Ryan Barlow with son Jonah
Howdy folks. My name is Ryan Barlow and I am, according to the State of Arizona, a “registered trainee appraiser”. My father has been a self-employed real estate appraiser, investor and developer for over 35 years. As a young man, I accompanied my father around the country to assist him with the appraisal of many different complex property types including large-scale industrial, agricultural, commercial and multi-family residential. Shortly after graduating from Arizona State University, I began a full-time career in the family business, and am working towards becoming state certified, as my father is, to appraise all types of real property. I am also involved in small-scale multi-family development with a small group of investors and developers in Gilbert, Arizona.
In my day-to-day work, I am immersed in real estate market activity as I study the underlying and overarching factors that influence real estate markets. I am constantly updating real estate, demographic, economic, social and government policy trend reports that are used to support real estate trend forecasting and valuation conclusions. I work closely with buyers, sellers, brokers, bankers, attorneys, accountants, and government agencies through various types of projects involving appraisal and/or real estate development. This ongoing exposure provides me with unique insight into the past, present and future plans, motivations, needs, and goals of many different types of market participants.
As a participant in The Monopoly Project, my goal will be to provide assistance with examining the demographics and characteristics of communities where potential investment opportunities exist. Understanding the demographics in a given area is important as it provides valuable insight into the income, education, population trends, crime rates, unemployment rates, etc., which can either be stabilizing or destabilizing factors within a community. I will help to answer the question, “is this a good location?”, and “why?” or “why not?”. Answering these questions is a worthwhile exercise that will help us to anticipate risk, but also give us some idea as to what to expect as a reward.
There are a lot of options when it comes to investing in real estate. Understanding the past, present and potential of a community assists buyers and sellers in making informed investment decisions. I am hoping that my insight and commentary will steer The Monopoly Project in a positive direction.
My participation in The Monopoly Project will not involve myself acting in any capacity as a real estate appraiser, including engaging in an appraisal assignment, or developing or sharing assignment results as defined by the 2018-2019 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and A.R.S. 32-3601.