or opt for a DIY service at a lower price tier that unlocks access to Luxury Presence’s template library. 

For instance, Oahu-based real estate agent Kinga Mills utilized Luxury Presence templates to create her stunning real estate website. As you can see, Mills took full advantage of Luxury Presence’s IDX home search tool while establishing her website’s custom look at a significant cost savings. 

With features like landing pages, pop-ups, and lead capture forms, choosing the right templates can help optimize your online brand and presence while also converting leads.

Beyond websites, Luxury Presence offers a real estate marketing agency and delivers services like branding, content creation and social media marketing. Its analytics help you track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, ensuring you can make data-driven decisions. 

If you aim to establish a brand synonymous with luxury and refinement, Luxury Presence should be on your radar.

Customer Reviews:  

  • Generally speaking, customers rave over Luxury Presence’s customizability and impressive design, even while it may not provide the speediest service out there
  • According to the company, over 20 of the WSJ Top 100 agents use Luxury Presence for website design.

Visit Luxury Presence

RealGeeks

Logo-Real-Geeks

Notable Features: 

  • SMS text auto-responder
  • Google pay-per-click (PPC) and Facebook advertising integrations
  • Effective property valuation lead magnet tool
  • AI-assisted chatbot helps you vet leads
  • Support and coaching library

Pros:

  • All-in-one lead manager and CRM
  • Customers report excellent ease of use

Cons:

  • Zipcode search feature is somewhat limited
  • No free version or free trial

Imagine a real estate marketing company that works like a well-oiled machine, where Facebook and Google ads direct potential clients to your website to be captured as leads and sent directly to your CRM. That’s RealGeeks, a lead generation powerhouse designed to help real estate agents manage leads at scale. 

The RealGeeks ecosystem revolves around an IDX-connected website equipped with lead-capture landing pages and marketing automation. RealGeeks focuses on driving traffic to your site through paid ads on social media platforms, and it makes this process seamless by providing you with the ability to build your own real estate website.

While RealGeeks does offer a robust CRM and email marketing, the primary value here is the unbeatable lead generation capabilities. If you’re looking to supercharge your lead-gen efforts and drive more traffic to your website, RealGeeks is a top choice.

Customer Reviews:  

Visit RealGeeks

iNCOM

Logo-iNCOM

Notable Features: 

  • Pre-made website content
  • Light traffic analytics

Pros:

  • Affordable (especially for brokerages)
  • White-labeled listing sheet
  • Online training videos available
  • No long-term contract is required
  • Free lifetime product upgrades

Cons:

  • No live support chat
  • One-time upfront setup fee
  • Not available in every US state
  • Customized websites cost extra

iNCOM is a top-rated real estate marketing company that stands out for its affordability and robust website search engine optimization (SEO) tools. iNCOM helps real estate agents enhance visibility through customized websites and landing pages, and even provides light analytics to help you better understand your audience. 

While iNCOM doesn’t require long-term contracts, setting up your iNCOM account may take some time. Online training videos are available, but unfortunately online marketing is a separate feature from website design, and live chat support for both is notably absent. 

Recommended for growing offices and agents with limited marketing resources who rely primarily on social media-focused lead generation, iNCOM is lauded by users for its effectiveness. However, users also report a few occasional glitches, such as issues with automatic renewals.

Overall, iNCOM is highly recommended for website design and online marketing in the real estate industry, with room for improvement in CRM reporting, customer service and user experience (UX).

Individual agents can expect to pay a $249.95 setup fee plus $49.95 per month; whereas brokerage pricing begins with a $350 setup fee, and $68.95 per month.

Customer Reviews:  

Visit iNCOM

ProspectsPLUS!

Logo-ProspectsPLUS!

Notable Features: 

  • Print products ranging from flyers, to postcards to gift cards
  • Postcard campaigns for real estate-specific occasions
  • Free marketing training videos

Pros:

  • High-quality mailers
  • Memorable printed assets
  • Quick service
  • Smooth communication

Cons:

  • Some customers report not being able to see customer addresses until after they paid for shipping (not ideal for reviewing a targeted mailing list)

While digital marketing is essential in today’s real estate industry, traditional methods like direct mail can still yield impressive results when done right. ProspectsPLUS! specializes in direct mail marketing for real estate professionals, most notably emphasizing the almost-forgotten art of the real estate postcard.

ProspectsPLUS! offers a wide range of direct mail marketing materials, from Open House flyers and brochures to door hangers. The company provides customizable templates as well as the option to upload your own designs. 

There’s also the ability to send mailers to targeted mailing lists and ship personally branded real estate marketing magazines to specialized demographics.

Direct mail can be an effective way to target specific geographic areas or demographics, and ProspectsPLUS! simplifies the process for real estate agents looking to tap into this old-school, time-tested marketing channel.

Customer Reviews:  

Visit ProspectsPLUS!

The power of real estate marketing

In the fast-paced world of real estate, partnering with the right marketing company or agency can be a game-changer. The above real estate marketing companies offer an array of marketing solutions for real estate professionals, allowing you to concentrate on nurturing relationships with clients and closing deals. 

Remember: Each of the real estate marketing agencies and companies we’ve reviewed here offers unique strengths, whether you’re looking for comprehensive marketing solutions, content generation, lead generation or specialized design templates.

Before you decide on which marketing company to choose, take a few days to consider your goals and define the results you’d want to see for a successful real estate marketing initiative, campaign or overall strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions


  • How to choose the right real estate marketing company?

    Remember that the effectiveness of any marketing strategy depends on your specific needs, goals and target audience.

    Take the time to assess your marketing needs, budget, and long-term objectives. Then, make a list of the top marketing companies to find the right partner for you. If possible, set introductory calls with each marketing firm and spent a few weeks comparing the pros and cons. Communicate in advance that you are evaluating a few different options, and once you think you have your marketing team assembled, sign up for a monthly subscription or pay for the company’s services.


  • What are the 4 P's of marketing in real estate?

    In real estate, the traditional marketing mix — often known as the 4 P’s of marketing — includes:

    • Product: The properties and real estate services offered by the agent or firm
    • Price: Understanding how to set competitive and market-appropriate prices
    • Place: The geographic location of your properties, along with their accessibility by public and private transportation methods
    • Promotion: The combined advertising, branding, and marketing strategies used by the agent to attract and engage potential clients

  • How can I market myself as a real estate agent?

    Before you can market yourself successfully as a real estate agent, you need to understand where your business stands. Identify your strengths, along with any areas that may need improvement. Here are some questions that can guide you in making an informed decision:

    1. Establish your primary goal: Are you looking to boost lead generation (i.e. get more potential clients) or do you already have a large email list and need to focus instead on nurturing your existing client base? Defining your primary objective is crucial as it will influence the strategies and tools you need.
    2. Assess your marketing budget: Your budget plays a pivotal role in selecting a marketing company. Companies can spend anywhere from 1% to 40% of their gross revenue on marketing. It all depends how aggressive you want to be and what expected return on your investment (ROI) you need to feel as though the money was well-spent. A general rule of thumb is to allocate approximately 10% to 20% of your commission income to marketing, or a “30% rule.” Be sure to have a clear understanding of what you can afford and think with an investor’s mindset.

  • What to expect from a real estate marketing company?

