Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

Warning: Are You Using the Correct Legal Paperwork to Protect Your Assets?

A very well-known real estate guru and national speaker from Atlanta (whom we will refer to as “Mr. X” since he is presumed innocent until proven guilty) is undergoing an intense and lengthy criminal investigation by the Federal Department of the Treasury, in association with the Georgia Attorney General’s office, for tax evasion and possibly fraud and other charges.

This federal and state criminal investigation was recently confirmed by two Special Agents from the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, located in Decatur, GA as well as many other REIA groups and real estate promoters from across the country who have allowed Mr. X to teach and sell his paperwork and training to their members and students.

(PLEASE NOTE: The Special Agents contact information can be provided if you feel you have been defrauded by Mr. X or have any information that will assist them in their investigation.)

Mr. X allegedly uses a complicated series of land trusts, personal property trusts, LLCs, charitable foundations and non-profit organizations with layer upon layer of these legal entities to hide his assets, avoid lawsuits, thwart investigation and evade paying income taxes. 

Because of the growing controversy this federal investigation is causing within our industry, the validity of Mr. X’s training and paperwork, which he is very famous for, is being called into question and facing increasing legal scrutiny. Within the past week, rumors are quickly spreading that the validity of Mr. X’s land trust paperwork was recently challenged in court twice and lost both times. It has also been widely rumored for years that much of his paperwork fails to stand up in court when challenged. Many attorneys have ridiculed the paperwork that he authors, sells and promotes as a safe and easy way to buy and sell real estate since the results could be quite the opposite. Read More→

Title Insurance PolicyPeople often ask me at continuing education classes or networking events what an enhanced owner’s title insurance policy is, when it is allowed to be used, and what additional coverage it offers to its purchasers. It must first be mentioned that each title insurance underwriter has different guidelines, coverages, and exceptions, so there is never an across the board answer to this question that will encompass every title underwriters’ policies. With that said, the example I am about to expound upon is adopted by six of the major ten underwriters here in Georgia, so if it is not an exact list based on who your closing attorney is writing your policy with, it will at least give you a good idea of some general benefits.

An enhanced policy provides additional title insurance coverage to a purchaser of residential real property.  The enhanced coverage includes title matters that are not within the scope of a standard owner’s policy.  The enhanced coverage for the owner creates a greater risk to a title underwriter so accordingly, a 20% increase in the premium over existing title insurance rates is charged for this policy, but the policy amount coverage increases by 10% per year for the first five years, so financially they make sense to purchase. Read More→

What's Happening at Atlanta REIATuesday is the Super Smart Technology Webcast with Dustin Griffin. Wednesday is the new Creative Deal Structuring Meeting with Russ Hiner & Bob Massey in Buckhead. Thursday is Haves & Wants in Sandy Springs with Joe Thompson and Atlanta REIA South in East Point with Reggie Jackson and Gordon Catts. The Main Atlanta REIA Meeting is on Monday, March 12th with Real Estate Attorneys Craig Halperin, Jonathan Lyman and other special guests. Read More→

Super Smart High Tech Home Buying & Selling WorkshopOn February 7th, 2012, Dustin Griffin hosted the 7th installment of the Super Smart High Tech Home Buying & Selling Workshop Series for 2012 which is being held online and recorded for 24/7 playback for Atlanta REIA Members. In Part 7 of this workshop, Dustin showed attendees how to use their Super Smart Sell Site Back Office Websites to post their for sale/rent properties online, using copy and paste property flyers, posting their properties to the new Properties.AtlantaREIA.com website, building an electronic buyers list, managing enant/buyer leads and much more. Anyone can attend this live workshop series for FREE by registering here and Atlanta REIA Members can login here and watch the Workshop Replay below. Read More→

Attorneys Craig Halperin & Jonathan LymanOn Tuesday, February 28th, Atlanta REIA’s Gold Business Members, Attorney Craig Halperin and Attorney Jonathan Lyman of the law firm Halperin Lyman, LLC did a special Evening with an Expert Webcast with us. Craig and Jonathan answered many questions from our audience regarding title insurance, closing costs, liens, foreclosures, tax sales, entity setup, land trusts and more. Craig and Jonathan also talked about their upcoming presentation on “Title Insurance and Recording for Real Estate Investors: From Coverage and Rates to Proper Transfers in Georgia” at our Atlanta REIA Main Meeting on Monday, March 12, 2012. This was a definitely a “Do Not Miss” educational opportunity for anyone involved in real estate investing. This was an excellent webcast you don’t want to miss. Read More→

Learn How to Generate All the Leads You Can Handle with Kathy Kennebrook

Kathy KennebrookImagine having 3-10 motivated sellers contacting you each day. Sound incredible? Be careful what you wish for. No matter where you live there are motivated sellers just waiting to “give” you their houses, leaving you with thousands of dollars in profits. You will even learn how to draw in deals exactly the way you need them, such as wholesale deals, creative owner financing and more!

