Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

Rental Properties in Your IRA

For legions of investors frustrated with puny yields on savings and bonds, slow growth retarding stock market returns, and the usual substantial risk involved in security investing (any given stock or bond can potentially become worthless overnight), we have good news: The combination of declining real estate prices and steady or increasing rents have opened up a window of opportunity in real estate for income-oriented investors. In fact, years after the “smart money” was selling off real estate ahead of the bubble collapse, we are seeing signs that smart money is getting back in the real estate market. Indeed, up to 20 percent of residential real estate now sold is sold to investors – and not just to “play and pray” amateur property flippers, but to value-oriented investors as well, who are seeking to generate immediate positive cash flow.

Advantage for IRA Owners

This is a big development for IRA investors, because generating cash flow sufficient to maintain properties is important for IRA owners. Because you are restricted to $5,000 in new contributions to IRAs every year ($6,000 for those over age 50), you have to pay for any needed repairs or renovations to properties either with cash in the IRA, bringing on a partner, non-recourse debt financing, or other retirement assets you can roll over into the account. When you can realize immediate positive cash flow from a property, however, net of financing costs and taxes, that takes a lot of the pressure off, and makes owning real estate in an IRA much simpler. Read More→

As Director of Business Membership, in keeping with the kickoff the inaugural issue of The Profit, I’d like to take the opportunity to personally thank all the business members who contribute their valuable time, talent, and resources to making Atlanta REIA what it is, and what it is becoming.  Atlanta REIA is a collective success because of you and what you bring to the organization. While many of you attend the monthly general meeting or some of the subgroup gatherings, there are many others companies behind the scenes who offer a nearly endless variety of goods and services that support the endeavors of all our real estate investor members.

In future issues of The Profit, this segment will highlight our business members as well as announcing the new and renewing members so that the membership at large will be reminded of the fine companies that are available and at your service. Read More→

“They may say, “Come and join us … let’s ambush the innocent! …Think of the great things we’ll get! We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come, throw in your lot with us; we’ll all share the loot.” My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths.” (Proverbs 1:11-15)

We have all faced the question; “Is this a good business opportunity for me?” The answer to this question may come from your professional training on how to evaluate a deal. Sometimes, we find ourselves enrolled in the school of “Hard Knocks” taking the freshmen class of “Trial and Error.” But, if you are an entrepreneur, there may be is a more critical question that has to be answered and your answer to this question may not be quite as forgiving.

That question is; “Who am I doing business with?” Have you ever found yourself challenged to do business with someone who operates with a fundamentally different set of values and moral practices than yourself? Have you ever been asked to participate in a venture or business proposition that just didn’t sit right in your heart? Sometimes, at first glance, it may seem to be quite attractive and a potentially profitable proposition. But after some careful thought and discussion, you begin to feel uncomfortable about the person or the proposition. Read More→

As an attorney who specializes in real estate transactions for investors, I always try and stress the importance of using an attorney to form your business entity, more specifically an LLC, to shield your real estate assets from liability, as opposed to trying to take on this task on your own, or using an online service. No matter how many times we suggest this, investors sometimes overlook the importance of seeking an attorney’s advice during initial registration of LLC documents. As a result, many investors are forced to amend their Articles of Organization, sometimes more than once. In our experience, investors who have registered their LLC’s online, without engaging an attorney to correctly draft the documents necessary for proper filing, end up having to file amendments nine times out of ten regardless of their experience.

The time and money lost due to avoidable mistakes can be very frustrating, and necessary amendments often end up costing investors the same, if not more, than what their attorney fees would have been had they hired one at the onset. Conversely, investors who work with attorneys during the filing process are far less likely to encounter obstacles resulting from imperfect filings and unanticipated obstacles. These investors are thus much more insulated from the risk of needlessly incurring costly amendments. Attorneys can help investors circumvent these unnecessary obstacles and losses in several important ways. Read More→

The Mortgage Electronic Registration System is just that—an electronic registration system. MERS came into being after the GSEs produced a white paper in 1993 stating the case for an electronic registration system to track mortgage assignments. It was officially launched in 1997.

From the point of view of the mortgage industry MERS made it possible to transfer mortgages or merge lender acquisitions efficiently without triggering local transfer taxes and other recording fees. It changes what has always been a public documentation process to a private one. The industry claims the MERS system allows the industry to have a central repository for mortgage assignment information in order to keep a more accurate picture of ownership.

Courts have not been unanimous about the legitimacy of MERS and many courts have ruled that MERS muddies the waters in the recorded chain of title and cheats counties out of much needed revenue. In fact, county recorders in several states have sued the MERS system for loss of documentation fees. On the other hand, the MERS website lists cases it has won in at least 22 states since the beginning of 2011. There is clearly a window of opportunity to fight MERS’ legitimacy as an owner of record in many foreclosure cases. Read More→

The Profit is Atlanta REIA’s brand new, digital newsletter. The purpose of The Profit is to help keep our members, guests, friends and followers updated on all the ups and downs of the real estate market; changing laws, rules and regulations; the latest real estate investing techniques, strategies and so much more!

The Profit is also designed to all of our subscribers updated and informed of all the events and happenings going on at Atlanta REIA each month as well as exposing them to a wide variety of businesses, vendors and suppliers (such as yours) serving the real estate industry.

If you’re looking to reach the Real Estate Industry here in the Greater Atlanta Metro Area and/or throughout Georgia, you can’t do better than The Profit. Your ad will reach more than 10,000 each month with your message. Our production teams are among some of the best designers in the country. We will make your business look GOOD!

We can help you create an ad that will get your business noticed! And because our digital newsletter is “interactive”, readers can click on the links in your ad to visit your website, squeeze pages, interactive forms, Facebook and Twitter pages, etc. This will result in more visitors to your website(s), better lead conversion and even more customers for your business!

Check out our special introductory advertising rates below for our Gold and Silver Business Members and when you’re ready to start advertising in The Profit, call Christine Griffin at 678-701-7160 or Contact Us Online. For a limited time only, we will design your ad for you at no charge. You can also Download Our Advertising Order Form and get started now!

Read More→