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Check Out These Great Authors & Articles In
The Profit Newsletter for December 2013

How to Manage Your Real Estate Career For Maximum Profits
By David Lindahl
Investing in real estate is profitable, fun and there are times when it can be psychologically rewarding. The real reason why you are doing it though, your motivation, has a lot to do with total financial freedom and with the ability it will give you to dictate your own future away from money worries and pressures that have anything to do with finances. Read More>>

How Many Leads Do You Need to Succeed?
By Dustin Griffin
Recently I wrote an article on “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps”. You can apply these 7 Steps to market your home buying and selling business or pretty much any other business, product or service you wish to promote. In this article, I want to expand on Step #1: Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed at… Read More>>

Busy Season? Don’t Lose Your Mynd!
By Don DeRosa
I love the holidays! But they can be pretty tough to navigate, what with parties, church and synagogue events, school happenings, gift shopping, cooking, work, and everything else I’ve got to manage. Thank goodness for my iPad, because otherwise, I would forget about Grandpa Bill’s annual Christmas Luau. And that party is a hoot! Read More>>

How Many Units to Retirement?
By Bill Ham
Do you have a solid plan to have your real estate investing be your vehicle to retirement? Do you know how many units you need to own to quit that job? Not having a solid plan of action is one of the biggest mistakes I see new investors making. Most people know that they want to be full time investors and they want the passive income from real estate to replace their working income but they never really form a solid plan to get to that goal. Read More>>

Self-Directed IRAs: Investing in What You Don’t Know
By Jim Hitt
If you’ve been following our articles, then you know we have often talked about how self-directed IRAs give you the freedom to invest in what you know and understand with your retirement account. This is the first time that we will talk about investing in what you don’t know. Introducing Jenna, she is new to real estate investing and knows some very experienced real estate investors she can lean on for advice. Read More>>

Prescreening Prospects
By Ron LeGrand
In our last issue, I dealt with Locating Prospects by using a virtual assistant to call FSBO ads. I said that’s pretty much all we do here and can’t keep up with the leads they generate. This month we’ll discuss how to determine if it’s a suspect or a prospect and quickly determine which need to be called and which need to be trashed. It all begins with my Property Information Sheet… Read More>>

You Can Rely on Assessed Value
By Mark Jackson
As a trainer of appraisers for nearly 15 years, to those who hold private and public roles, one thing is certain, local assessor offices around the country make relying on their values rough on investors. However, for those of you connected to REIAComps, the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. The stuff going on in places like Clark County, NV or even your own area won’t shake you. Read More>>

A Barrel Full of Fishhooks
By Bill Cook
Last Friday, I took Michele, a new real estate investor, out knocking on sellers’ doors. Hers was a very, very special case that touched my heart. Recently, Michele lost her husband. This caused her to fall into financially troubled times. In an attempt to dig out of the I-don’t-have-any-money pit, she attended one of those “free” real estate investing dog-and-pony shows that come to town regularly. Read More>>

The Most Cost Effective Way to Find Deals
By Matt Larsen
Alright – Winter Time! Time to hunker down and do some deals before Christmas. You want to give out good gifts this year right? Well get to it then! It’s cooler out so you will be less tempted by the beach and the pool and can focus on your marketing and getting the phone to ring. So as I am writing this article in early November, I’m thinking about the deals we did in October. Read More>>

The Contractor
By Michael Vazquez
With the holidays here everyone begins to think about everything they are thankful for having in their lives. I did the same and came up with the same things everyone else thinks about like family, friends, having a roof over my head, a career I love, etc. Then I began to think about what I was thankful for having in my work life. Read More>>

Unlicensed Real Estate Investors Beware!
By Jon David Huffman, Esq.
The more time I spend with real estate investors, the more I appreciate the variety and creativity of their real estate transactions. However, one thing I hear often concerns me: unlicensed real estate investors “brokering” a transaction for a fee. In the real estate world, transactions with real estate brokers are far from unusual. This is only noteworthy with investors because many investors do not hold real estate licenses. Read More>>

Business Spotlight on Atlanta Carpet Service
By Jeff Nix
Atlanta Carpet Service is a charter business member with Atlanta REIA and a veteran provider of flooring and installation services to the real estate specific market since 1990. Company owner, Jeff Nix is also the volunteer Business Member Director with AREIA. More than your ordinary flooring store, ACS has extensive experience and exposure to the Real Estate industry… Read More>>

