OK, so I read this and I couldn't just let it sit there, lol! @Sunir Joshi, this kind of information is hard to find because it is called confirmation bias. I love @Ali Boone and we keep talking about meeting up for pancakes again - one day we are going to have to do it. But, Ali is not a fan of Memphis. What she listed, IMO, is a great example of confirmation bias. Searching for confirmation of pre-determined biases. And it's ok and Ali is right, she does not like the market and has her reasons, but what was listed can be looked at entirely differently. They are her reasons, which are valid for her, but I have to push back for other readers.
The return an investor can get and how good it is, is not going to be determined by the city. To say that it is a fact that you can get higher returns elsewhere is kind of silly. The return is determined by price, investment class, leverage and even risk. You can find high or low returns in any city at any time. It doesn't matter what city you choose to invest in. The return you earn on your investment has much more to do with what you are investing in and how it is structured as well as the team(s) you choose to work with.
Percentage of renters - 55% of Memphians do not rent their houses. According to the website, department of numbers, which used percentage of rental households to total households to run their calculations, 39% of Memphis households are rentals. For comparison, Philadelphia, which is a city that Ali touts for investors (that may not still be the case, but I think recently that is true), has 34% of their households as rentals. When comparing across thousands of households that is a negligible number.
Industry - it is crazy to hear when people try to turn being "America's Distribution Center", as Memphis is known, into a negative. That status has led to six Fortune 500 companies to have major presence in Memphis with three of them having their world headquarters here. It has the largest cargo airport in the world, the largest inland port in the U.S., and is one of only four cities with 5 Class 1 railroads. That has led Memphis to be one of the fastest growing manufacturing HUBs in the U.S. with major growth across all fields of manufacturing, but especially in Bio Medical fields. Today, Manufacturing and distribution make up 34% of the jobs in Memphis. Considering that as long as the U.S. has an economy where we manufacture goods, Memphis will have consistent, reliable and stable jobs. I think that is a positive.
I'm not sure what is meant by drama, but Memphis absolutely has Hedgefund activity here and has several well-known companies providing Turnkey services for investors. Now, I hope that no one reads any of this as negative toward Ali. She has built her passive portfolio and I love how active and open she is for investors. I always appreciate that she mentions me and my families' company for investors interested in the seven markets we operate. I just wanted to point out that each investor has to pick and choose where they want to invest and why. Those are Ali's reasons and so they are absolutely valid for her. Other investors may see those same things differently as she noted!
@Shannon Phoenix, you have been given a couple of really good companies here in Memphis with @Alex Craig who owns Memphis Turnkey and @Douglas Skipworth who owns and runs Crestcore. They encompass a lot of opportunities in Memphis. I also am very familiar with @Mark Ainley in Chicago as well, so I think you have some really good companies to start investigating and networking with.
Best of luck to you!