    If this is your first time considering a real estate marketing company, it’s natural to wonder what to expect. Most importantly remember that specifics can vary from one provider to another — there is no one-size-fits-all marketing firm. However, there are certain fundamental features you should look for when working with a vendor of any kind, including:

    1. Clear communication: If you’re investing in a company’s services, it should have a direct line of communication when you have questions or require assistance, whether that’s a chatbot, support email address or online discussion forum.
    2. Trust: If you expect to collaborate on creative assets, like graphic design and website copy, you should trust your marketing company’s judgment and be able to communicate effectively when there are disagreements.
    3. Performance metrics: Your investment should yield results. A reputable real estate marketing company should provide a method to track the value you’ve received for your expenditure, whether it’s a shared editorial calendar or a detailed performance report.
    4. Renewable contracts: Real estate marketing isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. It demands ongoing attention and the flexibility to adjust strategies based on audience feedback. The most reliable marketing companies will typically require a minimum three-month commitment to ensure a sustained, effective campaign.

  • Is real estate marketing the same as lead generation?

    No, they are not the same — though there is some overlap. Lead generation is a targeted strategy to attract potential clients by providing information or incentives. Marketing, on the other hand, is about building your brand, telling your story and creating awareness about the value you offer. Marketing can generate leads, but its primary purpose is to establish your reputation and trustworthiness. For example, a Facebook ad campaign offering a free home valuation is lead generation, but it becomes more effective when backed by strong branding and marketing efforts that make people familiar with your name and the quality of your services.

Our methodology

HousingWire is the destination for industry leaders and decision makers to stay informed and stay ahead of what’s going on in the constantly evolving U.S. housing industry. 

To determine which real estate marketing companies are best for industry professionals, HousingWire analyzed dozens of products and platforms, weighing the pros and cons of each alongside both quantitative and qualitative data like price, special features, ease of use, return on investment, client support, and customer reviews. 

We crawled the web so you don’t have to, analyzing a wide sampling of reviews across social media, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and online discussion forums.

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More U.S. seniors are working today than ever before, a trend marked either by older Americans choosing not to retire, or choosing to actually rejoin the workforce after an initial retirement. This year is also set to see the U.S. population grow older at a faster rate. The trend was the subject of a recent book, “Unretired: How Highly Effective People Live Happily Ever After,” written by journalist and management consultant Mark Peabody.

Walton shared some of his observations about the unretirement phenomenon in an interview with Yahoo Finance, including perspectives about what motivates people to keep working beyond retirement age.

“Engagement and contribution are the keys,” Walton said, saying his book was targeted primarily at people who have become accustomed to a certain level of success throughout their lives. “The idea of discontinuing work that matters to them and discontinuing the ability to make a contribution is a very painful thought. So what motivates them is fascination and love for their work and the desire to continue to make a contribution.”

Walton describes observing the trend of more senior participation in the workforce over the past several years, an observation that bears out according to previous research and data. But he became more curious once he started hearing from these older workers who were telling him it’s not necessarily all about money.

“I found it’s college graduates who are driving this thing, and it’s professional women,” he said. “That’s what’s changed in the last 30 years.”

Walton writes that much of the anxiety older people may feel about retirement centers on the lost social elements that it could bring, which they may see as a retirement “pitfall.”.

“The first pitfall is a loss of personal identity,” he said. “Nobody really pays much attention to it. But they’ve invested their lives in something that matters to them, and their identities are tied up with that work. Pitfall number two is loss of daily structure and schedule. And that’s no small thing.”

A third “pitfall” is a “loss of friends and social networks,” he said, suggesting a link between daily routines, interactions and cognitive performance. Isolation and loneliness do have links to cognitive decline.

Walton says that this trend is likely here to stay for a long time to come.

“If you are one of those growing millions of people who find that the track of life that’s been laid down, this idea of going to school, going to work, and then tuning out, is not right for you, you’re not alone,” he said. “Your interest and desire to continue to work and express yourself, rather than being lost in a lifestyle that doesn’t work for you, is something that you ought to pursue. It’s very possible to continue to work and succeed and express yourself to a very old age. This is the future.”

There are instances in which a phenomenon of an older worker influx has not fully materialized. Recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests that as many as 2 million baby boomers who were predicted to return to work in the years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are choosing to remain in retirement.



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