Marketing to Motivated Sellers in Rural Communities
By Kathy Kennebrook
Since I am the type of investor who purchases properties in multiple counties and in multiple states, I have had lots of experience buying homes and vacant land in rural communities. In fact this is a part of our business that we find to be very profitable for us. I will share with you that buying properties this way is a science in and of itself. Read More>>

Case Study – Single Person Asset Protection
By Dyches Boddiford
Rick is a single person with no immediate family. After hearing a discussion I did on stacking Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), he wanted to know what he could do as a single person. At the time he owned seven properties. Three had almost no equity. One had over $60,000 equity and the other three varied from $25,000 to $30,000 in equity. Read More>>

Year End Business Health Check Up
By Karen Bershad
Q: I received a “Refundable Security Deposit” from my tenant. How do I enter this into QuickBooks? A: This is a Liability account that you will need to payout at some later date. In your chart of accounts you should have a Liability account set up for Security Deposits Escrow – or some name that sets it apart from security deposits you paid that are owed back to you (which is an Asset). Read More>>

What Makes or Breaks a Short Sale?
By Kimberlee Frank
Many Realtors and Investors really don’t know the secrets to a successful short sale. They think just because they make an offer close to market value that their short sale should go thru! Obviously, that is not correct. The secret to a successful short sale consists of several things including 1) listing price and 2) broker price opinion/appraisal on the property. Read More>>

Why Are Banks Letting Criminals Steal Homes From Them?
By Bob Massey
The last several months have been extremely encouraging for real estate investors who are purchasing notes from banks! Every day more and more judgments in foreclosure cases are coming down in the homeowner’s favor as judges become aware of the depth of fraud the banks have committed. What we are seeing in the market is more judges making the right decisions, and the banks starting to run scared of this turning tide. Read More>>

It’s Time for a New Year and a New Plan!
By Larry Harbolt
Here it is almost the end of another year and it’s time to ask yourself again, was this a prosperous year for you or not? If you feel that you haven’t had as prosperous of a year as you might have wished for you may want to ask yourself what you could possibly do differently next year to achieve your financial goals. Read More>>

The Time Is Now – Third Quarter Real Estate Market Review
By Russ Hiner
Last year at this time, we were all wondering what was going to happen to the market. My prediction? I knew that things were looking up, and guess what? I have good news. Here is the update for Atlanta’s 10 county area: sales are up, number of participating counties is up, prices are moving up, AND, most importantly: The bottom has come and gone in Atlanta. Read More>>

How to Make a Website For Fun or Profit – Part 3
By Tony Pearl
Hello – Nice To See You Again! Here’s what you’ve learned in the first 2 parts of this article: (1) How important it is to have a website, if you’re in business in the 21st Century. (2) There are so many things you can do with it, like get more business, educate your consumers, entertain an audience, inspire your community, link it to Facebook, etc… and that’s just scratching the surface… Read More>>

The Profit Articles for December 2013 on AtlantaREIA.com

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Check Out These Great Authors & Articles In
The Profit Newsletter for October 2013

Make Sure Your Rental Property Always Has a Cash Flow Using the Correct Formula Before You Buy!
By Larry Harbolt
I spent the last weekend attending a training event put on by one of the premier real estate teachers in the country today. As I listened to her teach phenomenal content, I kept hearing her talk about the MAO formula to determine the most that anyone should pay for any property. The basic MAO formula is… “The After Repaired Value of the subject property X 70% less Repair Costs = the most you should pay for any property” when using institutional or private financing. Read More>>

Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps
By Dustin Griffin
One of the things I have learned over the years about my ongoing marketing efforts is that my results only seem to be limited by how much time, effort and creativity I put into the marketing process and not how much money I spend. The more time and energy I put into the marketing of my real estate investment business, the better my results tend to be. When I decide to slack up, get lazy and not stick to my marketing plan, my results quickly diminish as a result. Read More>>

How to Make a Website For Fun or Profit
By Tony Pearl
If you want to sell/educate/entertain/enlighten/etc. just about anything to anyone in the world these days, you can and should have a website. No matter what you do, you will be able to reach and communicate with anyone you desire with this incredible tool. But how do you make one? What do you put on it? What do you say? And how do you add those cool videos and funny pictures of cats on there that everyone loves? Yes, these are the questions I often hear people ask. And today, I’ll do my best to answer them for you! Read More>>

