From Agent To Investor
Real Estate Agent · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 15 posts · 4 votes
Greetings BP community! I Have Been An Atlanta Agent For About Three Years And Have Been Pretty Successful... Most Recently, I Have Been Getting Anxious About Making The Jump From Full Time Agent To Investor.
Any Tips / And Ideas Are Welcome
@Chauncey Perkins as an agent and an investor, I would be more nervous about those who are not investing! Make sure you have plenty of capital and then buy a good deal!
@Chauncey Perkins as an agent and an investor, I would be more nervous about those who are not investing! Make sure you have plenty of capital and then buy a good deal!
@Chauncey Perkins welcome to BP! I’m new to the world of Real Estate Investing.
I can relate to being anxious about making a switch over. It took me 3 months of study with mentorship before I became comfortable and ready to roll.
The best advice I received at the beginning, which I have not heard anyone so far mention, was to first become “legal and compliant”. Real Estate investing is a very legal intensive business. If you start-off becoming legal and compliant you are less likely to have issues down the road. I obtained my own Real Estate Attorney first. I like smooth sailing.
One last tip to consider “OPM” seek to invest using “other people’s money”.
All the best to you in your journey!
@Chauncey Perkins you’re welcome. I lived in Atlanta, GA for 4 + years. Great place. Real Estate was always lucrative and competitive.
Personally, I think every place has potential. As long as people are buying and selling, potential is present.... and I’m here for it! LOL
Welcome to BP! I'm still searching for my first deal but slowly narrowing in and will be purchasing my first property within the next month or so. 2 pieces of advice: 1. Get comfortable with the numbers, use the BP calculator as much as you can, it can be your best friend! 2. Organization. If you're going to be using a hard money lender (OPM) they want to see that you're a competent investor and nothing shows that more than presenting them with an organized deal(ARV, comps, construction cost etc.).
Keep browsing the forum and learning daily!
@Chauncey Perkins welcome to BP! I’m new to the world of Real Estate Investing.
I can relate to being anxious about making a switch over. It took me 3 months of study with mentorship before I became comfortable and ready to roll.
The best advice I received at the beginning, which I have not heard anyone so far mention, was to first become “legal and compliant”. Real Estate investing is a very legal intensive business. If you start-off becoming legal and compliant you are less likely to have issues down the road. I obtained my own Real Estate Attorney first. I like smooth sailing.
One last tip to consider “OPM” seek to invest using “other people’s money”.
All the best to you in your journey!
Miranda, who do you have on your team? I see Real Estate Attorney. I'm thinking I need one of those, a CPA that deals with REIs, a financial planner, a project manager and a property manager.
Yes! I'm just getting started here in Atlanta. Well, just learning so I can eventually get started!
@Chauncey Perkins welcome to BP! I’m new to the world of Real Estate Investing.
I can relate to being anxious about making a switch over. It took me 3 months of study with mentorship before I became comfortable and ready to roll.
The best advice I received at the beginning, which I have not heard anyone so far mention, was to first become “legal and compliant”. Real Estate investing is a very legal intensive business. If you start-off becoming legal and compliant you are less likely to have issues down the road. I obtained my own Real Estate Attorney first. I like smooth sailing.
One last tip to consider “OPM” seek to invest using “other people’s money”.
All the best to you in your journey!
Miranda, who do you have on your team? I see Real Estate Attorney. I'm thinking I need one of those, a CPA that deals with REIs, a financial planner, a project manager and a property manager.
I’m in Texas so my attorney is based in the Dallas, TX area.
My team consist of a RE attorney, Loan Brokers, VA's, Courier, Notary and soon RE Broker. I'll also work on having an acquisitionist in place once I'm bringing in revenue. My husband and I are the marketing team as well as the negotiators.
@Chauncey Perkins welcome to BP! I’m new to the world of Real Estate Investing.
I can relate to being anxious about making a switch over. It took me 3 months of study with mentorship before I became comfortable and ready to roll.
