Atlanta Real Estate Investors Alliance Blog

This month is renovation month at Atlanta REIA and I for one am super excited.  For the past 19 years I have managed to perform just about every type of real estate transaction there is.  Everything from notes, wholesale deals, lease options to subject to deals.  I’ve used every buying strategy known to man and every creative technique to sell my properties. But, no technique has made me more money than the good old fashioned “rehab” fix and flip.  People often ask me how they can make lots of money in real estate.  You would think that answer would be wholesaling because you don’t need a lot of money and it is quick and sometimes painless. Well the truth is, the fastest way to wealth in my opinion is to “Find ‘Em, Fix ‘Em and Flip ‘Em.”

When doing a rehab or renovation successfully it requires tools just like any job well done.  If you have the proper tools in any job, the job goes much easier, faster and most efficiently.  Rehabbing is no different.  There are six steps to successfully performing any renovation of any size or shape.

The first step is PLANNING.  Making sure you have the proper tools is essential to your success.  Things that you should have with you at all times will make your job easier.  These items include, Inspection forms, Camera, Flash Light, tape measure, graph paper, lock box and “”We Buy Houses” sign.  These tools allow you to initiate the first step in any rehab.  In my opinion you also want to invest in a design program so you can “Mock Up” what you want your rehab to look like.  If you have an iPad my recommendation is an app called Tap Glace.  It allows you to measure and create that vision on paper before you ever touch anything inside the house.  Read More→

Emotion is a tricky thing.  We all have them.  We experience them every day whether positive, negative or even indifference.  I remember when I started investing being taught to never ever, EVER become emotionally attached to a deal.  It sounded easy enough and as head knowledge it is.

But then a funny thing happens…people and or money become involved!

Oh yes, emotion can make the smartest of investors make the most let’s just say ‘bone headed of decisions’.  I will have to admit, I have fallen prey to the power of emotion on a couple of emotions.  Never underestimate this factor when doing deals!

Let’s examine both of these avenues in depth so you can see how powerfully they can work against you, sometimes without even realizing it.

In terms of people…  Read More→

I have been asked the same question a few times lately so I decided to answer it in this article. “Where can I get a master lease option (MLO) contract from?” The answer is easy- Google. You can search for MLO docs online. There were dozens of versions from just as many sites. I highly suggest that you have an attorney review any docs you get off line before using them. When I am asked this question I usually respond by telling the person that they aren’t really asking the right question. The real question is not “where do I find a MLO contract?” but “How do I use it?” You can print up the best master lease option document you can find but if you can’t get a seller to sign it…who cares?

Getting a seller on board with any kind of creative financing can be a challenge. You will find it a lot more difficult without the right presentation. Pitching your idea to the seller or realtor is the key to getting the deal done. Here are a few tips to make your next MLO offer a hit!  Read More→

The State of Florida and many other states were affected by Hurricane Matthew, leaving many Sellers with problem houses.  I am located in Oviedo, Florida, and being a transplant from Michigan, I have never been in a Florida Hurricane.  All of my houses were blessed with minor damage such as big trees down in the back yard, shingles flying off the roof, branches and trash everywhere. I am very grateful to God for these blessings.  Other Sellers were not so fortunate and my heart goes out to them.  They now have to deal with making a huge decision of fixing the house or selling the house.  Some Sellers may not even have insurance on their house.  However, if they do have insurance, let me explain the process.  

An insurance claim can be long and dragged out with many Sellers becoming very frustrated with the insurance company’s findings.  These are Sellers that may need your help with you buying their house.  First, let me explain the process on Insurance Claims.  Sellers will notify the insurance company of damage to the property along with providing them a list of items damaged.  If the Insurance Company and the Sellers can come to an agreement, then a check is sent to them in their name and the names of all mortgage companies that may have a lien on the property.  Pursuant to the terms of the mortgage that was signed by the Sellers, all insurance proceeds are to be used to re-build the property to make sure that the mortgage companies have an asset that is worth the amount of their loan.   When there are large claims of loss to the insurance company, they normally dispute the amount of the claim and the Seller will have to hire an independent insurance adjuster to assist them in disputing the claim.  Read More→

 Hey, guess what?  I Want You to FAIL!

“Say what now? Fail? But failure is a bad thing, right? That’s what they taught me in school…AND in my job! And all my friends make fun of each other when we fail.”

Yes. Exactly. So what?

I’d like you to think back to when you were a kid. Everything was new to you in the world. You really had to learn things for yourself… How to eat, drink, think, walk, talk, and interact with stuff, right?  If you can’t remember any of that, just watch kids.

