RE/MAX LLC recently announced an initiative that the company expects to be a great leap forward in its strategy to support investors in American housing.
RE/MAX has entered into a relationship with OwnAmerica, a leading provider of investment analysis tools, education and technology to the real estate industry. OwnAmerica will train and certify RE/MAX broker/owners and sales associates across the globe on using American Housing as a wealth-building asset.
Dave Liniger, RE/MAX chairman and co-founder commented on the new relationship, “We believe investors represent a crucial untapped reservoir of demand that our housing market needs right now. Investors know the opportunity is here and are already acting on it. RE/MAX intends to remain the organization best equipped to help them.”
OwnAmerica CEO Greg Rand is a lifetime veteran of the real estate industry, host of Rand on Real Estate on WABC Radio in NY, regular guest on Where to Invest Now on the FOX Business Network and author of Crash Boom! “We are incredibly pleased to be aligned with RE/MAX,” he said. “The leadership of the company understands how important investors are to a housing recovery and is doing everything it can to enable more investors to acquire houses for the long term.”
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, investment buyers represented 23 percent of all home sales in 2011, a number Liniger believes will be topped in 2012. In his forecast for the housing market in 2012, Liniger predicted that a full quarter of home sales this year will be to investors. In addition to this existing investment market, a 2011 survey by Move, Inc. revealed that 59 percent of people searching the Internet for real estate investment information are new to investing. The market segment is poised for enormous growth.
“Millions of people across the country and around the globe see the U.S. housing market as the opportunity of a generation. By tapping this resource of housing demand, we can help investors absorb the shadow inventory of distressed property, create more sorely needed rental housing, and stabilize home values,” says Rand. “Falling prices and rising rents have made it possible for investors to generate positive cash flow in cities and towns where that was not possible just a few years ago. Everybody wins.”
In 2009 RE/MAX put a similar emphasis on equipping its international sales force to become experts in handling short sales and foreclosures. “We’ve helped a lot of people solve their own personal housing crises,” Liniger adds. “If RE/MAX can tap into the power of investors, and enable a new generation of investor to enter the market, we can play a role in healing the national housing crisis. That is our ultimate goal.”
For more information about RE/MAX, visit www.remax.com.
To learn more about OwnAmerica, visit www.ownamerica.com.
