Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

When I started investing in real estate 30 some years ago it never dawned on me that there was a strategy to become wealthy.  I thought all you had to do was buy houses, fix them up and resell them, make money then repeat the process. It sounded like a good plan but it was a flawed plan because the money I made from the deals I did went to feed my family first, then what was left went to rehab the next property. I had no plan to accumulate wealth. I had no plan for the future; all I had was a plan to create a job for myself I had to go to work every day to support my family.

One day I was whining to my father that I wasn’t really making any headway putting any significant amount of money into my savings account. It seemed like I was just spinning my wheels and I wasn’t really getting ahead. I was working hard everyday and I had money to feed my family but that was about it. I could have done exactly the same thing working for someone else with a lot less stress in my life. My father who was a brilliant man told me a story about a poor boy that lived during the great depression and for those of you getting started investing in real estate today I think this story is very important to help you understand how to create wealth instead of just make a living. It is called….  Read More→

Here it is the Tuesday after Labor Day, and I’m excited about the upcoming month. The market seems to be changing positively, and I am doing an increasing number of real estate deals. Also, I’m energized because I rested over the three-day holiday. I spent time with my friends relaxing and enjoying great conversation along with sharing ideas. With all of that renewed energy, I made grand plans for the upcoming week.

 But, you know what they say about well-laid plans. Instead of getting to my list, I find myself trying to answer calls as the phone rings off the hook. My plan to achieve five of my goals this week is already going out the window. Suddenly I realize that I’m overwhelmed and losing sight of what I wanted to accomplish. I know that I need to re-prioritize.

Like so many of us, I am challenged on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis to figure out my priorities. I sit down at my desk ready to check things off of my list, and the fires start flaring up. I can easily lose track of what I should be doing and where I should be going.

I’m sure that most of you can relate to this. So, how can we avoid that rushed feeling of putting out fires? If we have the best intentions to accomplish our goals, of doing the next right thing, we must be able to do it while life happens around us rather than letting ourselves get caught up and losing sight. Read More→

Buzz Words and Warning Signs

As investors, we must always be aware that there are fraud promoters lurking in every corner waiting for their next opportunity to pounce on an un-expecting investor. To help you avoid falling victim to fraud, here’s a recent study of SEC Investor Alerts which show some very obvious but worth mentioning ‘buzz’ words every investor should watch out for:

• Guaranteed
• Can’t Miss
• Extremely High Returns
• Safe and Risk Free
• Promised _____% Returns

In the SEC alerts they are primarily discussing investing in LLCs and Private Placements; however, these warnings are absolutely applicable to real estate transactions, private loans, or any other investment a person would consider making. Read More→

Many real estate investors shy away from the ugly house business because they fear hiring contractors. We have all heard the horror stories of rehabbers who loose their shirt because a contractor took them to the cleaners.

I am here to tell you that contractors can be your worst enemy or your best friend, depending if you hire a good one or a bad one. So how can the beginning novice real estate investor make the correct choice- the hard working team player that gets the job done on time, on budget and at a high standard of quality? The answer is by following all eight of the critical prescreening steps below.

1. Ask the contractor you are interviewing, how long they have been in the business?  I prefer at least five years of experience in the trades. I want a contractor who has seen and repaired every strange, odd, and crazy thing that could be wrong with a house. Experienced contractors know how to estimate all tough projects and experienced professionals can give an accurate price to fix any problem.

Inexperienced contractors, on the other hand, under estimate repairs to get the business, and then they try to push their mistake on the home owner by upping the price half way through construction.  The investor needs to say NO. NO is the most powerful word in the dictionary, and a rehabber needs to use this tool.  If they did not have the knowledge to make a good estimate, it is there problem not yours. Read More→

“He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given.” (Pr 19:17 NLT)

Every investment has a Risk/Return factor associated with it. When a business man or business woman is asked to put their finances and/or time into a venture it is wise for them to consider the projected return. The return is compared to the possible loss that is associated with an investment. Conventional wisdom says; “the greater the projected return, the greater the risk one might have to take.” Whether or not greater risk can be justified by larger projected profit depends on the risk tolerance of the business person.

