Archive for December, 2013

Mon, Jan 6th at 5:00 PM @ Crowne Plaza Ravinia, Atlanta
The Atlanta REIA Main Meeting
Make 2014 Your Best Financial Year Yet!
with Gary Johnston on Jan 6th

Atlanta REIA Members Can Attend at No Charge.
Guests Can RSVP Online Now for $20 or Pay $25 at the Door.

Gary JohnstonOn Monday, January 6th financial freedom expert, Gary Johnston, will present “2014 – Your Best Financial Year Yet!” Start the New Year off right by clarifying your financial goals and learning the tools and strategies you need for 2014 to be your best financial year yet. This is the year for you to take major steps towards being financially free!

Gary has been an active investor in real estate and notes for over 20 years. He was with Hewlett-Packard for 16 years as director of research and development in the LaserJet business unit before leaving the rat race at age 38. One of Gary’s early mentors, Norbert Volny, taught him that no one gets rich on a W-2; you have to make your money work harder than you do.

You won’t want to miss Gary’s presentation. Quit making excuses and take responsibility for your financial life. Attend the upcoming meeting and make 2014 your best financial year yet!

Here’s what a few real estate investors have to say about Gary Johnston…

“What a way to kick-off the Year!! Gary was very methodical on goal setting step by step and the thought process behind on what fuels our engines.” “ – Joe L.

“Great actionable information without ANY hype or sales pitches. I have seen Gary speak a couple times now, I will always make time to see him. Definitively be back for more!” “ – George E.

“First meeting…loved it! I am encouraged and excited about the new year!” “ – Eileen

“Gary’s message is straightforward, honest, and if you follow it you will experience positive difference in your life!” “ – Tom B.

“Gary was very interesting and knowledgeable! I enjoyed listening to him and he had good knowledge to share with the group.” “ – Holly M.

Come join Gary and the rest of us at the Atlanta REIA Meeting on Monday, January 6th at 5PM at the at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel located at 4355 Ashford Dunwoody Road in Atlanta, GA and make 2014 your best financial year yet!

Mon, Jan 6th at 3:00 PM @Total Wine & More Perimeter
The Meeting Before the Meeting
“How to Profit from Pre-Foreclosures”
with Bob Massey

Bob MasseyOn Monday, January 6th at 3:00 PM at Total Wine & More located at 124 Perimeter Center W (see map), Bob Massey, a local real estate investor, mentor, author and pre-foreclosure expert, is giving a presentation that you don’t want to miss. He’s going to be talking about the various strategies you can use for pre-foreclosure deals. Not only is he going to be discussing short sales, he’s going to be teaching you about how to bypass short sales altogether by buying the defaulted note. This eliminates all of the restrictions of short sales! In fact, you can legally give your seller money if you’re successful!

By buying the note you open up many new ways to make way more money from the deal. If you are currently working short sales or throwing away your short sale leads, Bob is going to show why you might be sitting on a goldmine without even knowing it. If you know anyone that is 90 days behind on their home loan, you NEED to be at this meeting! Bob will show you how the banks have defrauded almost everyone who took out a mortgage in the last 15 years and how YOU may be able to profit from it. There is NO CHARGE to attend this meeting, so come join us to learn more!

Mon, Jan 6th at 9:30 PM @ Tilted Kilt Perimeter
The Meeting After the Meeting
Late Night Networking
For Real Estate Investors

Tilted KiltAfter the conclusion of the Main Meeting, we will be reconvening at the Tilted Kilt Perimeter located at 1155-B Mount Vernon Highway in Atlanta for the “Meeting after the Meeting”. The Tilted Kilt will be offering half price appetizers as well as food and drink specials for our members and guests. Come eat, drink, network and have fun with like minded real estate investors and other professionals late into the night!