Have you ever watched a kid learn how to walk? They fall down a lot, don’t they?  But here’s the truly interesting thing: They don’t stay down. They don’t listen to their well-meaning friends who laugh at them, and they don’t care what grade they get. 

No, they stand up, wobble around a bit, and fall down. Then they stand up again, wobble some more, then put one foot out and take a step!  Read More→

One of the most important aspects to a marketing campaign 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.

3. Use simple language; don’t fill your letter with big words or technical words or “industry jargon” that your seller or your customer might not understand.  Read More→

The last month or so I have been looking more and more into investing in apartments. However, I did not attend local MeetUps or other groups dedicated to apartment investing until this week. I self-educated as much as possible through books, podcasts, YouTube video and articles. I did this to prepare for the meetings and it paid off.

The reason I learned as much as possible before attending these apartment investing meetings was so I can understand what was being discussed. I have led single family investment groups in the past and caught myself speaking over many of the attendees. It was not done intentionally but because I had been doing it for so long I was doing it unconsciously. I have also seen other instructors and speakers do the same thing.  Read More→

I have been challenged in the past few months as the competition in the market heats up and the number of wholesalers who are working the area are making offers to sellers which are outrageously high. I want to talk about the way to figure out if the subject property is a Prospect or a deal. This way you will get the keys to remembering if the opportunity is a deal or dud.

I have recently taken some training because my business and I must change, in order to stay ahead of the changes in the economy, the market, and life in general. I took specific training that was on options. This gave me a new tool in my tool box in order to buy more property. I’m excited. I am using these techniques. They are working. When I understand that all scenarios that work for me the chances for success go up dramatically. I must know my plan of: what to buy, where to buy, when to buy, & what price to buy. Just because it is a deal for me doesn’t mean it is a deal for you. NEVER compare yourself to another investor or person!  Read More→

QuickBooks comes with dozens of report templates that can be run as is. This month and next, we’ll show you ways to make them “fit” your company.

Reports are your reward for all that hard work you put in entering records and transactions in QuickBooks. Sure, you can always find individual invoices, sales receipts, and customers by using the software’s search tools, but in order to make smart business decisions, you need to be able to see related subsets of the information you so carefully entered in neat rows and columns.

You’ve probably created at least some basic reports in QuickBooks. You may have, for example, wanted to see who’s late paying you, or whether you have unpaid bills. You might need to know your stock levels, or which purchase orders are still unfilled. You certainly want to keep a close eye on whether you’re making or losing money.  Read More→

Maximizing the return you get out of your retirement investments is a question that’s on most peoples’ minds. So how can a Self-Directed IRA help?

One word: fees. Fees are important for any investor to pay attention to—keeping them at a minimum will allow you to have more cumulative growth over the years, and avoiding major fees will ensure that you cut your direct expenses as much as possible.

In the world of real estate investing, fees can be very difficult to deal with. Here are some steps to ensure that you can maximize the value of your account no matter how much money you currently invest with:  Read More→

Ok guys, I want to show you how to maximize your investment.  Here are some ways to figure out what price you should offer on your properties to get a deal, or to give someone else a deal.

Comps are of course, basically the true value of a house. You can look at the price of houses for sale, but that doesn’t tell you the true value of a house. The true value of a house in an area is based on how much houses are SELLING for based on comps information from REIA Comps, not how much the houses are listed for.

So, if you look in a neighborhood, you may find houses listed at high prices. They don’t sell at those high prices. They may get offers, they also come down before they sell. It’s the selling price of the house you want to go by to make a decision on how much you want to get for your house, or how much you want to offer on your house. It’s also known as ARV (Average Retail Value or After Repair Value). Working with REIA comps lets you figure out what the ARV is easily.  Read More→

Most folks think real estate investing consists of finding a deal, taking it down, getting it rehabbed and sold, and then going out to find the next deal.  But what if you structured the deal in such a way that one deal leads to more deals?  Let’s look at two real-world examples of this. 

A few years ago, our good friends Joe and Ashley English, found an investment property they wanted to buy.  Only one problem: they didn’t have the money to buy the home.  Joe sent an email to several investors explaining that he was seeking funding.

Within minutes, Joe’s phone rang.  It was Pete Fortunato – the best creative deal structurer we’ve ever met.  Pete was on Joe’s email list.

After a short conversation, Pete agreed to fund Joe’s deal with these terms: Joe would pay Pete one-half of the $400 net monthly rent.  In addition, if Joe sold the property, he and Pete would split the net profit 50-50.  This is known as a performance loan.  The purchase money would come from Pete’s Roth.  Read More→