Have you ever considered that pro bono work, charitable contributions, benevolent gifts to the less fortunate, or supporting the poor and unfortunate members of our society as making a loan to God? Just how risky is that investment? Have you considered that such compassionate practices work for the betterment of the bottom line of one’s business? Read More→

Now it’s time to discuss a subject that I have intimate knowledge about, the wholesaler. It seems that no matter which direction you look you will always find a “wholesaler.” From my experience many people are too quick in being self proclaimed wholesalers. Anyone that is truly a wholesaler and a successful wholesaler can tell you that although it is very profitable it is not something one can be learn over night. Good wholesalers are usually a jack of all trades in the investment world. They are knowledgeable about construction, creative financing, determining values and rents, some are investors themselves, and the list goes on and on. When you are dealing with a wholesaler the only thing they are concerned about is the bottom line.

Now that you know what and who you are dealing with you can be better prepared. Many wholesalers will claim to be the owner and in some way they are because, if they have the property under contract as they should, they do have equitable interest in the property. Once you have discovered that the seller is a wholesaler there are two things you want to know as a buyer. First, you would want to know how long they have been trying to sell the property. This will let you know how motivated the wholesaler really is. Obviously, the longer the wholesaler has had it the more motivated he/she is to sell it. Secondly, you would like to know what their spread is between their asking price and what they contracted the property for. You want to know this for one reason and one reason only and it is not to beat down their fee just to beat it down. You want to know this in case your calculated purchase price is a bit lower than what the wholesaler is offering the property for. For example, let’s say you did your due diligence and calculated that you need the property for $50K and the asking price is $60K there is a $10K difference. However, the wholesaler only has a $5K spread so he/she truly can not accommodate your offer. On the other hand, if the wholesaler’s spread was $20K he/she may accommodate if you present a reasonable argument why your offer is $10K less and you are the only serious buyer. Read More→

Ok, you’ve built your site. You have it all set up, targeting your proper audience. You have a freebie give-away, such as a report, video, or guaranteed offer on their house, and all they need to do to get it is give you their name, email, and phone number.

So you’re ready for the next step…

Now you just need some people to see it. This is called ‘Traffic.’ It’s the lifeblood of your website. It’s the first step in your marketing funnel – Generate Prospects. Without eyeballs on your site, you’re done. Might as well not even have a site to begin with!

But you do have a site, so let’s get you some targeted traffic, shall we?

“If You Build It, They Will Come,” says the mysterious voice from the movie “Field of Dreams.” Well, that quote was made well BEFORE the internet was really made available to anyone. If your site isn’t set up properly, no one is gonna come, believe me.

So how do you get the traffic? Well, that’s the fun part, isn’t it?! And I’m going to get you started. So, here we go… Read More→

Did you know you can quickly build a wholesale buyers list by having your prospects “text” to automatically join your list? Building a text message marketing list will not only prove to be easier than building an email list, but you will also have a higher chance of getting your message opened and read by your prospects. After all, about 95% of all text messages are opened and read within minutes of being sent.

People also find it is easier to simply text to a number to join your list rather than having to go online, fill out a form, check their email for a verification message and then double opt-in. It is also easier for you to market that “text to number” since it is short and easy to remember and you can place that number virtually anywhere you like!

Building a Targeted Buyer List

You can build your text message buyers list through the use of Facebook, Twitter and variety of other online and offline sources. This will give you a focused list of targeted consumers that are interested in what you have to offer!

Text them a “property of the week” or whenever you have a new property to sell or fill. Preaching to the choir is not a bad thing when it comes to text message marketing your properties, since in this case, the choir consists of those who would most likely buy or rent your properties. Read More→