BiggerPockets

Hi,

I am very new to RE investment. Just found this forum several days ago and learn a lot already, to say the least. We have about $400K in cash. Originally plan to buy a bigger house for ourselves, and rent out our current home. Some of our friends are buying homes for rentals, which got us thinking about this model. Right now we plan to use this money to buy several rental properties in Atlanta.

We do have a real estate agent at the moment. But he has not dealt with many investors in the past even though he has more than 11 years experience and I consider him honest and competent. We have seen about 30 houses so far and made one offer, but we may cancel that offer after reading some posts here. It is a potential short sale. So no big hurry. At the beginning we were not sure where to buy (nice neighborhood with high price vs not so nice neighborhood with low price), but I think we decide now to start with not so nice neighborhood with low price to minimize the risk. That being said, sine we work full-time and are so new to this business, I wonder maybe a good local real estate mentor in Atlanta area will help us at the beginning to avoid any major mistakes. How much does it usually cost? What is the next step? Is it worth it?

I really appreciate your advice.

The Atlanta market, like any MSA, is complex to understand - you can make money in the market and you can fall foul with inexperience. A mentor would be great and I agree that J Scott would be great - i'm betting he is pretty busy with his own stuff though!

You have two large associations in Atlanta - GAREIA and AtlantaREIA
http://atlantareia.com/
http://www.gareia.org/

Go meet some people and do the legwork to understand where you feel comfortable investing, what type of property, what exit strategy, and how much risk you are willing to take. And as Steve says, keep your money to yourself for the time being - it's like blood in the water.. the sharks will find you!

Once you have that down the teacher will appear.. and he might be looking back at you in the mirror.

TTFN,
Greg

I'm always happy to answer any questions, either here on the forum or personally (you can find my email address on my website)...

And while I'm pretty busy with two babies these days, if you're willing to come to my neck of the woods (Cobb County, west suburbs of the city), I'm always happy to grab lunch and chat...

Atlanta2011,

I suggest that you spend some time reading this:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/18371-help-me-understand-this-deal-and-5-2-rule

Raymond

I'm not a big fan of either GaREIA or AtlantaReia. Both are mostly geared towards selling Guru courses... although the AtlantaReia free meetings are a hoot and a half.
Admittedly, though, some of the best meetings I go to are GaREIA sub-groups.

A place to consider checking out is Haves and Wants at the 5 Seasons (At the Prado in Roswell) every Thursday at 1:30. You'll meet some of the absolute brightest and most awesome people ever - along with folks that, uh, aren't.
Otherwise, the food is good and there's plenty of people worth talking to.

True with the exception that he beats up old women,steals candy from babies and rips off midgets playing 3 card monte :mrgreen:

Seriously though can't go wrong with Jason's knowledge on REI.

J Scott -

Not even remotely. Officially speaking Haves and Wants is a Subgroup of North Metro REIA. realistically speaking it's a basically un-affiliated and is very liquid in terms of who shows up.

I go as my schedule allows, not because I expect to get a good contact out of each meeting but because I've gotten enough good contacts out of the group in the past 3-4 years that I consider it to be a good use of a Thursday afternoon. Like I mentioned - because it's open to all, you get plenty of signal and plenty of noise.

Thats not far from where I live, I think I will go tomorrow afternoon.

J Scott -

I actually should be there next week... depending on how production treats me between now and then. (Presently building a house in Oakhurst. You should swing by sometime)

That being said, drop me a line if you'll be there and I'll give you a round of introductions.

As for a mentor. You can leverage your funds and fund the deal in exchange for working with someone with more experience. In the end you split the profit vs paying a mentor to teach you.
I learned a bit myself from this thread. As Georgia is on my list of investment areas in the near future. I am on the email listserve for the REIA but I hope to check our the Haves and Wants too.