The best advice I received at the beginning, which I have not heard anyone so far mention, was to first become “legal and compliant”. Real Estate investing is a very legal intensive business. If you start-off becoming legal and compliant you are less likely to have issues down the road. I obtained my own Real Estate Attorney first. I like smooth sailing.
One last tip to consider “OPM” seek to invest using “other people’s money”.
All the best to you in your journey!
Miranda, who do you have on your team? I see Real Estate Attorney. I'm thinking I need one of those, a CPA that deals with REIs, a financial planner, a project manager and a property manager.
I’m in Texas so my attorney is based in the Dallas, TX area.
My team consist of a RE attorney, Loan Brokers, VA's, Courier, Notary and soon RE Broker. I'll also work on having an acquisitionist in place once I'm bringing in revenue. My husband and I are the marketing team as well as the negotiators.
This is the first i'm hearing of an acquisitionist in RE. I understand what the term means, but not in the RE world. Will they be the one finding the deals for you? What does your VA and Courier do for you? Do you two work a FT job? And for your notary, do you have a reason for going back to the same person, or is that just for ease? We've always used whoever Chase Bank had available at the time.
@Chauncey Perkins welcome to BP! I’m new to the world of Real Estate Investing.
I can relate to being anxious about making a switch over. It took me 3 months of study with mentorship before I became comfortable and ready to roll.
The best advice I received at the beginning, which I have not heard anyone so far mention, was to first become “legal and compliant”. Real Estate investing is a very legal intensive business. If you start-off becoming legal and compliant you are less likely to have issues down the road. I obtained my own Real Estate Attorney first. I like smooth sailing.
One last tip to consider “OPM” seek to invest using “other people’s money”.
All the best to you in your journey!
Miranda, who do you have on your team? I see Real Estate Attorney. I'm thinking I need one of those, a CPA that deals with REIs, a financial planner, a project manager and a property manager.
I’m in Texas so my attorney is based in the Dallas, TX area.
My team consist of a RE attorney, Loan Brokers, VA's, Courier, Notary and soon RE Broker. I'll also work on having an acquisitionist in place once I'm bringing in revenue. My husband and I are the marketing team as well as the negotiators.
This is the first i'm hearing of an acquisitionist in RE. I understand what the term means, but not in the RE world. Will they be the one finding the deals for you? What does your VA and Courier do for you? Do you two work a FT job? And for your notary, do you have a reason for going back to the same person, or is that just for ease? We've always used whoever Chase Bank had available at the time.
My husband works FT, I’m a stay-at-home mom. Our goal is to both be in RE full-time.
We, meaning my husband and I, market for our deals. We are online marketers by trade. We also market via our vehicles.
Having VA's, and courier is our way of delegating the workload. Our VA's handle all calls from both buyers and sellers. Our courier, will visit the properties, take photos, get our agreements signed, basically whatever is needed.
Our notary is for convenience also. Our notary will accompany the courier to notarized any documents we need notarized.
We prefer running our business like a fine-tuned machine and the best way to do that is to have a system in place that everyone understands and follows. All work is delegated to make things run more smoothly. We’re less likely to burn-out.
@Chauncey Perkins welcome to BP! I’m new to the world of Real Estate Investing.
I can relate to being anxious about making a switch over. It took me 3 months of study with mentorship before I became comfortable and ready to roll.
The best advice I received at the beginning, which I have not heard anyone so far mention, was to first become “legal and compliant”. Real Estate investing is a very legal intensive business. If you start-off becoming legal and compliant you are less likely to have issues down the road. I obtained my own Real Estate Attorney first. I like smooth sailing.
One last tip to consider “OPM” seek to invest using “other people’s money”.
All the best to you in your journey!
Miranda, who do you have on your team? I see Real Estate Attorney. I'm thinking I need one of those, a CPA that deals with REIs, a financial planner, a project manager and a property manager.
I’m in Texas so my attorney is based in the Dallas, TX area.
