Real Estate investing in today's market is still a good idea, but success can only be created through working with a trusted consultant who does the homework. As always the key to real estate investing is location and price. Some of the best locations in New England will be Fairfield County, Westchester County and the urban Boston area.
While the market is correcting, short sales may be a good investment. It is important to do the homework and research to make sure short sales are truly a viable investment.
To create a successful investment experience, a team is needed: appraiser, real estate consultant, attorney, financial advisor. As an investor and Realtor with more than twenty years experience and generating more than $200 million in sales and later creating a strong investment practice - BCA Real Estate Investments, I believe education and research are the keys to success.
To connect and network with prospective clients, both buyers and sellers, I have created a series of events under the umbrella, Dream Catchers, to assist participants in not only capturing their dreams, as the name suggests, but protect and leverage them in today's economy.
The goal of the series is to bring individuals together who can connect, network and share strategies for financial success. Our plans are to hold one Dream Catcher event per quarter.
Events will be held in shoreline Fairfield County and the format is a Thursday after work cocktail party. What is unique about the Dream Catcher series is that it goes beyond the classic networking event. In addition to networking opportunities, the series has educational and charitable components.
For example, the premier event, held in February 2008, and attended by 100 guests, featured a talk by an expert on 1031 Exchanges, a raffle which benefited A Better Chance of Westport. Other planned topics include fine art appraisal, building "green," Design for Value: Short Sales.
The second event for 2009 will be held September 17th at Artifact Furniture Design Gallery in Wilton and will feature a speaker on short sales. The charity will be Women Build 6, Habitat for the Humanities.
It is no secret that the current economic climate is a challenging one, to say the least. We believe that those businesses which are relationship driven and give back more value-added services to their clientele will be the ones to emerge from this downturn, not only intact, but leading the pack..

The Dream Catcher philosophy provides partners with the perfect opportunity to offer their clients something more: an event that is prestigious, educational and filled with networking opportunities while being enjoyable and relaxing at the same time. Clients will appreciate that we are helping them seek out ways to leverage their assets in the best way possible given current conditions.
Concepts like Dream Catchers are part of my mission and my philosophy - a commitment to exceeding my clients' expectations by operating with integrity, constantly improving, continually educating ourselves.
Wanda McPhaden and BCA Real Estate Investments uses horizontal marketing to form friendly alliances with other businesses in the area.
My goal is to become a real estate consultant to buyers and sellers on how to buy and sell using the short sale process.
The questions for each investor is Just Ask Wanda for real estate information.

Wanda McPhaden, CRB, CRS is exclusive partner of BCA Real Estate Investments, headquartered in Ridgefield, Conn. and New York City.