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Check Out These Great Authors & Articles In
The Profit Newsletter for January 2014

Your 2014 Journey Towards Financial Freedom
By Gary Johnston
This past summer, we hired a college bound student to help with things on our farm. She is a great young lady that wants to be a veterinarian. It will be a financial challenge for her to find a way to pay for the first four years, let alone the graduate program but she is doing everything she can to figure out a way to obtain her dream. She even joined the National Guard to help pay for college. Read More>>

Who and What is Your Market?
By Dustin Griffin
In last month’s article we discussed Step #1 of “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps” which was to “Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed”. This month we’re going to cover Step #2 which is to “Determine Your Market”. A Market (noun) is defined as “a place or area where products and services are bought and sold”. Your market consists of the area where you do business, the products and services you buy and sell as well as… Read More>>

The Objective is a Written Offer
By Bill Cook
A common mistake made by real estate investors is to forget why they knock on the seller’s door. By “forget,” I don’t mean the seller answers the door and the investor stands there with a stupid, lost look on his face. I mean the investor doesn’t understand the basic objective of why he’s there. Do you know the ultimate objective of meeting with sellers? I mean, why are you there? What’s the purpose? Is it to be given a tour of the seller’s house? Read More>>

Selling a Property: Identifying Comps in the Area
By Mark Jackson
Selling an investment property can be a very challenging process. One of the preliminary considerations in selling the property is what price you should ask. Evaluating the prices of comparable houses in the neighborhood may sometimes solve this problem. However, for those of you connected to REIAComps, the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. Read More>>

Constructing Offers
By Ron LeGrand
Once the seller is called by either you or your virtual assistant using our property information sheet, the prospects will come at you in one of four categories: 1) they’ll be free and clear, 2) there’ll be a mortgage with lots of equity, 3) there’ll be a mortgage with a small amount of equity, or 4) they’ll be over-leveraged. All prospects will fall into one of these categories. So, now our job is to look at the property information sheet and figure out what to do next…. Read More>>

What’s New in QuickBooks 2014?
By Karen Bershad
If you have QuickBooks® 2012 or older and are thinking about purchasing 2014 version – you are in for a surprise on how the program looks and some new areas that have been added. I will point out just a couple here but there are many more. QuickBooks Pro® 2014 has a “What’s New” yellow bar on the side of many of the windows that have new features… Read More>>

Buying a Business With Your Self-Directed IRA
By Jim Hitt
Stocks, bonds and mutual funds are all well and good – for those seeking ordinary returns. But if you have a particular expertise, or access to a lucrative market for just about any good or service, you have the potential to earn much more by going into business for yourself than you stand to gain by investing in the broad market. Fortunately, your Self-Directed IRA doesn’t limit you to the mundane investments you read about in the papers all the time. Read More>>

Atlanta REIA Business Spotlight on The Small Business Advisor!
By Jeff Nix
You’ve heard her at the monthly meetings, “I’m Karen Bershad and I am the Small Business Advisor!” Karen’s firm has been a business member with Atlanta REIA since it started and has been helping small businesses and their owners for almost 20 years. The past eight years however have been tailored to the specialized services for the Real Estate Investment industry. Read More>>

WARNING! Only Offering Sellers CASH for Their Property May Be Detrimental to Your Financial Future!
By Larry Harbolt
A few weeks ago I attended a weekend training put on by, who I believe is the most creative and knowledgeable real estate investor and teacher in this country. The training was put on by Peter Fortunato. Peter spent two days with his class explaining how dozens and dozens of deals he had helped structure without the need for institutional financing or credit. It truly amazed me how he never completed any of the deals he spoke about in the same way twice. Read More>>

True Cost
By Michael Vazquez
When you begin to learn about real estate investing you normally hear about the big picture of how to find and sell real estate. Obviously, this is important because without a piece of real estate to buy or sell there are no profits. However, let’s assume you have the acquisition and disposition of real estate down to a science. Now it’s time to pay more attention to the details because as the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” I like to say, “Profit is in the details.” Read More>>

Wait – My Phone Will Do What???
By Don DeRosa
So, here it is: January. You’ve gotten most of the pine needles and tinsel out of the carpet so the dog won’t eat it. Aunt Flora and Uncle Ruben have gone back to Miami. Your kids are back in school. And you? You’ve had a minute or two to breathe and enjoy the satisfaction of a holiday season well spent. Time is precious, isn’t it? But now, it’s time to get moving again. Read More>>

Why Do Courts Let Banks Steal Houses?
By Bob Massey
If the courts rule against the banks in the homeowners’ favor, but no news outlets report it, does it really happen? That’s the situation we’re in now. If you’ve been digging deep, you might have seen that the estimate of bank losses from mortgage related lawsuits has increased to $100 BILLION in future payouts. This number includes settlements and judgments as well as legal fees for defending all of the lawsuits. How many stories about this have you heard on the major news outlets? Read More>>

Pick An Area To Focus On And Focus On It!
By Matt Larsen
Happy New Year!! You may be reading this in early January even though I am writing this in December so I figured I’d throw that out. Hope you had a great Christmas season as well. It’s always my favorite time of the year. Our December one year ago I think was still our best month Wholesaling. We did 12 deals – which was insane. Don’t let up in the holiday season – it can be a good time to get deals. Read More>>

The 10 Deadly Mistakes That Will Kill Your Dream
By Kathy Kennebrook
I am frequently asked, “If you had it to do over again what would you do differently?” Well, I’d like to answer that question for you. There are several things you can do to help your business grow and several things you can do to kill the dream before it ever has a chance to become a reality. Let’s talk about the “ten deadly mistakes” that can kill your dream. Read More>>

How Should I Title My Personal Residence?
By Dyches Boddiford
Often I have investors ask me what entity should hold their personal residences. Many want to use at least the land trust or Family Limited Partnership. But by using any of these, you could be losing tax and financial benefits. So, how do you protect it? Your personal residence is protected by being mortgaged 100%. Don’t worry, I am not suggesting that you have loans out totaling the full value of your residence, but have a home equity line up to 90-100% of the value. Read More>>

Whose Financials Do I Use For Divorced Couples On Short Sales?
By Kimberlee Frank
Many of my students repeatedly ask me, “Do I need both the Wife and the ex-Husband’s financial documents when negotiating a short sale?” I let them know that there are several variables that I need in order to give them an answer. In order to have a clear understanding of whose financials I need to collect, I need the following information: Property Appraiser sheet, a copy of the last recorded Deed, a copy of the Property Settlement and Judgment of Divorce. Read More>>

Master Lease Options 101
By Bill Ham
Lease options have made a big comeback in today’s market. They are great ways to take control of real estate without using banks or lenders. They are also a great way to fix up a distressed asset that a bank won’t lend on. Once you have the property up and running, you can then sell for quick cash or refinance for a long term hold. A master lease option is a set of two contracts that give us the right to control the operations and the sale of a property. Read More>>

Hitting the Bulls Eye: Becoming a Hunter
By Russ Hiner
Owners of vacant houses can be hard to find, so I am about to give you some insider tips so you can hunt these elusive owners… Once upon a time, I found a boarded up house and wanted to find the owner. Given my experience, I knew that trying to find the owner through tax records might get me an address, but mailing anything to that address would be a waste of my hard earned 42 cents. I needed to find another way to hunt this owner. Read More>>

Turn Your TRASH Into CASH – How to Make More Money by Selling The Leads You Get… Even if You Don’t Buy The House! – Part 1
By Tony Pearl
Not too long ago, I wrote a sweet 3-part article on how to fill your pipeline full of leads & deals. I hope by now that you’re using that advice to get lots of leads coming in that you can work with. If not, then go back & read it again! And now that you (hopefully) have leads coming in, it’s time to introduce you to a new technique to make money. Read More>>

The Profit Articles for January 2014 on AtlantaREIA.com

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Download The Profit December 2013

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Check Out These Great Authors & Articles In
The Profit Newsletter for December 2013

How to Manage Your Real Estate Career For Maximum Profits
By David Lindahl
Investing in real estate is profitable, fun and there are times when it can be psychologically rewarding. The real reason why you are doing it though, your motivation, has a lot to do with total financial freedom and with the ability it will give you to dictate your own future away from money worries and pressures that have anything to do with finances. Read More>>

How Many Leads Do You Need to Succeed?
By Dustin Griffin
Recently I wrote an article on “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps”. You can apply these 7 Steps to market your home buying and selling business or pretty much any other business, product or service you wish to promote. In this article, I want to expand on Step #1: Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed at… Read More>>

Busy Season? Don’t Lose Your Mynd!
By Don DeRosa
I love the holidays! But they can be pretty tough to navigate, what with parties, church and synagogue events, school happenings, gift shopping, cooking, work, and everything else I’ve got to manage. Thank goodness for my iPad, because otherwise, I would forget about Grandpa Bill’s annual Christmas Luau. And that party is a hoot! Read More>>

How Many Units to Retirement?
By Bill Ham
Do you have a solid plan to have your real estate investing be your vehicle to retirement? Do you know how many units you need to own to quit that job? Not having a solid plan of action is one of the biggest mistakes I see new investors making. Most people know that they want to be full time investors and they want the passive income from real estate to replace their working income but they never really form a solid plan to get to that goal. Read More>>

Self-Directed IRAs: Investing in What You Don’t Know
By Jim Hitt
If you’ve been following our articles, then you know we have often talked about how self-directed IRAs give you the freedom to invest in what you know and understand with your retirement account. This is the first time that we will talk about investing in what you don’t know. Introducing Jenna, she is new to real estate investing and knows some very experienced real estate investors she can lean on for advice. Read More>>

Prescreening Prospects
By Ron LeGrand
In our last issue, I dealt with Locating Prospects by using a virtual assistant to call FSBO ads. I said that’s pretty much all we do here and can’t keep up with the leads they generate. This month we’ll discuss how to determine if it’s a suspect or a prospect and quickly determine which need to be called and which need to be trashed. It all begins with my Property Information Sheet… Read More>>

You Can Rely on Assessed Value
By Mark Jackson
As a trainer of appraisers for nearly 15 years, to those who hold private and public roles, one thing is certain, local assessor offices around the country make relying on their values rough on investors. However, for those of you connected to REIAComps, the control and feeling of confidence you have over your deals is priceless. The stuff going on in places like Clark County, NV or even your own area won’t shake you. Read More>>

A Barrel Full of Fishhooks
By Bill Cook
Last Friday, I took Michele, a new real estate investor, out knocking on sellers’ doors. Hers was a very, very special case that touched my heart. Recently, Michele lost her husband. This caused her to fall into financially troubled times. In an attempt to dig out of the I-don’t-have-any-money pit, she attended one of those “free” real estate investing dog-and-pony shows that come to town regularly. Read More>>

The Most Cost Effective Way to Find Deals
By Matt Larsen
Alright – Winter Time! Time to hunker down and do some deals before Christmas. You want to give out good gifts this year right? Well get to it then! It’s cooler out so you will be less tempted by the beach and the pool and can focus on your marketing and getting the phone to ring. So as I am writing this article in early November, I’m thinking about the deals we did in October. Read More>>

The Contractor
By Michael Vazquez
With the holidays here everyone begins to think about everything they are thankful for having in their lives. I did the same and came up with the same things everyone else thinks about like family, friends, having a roof over my head, a career I love, etc. Then I began to think about what I was thankful for having in my work life. Read More>>

Unlicensed Real Estate Investors Beware!
By Jon David Huffman, Esq.
The more time I spend with real estate investors, the more I appreciate the variety and creativity of their real estate transactions. However, one thing I hear often concerns me: unlicensed real estate investors “brokering” a transaction for a fee. In the real estate world, transactions with real estate brokers are far from unusual. This is only noteworthy with investors because many investors do not hold real estate licenses. Read More>>

Business Spotlight on Atlanta Carpet Service
By Jeff Nix
Atlanta Carpet Service is a charter business member with Atlanta REIA and a veteran provider of flooring and installation services to the real estate specific market since 1990. Company owner, Jeff Nix is also the volunteer Business Member Director with AREIA. More than your ordinary flooring store, ACS has extensive experience and exposure to the Real Estate industry… Read More>>

Marketing to Motivated Sellers in Rural Communities
By Kathy Kennebrook
Since I am the type of investor who purchases properties in multiple counties and in multiple states, I have had lots of experience buying homes and vacant land in rural communities. In fact this is a part of our business that we find to be very profitable for us. I will share with you that buying properties this way is a science in and of itself. Read More>>

Case Study – Single Person Asset Protection
By Dyches Boddiford
Rick is a single person with no immediate family. After hearing a discussion I did on stacking Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), he wanted to know what he could do as a single person. At the time he owned seven properties. Three had almost no equity. One had over $60,000 equity and the other three varied from $25,000 to $30,000 in equity. Read More>>

Year End Business Health Check Up
By Karen Bershad
Q: I received a “Refundable Security Deposit” from my tenant. How do I enter this into QuickBooks? A: This is a Liability account that you will need to payout at some later date. In your chart of accounts you should have a Liability account set up for Security Deposits Escrow – or some name that sets it apart from security deposits you paid that are owed back to you (which is an Asset). Read More>>

What Makes or Breaks a Short Sale?
By Kimberlee Frank
Many Realtors and Investors really don’t know the secrets to a successful short sale. They think just because they make an offer close to market value that their short sale should go thru! Obviously, that is not correct. The secret to a successful short sale consists of several things including 1) listing price and 2) broker price opinion/appraisal on the property. Read More>>

Why Are Banks Letting Criminals Steal Homes From Them?
By Bob Massey
The last several months have been extremely encouraging for real estate investors who are purchasing notes from banks! Every day more and more judgments in foreclosure cases are coming down in the homeowner’s favor as judges become aware of the depth of fraud the banks have committed. What we are seeing in the market is more judges making the right decisions, and the banks starting to run scared of this turning tide. Read More>>

It’s Time for a New Year and a New Plan!
By Larry Harbolt
Here it is almost the end of another year and it’s time to ask yourself again, was this a prosperous year for you or not? If you feel that you haven’t had as prosperous of a year as you might have wished for you may want to ask yourself what you could possibly do differently next year to achieve your financial goals. Read More>>

The Time Is Now – Third Quarter Real Estate Market Review
By Russ Hiner
Last year at this time, we were all wondering what was going to happen to the market. My prediction? I knew that things were looking up, and guess what? I have good news. Here is the update for Atlanta’s 10 county area: sales are up, number of participating counties is up, prices are moving up, AND, most importantly: The bottom has come and gone in Atlanta. Read More>>

How to Make a Website For Fun or Profit – Part 3
By Tony Pearl
Hello – Nice To See You Again! Here’s what you’ve learned in the first 2 parts of this article: (1) How important it is to have a website, if you’re in business in the 21st Century. (2) There are so many things you can do with it, like get more business, educate your consumers, entertain an audience, inspire your community, link it to Facebook, etc… and that’s just scratching the surface… Read More>>

The Profit Articles for December 2013 on AtlantaREIA.com