*Meeting Agenda
3:00 pm: Meeting Before the Meeting at Total Wines & More
5:00 pm: Vendor Trade Show & Networking
6:00 pm: Announcements & Mini-Topics
6:30 pm: Haves & Wants Speed Marketing Session
7:00 pm: Networking Break
7:20 pm: Vendor Door Prizes & Giveaways
7:30 pm: Your Best Year Ever with Gary Johnston
9:30 pm: Late Nite Networking at the Tilted Kilt Perimeter!

*Please Note: Meeting agenda is subject to change.

Participating Vendors & Sponsors

Each and every month, for the duration of our meeting, we have a Vendor Trade Show in which you can come out and meet many of our participating business members who help sponsor our meeting. Thanks again sponsors!

Networth Realty of Atlanta, LLCNetworth Realty of Atlanta, LLC – A licensed, full-service residential wholesale brokerage that specializes in finding quality wholesale properties and making them available to you. Read More>>

Halperin Lyman, LLCHalperin Lyman, LLC – A transactional real property law firm devoted to providing the full spectrum of non-litigation related real estate legal and consulting services to its clientele. Read More>>

Goldmine Properties, Inc.Goldmine Properties, Inc. – As Atlanta’s first full service real estate wholesaler, we offer wholesale property at 65% loan to value, with financing available. Purchase price and repairs are 65% of certified after repaired appraisal. Read More>>

The Small Business AdvisorThe Small Business Advisor – A full service small business consulting firm specializing in QuickBooks with a wide variety of specialized services, trainings and products for small businesses. Read More>>

American IRAAmerican IRA – The American IRA mission is to provide the highest level of customer service in the self-directed retirement industry.
Read More>>

Craftbuilt, Inc.Craftbuilt, Inc. – We are a Metro Atlanta design-build construction firm specializing in whole-structure renovations, restorations, and new construction. No matter what the situation, we are up to the challenge! Read More>>

Advanta IRA AdministrationAdvanta IRA Administration – With the help of your local Advanta IRA staff, use your IRA to invest in assets you know, understand and control, such as real estate, notes & mortgages, private placements, and much more! Read More>>

Solutions Realty NetworkSolutions Realty Network – Providing expert property management and investment services since 2003. You invest and we take care of the rest! We’re the solution to all your real estate needs. Read More>>

Angel Oak FundingAngel Oak Funding – A direct hard money lender headquartered in Atlanta. We provide renovation/construction loans for investors and or builders to purchase and renovate residential properties. Read More>>

Lima One Capital, LLCLima One Capital, LLC – A fully capitalized, direct lender for residential real estate investors and homebuilders. We are fully capitalized and our team prides itself on closing loans quickly for our clients. Read More>>

Pete's Friendly Home InspectionsPete’s Friendly Home Inspections, LLC. – Pete’s provides home inspections, radon monitoring, gas/water/septic tests, checks pools/sprinklers and any other type of inspection needed to get you that next home! Read More>>

CRS DataCRS Data – We offer comps from the MLS & FSBO’s, custom searches, property tax records, interactive maps, sales & mortgage info, real estate valuations, mailing lists & more. Read More>>

Atlanta Carpet ServicesAtlanta Carpet Services, Inc. – Providing carpet, wood, vinyl, and tile, ACS is dedicated to every aspect of your floor covering needs from initial consultation to the sale and follow-up services. Read More>>

Fuller Center for Housing of Greater AtlantaFuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta – A faith-driven, Christ-centered, non-profit organization dedicated to providing adequate shelter for people in need in the Greater Atlanta area. Read More>>

House4CashBuyers.comHouse4CashBuyers.com – Underwater? Behind on Payments? Repairs Needed? No matter what the issue is we can help! We can buy your house as-is for cash. We can also pay most of the closing costs, and we typically close fast!

  • Bowen’s Specialized Services
  • Platinum Key Management, Inc (Rock Shukoor)
  • RCD Renovations
  • Bradley White

Also, special thanks to all of our volunteers that help make our meetings and networking events possible!

See Atlanta REIA Events Calendar for More Events!

