Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

Isn’t that a great headline! Wouldn’t it be great to have hit the real estate bottom in Atlanta?

We all know that the real estate market in any city is micro economic. This means that you can pick an area that is white hot… and within one mile of that location you will find an area that is dead like week old fish. You need to know where the white hot areas end and the dead fish areas begin: these are micro-niches. You need to find the micro-niches—YOU NEED INFORMATION, information that I can help you find.

If you are an investor who is determined to buy real estate immediately, then this information is for YOU.

Okay, you’re determined, but you don’t have $200,000 stuffed in your mattress, and you’re nervous about investing. Everyone is, but the good news is that the market is looking better and better—and there are experts like me in the field with good information.

But you need to move quickly. In the metro Atlanta area, investors are buying properties at a rate of 60% of the total sales. This is a buyer’s market. You need to get in the game NOW! Read More→

One of the first things to consider when you are starting your real estate business is how you are going structure your business or businesses. I probably would say in most cases the word businesses! Over the years of dealing with my business, working with clients and the people whom I do business with, I have learned a great deal regarding the ways of structuring entities for success. I have seen the affect of poor planning which include increased risk, personal liability, and a servicing and filing nightmare at great cost. The one thing I would like to make clear is that this is business advice and not legal or tax advice. When you start your business you should consult with a CPA, attorney and others investors or business owners that operate the type of business you are setting up. A good mentor can be worth their weight in gold as you start real estate business and structure it for success.

The five basic entities for business are: Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, Corporation and Limited Liability Company. Choosing the entity usually depends on issues and concerns with people, place and things. Read More→

This month I want to give you an example of different ways any investor can use notes to buy houses instead of using CASH. Once upon a time I knew an investor who was trying to structure a deal with a seller who wanted the money from the sale of his property to buy a motor-home so he and his wife could travel the country. The investor asked the seller if he was able to find a motor-home of the sellers liking, would the seller use the book value of the motor-home in exchange for the down payment on the property the investor was trying to buy from the seller. This was regardless of what the investor had to pay for the motor home he would be trading to the seller for his property. The seller told the investor exactly what he wanted a motor-home to have, that he would accept. Once the investor knew what the sellers wanted, he then immediately set out to find a motor-home he could use as catalyst to complete the transaction to buy the sellers house. Read More→

With over 30 years of Atlanta real Estate under my belt, one begins to think you’ve heard or seen it all.  Not true!   As an analytical person that usually utilizes this column to the explain Atlanta market statistics, I decided the end of the year needed a little levity.  Those of you that know me, would state that I have a healthy sense of humor anyway.  Therefore, this column is devoted to the more humorous true stories I have experienced in real estate.

Auctions and Land:

1. In 1983, I went to Mendenhall Auction School in North Carolina, exactly 20 years after my Dad had graduated from the same auction school.  He fronted the money for the school and the expenses for me to attend, on the condition, that we deduct it from future auction commissions. Well, in the eighties, auction and real estate were mostly male occupations. Therefore, 90% of a class of 100 was men.  The first day of school, the schoolmaster, Mr. Mendenhall, announced that, “We have a very special student here.  She is the second generation to attend auction school, and, her father is the President of the National Auctioneers Association.”  With that, everyone wanted to meet me, and, a group invited me to play poker with them.  Well, I inherited my math and card playing abilities from Dad, and, I am sure this group had no idea who they were tangling with. The following Monday after my graduation from school, I was in my Dad’s office, when I started counting of hundreds of dollars to him.  “Here’s the tuition money.  Here’s the expense money.  And, I am keeping the rest”, I exclaimed.  “Where did you get all that money, girl?” my father questioned.  “I won it playing poker with the rednecks that wanted to learn to sell cows and tobacco,” I proudly said.  With that, he slammed his fist on his desk and stated, “Way to go, Girl!” Read More→

By now everyone has heard that banks have ceased foreclosures for the holidays. This has made finding inventory much more difficult for a few investors that depend on just those foreclosures as leads. In the last few years I have began working with non-performing note buyers or NPN buyers. These buyers buy notes from the same banks that you are expecting foreclosures from. What do many note buyers have in common? They were once real estate investors that now prefer to buy and sale the notes in order to avoid house renovations, tenants, etc.  They are also looking to liquidate those properties so they can purchase another bundle of notes.

When note buyers acquire in bulk they end up with plenty of properties at pennies on the dollar. For example, they might purchase a $100,000 note from a bank for $40,000. They know that the current property owner of the property is not making payments. Because they now carry the mortgage/note they can now foreclose on the property and take procession of the property. Again, these note buyers usually do not want to bother with holding or repairing these properties. At this stage is where you, the real estate investor, would like to step in and relieve this note buyer of this burden. Of course, you will not be purchasing this deal at $40,000 but maybe for $45,000-$50,000 if the property needed $20,000-$25,000 in repairs. Given that the property is still worth $100K this purchase would be at 70% LTV including repairs. This would be a deal any serious investor would consider. Read More→

I strongly believe that pre-screening sellers is one of the most important tasks you will undertake in your real estate investing business. The more quickly you learn to pre-screen prospects, the more money you will make in your Real Estate Investing business. This article is focused on teaching you how to tell a good deal from a time waster in 30 seconds or less.