My team consist of a RE attorney, Loan Brokers, VA's, Courier, Notary and soon RE Broker. I'll also work on having an acquisitionist in place once I'm bringing in revenue. My husband and I are the marketing team as well as the negotiators.
This is the first i'm hearing of an acquisitionist in RE. I understand what the term means, but not in the RE world. Will they be the one finding the deals for you? What does your VA and Courier do for you? Do you two work a FT job? And for your notary, do you have a reason for going back to the same person, or is that just for ease? We've always used whoever Chase Bank had available at the time.
My husband works FT, I’m a stay-at-home mom. Our goal is to both be in RE full-time.
We, meaning my husband and I, market for our deals. We are online marketers by trade. We also market via our vehicles.
Having VA's, and courier is our way of delegating the workload. Our VA's handle all calls from both buyers and sellers. Our courier, will visit the properties, take photos, get our agreements signed, basically whatever is needed.
Our notary is for convenience also. Our notary will accompany the courier to notarized any documents we need notarized.
We prefer running our business like a fine-tuned machine and the best way to do that is to have a system in place that everyone understands and follows. All work is delegated to make things run more smoothly. We’re less likely to burn-out.
That is SUPER interesting. How long into doing REI did you get these systems in place? My husband and I both work FT and our first goal is to get enough monthly cash flow to replace his gross salary. I'll keep working and carrying the insurance until a much longer-term goal is met. But I really want to 'start as I intend to go' and I love systems.
@Julia Fair it took 3 months to get established in the system. We however did not create the system. We have mentors.
@Miranda Simon Got it. What I think is my mentor is also fairly new in Atlanta. All of his portfolio is in Florida. Not ideal, but at least he has more experience than we do!
Also, I just moved from Houston a couple months ago. Still trying to get my stupid primary residence sold. It's been on the market since March. Absolute killer.
@Miranda Simon Got it. What I think is my mentor is also fairly new in Atlanta. All of his portfolio is in Florida. Not ideal, but at least he has more experience than we do!
Also, I just moved from Houston a couple months ago. Still trying to get my stupid primary residence sold. It's been on the market since March. Absolute killer.
I understand having to sell a house from another state. We did that once and it was a pain for us at the time too. Hopefully all will work out.
@Chauncey Perkins, I called Atlanta home for six years while going to high school there in the buckhead section of downtown Atlanta and I have seen first hand what the real estate market has been doing over the last ten years. Sidebar is that Atlanta real estate is where I actually got my love for real estate and got my interest going, and is a large part of my why, and what I am chasing all these years later.
I personally believe that agents make the greatest investors because they know what it takes to succeed. You know what it is like to prospect, you know what it is like to climb up that hill over and over again just have a low response rate, and the good ones have that entrepreneurial spirit to see expansion in many ways. I often wonder if we could limit the fear of the unknown and maintain the creature comforts of what feels right and comfortable to us would every agent become an investor- probably.
First piece of advice is to always stick with what you know. The best place to find a deal is where you already are, and how better than an agent. Go to the sellers you have worked with in the past and put the word out you are looking to buy for yourself. As Frank Sinatra sang- start spreading the news. Real estate investing, much like brokerage, is a contact sport. All your doing is changing a pronoun and a verb and making it a statement not a question. Now it is I am looking to buy, instead of are you looking to sell?
Second, use your tools. Knowledge is paramount, and you have great tools at your fingertips, use the MLS. Go look at properties that did not sell, or expired. Talk to the agents who listed them, who has the market share in the area you want to buy in?
Third, create goals. Do not be vague. Life punishes those who are vague. When do you want to buy something by? Spell it out in detail. Make them, a have what, a how much, and by when thing. f.e example: I want to have a four unit multi family for 500,000 by mid 2019 that is a goal. Now granted the number there is going to be different from market to market but the idea is the same. Once you have that goal it is working backward from there and figuring out what it takes to get there and what needs to be done. Then it becomes a case of rinse and repeat.