Atlanta Investor Looking To Network, Learn & Grow

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Atlanta Investor Looking To Network, Learn & Grow

Marvin McTaw
Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes

Hello Bigger Pockets friends! I'm Marvin and I'm an Atlanta based investor. I've been investing since April 2014 and have experience doing wholesale deals, lease purchases and other structured transactions. I've lurked on Bigger Pockets for about a year and have recently found myself increasingly using the forums to expand my knowledge base to get more deals done. Please feel free to say hello, especially if you're in the Atlanta area, as I'm always looking to meet other investors! 

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John S.
Cumming, GA · Member since 2015 · 6 posts · 1 vote
11y

Hi Marvin, John from Cumming here. Seems like there are a lot of us Atlanta folks here. I wonder when the last Atlanta meet-up was. If it's been a while, we should get one cranking. 

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  • Gee Macedo
    Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    11y

    Hi Marvin, 

    I'm new to BP, and I will probably do my first rehab soon. Is always good to know wholesalers and if you come to Roswell one day  lets meet and have a coffee. 

    Have a great day

    0Reply
  • Ericka Parrott
    Residential Real Estate Agent · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2009 · 381 posts · 134 votes
    11y

    Hi Marvin, check out Atlanta reia and GAreia meetings. They are a great way to network.

    http://atlantareia.com/

    http://gareia.org/

    0Reply
  • Umar JavaidPro Member
    BiggerPockets Support · São Paulo, São Paulo · Member since 2015 · 548 posts · 79 votes
    11y

    @Marvin McTaw Welcome to BP, a great place to share and enhance your REI knowledge. Feel free to drop in a line if we can be of any help. See you around forums!

    BiggerPockets
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  • John Cohen
    Rental Property Investor · Mineola, NY · Member since 2014 · 838 posts · 212 votes
    11y

    @Marvin McTaw Atlanta is a hot market right now. I actually love the submarket in Marrietta and around there. Currently I am working on some stuff up there.

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  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Ericka Parrott:

    Hi Marvin, check out Atlanta reia and GAreia meetings. They are a great way to network.

    http://atlantareia.com/

    http://gareia.org/

    Hi Ericka. Thank you for sharing. I'm actually a member of the Atlanta REIA and go every now and again to the monthly meetings, Have's & Wants weekly meetings and CRE sub-groups. To be perfectly honest, I get bored at most of the meetings. The majority of the contacts I've made also haven't been particularly helpful with the exception of my main attorney who I've used for several closings.

    In my experience, the best contacts I've made have been in the regular course of business, online forums like BP and online trainings from other guru's.

    0Reply
  • Mark Nolan
    Professional · Carlsbad, CA · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    @Marvin McTaw

    BP is full of useful resources such as forums and blogs. Welcome to the Bigger Pockets community-be sure to check out all the awesome BP blogs under “Learn.”

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  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @John Cohen:

    @Marvin McTaw Atlanta is a hot market right now. I actually love the submarket in Marrietta and around there. Currently I am working on some stuff up there.

    Yeah there is definitely a lot of activity in the market. One of the issues I've recently had is finding the deals. I've had to adjust my inventory sourcing/marketing because pretty much anything that's listed isn't working. 

    While my team and I still bid at auctions and bid on REO's, HUD Homes, Homepath, Homesteps, etc. the vast majority of my deals are coming from off market, direct sources (e.g. direct mail, bandit signs).

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  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Mark Nolan:

    @Marvin McTaw

    BP is full of useful resources such as forums and blogs. Welcome to the Bigger Pockets community-be sure to check out all the awesome BP blogs under “Learn.”

     Thanks Mark

    0Reply
  • Rekha Ram
    Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 7 posts · 0 votes
    11y

    hey Marvin..I am from cumming, new to BP learning stage, I am an investor, looking for the right oppurtunity and deal to get started. 

    0Reply
  • John S.
    Cumming, GA · Member since 2015 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    11y

    Hi Marvin, John from Cumming here. Seems like there are a lot of us Atlanta folks here. I wonder when the last Atlanta meet-up was. If it's been a while, we should get one cranking. 

    1Reply
  • Bryan Swetmon
    Investor · Cumming, GA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    11y

    Hey Everyone,

    New to BP as well.  I live in Cumming as well.  I did investments back in 2005-2007  and have been looking to get back in with the right deal.

    Let me know if you guys get together I would love to learn from you guys.

    THanks

    Bryan

    0Reply
  • Marina Shlomov
    Investor/Property Manager · Suwanee, GA · Member since 2014 · 93 posts · 40 votes
    11y

    Hello,

    Welcome to BP.

