Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

The February 2013 edition of The Profit Newsletter is now ready for download as a High Quality PDF or Low Res PDF format. The Profit Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance and is a digitally delivered, interactive newsletter for real estate investors to read on your PC, Mac, Smart Phone, iPad or other mobile ready devices. 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.

Read More→

Our bank savings account is earning less than 1% interest.  It’s not even keeping up with inflation.  Meanwhile, Kim and I did a Lonnie Deal a few weeks back and we’re getting an eye-popping 50.38% yield on our investment.  If you’re like us, you believe it makes better financial sense to get a higher yield versus a much lower one.

So what’s a Lonnie Deal?  Basically, it’s when you buy a mobile home (that’s right, a trailer) in a mobile home park for cash and then sell it on time.  Hey, in 2008, I had the same soured look on my face as you do right now as you ask, “Trailers? Seriously?  Are you kidding me?”

Back then we were getting tons of calls from folks looking for $500-per-month housing.  We couldn’t help them because our single-family houses rented for between $800 and $1,400 per month.  I remember telling Kim that because of the huge demand for $500-per-month property, we needed to start doing Lonnie Deals.

We bought our first trailer on September 19, 2008 in Bartow County, Georgia.  Our all-in purchase cost was around $5,500.  We sold it on November 9, 2008 for $16,900 with the following sale terms: $500 down, $16,400 loan balance for 75 months at 18% interest with monthly payments of $375. Our yield on this deal is a jaw dropping 81.22%! Read More→

We are already in the second month of 2013 and I just had a conversation with one of my students who wanted to know how to create wealth in the shortest possible period of time. The following is my idea how wealth for any real estate investor can be created in the shortest period of time.

Here is an example of how you can quickly achieve financial freedom and then wealth investing in real estate.

For instance, the first thing you need to do is buy 10 to 15 well selected income producing properties you are willing to keep long term as your retirement program and the base of your future wealth. I personally love the thought of someone else having to go to work every day to earn money they give me in the form of rent each month that pays for my properties without me having to have a job or have to go to work every day. Then once you have bought your 10 to 15 keeper rental houses in good neighborhoods, with tenants who are paying on time, every month, let’s say, $1,000 each month of which $520 goes for the monthly loan payment, and after monthly expenses of property taxes, property insurance, a maintenance fund and a vacancy fund leaves you from the $1,000 gross rent approximately $150 each month to put into your pocket. Let’s say for each of your keeper rental properties you paid $88,000 with very little money down and were able to get seller financing terms for 30 years. Read More→

Have you ever thought about getting into the multifamily business? It’s not easy and it’s not for everyone, but if you have what it takes I can show you how! I created Real Estate Raw to pull back the curtain on the commercial multifamily business. I have survived the down turn of the economy and quite frankly I don’t want to go through that again. Do you?!

How many real estate seminars have you sat through to only find that it was one big SALES PITCH! Starting a business armed only with sales pitches is never a good thing. In this 5 part series I will be teaching you the “real side” of the real estate business.

Notice I keep saying real estate “business”? That is one of the first lessons that most people get wrong when starting out in real estate. Let me clarify this for you.

An investor is someone who is sitting around with cash that they need to get a return on. If you have all the cash you need to buy real estate with…then you are an investor. If you are trying to create wealth in real estate (not spend it) then you will need to raise money and possibly qualify for some loans…you are not an investor, you are a real estate entrepreneur. Read More→

Landlords often have mixed emotions when their tenants call and offer them money after a dispossessory warrant (an eviction) has been filed.  On one hand, landlords are in the business of collecting rent.  However, they worry how it may affect moving forward with the eviction.  Accepting a payment after an eviction is filed does affect your rights. 

Residential Landlords

A residential landlord has a duty to accept a payment from a tenant who is in default if and only if the tenant tenders “all rents allegedly owed plus the cost of the [eviction].”[1]  However, the tenant cannot wait until the last moment to do this.  They must tender the full payment within seven days of the day they were served the eviction paperwork.[2]  There is no need to worry about a tenant doing this perpetually because a landlord is only obligated to accept this type of payment once per year.[3]  Making this payment provides a complete defense to the eviction and, upon receipt, a landlord should dismiss the eviction.

If a residential tenant offers a partial payment, however, BEWARE!  A residential landlord who accepts a partial payment from a tenant after an eviction has been filed waives his right to continue with the eviction and admits the continuance of the lease.[4]  In simple terms, the eviction fails and the landlord must start the eviction process over if he wishes to evict the tenant.  It does not matter when the partial payment is made – whether one hour after the eviction is filed or five minutes before the eviction trial.  Thus the landlord must either reject the partial payment or, if accepted, he must restart the eviction process.  Read More→

D. S. Murphy & Associates is a full service real estate appraisal firm with over 25 residential and commercial appraisal associates. Their average years of experience are over 15 years. The firm is headquartered in Atlanta with offices also in North Carolina and Florida. Each D.S. Murphy associate is an expert in their local area. So if you have a property in Cumming, you’ll be working with an associate who lives and works in South Forsyth County. 

D. Scott Murphy, the owner, has an SRA designation from the Appraisal Institute, the most respected designation a residential appraiser can earn and held by less than 1% of appraisers. In 2004 he was appointed by then Governor Perdue to the Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board which  regulates 4500+ appraisers throughout Georgia. D S Murphy & Associates has appraised over 150,000 properties in its 30 years.

In 1999 D. S. Murphy & Associates opened a real estate school to offer continuing education classes on various appraisal topics. Classes are offered throughout Atlanta and all AREIA members can attend any class at no charge and earn CE credits if they hold real estate sales, mortgage loan officer or attorney’s license. Classes are posted at www.dsmurphy.com. Read More→