Using Your Self-Directed IRA to Invest in Hard-Money Lending – Part 2
By Jim Hitt
Hard money lending can be a great place for self-directed IRA or other retirement assets. There are, however, a few things to be aware of before you commit: Hard money loans can be illiquid. If you are nearing or over age 70, pay attention to your required minimum distributions. You must make these RMDs, even if the borrower pays the loan late. You may want to earmark RMD money to come from another source besides the hard money lending part of your portfolio. Read More>>

Getting Realtors to Work For You Bringing You Even More Sellers and Buyers For Your Real Estate Investing Business
By Kathy Kennebrook
Whether you are a serious investor or you’re just getting started in the real estate investing business, you need to have at least one Realtor on your “dream team”. There are many ways a Realtor can help you in your business, both on the buying and the selling side and they can play an integral role in building your business. Read More>>

What Is Securitization and Why Is It Fraudulent? Part 2
By Bob Massey
In last month’s issue, I began to explain exactly what securitization is and why it is fraudulent. For several years the mortgage banks in this country were flat-out making up transactions and trusts to cover for the fact that they were pocketing their investors’ money. But that wasn’t enough for them. They bundled up the loans, intentionally loaded them with toxic mortgages to increase their rate of return, and sold them to themselves for a “profit.” Read More>>

How to Talk to Sellers and Buyers If You’re Just Getting Started in Real Estate
By Matt Larsen
OK! So you have decided you want to get into real estate investing and you have gone to some real estate seminars and classes and read some books. Great! You have learned that the next step is to put out some marketing to get leads coming in, like people that want to sell their house, and hopefully at a discount. So you have started doing one or more of the following… Read More>>

To Blog or Not to Blog?
By Don DeRosa
Do you have a blog? Have you ever thought about starting one? For a while there, you could be shunned if you didn’t have a blog. Every Tom, Dick, and Alice had a blog. Heck, even my second cousin Flora, the cat lady, had a blog. All God’s children had a blog! Thankfully, the hype has subsided. But the potential benefits of blogs – and pitfalls – are still there. Read More>>

5 Tips to Getting Your Next Deal Funded Creatively!
By Bill Ham
Funding in the real estate business can be one of the biggest barriers to entry and one of the biggest headaches! Here are some tips to help get your next deal funded. Remember that the only thing that sellers really care about is solving their problems. Make your offers a solution to their problems. Do your homework on the seller and the property. Find out why they are selling and if the property is distressed in any way. Make an offer that solves the seller’s problems. Read More>>

Closing Short Sales Back to Back While the Money Stacks!
By Kimberlee Frank
I was just up speaking for Atlanta REIA when a member asked me “isn’t closing short sales back to back illegal?” My answer was NO! He asked me, when did that change? It has never changed. He just didn’t ask the right questions to the right Attorney or Title Company. Closing a short sale back to back can only be done with full disclosure which I always do on my paperwork to the short sale lender and to the “C” Buyer. Read More>>

Dinner With The Millionaire Next Door
By Bill Cook
Have you ever made a TOTAL fool of yourself – when you were least expecting to? Read on, and learn how I stepped square in the middle of it! Last night, one of my lifelong friends – Mary Ann Doering – invited Kim and me over to a small dinner party she was having for her neighbors. Mary Ann is a wordsmith and the woman who proofs my columns. Read More>>

Contractor’s Liens – Part 1
By Jon David Huffman, Esq.
In this article, I begin a two-part discussion about contractor’s liens. Under Georgia law, these liens are called mechanic’s and materialmen’s liens. I call them contractor’s liens for simplicity because these liens apply to a broad array of contractors including laborers, professionals and traditional subcontractors. Read More>>

How to Get Your First Check, Step-by-Step
By Ron LeGrand
Several members have asked me to lay out the steps required to get your first check with a detailed description of each. That’s exactly what you’ll get, but it’ll take several editions to get it done. You may want to copy these lessons and build your own manual as we go. Read More>>

Atlanta REIA Welcomes FirstCall Claims!
By Jeff Nix
New to the Atlanta REIA vendor family of services, FirstCall Claims is one of the largest and most experienced public adjusting firms in the Southeast, representing your best interests in the insurance claims process. FirstCall Claims exists to ensure that every last cent you are entitled to ends up in your pocket. Most people don’t realize that there are three types of insurance adjusters; only one of which has your best interests at heart. Read More>>

