Chicagoland 1031 Exchange is a member of The Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association (ADISA), the nation’s largest alternative investments association. As members of ADISA, we regularly benefit from their three pillars: information and education; networking with peers, professionals, leaders, and regulators; and legislative and regulatory advocacy. It is one way we stay current on alternative investments.

Every year, ADISA hosts an annual conference designed for industry professionals. In mid-October, we attended this conference to participate in educational sessions and meet face-to-face with over 1,000 leading professionals and exhibitors. The ADISA conference is something we look forward to every year as it keeps our knowledge current and we are able to foster relationships—all things that benefit our clients.

This year, we joined sessions that focus on the various aspects of our business. In particular, we focused on those that relate to alternative investments such as real estate limited partnerships and DSTs that we utilize for clients in 1031 exchanges. In one session, a Counselor to the US Department of the Treasury, Daniel Kowalski, discussed the 2016 tax reform. He also offered insight into what we might anticipate happening in the future from a tax standpoint.

Another session focused on evaluating real estate investments and assessing them beyond the superficial attributes of the property and its location. We discussed how other factors such as leverage utilization, structure, and capital budgets and reserves can and need to be considered.

From a networking perspective, the ADISA conference is a wonderful opportunity for us to share best practice ideas with other top advisors. We also take time to meet one-on-one with key people at various companies who have investment offerings we can offer to our clients.

A highlight of this year’s conference is keynote speaker Roger Staubach, aka “Roger the Dodger.” Roger, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer, is well known by fans for his 1971 MVP season, 6 Pro Bowls, as a 4-time NFL passing leader, and 2 Super Bowl wins. While all of us here are certainly football fans and are looking forward to hearing about Roger’s NFL insights and memories, we were also excited to learn more about his real estate business. Roger started his company, The Staubach Company, in the late 1970’s and eventually sold part of it to Jones Lange LaSalle for over $600 million. It’s safe to say there were some good insight and takeaways from him!

Each year we attend the ADISA conference—and it’s been five years and counting—we have found it to be a worthwhile investment of our time.

Between everything we learn and everyone we meet, it helps us to stay current on alternative investments and keeps us well situated to advise our clients.

We will share more specific details about the sessions we attended and the knowledge we gained. In the meantime, if you would like to talk about alternative investments or learn more about how we stay current on them, please do not hesitate to reach out.

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