Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

The December 2012 edition of The Profit, the official newsletter of the Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance (Atlanta REIA), is now ready for download in high or low resolution format. This month you can read and enjoy a variety of articles on real estate investing and more from David Lindahl, Tony Pearl, Jeff Nix, Larry Harbolt, Kathy Kennebrook, Russ Hiner, Bob Massey, Don DeRosa, Jim Hitt, Michael Vazquez, Kimberlee Frank and Karen Bershad. And don’t forget, Atlanta REIA Business Members can advertise in The Profit at deeply discounted rates.

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Three years from now you could be living in a water front property, sleeping in on Monday mornings, doing only the things you want to do and excitedly walking to the mailbox everyday  ready to gather that days set of cash flow checks the Postman dropped off .

It’s those cash flow checks that allow you to live this life of leisure and it never stops to amaze you how they have gotten as high as they are and they keep increasing!!

…Or…you could wake up on Monday morning three years from now, living the same life your living now….and if that’s OK with you, that’s OK with me. But if you want to change your life in any way, that change will probably require money…. And here’s the deal…you have about two and a half years to stake you claim and get your share of a lot of wealth that’s about to be created during this big property grab.

What the heck am I talking about? I’m talking about the multi-family real estate market. If you will do for the next three years what most people won’t do, you will be able to do for the rest of you life, what most people can’t. Read More→

Since we just finished our 5-part journey of “Real Estate + The Internet = The Perfect Marriage,” (see previous issues) we’re going to do something a little different in this article.  We’re going back to the ‘Old School’ style of real estate investing.

Specifically: How To Get Started in Real Estate Investing… Again!

The great thing about technology is that it really helps you leverage your time.  When set up correctly, you can have computers & systems do a lot of the work FOR you, and that’s wonderful!  However, it takes time, thought, money, and reliable technology.  And that’s just to get it set up!

But what if you don’t have the time or money to do all that?  What if you’re just starting out? … OR what if you’re just starting out… Again?  Read More→

An inspection from Pete’s Friendly Home Inspection is a complete evaluation of the home from roof to foundation and everything in between. Other home inspectors will tell you they do the best job, they’ve been at it for 20+ years, they used to be a builder and they will inspect everything in the home with a 50+ page inspection report. One way Pete’s goes above and beyond the competition is by backing the inspection with a FREE 90-day, zero deductable home warranty in writing.

Pete’s Friendly Home Inspection was formed on the idea that a quality inspection is essential in making an informed buying decision. “I quickly realized that not only buyers, but anyone with a home needs to be informed about the condition of their house” says owner, Pete Rossetti. “Providing accurate in-depth inspections is my duty and ensuring you understand the inspection is my guarantee“. Read More→

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” ~ Derek Bok

When I started over 30 years ago, like many of you I didn’t have any extra money to pay a mentor or buy an investing course. I decided I would learn the real estate investing business by just doing it. I thought I could shorten my learning curve by going to real estate meetings. I went to a popular real estate meeting in my area for several months. Then I got the bright idea that if going to one meeting was a good idea it would have to be better to go to more meetings. So I decided I would go to four meetings in my area every week. I thought that the real estate meetings I went to were where the seasoned investors with all the knowledge of how the business worked went and if I could meet them I could pick their brains and learn the secrets of investing that would catapult me to success.

After a few months of what seemed to be endless meetings I realized that going to meetings was not giving me what I wanted. I wasn’t getting the details, the investor’s secrets I needed to be able to buy real estate profitably. I saw other investors who were constantly doing profitable deals but none of them would give me their secrets or the details I needed to be able to do the same. At the time I thought I was saving money by trying to learn the business the inexpensive way but I was just fooling myself because after all of the months of attending those meetings I still didn’t have the information to be able to generate the money I needed. I found out it wasn’t the inexpensive way to learn at all; it was the extremely expensive way to learn the business. I continued to learn the real estate investing business without spending any money for training until one day I decided it was time I needed to make a change. I decided I would take a quality training. The key word in that sentence is “Quality” training. Read More→

One of the most important aspects to a marketing campaign to find highly qualified sellers and buyers that is going to work is to create a solid mail piece for your business. These are key points for creating a solid direct mail piece that folks will respond to no matter what business you are in.

1. The first thing you’ll want to do is to “touch” your prospective customer or seller with “the dream”, or “the solution” to their problem. You’ll want to touch the basic emotions and the needs of your client or seller within the body of your letter, whether that is fear, relief, greed, pride or vanity.
2. Keep it simple. The grammar doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect. You want to reach this person at their comfort level. Keep your letter relaxed, personal and conversational. Read More→

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→