Working Smart: Making $5,000 From Selling Houses You Never See!
By Russ Hiner
Have you ever heard the saying, “Work smart, not hard”? It’s one of my personal favorites, and I’m here as a coach to show you how you can do it. I’m guessing that when you think about buying a property, you’re assuming a lot of leg work: traveling to the property, inspecting it, doing the due diligence, and checking your numbers. Read More>>

Changing with the Times
By Michael Vazquez
At the beginning of the year most people only considered a deal if it was at 65% loan to value (LTV) including repairs. As the year continued 70% LTV was acceptable and then 75% LTV. Today, there are investors buying properties as high as 80% LTV. The real estate market has changed and will continue to do so. In some neighborhoods new sales are driving ARV up daily. Do not get left behind using old numbers. If you have not changed, now is the time. Read More>>

Do You Need Help With QuickBooks?
By Karen Bershad
Q: I am having difficulty reconciling my bank account. I have reviewed each entry and have found that several of my deposits do not match the amount the bank has for them. How do I see all my detail on each deposit without clicking on each one to open it? Read More>>

From Top Secret Clearance to Minimum Wage at Krystal
By Dyches Boddiford
Major Zane Purdy’s life crumbled overnight… Maj. Zane Purdy was making over $100,000 a year employed by defense contracting company, General Dynamics, when his identity was stolen and sold to an identity theft and tax fraud ring. Now, Purdy makes $7.25 an hour at a Krystal to support his wife and two children. Read More>>

The Profit Articles for October 2013 on AtlantaREIA.com

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Download The Profit September 2013

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Check Out These Great Authors & Articles In
The Profit Newsletter for September 2013

Real Estate Investor Profits $68,000 Because of Her Mentor!
By Kimberlee Frank
Don’t Question Having a Mentor… JUST HAVE ONE! I remember when I decided to quit my job as a legal secretary and become a millionaire in real estate! I started with Carleton Sheets’ course. Once it arrived, I was to read it and take action. Yeah, right! I found that between my J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) and taking care of my children, I was busy and distracted, so the course sat on my shelf collecting dust. About 6 months later… Read More>>

Marketing to Owners of Vacant Houses
By Dustin Griffin
Last month’s article was on “Driving for Dollars and Farming with Flyers”. As you are out driving neighborhoods in search of houses to buy, you will soon discover that there are many vacant houses out there. Some of these houses are obviously for sale or rent as indicated by a sign in the yard, but many are not so obvious. These houses are just sitting empty, often deteriorating, waiting for someone like you to come along and buy them. Many of these houses appear to have been abandoned and unkept. Read More>>

How to Get a FREE Phone Number to Use in Your Business – Part 2
By Tony Pearl
Here’s What We’re Going to Cover in THIS Article: A quick & easy shortcut to get to your GV options. This makes it really easy. A few secrets. You’ll need these. How to get SEVERAL Google Voice Numbers. Use ‘em for home or office! Some limitations (and how to overcome them). And finally… How to get a FREE home phone LINE (and number). Yes, it’s true! Read More>>

Coach’s Response: What Are Your Four Answers?
By Russ Hiner
As the market improves, I have more and more people coming to me for coaching. I am excited about this because it means that you are taking responsibility for your success. You are reading my articles, and you are talking with me to achieve what you want in your life. Read More>>

7 Deadly Mistakes You Can Avoid – Part 3
By Ron LeGrand
There’s an old saying that goes “Even a turtle won’t get anywhere until he sticks his neck out.” Another old saying (that I made up) is “You’re never going to get rich sitting on your behind and waiting for it to come to you.” You have to make it happen. You have to get things started. You have to put the wheels in motion. And if they get stopped, guess who has to get them started again. You guessed right. Read More>>

What Is Securitization and Why Is It Fraudulent? Part 1
By Bob Massey
By now you have heard in the news about robo-signing, MERS, etc. and how the economy was brought down by Mortgage Backed Securities. But what, specifically, does that mean and how does it affect us as homeowners and real estate investors? As can be expected, the greatest financial fraud every pulled over in the history of the world began with taking away responsibility from banks and brokers… Read More>>

