From Sean Brown
Founder of NARREIA

The National Association of Residential Real Estate Investment Advisors
Whew, that’s a long title. But when you break it down, it’s a perfect description of what we want to convey. We are a national group of Realtors who focus on residential real estate investment. It’s a national association in that we have contacted agents from California to Florida to New York, and we are looking for advisors in every single market in the United States.

The distinction of “residential” real estate is to say that there are many, many different ways to invest in real estate. Our advisors proclaim some level of expertise in one or more investment vehicles that pertain to single family residences, town homes, or condos, and possibly vacant land and small multi-unit buildings. All of the other types of real estate investment are highly specialized, and rarely can someone be proficient in more than one or two niches.

Commercial investment (strip malls, warehouses, office buildings) requires a much more extensive understandings of Cash on Cash returns, Cash Flow Before Tax, and all the other jargon that are rarely discussed in residential investment. Conversely, the commercial agent typically has an insufficient understanding about the appreciation of each neighborhood, the process to buy and sell a house, nor the cash flow calculation for a rental. There are other specialties: business brokerage, developing and subdividing, equestrian and farm properties, and range land. Our focus at NARREIA is residential, and most of us advisors tend to further specialize in two or three of the specific residential investment vehicles.

And the controversial word “advisor.” Realize that there is no certification to be a “real estate investment advisor.” To be a financial advisor, you have to go through hours of training that would truly bore me to tears. The point is that there is formal testing and licensing for financial planners.

What our advisors do is meet with you, determine your level of understanding of the topic, teach you to the level you want to be taught, and then help you locate the properties you request. If you have questions about financing the property, we can help you find the answers. If you would like us to pull up the properties in areas that have recently shown a pleasant amount of appreciation or maybe in areas that will provide a certain level of positive cash flow, we can do that for you. If you like them, we’ll help you buy them, and later, sell them.

This is how we advise you. You tell us what you want, we find it for you, and we contact you to see if you want to buy it. It’s not much different than having other Realtors put you on an automatic email list for anytime a house in a certain neighborhood pops up in a certain price range. The only difference with us is that if you need or want it, we can help you learn what you want to ask us for.

Click here for The Creation of NARREIA ...