Lifestyles Unlimited, the nationally renowned Education and Mentor Group for Real Estate Investing, congratulates member Ira Gross.

Ira has been selected the 2011 National Apartment Association Independent Owner of the Year, 101-500 units category. Mr. Gross joins a fine group of elite owner-operators from Lifestyles Unlimited who have received this coveted award.

Ira is a member in good standing with Lifestyles for more than six years. During that time, he has successfully purchased with his partners two apartment complexes, one in Stafford, TX and the other in southwest Houston. The first property, 175 units, which was submitted for this award, has had total returns of more than 150% to the partners. Mr. Gross had no prior experience in the apartment business and joined Lifestyles Unlimited for mentoring and guidance from founder Del Walmsley and VP of Acquisition, Broker, David Fantin. Ira also receives support from other members who are owner-operators.

In 2009, Ira was awarded the Houston Apartment Association Independent Owner of the Year.

Cash Flow Game Night
May 27th, 2010
6:30 pm – 9:00pm
2700 NE Loop 410 Suite#600
San Antonio, TX. 78217

Come out and network with over 800 members in the Central Texas Area.
Enjoy playing Cash Flow – Games/Instructions will be provided
This is also a cocktail event, so drinks and snacks will be provided.

For more information call 210.787.2235

Forbes reports on the most overly priced homes in America- listing unadaptive sellers as the primary reason for this trend.

Ranking 40 major metropolitan area cities, Forbes looked to how many days homes spent on the market to determine if they were overpriced.

However, according to Marty Kramer of Texas Real Estate, in actuality homes do not sell for these overpriced rates. He suggests that homes are sold below asking price due to negotiation between buyers and sellers that brings the home price closer to it’s actual value.

It’s for reasons such as this, Marty claims, that perhaps the four major Texas cities that made the list (including San Antonio at #6!), are “underanalyzed” rather than “overpriced.”

Click here to read the entire article at forbes.com or here to read Texas Real Estate’s response.

Amid reports of troubled commercial real estate markets, VIP Realty has claimed San Antonio as a place with a bright multifamily future. San Antonio has already been listed as having one of the strongest economies in America, and this article explains how this coordinates with the burgeoning commercial real estate market the city is experiencing.

VIP Realty elaborates on the top 10 reasons for this trend; trade oppurtunities, location, proximity, affordability, corporate headquarters, international companies, education and tourism. These factors not only explain the expected growth in commercial real estate, but also the health of the region’s economy as a whole.

Click here to read the entire article at VIPrealtyusa.com.

It gave me chills to read that BusinessWeek put 5 Texas cities it it’s Top 10 Strongest Economies in America.

The article citied a steady real estate market that never got “too hot or too cold”.

BusinessWeek.com used research from the Brookings Institutions new MetroMonitor to rank the nations top 40 strongest economies. Texas dominated the list:

#1 San Antonio, TX
#2 Austin, TX
#3 Oklahoma City, OK
#4 Little Rock, AR
#5 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
#6 Baton Rouge, LA
#7 Tulsa, OK
#8 Omaha, NE
#9 Houston, TX
#10 El Paso, TX

Click here to read the entire article at BusinessWeek.com and click on each city to read what they wrote about each city.