Don’t be fooled: all that glitters isn’t gold. There are a large number of unfinished builder house sand small subdivisions where the builder ran out of money before they finished the project. Many of these were built by reputable builders who did everything right and just got caught in a sinking economy. They may have had a construction loan with a bank that failed. Though no fault of their own, they were unable to finish their projects. They may have been unable to sell their other homes, leaving them short of the money to finish other projects. Read More→

The press is full of gloom and doom about real estate prices depending on which “report” you read. Prices have hit bottom.  Prices will fall another 10%. Prices will fall another 3%. The headlines keep coming. Different parts of the country are reacting to the current conditions in different ways. Prices are very sensitive to supply and demand. Some parts of the country have experienced substantial price reductions, while others have not.  Even within a single market area, prices will vary.  So how do you figure out what a property is worth in today’s market?

A number of experienced investors are sitting on the sidelines right now. They are sitting for a variety of reasons. One of the issues is value.  They have seen values erode and are concerned that the values will continue to erode.   How do you determine value in a static to falling market? “Very Carefully”. Read More→

Did you know that from 2007 to 2009, property values declined by 50 percent in the Atlanta metro area alone? Or, during that same period in Atlanta metro, home assessed values declined by 4 percent? According to a five part series in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 7 out of 10 properties are over assessed. Tax assessment data is coming out over the next several months, and for many, it will be a nasty surprise. Ignoring the possibilities of over assessment could be costly.  Property taxes are calculated by using the “assessed valuation”, which represents 40 percent of “fair market value”. This number is then multiplied by the “millage rate”. Millage rate is a number calculated by the tax commissioner’s office, in conjunction with the annual budget per the County Commissioners.  The assessors do not determine the “millage rate”, as commonly believed.

When purchasing a property for rental, it is important to determine the tax assessor’s valuation. If it is low, chances are high that your property taxes will also be high. I recently spoke with an investor friend who discovered that the Property taxes on an anticipated rental property were unreasonably low.   The prior owner had been in the property for a number of years and had old age exemptions as well. My friend figured out that the taxes would go up over $200 per month. What a surprise my friend would have had if he had not done his research! Read More→

One of the challenges of working with Realtors is making sure that we are on the same page. Most Realtors are in the business of selling homes to retail end user buyers. This type of Realtor generally is not experienced in working with investors and may have been told by other agents or their broker not to bother with investors as we are to much trouble. Other agents are investor friendly and generate a large percent of their business through investors. These folks can be an asset to our business. Read More→