Join us on Thursday, March 1st at 7PM ET for a special Training Opportunity Webcast with our good friend and Atlanta REIA Business Member, Kathy Kennebrook. Kathy will be explaining how to buy and sell houses quickly in any market and she’ll be explaining exactly how she runs her real estate business on this incredible Call.

Register Now!

Some of the points she will be covering are: Read More→

Stop Working So Hard To Find Good Deals

Posted on February 29, 2012 by
Marketing Webcast with Kathy Kennebrook

Stop Working So Hard To Find Good DealsHey Everyone, we’ve had an opportunity to find out even more about Kathy Kennebrook’s amazing marketing system. You don’t want to miss this incredible webcast on Thursday, March 1st at 7PM ET. It could make a huge difference in your profits this year!

Kathy is going to cover some amazing strategies to help you crank up your buying machine and automatically schedule and manage all of the direct mail campaigns she uses to find highly qualified motivated sellers and buyers for her properties.

Register Now!

Read More→

Turbo Charge Your Income

Posted on February 28, 2012 by
“Turbo Charging Your Buying Machine, Your Income Streams, and Running Your Real Estate Investing Business on Auto-pilot”
A Training Webcast with Kathy Kennebrook

Turbo Charge Your IncomeHey Everyone! This is your invitation to join us Thursday, March 1st at 7PM ET for a special Training Opportunity Webcast we are hosting with our good friend Kathy Kennebrook. Her topic will be “Turbo Charging Your Buying Machine, Your Income Streams, and Running Your Real Estate Investing Business on Auto-pilot”.

This is going to be an incredible session where Kathy is going to share all of her insider secrets of the ins and outs of buying and selling houses quickly no matter what your real estate market is doing. Register for the Webcast Now!

Register Now!

Read More→

Are You Cutting Edge?

Posted on February 27, 2012 by

Joe ThompsonCome join us at the West Subgroup on Monday night at 6:30 PM at the Cherokee Cattle Company in Marietta, where Joe Thompson will share with us extremely valuable secrets to success. Here’s a glimpse into the life-changing topics Joe is going to cover:

  • to plan or not plan
  • where are we today?
  • the WHY factor
  • the eight step goal setting process
  • how do you apply your goal setting?
  • tips tools and techniques
  • a call to action

Are you new to real estate and want to learn what I consider to be the absolute biggest factor in whether you succeed in this business or not?   Have you been at this real estate thing for a while and just aren’t seeing the results you’d like to have?  Have you thought that there is some key ingredient that you just can’t get ahold of?  What is the difference between people that make mediocre to average success at best, and those few that are very successful at what they do?  There are some very key thoughts and rituals the very successful embrace that the average person either doesn’t know about or won’t do in order to reach high levels of achievement.  Do you know what these key fundamentals are?  Well you should, if you want to be truly successful in whatever endeavors you take on! Read More→

Learning the Language of Real Estate InvestingIn 1995, when Kim and I made our start as real estate investors, we knew nothing about nothing about real estate.  When we attended local real estate investor meetings, we didn’t understand anything anyone said – it was as if they spoke a different language.  It was very frustrating!

So why didn’t we quit – after all, that’s what most would-be investors do soon after they start, right?  We didn’t quit because Kim and I didn’t want to “work for the man” for the rest of our lives.  We wanted to make our own way.  We wanted to have our capital assets working for us instead of us working for our capital assets.   

Can’t tell you the number of times someone has told us, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about buying some investment property, but don’t know where to start.” Read More→

Keep the Neighbors Happy

Posted on February 27, 2012 by

Keep the Neighbors HappyWhen we’re selling or renting a house, the neighbors can help make it a pleasant experience or a real nightmare.  Bill and I always try to talk with the neighbors and listen to their needs and concerns.  We want the neighbors to like our house and appreciate the improvements we make.  We also want the neighborhood’s values to benefit from our sales price.

We recently bought a house in a very nice neighborhood where the values had taken a terrible turn downward.  We did a beautiful rehab to the house and property, spending about $24,000 on improvements.  The neighbors were patient with the noise and tolerant of our trucks constantly blocking the road. Read More→

What's Happening at Atlanta REIAEven though it is the last week of the month, it is also the first week of March and we have a lot going on. Monday is Atlanta REIA West with Joe Thompson on Goal Setting and Time Management. Tuesday is an Evening with an Expert Webcast with Attorney Craig Halperin on Title Insurance and Closings. Tuesday is also the Note Buyers Group in Smyrna. Thursday is Haves & Wants. Thursday night is a special Webcast on Direct Mail Marketing with Kathy Kennebrook. Read More→