Case Study: Owner Carryback Financing
By Dyches Boddiford
With the real estate markets slowing in many areas of the country, we are seeing a resurgence of owner carryback financing. Most of you are aware of the basics of such financing, but you may not have been exposed to some of the more creative approaches. Read More>>

What is Creative Deal Structuring and Financing?
By Bill Cook
I’ve written a weekly real estate investing newspaper column for more than ten years. During this time, we’ve looked at all kinds of creative deal structures and financing…but what exactly are these? The easiest way to tell you what creative deal structuring is, is to tell you what it’s NOT. It’s not finding a house to buy at fair market value and then going to an institutional lender to get a traditional mortgage. Read More>>

Too-Cool Tools: Embracing Tomorrow
By Don DeRosa
Remember last month, when I talked about how amazing it is that one little smartphone or tablet can do so many useful things? Well, not everyone has much use for smartphones. Take my Uncle Milt: He’s convinced that true happiness lies in a phone that’s just a phone. And he’s pretty sure iPads are, well, evil. Every time I see him, he grumbles about the latest new-fangled technology. Bad enough they invented the fax machine, he says… Read More>>

Always Do A Little Thinking Before Making Every Offer
By Larry Harbolt
If I could wave a magic wand and re-live my early real estate investing career from the beginning, I think I would first try to learn more about what seller’s needs and thoughts are. I would also want to better understand the thoughts and logic that run through a seller’s mind when they are motivated and want to sell their house. Read More>>

How to Find Motivated Sellers with Almost No Money
By Kathy Kennebrook
You can locate motivated sellers even if you have little or no money to work with. Way back in the early days of my business I used some very inexpensive techniques to locate very motivated sellers, since we only had a limited budget to work with like many people who are just starting out in the real estate business. Read More>>

Got Funding? Get Creative!
By Bill Ham
Funding can be one of the largest barriers to entry in the real estate business. I remember the very first time I walked into a lenders office and tried to discuss funding for my first apartment complex I wanted to buy. My experience (or lack of) was immediately brought to my attention not to mention my complete lack of liquid assets (NO CASH!) Read More>>

Using Your Self-Directed IRA to Invest in Hard-Money Lending – Part 1
By Jim Hitt
When a real estate developer runs into a snag, and needs additional money to complete a project, or he wants a shorter-term loan of, say, six months to six years, he frequently turns to the “hard-money” market. In a nutshell, these are lenders who are looking to get a decent return on their money, with a margin of safety. They usually do this by holding a lien on the property, or on another property the borrower owns, in a practice called “cross-collateralization.” Read More>>

How to Talk to Sellers and Buyers If You’re Just Getting Started in Real Estate
By Courtney Larsen
If someone would have told me one year ago that I would be a full time real estate investor together with my husband and flipping houses for a living, I would have laughed at them! To be totally honest, real estate was never a passion of mine and I hadn’t given it much thought until I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” That got the wheels turning and when Matt (the hubby) discovered the niche of real estate we now love best… Wholesaling… Read More>>

Terminating Contracts
By Michael Vazquez
As investors, we all hope and wish that all of our contracts go smoothly. As much as we hate to admit it, the truth is that some things are out of our control. Appraisals, hidden renovation cost, weather and financing are just a few examples of what we have little to no control over. How one handles these obstacles is going to be what differentiates you from all the other real estate investors. Read More>>

Some Easy Real Estate Markets Around Atlanta
By Mark Jackson
Though recent signs have pointed to a lessening of the ongoing housing inventory crunch, many markets in the Atlanta metro area are still experiencing shortages of homes for sale. With consistent reports of inventory overall declining in the metro area, we found some bright spots. Using REIAComps helps to quickly see the number of sales and the best prices to buy year over year. Read More>>

Answers to Your QuickBooks Queries
By Karen Bershad
Q: I need to segment my balance sheet AND income statement into three departments (classes). Which version of QuickBooks can provide me with this capability? A: The lowest edition you can use to have classes on both the balance sheet and the income statement is the QuickBooks Premier. Read More>>

Atlanta REIA Welcomes the Sign Mafia!
By Jeff Nix
If you’ve been around the real estate investing community for a while, you already know the Sign Mafia. They have been serving our community of interest since 2002. They are best known for their bandit signs and property marketing packages. What are bandit signs? They are any signage placed in highly visible spots, designed to generate leads for buyers and sellers. Read More>>

The Profit Articles for September 2013 on AtlantaREIA.com