Duncan Wierman’s Online Lead Finder
Version 2.8 Just Released (12/30/2013)

Duncan Wierman's Online Lead Finder SoftwarePLEASE NOTE: If you are an Atlanta REIA Member you can download the software for free by logging in to the Atlanta REIA Members Only Website and navigating to the Members Only Downloads & Bonuses. If you are a Gold Member, follow the instructions in the ReadMe.pdf file on how to activate the Unlimited Gold Edition at NO CHARGE (a $500 value!).

“Discover the Software Tool That Tirelessly Works for You To Find HOT Leads and Create Massive Profits!”

Online Lead Finder SoftwareWe all know that you can’t do business without leads that you can turn into suspects, prospects, and paying customers. You need lots of leads to work in order to generate your sales, whether it’s real estate, Internet marketing, affiliate marketing, eBay, any other business.

Online Lead Finder provides leads fast! Here’s why you should use this software:

  • Cragislist, BackPage, Ebay Lead Search
  • Yellow Pages Scraper
  • Automated Twitter Marketing
  • Twitter Trends Demand Traffic
  • Facebook Lead Serve
  • Social Lead Detective
  • Google Maps Extractor
  • Yahoo Auto Answer Bot
  • Social Mail Hacker
  • Linked Lead Connect
  • Email Gunner

Read More→

Download The Profit Newsletter for January 2014 (PDF)
The January 2014 Edition of
The Profit is Available for Download!

The Profit - January 2014 - High Quality PDFThe January 2014 Edition of The Profit Newsletter is available for download just in time for our Atlanta REIA Main Meeting on January 6th. You can download The Profit Newsletter as a High Quality PDF or Low Res PDF for slower devices. The Profit is the official newsletter of the Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance and is a digital, interactive newsletter for new and seasoned real estate investors delivered as an Adobe PDF file to read on your PC, Mac, Smart Phone, iPad or other mobile ready devices with a PDF reader. Many of the articles and ads in The Profit contain many hyperlinks you can click or tap to visit websites, watch videos, listen to audios, download content, send emails, comment on articles, share socially and much more! The high res version of The Profit is “print ready” for those who want to print the newsletter on their home or business printer. Also, be sure to Subscribe to The Profit Here so you don’t miss a single monthly issue.

Download The Profit Now!
See The Profit Archives for our past editions.

Read More→

This past summer, we hired a college bound student to help with things on our farm.  She is a great young lady that wants to be a veterinarian.  It will be a financial challenge for her to find a way to pay for the first four years, let alone the graduate program but she is doing everything she can to figure out a way to obtain her dream.  She even joined the National Guard to help pay for college. 

She didn’t have a car so she went car shopping shortly after starting work for us.  I expected that she would find a small, fuel efficient car for her long trips to college.  I was shocked when she showed up with a shiny crew cab four wheel drive pickup.  I wished she would have asked for some advice on good vehicles that would have met her needs and provided cheap reliable transportation.  She just didn’t know.  That is true for all of us.  There are usually things that we don’t know that can hurt us financially.  We just don’t know what we don’t know.

If we want to achieve the financial future we desire, we should pay attention to the habits of the folks that have achieved financial success.  They leave clues that we can learn from.   We can learn a lot from them if we are willing watch and learn.  Growing up I was greatly influenced by a man named Norbert Volny.   I started working for Volny at about age thirteen and while we worked on the various projects, he would pour words of wisdom into my life.  One of his favorite sayings was, “You will never get rich on a W-2.”  Read More→

Who and What is Your Market?

Posted on December 30, 2013 by

Motivated SellerIn last month’s article we discussed Step #1 of “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps” which was to “Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed”. This month we’re going to cover Step #2 which is to Determine Your Market”.

A Market (noun) is defined as “a place or area where products and services are bought and sold”. Your market consists of the area where you do business, the products and services you buy and sell as well as the buyers and sellers of your products and services. To Market (verb) means “to promote products and/or services” to your Market (noun).