If you don’t learn to pre-screen prospects quickly and efficiently, you will get burned out of the real estate investing business by working with sellers who won’t sell you their house, no matter what you say.  Your job as a real estate investor is to very quickly determine the difference between a prospect and a “suspect”, meaning someone who needs to sell versus someone who just wants to sell their property.

People who just want to sell will either reject you immediately (don’t take this to heart, it just helps you move on quicker) or they will jerk your chain with a bunch of excuses as to why they won’t sell to you. Don’t waste your time with these folks!!

I know from first hand experience that motivated sellers will make themselves known to you quickly and they are a whole lot more fun to work with. Their attitude is more like “Please take my house off my hands…..now!” They are usually pretty easy to identify once you ask the right questions. Read More→

As I write this, it’s coming up on the end of 2012. The real estate market is still crazy, and there are a lot of questions in people’s heads as to what the market is going to do.  What else is new?

Ever since I first got in to real estate investing, back in 1996 (wow!), the market has ALWAYS been changing.  So that’s NO excuse not to get involved & do some deals.  The KEY is to just recognize WHAT the best strategies are to use at the moment, then learn all you can about them, and – most important of all – ACT on what you learn!

Winners with tiger blood running through their veins will tell you that CHANGE (and chaos!) just creates more opportunity, and the real estate market right now is certainly no exception. It used to be that the hot things in real estate were: Wholesaling, Short Sales, Rehabbing, and of course, the related “Get the Deed” system, where you take over existing houses ‘Subject To’ the existing mortgage. Read More→

Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.” ~ Denis Waitley

Wow. What a year! The turkey leftovers are gone. There are just a few pine needles left in the carpet. And your Aunt Miriam, thank goodness, has gone home to Indiana and has taken the fruitcake with her. Now it’s time to reflect.

I don’t know about you, but I reached many of my goals in 2012, and that feels great! Still, I know 2013 will bring plenty more challenges and opportunities. It would be boring, wouldn’t it, if we were completely finished with everything by the end of the year. I mean, what would we do then?

So we carry our unfinished business into the following year. That’s what New Year’s resolutions are for, right?  “For every single day of 2013. I’m going to eat just 700 calories and jog six miles!”

For many of us, new year’s resolutions are made to be broken. In fact, for some of us, the best way to make sure something doesn’t get done is to make a new year’s resolution to do it. It’s the kiss of death!

Thankfully, though, we live in the digital age where help is as close as your iPad. So this month, I’ve got two apps to recommend. Read More→

There are two approaches you can take to determine whether or not there has been negligence or fraud in the loan process.  Both paths can be equally effective in uncovering lender misconduct and providing you with leverage for negotiations with the bank.  One path follows the documentation from mortgage application through foreclosure documentation, and the other approach follows the money trail.  This article will examine how the documentation can lead to a damaging case against a pretender lender.  Our next article will cover the money trail method.

In order to prove that they have the right to foreclose on a property, it is becoming standard for lenders to be required to produce the original note on the property.  The note is required before a court will allow a lender to sell a property.  It must show that the lender is named with a recorded economic interest in the property.  However, in many cases these original notes have been either lost in the securitization shuffle or purposefully destroyed as the note bounced around from entity to entity.  The note could even have been Photoshopped or otherwise forged to make it appear that the entity trying to foreclose has the standing to do so.  Fortunately, the lenders are being called on it by the courts. Read More→

Real Estate IRA Investing – The Purchase

A young couple found a home they wanted to purchase with their real estate IRA. The purchase price was $50,000. They borrowed $55,000 and had $800 worth of repairs. I know that $800 worth of repairs for a house purchased with 1,400 square feet, three bedrooms, and two baths through a short sale sounds absurd, but these are actual numbers from an actual deal.

Real Estate IRA Investing – The Repair Bill

I’ve personally never seen $800 worth of repairs in my entire life and I’ve been in this business for 40 years. I can’t even walk through the house for $800. I don’t know what it is but I’ve never done that, so that was phenomenal to me. The deal’s great but how did you get $800? They actually got a little cash back at closing since they borrowed $55,000 for a $50,000 purchase. Read More→

“Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly.” (Pr 3:32, NLT)

As a business person, have you ever considered that honesty produces a substantial financial gain? Or, that dishonesty inherently produces huge monetary losses? I realize that everyone might not agree with this conclusion.

However, the biblical evidence suggests there are many advantages to being honest and there are dire consequences to dishonest practices in business and in life. It is clear that ethics do have a profound impact on the bottom line. An even more basic thought, indicates that our business practices dictate our relationship with God! The Book of Proverbs contrasts the financial outcome of the honest versus the economic decay of the dishonest. Let’s examine some of these profound truths. Read More→