Real Estate Investing.
Isn't it amazing that 3 simple words can mean so many different things?
The world of real estate investing is vast, and not for the faint of heart. There are always risks, and sometimes there are amazing rewards. There is always more to learn.
These truths are why The American Insurance Group assembles a group of local investors that meet bi-monthly. We find a speaker, we eat lunch, and we bring people together who share common ambitions and goals. Our hope is that we are able to learn, share ideas, and ultimately share investing success.
Our February meeting had the pleasure of a speaker who has been building his investment empire for the past 20 years. Josh Watts (Watts-N-Storage), a former employee of TVA, funded his first real estate transaction by pawning the title of his truck. He now has a great portfolio of residential homes, apartment buildings, and self-storage facilities, and nine team members helping maintain and grow his properties.
Josh offered advice on how to successfully evolve a portfolio. His advice included keeping your day job to fund deals, creatively structuring banking deals, and leveraging current assets for new deals. The best advice Josh gave was to listen to the real estate world. People are talking and you can solve their problems. In so many words, he said that listening will take you much further than looking.
Josh has found many successes in real estate, even through a few failures. He has chosen his specialties and he is very good at them. Josh connected with the group on an investing-level, but more importantly on a personal-level. His advice was wrapped up in his overall desire to see other investors succeed.
One of the best things about this group is that we don't just learn from the speaker's presentation, but also from each other. As each person introduced him/herself to the group, they told what they simply couldn't live without when it comes to investing. The most popular answers were Excel, AppFolio.com, their bankers, their property managers, and last but not least, Biggerpockets.com.
Overall this meeting is of benefit to real estate investors of all persuasions.
We really love what Peter Sturdivant had to say about our meetings:
"There are a lot of real estate networking groups. Most of them are good - it's not really about which one is better than the others. However, what I really appreciate about the American Insurance Group's meetings is that everyone there is required to actually own investment property of some kind. This requirement means that everyone in the room has put their own money or time on the line, and there isn't the normal batch of tire-kickers who are "thinking" about getting into the business. The mix of investors in the room is typically pretty diverse: lenders, brokers, and investors that focus on single family, multi family, commercial, etc.
Jack Smith, presenting Josh:
Our lunch sponsors: Patrick Brady, Mark Kessel, and Wes Dennis of HomeVestors of Chattanooga.
Josh Watts presenting The Evolution of a Portfolio:
A portion of the local investors in attendance: