New Investor in Atlanta, Ready to Begin

New Investor in Atlanta, Ready to Begin

Norcross, GA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes

Hello everyone! I have been lurking on and off on BP.com and have listened to a dozen or so podcasts/webinars. I have been compiling my goals and plans for beginning my real estate investments and I just want to run through them here for you guys and gals to comment on. Currently, I own one home in SC that is rented but I did not buy it to be an investment property. It kind of fell into my lap that way and I am currently making about $200/mo on it. 

Before I list my goals, let me help paint my picture a little. I owe about $1500 in credit card debt that is (mostly) revolving debt from bills. I owe $6300 on my car. I have a very well planned out budget that my wife and I have stuck to and it has helped us tremendously. Come January 1st, 2016, I will only have my wife's car payment, my current home mortgage, and my rental in SC (although that is paying for itself). SO...this will leave me with around $1500 (+- $200) each month of disposable income to use for investing after all my bills are paid and we pay ourselves (savings/retirement). As of now, I have roughly $10k that I can use as a down payment but i really prefer to use no more than about $6k. 

Goals for 2016:

1) Pay off my car, have less than $750 credit card debt, all revolving. 

2) I want to own 8 doors producing $200/door. I prefer multifamily over single family but that will not scare me away from a deal. My SC home cost $125k with mortgage at $850/mo so I have an idea of what I can afford. ALSO, I want my first few doors to be "turn-key." I would like to buy something that all ready has a tenant in good standing. 

3) I would like my first 1-2 homes to be in the $50k-$80k range. I love the BP.com BRRR and this is my goal for the first few doors/homes, depending on the type of home. I plan to buy and hold for a few years only, market depending.

4) Not sure how realistic this goal is, but if i shoot for the moon and only hit the international space station, well that's okay, because I'm still way above Everest. I want to buy and flip at least 2 homes for 2016. I want to do a flip after I own at least 3-4 doors. I want this to be more of a learning experience than a wicked profit experience. Since I am in the low end of the market ($50k-$80k) to begin, I think $5k-$7k profit is realistic, after closing costs, ect. I know I will make mistakes, I know I might lose out, but I will have learned 100% more than if I do not even try. For some areas I will contract out and others I will do myself. Of course, it all depends. 

So what do I need to know:

-Where does the money come from!? For the flips I wish to pursue a 203k loan. I am not confident in a hard money lender due to the fact that I have no experience. For the income properties, I really have no clue. Can I get a traditional loan? I feel like I will not have enough of a down payment. A $60k loan at 20% is $12k and this is a little over my budget. 

-This question is more for Atlanta folks: Who can I get to manage my property? What are some of the good companies out there? I am perfectly fine with hiring a property manager. They can take the 10% off the top. My wife and I work full time (for now) and I am not ready to be a land lord. My SC home is being managed for 8% and we still make $200/mo on it. 

- Last question for, well, the next hour. I have done some google searches and read a few blogs on here about how to find properties. I know of zillow and trulia, but have any of you found great companies that list relatively cheap houses and that are not trying to gouge us (soon to be) investors?  

Thank you all in advanced! Hopefully this post becomes the beginning of a long and epic journey! 

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  • Real Estate Manager · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2009 · 6 posts · 0 votes
    11y

    After many years of investing in the Atlanta market, just make sure you commit a few hours a week to learn the Craft of RE investing and pace yourself. Your goals look doable.  

  • Realtor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 693 posts · 357 votes
    11y

    You can only get a 203k loan if it's owner occupied

  • Real Estate Professional · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 279 posts · 109 votes
    11y

    Hi Anthony,

    Welcome to the business! Managing properties yourself can be a huge time commitment, and I'm hoping I can offer some help for your situation. Have you considered doing a wholesale rental, which would include no commissions or fees? My company works with a number of Atlanta managers who would be willing to do a guaranteed rental, and if you'd like to schedule a time to speak, I'd love to see if I could help out! :) 

  • Professional · Carlsbad, CA · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    @Anthony C.

    Welcome to Bigger Pockets community. Be sure to check out “Learn” for all kinds of useful resources and free how to guides.

    @Anthony C.

  • Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    11y

    Those are ambitious plans but it sounds like you have some focus.

    If it were me, I would concentrate initially on paying down your own debt while you continue to learn about the real estate market. I would also recommend you not leverage yourself too much until you get more experience. Buy and hold properties are usually pretty safe if they cash flow but a "flip" can eat your lunch in a hurry. I learned about those things by raising rabbits as a high school kid. It all would've worked fine if I could have sold them as soon as they were market ready. However keeping them an additional week/month pretty much ate my lunch. Where in the ATL area are you?

  • Lender · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    @Anthony C

    Welcome!

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