So in Step #2, you need to determine the market area where you want to do business, what products and services you will offer, and who the buyers and sellers of your products and services will be.

Like last month’s article, we’re going to use Wholesaling as our chosen real estate investing strategy to illustrate how to determine your market.

Wholesaling is the business of locating houses (usually the house and/or owner is distressed), putting them under contract for a very low price and quickly selling or assigning (quick turning) them to other investors well below retail price. Wholesaling is the art of finding bargain properties and passing them along to bargain hunters at bargain prices. Read More→

Constructing Offers

Posted on December 30, 2013 by

Last month, we discussed Prescreening Prospects, so this month we’re going to talk about constructing offers to sellers.

Once the seller is called by either you or your virtual assistant using our property information sheet, the prospects will come at you in one of four categories: 

  1. they’ll be free and clear
  2. there’ll be a mortgage with lots of equity
  3. there’ll be a mortgage with a small amount of equity, or
  4. they’ll be over-leveraged

All prospects will fall into one of these categories.

So, now our job is to look at the property information sheet and figure out what to do next after we receive this information.  In this lesson, I will go through each of these and provide the script for you to make the call with the information sheet in your hand.

Let’s start with free and clear houses.  You’ll know they’re free and clear because the seller will tell you that when you ask, “How much do you owe?” Once you have this information, you have a prospect that will either give you a “yes” answer or a “no” answer to the owner financing question on the right side of the property information sheet.  If it’s a yes answer, it’s a prospect.  If it’s a no answer, it’s a suspect.  If the seller will not take their equity in monthly installments, this is a dead deal unless they answer yes to the lease purchase question.  If they do say yes to monthly installments, it’s now just a matter of calling them and verifying the facts you have on the property information sheets, assuming you weren’t the first to talk to them in collecting the information.  When you make that call, there’s a script you can use to determine which of the two categories they fall into: Read More→

Selling an investment property can be a very challenging process. One of the preliminary considerations in selling the property is what price you should ask. Evaluating the prices of comparable houses in the neighborhood may sometimes solve this problem. However, for those of you connected to REIAComps , the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. Using REIAComps to investigate the prices of houses, which are comparable to your deal, that have recently been sold will provide you a solid value to set the sales price.

Now there are several methods by which you can discover prices of comparable houses in your market area. The first, most costly, but probably reliable method is by hiring a professional home appraiser to conduct an appraisal of the property. Professional appraisers typically evaluate your home and similar homes in the same geographic area and provide you with a report stating the price of your house and comparing its features with other houses that have recently sold in the area. The challenge is these appraised values don’t typically represent the savvy needed for an investor like you. You need not just what a home might sell for, but what you should acquire the dwelling for in the first place. You always want to “make your profit when you buy”.  Read More→

What’s New in QuickBooks 2014?

Posted on December 30, 2013 by

It is the goal of this column to answer questions about QuickBooks and how it is used in the REI arena. Know how to record transactions in the proper way and have your set of books in good shape when it comes time for taxes. It is our intention to do this by you, the members, submitting questions to Karen@smallbusinessadvisor.biz, and getting answers here in this column.

QuickBooks® Pro 2014

If you have QuickBooks® 2012 or older and are thinking about purchasing 2014 version – you are in for a surprise on how the program looks and some new areas that have been added. I will point out just a couple here but there are many more.

QuickBooks Pro® 2014 has a “What’s New” yellow bar on the side of many of the windows that have new features.  When you click on the bar an overlay feature will pop up to indicate where the new features are. Most of these are in your shortcut windows.  Once you have viewed them and are comfortable that you know the features you can turn off the yellow bar under the “Help” drop down list.  You can always turn it back on if you need to refresh your memory about a feature. Read More→

Stocks, bonds and mutual funds are all well and good – for those seeking ordinary returns. But if you have a particular expertise, or access to a lucrative market for just about any good or service, you have the potential to earn much more by going into business for yourself than you stand to gain by investing in the broad market.

