Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog
The Most Important Six Inches In The World!
Posted on July 8, 2013 byKim and I are headed to Tampa tomorrow to attend Pete Fortunato’s Acquisitions seminar. Pete is THE BEST creative deal structurer we’ve ever met. This will be the twelfth or thirteenth time we’ve taken this course!
This raised a question from a fellow real estate investor: Why do you attend so many real estate investing seminars? You’re already successful. Don’t you think seminars are just a big waste of time and money?
Learning is NEVER a waste of time or money – especially if you’re learning from GREAT been-there-and-done-that investors.
For example, last month a fella called with a landlording issue. He (let’s call him “Tom”) bought his daughter a home some years back. She had moved out two years ago. Because Tom owed a lot more on the house than it was worth, he couldn’t sell it, so he decided to turn it into a rental.
Despite absolutely NO training, Tom – with a wave of a magic wand – became a landlord. After all, he was a pretty smart guy – so what could possibly go wrong? Read More→
Dang It – Just Sold Two Homes!
Posted on July 7, 2013 byMost folks think real estate investing is about buying, then selling a house, and walking away with a big pile of cash. This is known as “flipping.”
If your goal is to AVOID retiring wealthy, then flipping is definitely the way to go! The government steals nearly half of a flipper’s profits, and the flipper often foolishly spends the other half on important things like vacations, boats, watches, cars, etc.
On the other hand, if your goal is to be financially free – to be able to do what you want, when you want, where you want, why you want – then CASH FLOW is king. In other words, you want to KEEP your investment property and put someone in the home who will take good care of it and send you monthly mailbox money.
This is why, as a real estate INVESTOR, when a property sells, it hurts, and it hurts bad! Sure, you gain a pile of cash, but you LOSE your all-important cash flow.
Remember – cash can be a very dangerous thing as well as a huge obstacle to achieving financial freedom. Cash can make you stupid – especially if you are young! It’s way too easy to turn a pile of cash into a shiny red thing that honks and drops like a rock in value the second you buy it! Read More→
Special Thanks To Those Who Made Our 1st Annual BIG Cookout a BIG Success!
Posted on July 6, 2013 byIf you were at Hammond Park on June 26th, you had some terrific tasting hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad that couldn’t be beat. Over 180 Atlanta REIA members and guests were a part of a great time, took advantage of a tremendous networking opportunity, and listened to Dorsie Boddiford, talk about her start as a real estate investor, why she does it and what keeps her going. Bill Cook of North Georgia REIA spoke to us about what is the most important thing about real estate investing, talking face to face with sellers.
This event was sponsored by Chris Littleton of Solutions Realty Network, Craig Halperin of Halperin Lyman Attorneys At Law, Mike Cherwenka of Goldmine Properties, and Jim Hitt of American IRA. They spoke about their services and the importance of their services to new investors. We thank you so much for providing the food and beverages, and helping to make this event possible.
I would also like to extend a very special Thank You, to Dustin and Chrissy Griffin. For marketing and their logistic abilities to making this BIG Cookout a success. If you liked the baked beans, Chrissy added her special touch to make those delicious.
Our food wouldn’t have tasted so good without the grill master skills of Maggie, Marshall, and Bob. They all just stepped up to the grill and started going at it. Our heartfelt thank you goes out to them. Thanks to Russ Hiner as well who was on hand to help out with a number of tasks. Read More→
Which Real Estate Contract Should You Use?
Posted on July 6, 2013 byAustin Boston Berry (aka Austin Boston) bought his first investment property about two weeks ago. It’s a nice four-bedroom, two-bath, all-brick home on Grassdale Road in Cartersville, Georgia. And here’s the best part – Austin Boston is only twenty-four years old!
The key to Austin getting this deal was his tenaciousness. He stayed after this deal. He met with the seller on a regular basis. Kim described Austin as being a little bulldog – and because he’s a Georgia Tech grad, he didn’t like this moniker one bit!
But what if, because he didn’t have a contract to use, he didn’t give the seller a written offer? It’s likely he would have lost this deal.
Most folks think the scariest part of real estate investing is meeting with sellers. It’s not. It’s when you make an offer to a seller and the seller says…YES!
What’s so terrifying about the seller saying yes? It leads to the all-important question: What do I do next? So what DO you do next? You document what you and the seller just agreed to: You write up a contract.
Contract? What kind of contract? Where do I get a contract? What needs to be in the contract? These are common questions we’re regularly asked. Here’s another: “What if I sign a contract with a seller but then change my mind because there’s something wrong with the house, or I can’t get financing, or I find a better deal…how do I get out of the contract AND get ALL of my earnest money back?” Read More→
Selling Houses Fast Boot Camp on August 17, 2013
Posted on June 29, 2013 bySelling Houses Fast Boot Camp
On August 17, 2013 from 8AM – 5PM
Crowne Plaza Ravinia, Atlanta, GA
If you have ever been to one of Don DeRosa’s Events, you know that Don will provide you with his 17 years of experience as a real estate investor to help you overcome some of the challenges he has faced so you won’t have too. This full day event is PACKED with all the knowledge you need to Sell Houses Fast!!
Don will share his nine reasons houses don’t sell and all the details on how to blow past your competition and SELL YOUR HOUSES FAST!! Join us August 17th so you don’t sit on your houses too long and pay unnecessary holding costs while you wait for your homes to sell!!
Don will cover all this and more…
- The Nine Big Reasons Houses Don’t Sell
- Selling Your House – The Basics
- Getting Your House Ready to Sell (yes there is a formula)
- Pricing It Right
- Renovations
- Wiping Out Your Competition
- Choosing the Right Marketing Strategy
- Selling Your House Fast
- Automating Your System & Selling Process
- Staging Your House
- Prescreening Your Buyers (Do you know what to look for?)
