Archive for July, 2011

Cash Cow Commercial Real Estate Group
“How to Find Private Money Lenders” (Part 3)
Get an Appointment with a Lender in Minutes

Steve BrownThis month’s Cash Cow Commercial Group Meeting, on Thursday, July 28th at 11:30 AM, is Part 3 of a 7 part series on “How to Find Private Money” to fund your commercial and residential real estate deals.In Part 1, Steve Brown covered how to discover private lender leads a the courthouse. In Part 2, he covered how to structure your deal before you present it to your potential lender. In Part 3 this month, Steve is going to show you how to talk with people you meet, pre-screen them quickly and how to talk to them for a minute or two to get an appointment with them to talk about your deal and getting the money. Steve is going to give you a script and show you how he used his business cards to generate lender interest and get appointments. If you need private money to fund your deals, this is yet another excellent meeting that you don’t want to miss!

Atlanta REIA Commercial Real Estate GroupThe Cash Cow Commercial Real Estate Group is a new educational and networking subgroup led by Steve Brown for new, intermediate and advanced investors with a serious interest in purchasing commercial real estate. The group meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at 11:30 AM at 5 Seasons Brewing located at 5600 Roswell Rd (map) just prior to the Haves & Wants Meeting. Read more→

What's Happening at Atlanta REIAAtlanta REIA Members and Guests like to get together often to eat, drink, learn, network and have fun and this week is no exception! This week we have many educational and networking special interest groups that take place at lunch or dinner time. Come out and join us and let us help you take you real estate investing to the next level and beyond! Read More→

Beginning Investors Group (BIG)Have you been a “real estate investor” for several months or even years without doing your first deal? What is holding you back? Fear? Lack of money? Credit Problems? Lack of Focus? Are you afraid you will screw it all up? If so, there is a new investor group for you… “BIG”, the Beginning Investor Group! This group focuses on the defeat of fears, or act in spite of them to do that very important first deal.  We want to help you break through those mental barriers. Inspire you to act. Crystallize your focus.

BIG meets once a month, the fourth Wednesday of each month and our first meeting is on Wednesday, July 27th at 6:30 PM at 5 Seasons Brewing in The Prado in Sandy Springs. We will have experienced local investors speaking on relevant topics to help unlock that mental block. We will also have mentors that can take you by the hand and walk you through that first deal. Read More→

Gordon CattsJust a quick reminder to join us at Cherokee Cattle Company TONIGHT at 6:30 for the West Meeting of Atlanta REIA! We are in for a really special treat with our guest speaker Gordon Catts, who has absolutely a wealth of knowledge about the real estate investing business. He has been investing in Atlanta real estate for many, many years, and is a HUGE part of the strong backbone of our ATLANTA REIA. He will speaking on “How to Determine Property Values In Today’s Market”. Do you count the foreclosures when determining comps? How far back do you go to pull the comps? What services are available out there, both free and paid, that are reliable sources for comps? He’ll be answering these questions and more tonight! Think we can learn something from him? I know I’ll be there with pen and paper, taking all the notes I can! This is not to be missed! Click here for more details. Read More→

How to Appeal Your Property Taxes

Posted on July 25, 2011 by

Tax Bill - Property TaxesIf you own real estate in Georgia, then you probably just received an Annual Notice of Assessment from your county’s Tax Assessors Office.

If you are like most property owners, you have four basic questions:  1) What is the Tax Assessors Office?  2) What is an Annual Notice of Assessment?  3) How are property taxes determined?  4) Can I get my property taxes lowered?

The Tax Assessors Office is misnamed!  It should be called the Property Appraisers Office – ‘cause that’s what they do.  They determine a property’s fair market value (FMV).  They don’t set tax rates.  Who sets your tax rates?  YOU DO!  Elected officials – the folks YOU elect – set YOUR tax rates.  Think your taxes are too high?  Blame your elected officials, not the Assessors Office! Read More→

“Determining Property Values in Today’s Market” with Gordon Catts

Gordon CattsDo you know how to determine accurate property values in today’s market? If you are getting ready to buy a property, do you know what it’s worth? There seems to be a lot of confusion on what constitutes a “comp” or comparable. With short sales and foreclosed properties making a large impact on current market values, it’s critical to know have to evaluate property values so you can avoid paying too much in this buyers’ market.

At this month’s Atlanta REIA West Meeting on Monday, July 25th at 6:30 PM at the Cherokee Cattle Company located at 2710 Canton Road in Marietta, Gordon Catts will be discussing what constitutes a comp, how to quickly determine a property’s value as well as providing valuable resources to help you find comparables. We will be discussing… Read More→

Atlanta REIA Business Members: Reserve a FREE Vendor Table at Our August 1st Main Meeting!

Hello Atlanta REIA Business Members!

