Introduction

As an agent with Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta for 15 years, I have watched our company grow from “Keller Who?” to Keller Williams Realty being the number one company in Georgia, and, our office being the number one office in the state of Georgia. Over this time period, the internet has become a dominate factor in communication with clients, and, between agents. Of recent, our office intranet (370 agents) and our company Facebook have become abuzz with agents requesting corporate rentals, also known as Short Term Furnished Property Rentals or Vacation Rentals in many tourist destinations and now many major cities.

My dearest friend of 20 years, Renata Circeo Louden, whom I have sold at least a dozen Atlanta properties to or for, and, who was the only rent and hold investor in Gary Keller’s Millionaire Real Estate Investor (page 364-I nominated her for the book), has had a successful vacation and corporate rental property management company in Atlanta and Destin, Florida for over 15 years managing over 100 properties. As she owns 20 properties in Atlanta and the Destin Area herself, she jokes that “I bought myself a job.” However, she manages to net her clients more money per year with less hassle, which is the reason of her tremendous growth.  Read More→

 You’re going to learn something very useful by reading this article.

This “something” is so valuable that you might want to use it for the rest of your life.

But before you learn what it is, let me start by saying…

The older I get, the more I realize things.

While that statement/observation could apply to just about anything…or anybody, I’d like to use this article to point out how it relates to people’s everyday communication skills.

We live in an age of instant information…yet people these days don’t seem to have any patience to communicate properly. We abbreviate stuff, like lol, brb, and wtf.

We text. We Tweet. We post. We share, and we like. What’s up with all the cat videos?

With so much information all around us, bombarding our everyday lives, it’s easy to understand why we need to curtail our communication. We just don’t seem to have the time to talk with most people the way we used to.  Read More→

“Plans are nothing; Planning is everything.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Only by finishing things is the way to learn. Despite this fact of life, I do find myself a bit overwhelmed at times with the various projects I’m planning at any given time. Making two or three phone calls to get a quote about one single project isn’t too much work. When you have three properties that need at least two large or small scale projects to be addressed that consumes at least two days of shopping around, getting in contact with the local businesses.

Homewyse is a site that was pretty much made for a person like me, but anyone who wants a jumping off point to get ballpark figures on home repairs will find this very useful. You don’t have to give up any personal information like a credit card to gain access to quotes in your area, or a property outside of your primary residence. Unlike Angie’s List, you don’t have to become a member to browse. Homewyse is an immediate source where you can get an idea of what things will cost. You don’t have to be specific about your project, I do find it great to look at comparable costs and then call or email local tradespeople to get a better picture.  Read More→

You’re an investor who’s focused on the long-term: your ability to retire with a nest egg. You want to build over the long-term, and you know that there are many different vehicles for doing just that, including employer-based 401(k) plans and more. But what many investors overlook is the possibility of using a Real Estate IRA in their retirement portfolio.

Why do they overlook it? For one, the option is rarely presented to them. Many people don’t even know that you can invest in real estate with an IRA. Another reason: many people believe that investing in real estate is a “rich man’s” game. But investing in real estate is available to anyone with the drive and interest to make it happen. Let’s take a look at what every retirement investor needs to know about the Real Estate IRA in order to make it part of their portfolio.  Read More→

Buyers… a wholesalers best friend.  A lifeline.  The reason why we make the money we do with a smile on our face.  However let’s face it, many wholesalers are fantastic at shooting themselves in the foot in this area.  Even experienced wholesalers run into more challenging Buyers that while qualified to buy, are hesitant or even downright against buying from a wholesaler.  Or they are just so picky that the time spent quickly feels like it is not worth the effort.  These are not the easiest of hurdles to discuss.  And even if they are willing to buy, how do you structure things to ensure you actually can close and not end up on the short side of the stick?  (i.e. Buyer walks right before closing)

A few simple steps will make this hurdle much, much easier.  We’ll cover two this month:  Read More→