CIRE: How did you learn about the
CCIM education and designation? Garrett: My brother Hunter Garrett, CCIM, was the fi rst CCIM that I knew. I saw how the education helped him to analyze and sell investment properties due to his ability to demonstrate the costs and benefi ts of fi nancing. While buyers or sellers may not know exactly what CCIM means, the analysis helps them under- stand and sort through investment prop- erties and see the potential cash-on-cash returns and returns on equity of their properties. T e CCIM education has been a key asset
in being able to run the numbers, analyz- ing rental rates, construction costs, and land costs to determine when to build or buy existing property or how to value land based on the other factors. As a younger agent, the networking aspects of CCIM helped me gain access to some of the most competent Real- tors in the Carolinas.
As a younger agent, the networking aspects of CCIM
helped me gain access to some of the most competent Realtors in the Carolinas.
CIRE: You spent a few years living in South America. How did that
experience contribute to your career? Garrett: In 2005, my wife and I moved to the Amazon to start a microfi nance program. I had volunteered there several summers prior, and I saw microfi nance as a way to help local businesswomen to grow their businesses. With my savings from combat pay, I trained a local worker
in the Grameen banking system, and we began making loans of $50 to groups of businesswomen in Peru. Today, we make an average of 700 loans every two months, and with mandatory savings, our clients have enough saved at the end of a two- month loan to pay for school fees, shoes, antibiotics for their kids. It off ers an alter- native to the lack of health insurance and allows women to build their savings and provide greater opportunities for their children. T e success of the microfi nance venture gave me confi dence in starting out in the entrepreneurial brokerage fi eld, but it also gave me the underwriting experi- ence of evaluating the potential borrow- ers, which was also applicable to quickly qualifying clients.
Jennifer Norbut is senior editor of Commer- cial Investment Real Estate. If you have a
story worth sharing in CCIM Q&A;, send it to jnorbut@ccim.com.
CCIM.com
May | June | 2012
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