Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

Last week, I was offered some very cute “Free Kittens.” They were small, playful balls of fur tumbling over each other and looking up at me pleadingly. I’ve had cats before, so I was tempted. But even considering the benefits, I refrained because I know that there is no such thing as “free.”

As I walked away from the kittens, I considered the idea that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. This holds true with real estate deals also: they may look great in the heat and excitement of the potential purchase, the promise of a great deal, the money that we know we will make.

The truth is, however, that kittens need continuous care: food, shots, and attention. Similarly, a real estate investment needs supervision: maintenance, unforeseen challenges, and renovations.

Every day, “deals” that are not deals are presented to me. You will also encounter these “deals,” but be careful. Your ability to discern a good deal from a bad deal comes only with experience, research, knowledge of the market, and a business plan. When you have each of these components in place, you will be able to distinguish a truly great deal from a “Free Kitten DEAL.” Read More→

The more researchers and attorneys investigate the structure and composition of securitized trusts the more phantom-like they become. 

Amazingly, what is being found in many, if not most, is there was no  trustor, beneficiary, funding, assets, bank accounts or even the sham appearance of being managed by a trust department.  No one has even been moving money through the trust, or with reference to a trust, to its “holders.”

Often when investigators try to establish a money trail between the holders of a mortgage-backed security, to a pretender-lender and then on to a homeowner to close a specific transaction, that money trail does not exist.  There is no trail, for example, between a loan originated by ASBC 1234-1 Trust, a trust claimed by US Bank as Trustee, and a specific homeowner, and no evidence of any assignment to where the money has been transferred. Read More→

“Discretion in speech is more important than eloquence.” ~ English proverb

It’s eight p.m. on a Saturday night. You’ve just settled into your front-row seat at the opera – you’re seeing your favorite, La Traviata.

Okay, so you’re really at a WWE wrestling smackdown. Work with me here.

At any rate, you’re in your seat waiting for the action to begin, and your phone vibrates. Caller ID says it’s Francine Fudley, a very motivated seller who’s on the verge of signing a contract. But wait, that’s wrong! Isn’t Francine Fudley the name of your brother’s second wife’s third cousin? The seller’s name is really Freddie Pfeffer, right? Or is that Frances Furman?

Sheesh. What a dilemma! You’ve got to take a call from the seller, even if it means missing a perfectly good cage match. But if you take the call and it turns out to be your brother’s second wife’s third cousin, you’ll be stuck in a long, long conversation about how her gout is a sure sign of a decaying society.

Do you answer the call, or not? Read More→

Due Diligence When Investing With a Self-directed IRA and/or Self-directed 401(k)– Where do I Start?

With a self-directed IRA and/or a self-directed 401(k) you are always hearing that you must do your ‘due diligence’. At American IRA, we discovered that many clients did not know how to do their ‘due diligence’.  While we cannot give investment advice at American IRA, we can offer a detailed summary of ‘due diligence’ items that our clients can use as a guide. This list gives our clients a healthy starting point that they can use during discussions with their professionals. In this article we share with you ‘due diligence’ items related to real estate acquisitions. As every investment is different, you should consult with your professionals about whether there are ‘due diligence’ items you need to consider in addition to what we share in this article. Read More→

More and more often there are real estate investors that advertise, “Please no daisy chains!” To clarify, daisy chains exist when seller A contracts a property to seller B who then contracts it to seller C and so on until it finally reaches you the buyer. I will admit that I too was not a fan of them myself. Typically, these daisy chains ended up not closing because the property was never really under contract or someone in the daisy chain sold it and did not inform the rest of the daisy chain. If you have ever attempted one of these you know what I am referring to. If you have always avoided daisy chains I would encourage you to attempt one. After changing my mentality about them they have became profitable. Read More→

You Can close Your Short Sales with Only ONE WEEK of Work!

Ever wonder how much you earn per hour by the time you close a short sale deal?  The industry has transformed from being extremely difficult without standardization to becoming streamlined with a specific system per lender.  Many investors hate the idea of doing short sales because of the fallacy that they are so time consuming.  Is this true…literally?  Have you ever broken it down per deal?  The time you actually spend on 1 deal versus the cash you earn is really quite exciting! 

The market got tighter with fewer houses for sale, making it a Seller’s market.  The Lenders slowed down their foreclosure processes, in my opinion, due to the Presidential Election.  Now that the election is over, the lenders are going to be pushing really hard to get the foreclosures through.

I want to teach you a step by step process of how my students and I buy and sell short sales and the true time involved to make a profit of not less than $20,000.00.    In this article, I am not withholding any secrets to my or their success.  Read More→

I just started to use QuickBooks and when I look at my chart of accounts I found an account called “Opening Balance Equity”. I did not create this account. How did it get there and what is it used for?  J.L. Marietta

The account “Opening Balance Equity” is not a General Accounting Practice account; it is an account that is generated by QuickBooks specifically for setting up specific accounts that will have a beginning balance. For instance: bank accounts, credit card accounts, mortgages and several other types of accounts. QuickBooks “assumes” that the brand new user may not know where to put the off-setting entry when setting up a bank account or other type of account with an existing beginning balance. It allows the user to get their accounts set up and begin using QuickBooks. Later, your CPA will come along and re-class those amounts to their proper place in your books. This account should always have a zero balance.  You should never post anything directly to this account. Read More→