- Working With Mortgage Brokers
- Negotiating a Sale
- Choosing the right exit strategy (which is right for you?)
The Profit Newsletter July 2013 Edition
Posted on June 28, 2013 by
The July 2013 edition of The Profit Newsletter has arrived just in time for our 3rd Annual Vendor Trade Show and 3 Year Anniversary Celebration. The Profit Newsletter is now ready for download as a High Quality PDF or Low Res PDF (for slower devices) format. The Profit is the official newsletter of the Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance (Atlanta REIA) and is a digitally delivered, 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! And yes, The Profit is “print ready” for those who still like a paper newsletter. Be sure to Subscribe to The Profit Here so you don’t miss a single monthly issue.
Choosing a Great Domain Name for Your Business
Posted on June 27, 2013 by
Choosing a great domain name (aka “web address” or “URL”) for your business and company website can be just as important as choosing your company name. In fact, when I am thinking about starting a new company or online venture, I often choose my domain name first since finding an excellent domain name that is not taken is often more difficult than choosing a good company name. Additionally, a well-chosen domain name is often more recognizable and memorable than my company names which may not be the same as my domain names.
If you plan on putting your domain name on all of your online and offline marketing material as I suggest, your domain name will often be the first thing people see and remember when viewing your marketing material and visiting your website. Therefore, your domain name is a crucial part of your business’s unique brand and identity online. So choosing the right domain name for your business is very important, so choose wisely.
For the purposes of this article, you need to choose a domain name you can use to establish your business’s unique identity and allow your prospects and customers to easily find you online. Read More→
Working Asset Protection
Posted on June 27, 2013 byRecently, I heard a talk show host say that all properties should have their own LLC and that a corporation should own all of the LLCs so that it will be the umbrella under which the LLC’s are safe.
Let me offer another point of view that, after years of experience, I can say has worked for me and for people whom I coach on a daily basis.
The reality is that an LLC for each property is impractical. The main reason is that each LLC would have it own tax return. This gets costly and tedious.
Compromise is the solution: Why not have a 3-in-one LLC that covers the good, the bad, and the ugly? Hear me out–an LLC is good because if someone tries to sue, by law the person has to take all or nothing; he cannot cherry pick. If you have a property that you just bought and it turns out to be a liability, it will balance out the GOOD property. And, the UGLY is a property whose cash flow is barely at fair market value.
If I am doing the buy, fix, and sell, this is an easy system. If the LLC is for long term holds and all the properties are “great”, then I have a chance to lose everything in that LLC. In this case, I create another LLC. Read More→
Playing Hide and Seek with Lenders
Posted on June 27, 2013 byWorking an effective short sale can seem impossible if your Seller is not providing you with accurate information. The very first thing I require from all Sellers is a ‘complete’ Seller Information Sheet. My Seller Information Sheet is customized to specifically catch every pertinent fact about the Seller and the house.
Below are several things that I need in order to review the deal and determine my exit strategy as an Investor and/or Realtor. Read More→
Striking a Balance: Sucker or Scrooge?
Posted on June 27, 2013 by“Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.” ~ Mason Cooley
Aunt Tillie is on fire! Not literally, of course. She’s hot into real estate investing. She’s got six rental houses, all occupied, and every tenant is up-to-date on the rent. At least, they were up-to-date until last month. Mr. Farkle’s rent was three weeks late last month and he still hasn’t paid this month. Tillie’s having a hard time deciding whether or not to start eviction proceedings. She knows he’d pay it if he could, but she can’t afford to give him free rent. Is it better to be kindly and poor, or mean and rich? And are those her only choices?
This balancing act – Should I be a sucker, or a scrooge? – is one of the toughest things real estate investors have to walk through, and we have to do it on a regular basis.
I had a disturbing conversation recently that brought this point home for me. A couple I know invests in real estate together. They have about a dozen rental houses, and they do very well. When the economy tanked, though, they found they had to be a little more flexible about collecting rent payments. Read More→
More Marketing Mistakes Most Marketers Make
Posted on June 27, 2013 byWelcome back! If you’re joining us from last time, you’ll remember that we talked about the “Biggest Mistake Most People Make in Their Lead Gen Marketing”. Whether you’ve read it or not, I’ll just re-cover it here, so that we’re all on the same page.
The biggest mistake is that most people try to SELL something too early in the process, rather than just get the prospect (reader) curious enough to take action and request more information.
Most of the time, we want them to either call us or fill out a form on our website.
By simply getting them to take that ONE, easy action – The First Step, you give your sales process the chance it needs to succeed. Of course, after the first step has been taken, the second and third steps are next. These steps should be a natural progression down a “slippery slope” that eventually leads to you closing the sale/deal. Read More→
Exit Strategies
Posted on June 27, 2013 byWhen in real estate, a person has to learn to adapt to any situation. In order to do this, you must have the knowledge to do so. In real estate you can try to “fake it til you make it” but sooner rather than later you will be discovered. To prevent embarrassment and improve your odds of success learn, learn and learn some more!!
A great example of this is a new wholesaler with very little to no guidance or training. They post ads, signs and hands out cards claiming they will buy your house cash without any the ability to do so. Now, let’s say that he/she is able to convince someone to sell them their property and was savvy enough to get a due diligence period built in. The wholesaler is excited that he/she finally has a property under contract. But is it a deal? With very little guidance or training, the likelihood of the property being a decent deal, much less a good deal, is very slim. The wholesaler’s only exit strategy was to wholesale the deal. If he cannot accomplish then the deal is dead. You can make money being a “one trick pony” in real estate investing but the more you know the more you make. Read More→