Atlanta Perimeter Hotel and SuitesI wanted to personally invite you to attend and participate in our upcoming Atlanta REIA Main Monthly Meeting on August 1st at the Atlanta Perimeter Hotel & Suites (formerly the W Hotel Perimeter) located at 111 Perimeter Center West. As an Atlanta REIA Business Member, you can participate in our Main Meeting in several different ways:

  1. Vendor Tables. We are giving away ten (10) vendor tables at NO CHARGE if you pre-register by Midnight on Friday, July 29th. These tables are being given away for FREE this month to Atlanta REIA Business Members on a first come, first serve basis. DON’T WAIT until Friday to register since these 10 tables will be gone by then! REGISTER NOW at and use coupon code FREETABLEto RSVP for your vendor table at no charge this month!
    Register Now!
    PLEASE NOTE: This FREE Offer is for Atlanta REIA Business Members Only.
  2. Read More→

Buying Ugly Houses & Making Them Pretty Again at Rehabbing 101 Workshop

Attention New & “New Again” Real Estate Investors,

Rehabbing 101 WorkshopThis Saturday, July 23rd, is our next installment in the Atlanta REIA 101 Real Estate Investor Training Series where local and national real estate experts teach you the core fundamental strategies and techniques you need to know to successfully invest in many of the different real estate investing profit centers that we all want to learn more about.

Pete YoungsThis Saturday, July 23rd, local and national renovation expert, “Mr Rehab”, Pete Youngs, is teaching the Atlanta REIA Rehabbing 101 Workshop for all those of you interested in buying ugly houses, making them pretty again and selling them for a reasonable profit or holding them for long term cash flow and appreciation. Of all the different types of real estate investing, rehabbing is perhaps one of the most straight forward, easy-to-understand and most emotionally and financially rewarding investment strategies. Anyone can do it with or without a lot of previous experience. The concept is simple…

  • Find and purchase an ugly house in need of repair for far less than market value due to its as-is condition with cash, private money, hard money or credit.
  • Fix up the house keeping the quality of the repairs high and the cost of the repairs low so you can quickly find a new tenant or buyer.
  • Quickly sell or rent your newly renovated property for maximum profit and/or long term cash flow and other benefits.
  • Repeat the process as often as you like.

Join us this weekend to learn how to do this and much more. Register now!

Atlanta REIA Gold Members can register now for ONLY $10, Silver Members for $15 and Guests for $20.

Rehabbing 101 Workshop
July 23rd at 9AM at 1960 Skylar Hill Dr, Ste D, Buford, GA

Register Now!

Click here to learn more about the jam-packed Rehabbing 101 Workshop.

Thank you for paying my mortgage... Mr. LandlordThe number of people who are terrified of owning rental property and managing tenants is amazing.  This unfounded fear is the stopping block that prevents MANY would-be millionaires from ever becoming wealthy.

When Kim and I were in our early thirties, our goal was to retire in our fifties.  Not just retire, but to retire with means…enough means to do what we wanted, when we wanted, where we wanted.

At the time – and this is true for most Americans who are in their thirties and forties – our chances of becoming wealthy and retiring early were zero to nil. Read More→

What's Happening at Atlanta REIAEven though we have postponed a few event this week until next month, like the What’s Hot and Business Opportunity Webcast and Atlanta REIA North Meeting, there is still plenty going on this week at Atlanta REIA. The Movers & Shakes Lunch Meeting is on Monday, July 18th with John Adams on his Top 10 Landlording Tips. Haves & Wants is on Thursday, July 21st for investors looking to buy or sell their deals and promote their services. And Saturday, July 23rd, Mr. Rehab himself, Pete Youngs, is going to spend a day teaching us how to get started investing in “fixer upper” properties at the Rehabbing 101 Workshop. We look forward to seeing you and one of these exciting events soon! Read More→

Real Estate Investing Ain't All Wine and RosesWant to see me go off like a bottle rocket?  Just let ONE of those real estate investing infomercials pop up on the TV.  You know the ones: fancy cars, expensive mansions, beach scenes in Hawaii…with the TV “investor” claiming: All this can be yours if you’ll just buy my super-secret system. Oh, just shoot me dead!!!

Folks, those poop-filled infomercials aren’t real.  What is real?  Let me take you through a typical day of real estate investing. Read More→

From THE PAPER SOURCE JOURNAL, July, 2011:

Barney Frank, Chris Dodd & Barak ObamaThe Federal Reserve, which received sweeping new authority under the Obama regulatory reauthorization, wants to effectively eliminate seller-held (a.k.a. purchase money) mortgages. It will do this by enacting a rule for the Dodd-Frank Act prohibiting property sellers from taking back a mortgage unless the buyer essentially can qualify for conventional financing! What’s more, Ma and Pa Homeowner, who create 95% of seller-held mortgages, won’t be able to qualify buyers under the same underwriting standards that banks are required to perform, and therefore the cash flow notes won’t be created.

If this is enacted it also will remove access to housing for millions of Americans, because seller “financing” is the only way people who can’t qualify for conventional loans can buy a house. Moreover, it would allow a buyer a three year right of rescission (they can cancel the sale) if the seller did not properly qualify them. The right of rescission also applies to anyone who buys the note. We have precious little time to try to stop this. Read More→