Fortunately, your Self-Directed IRA doesn’t limit you to the mundane investments you read about in the papers all the time. In fact, IRA rules only restrict you from investing in a few things: life insurance, jewelry, gemstones, art and other collectables, alcoholic beverages, and some forms of gold and precious metals of insufficient purity or standardization. Other than that, the sky’s the limit on what you can own!

Owning a Business in Your Self-Directed IRA

By using your Self-Directed IRA to start or acquire a business, you are in control. Rather than hoping against hope the market will be kind to you this year, you can make things happen yourself. Want your business to grow? You can invest in advertising, new equipment, a new truck, more staff – whatever it takes to react to the current economic environment. Many of our clients find that investments like these often pay off far better than anything the same investment reasonably earns in the stock market, at least at an acceptable level of risk. This must be an arm’s length business, you can’t operate the business, and you can’t draw a salary from it. Read More→

Small Business AdvisorYou’ve heard her at the monthly meetings, “I’m Karen Bershad and I am the Small Business Advisor!” Karen’s firm has been a business member with Atlanta REIA since it started and has been helping small businesses and their owners for almost 20 years.  The past eight years however have been tailored to the specialized services for the Real Estate Investment industry.  With 40 years of business experience in the area of ownership, management and a wide variety of other lessons learned, Karen Bershad provides a unique outlook on how businesses need to have their “back office” running smoothly.

Most entrepreneurs don’t give it much thought, but as your business grows, it faces issues unrelated to producing the goods and services it sells. This inevitable trilogy of headaches includes legal, accounting and marketing decisions. Certainly life would be simpler if you could call in your accountant, your lawyer or whoever handles the marketing whenever the need arises.

But if your small business is like most, you probably cannot afford to call on expensive professionals whenever you would like. You would like to be able to handle many of these issues as possible on your own. You went into business to provide a product or service to your clientele and are good at what you do. It is the paperwork, bookkeeping, proposals, etc. that bog you down. Read More→

A few weeks ago I attended a weekend training put on by, who I believe is the most creative and knowledgeable real estate investor and teacher in this country. The training was put on by Peter Fortunato. Peter spent two days with his class explaining how dozens and dozens of deals he had helped structure without the need for institutional financing or credit. It truly amazed me how he never completed any of the deals he spoke about in the same way twice. Each and every one of the deals was structured in a way to achieve a specific objective. In other words, each deal was structured to come up with exactly what his or the seller’s goal was at that time.  

Some deals were designed to minimize taxes, some were designed to maximize cash-flow, while others were designed to overcome some type of problem the sellers were facing and thought they had no solution to their problem until they talked to Peter. Peter, who is considered the master of “Doing Things on Purpose” would create deal structures that solved the problem at hand. His work has amazed me for years and when I take one of his classes I become even more amazed how anyone could create the deal structures he does. Read More→

Wait – My Phone Will Do What???

Posted on December 30, 2013 by

I have a thing for tools.” ~ Tim Allen 

So, here it is: January. You’ve gotten most of the pine needles and tinsel out of the carpet so the dog won’t eat it. Aunt Flora and Uncle Ruben have gone back to Miami. Your kids are back in school. And you? You’ve had a minute or two to breathe and enjoy the satisfaction of a holiday season well spent. Time is precious, isn’t it?

But now, it’s time to get moving again. The warmth of the holidays has become the chill of winter, and with that comes heating bills and college tuition and credit card bills. It’s time to make some serious money.

I realize it’s not easy to get in gear again after the New Year. But if you’re like me, you can’t afford to sit on your laurels for too long. Lost opportunities are very expensive.

That doesn’t mean, though, that you can’t have a little fun while you’re at it. So go get that new smartphone Santa brought you, and let’s get cracking. You know you want to!

There was a time when owning a smartphone was a luxury. Not anymore! It’s probably the most useful single gadget you own. I know people who take a lot of pride in having a very basic cellphone. That’s a valid choice, of course, but now I wonder how I ever got along without this amazing device. Read More→