    0Reply
  • Marina Shlomov
    Investor/Property Manager · Suwanee, GA · Member since 2014 · 93 posts · 40 votes
    11y

    Hi Marvin,

    We are Atlanta based. We have found that having agents that have been in the area for a long time works better with finding great deals, than just doing all of the above things you mentioned. We bought over 60 properties last two years in the area, and our agents keep bring us deals. With that being said, Atlanta is hot, and your bids have to be super competitive, not all deals will be right for you, but with a network of agents covering different areas of town, acquiring "hold" and "flip" properties is challenging buy perfectly doable. 

    Feel free to drop me a line if you want to discuss further. We have agents that cover different areas that we are interested in, and I have also found investors willing to sell some of their properties when their strategy changes.

    Again, good luck and good "buys".

    0Reply
  • John Cohen
    Rental Property Investor · Mineola, NY · Member since 2014 · 838 posts · 212 votes
    11y

    @Marvin McTaw off-market is huge today because the market is so competitive.

    0Reply
  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Rekha Ram:

    hey Marvin..I am from cumming, new to BP learning stage, I am an investor, looking for the right oppurtunity and deal to get started. 

     Welcome to BP! What kind of deals are you looking to do?

    0Reply
  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @John S.:

    Hi Marvin, John from Cumming here. Seems like there are a lot of us Atlanta folks here. I wonder when the last Atlanta meet-up was. If it's been a while, we should get one cranking. 

     Yeah John there are definitely a lot of Atlanta folks in here. There's also a sub-forum for Atlanta at http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/647-atlanta-real-estate-forum. Why don't you take the reigns and organize one?

    1Reply
  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Marina Shlomov:

    Hi Marvin,

    We are Atlanta based. We have found that having agents that have been in the area for a long time works better with finding great deals, than just doing all of the above things you mentioned. We bought over 60 properties last two years in the area, and our agents keep bring us deals. With that being said, Atlanta is hot, and your bids have to be super competitive, not all deals will be right for you, but with a network of agents covering different areas of town, acquiring "hold" and "flip" properties is challenging buy perfectly doable. 

    Feel free to drop me a line if you want to discuss further. We have agents that cover different areas that we are interested in, and I have also found investors willing to sell some of their properties when their strategy changes.

    Again, good luck and good "buys".

    Marina great advice - always great to have help! I currently have virtual assistants that help me sift through deals, screen sellers, and get deals done. I've worked with agents in the past primarily on HUD deals. I'd love to hear any advice/suggestions you have. Also if you can connect me with yours, please feel free to put me in touch.

    Thank you!

    0Reply
  • Josh Singh
    Cumming, GA · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 3 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Marvin McTaw:
    Originally posted by @Marina Shlomov:

    Hi Marvin,

    We are Atlanta based. We have found that having agents that have been in the area for a long time works better with finding great deals, than just doing all of the above things you mentioned. We bought over 60 properties last two years in the area, and our agents keep bring us deals. With that being said, Atlanta is hot, and your bids have to be super competitive, not all deals will be right for you, but with a network of agents covering different areas of town, acquiring "hold" and "flip" properties is challenging buy perfectly doable. 

    Feel free to drop me a line if you want to discuss further. We have agents that cover different areas that we are interested in, and I have also found investors willing to sell some of their properties when their strategy changes.

    Again, good luck and good "buys".

    Marina great advice - always great to have help! I currently have virtual assistants that help me sift through deals, screen sellers, and get deals done. I've worked with agents in the past primarily on HUD deals. I'd love to hear any advice/suggestions you have. Also if you can connect me with yours, please feel free to put me in touch.

    Thank you!

     Marvin could you tell me more about virtual assistant you are using and how it all works. Thank you 

    0Reply
  • Phyllis Mariner
    Investor · Springfield Gardens, NY · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 0 votes
    11y

    Hello my name is Phyllis mariner also looking to network with you and others thanks 

    0Reply
  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y

    re: Virtual Assistants

    I use virtual assistants for a variety of tasks including marketing (e.g. contacting FSBO's, sending out direct mail campaigns, posting ads to sell properties, etc.), research (e.g. running skip traces, pulling comps, etc.), bidding on auction homes (HUD Homes, online auctions), and screening seller leads (i.e. anyone who calls in from marketing). I found a couple of the VA's I found on oDesk (now Upwork.com) and the other two that I have doing pre-screening were referred to me from a property management company manager.

    My virtual assistants are primarily based in the Philippines and the two pre-screeners are in South America. I pay them an hourly rate and bonuses for whenever we sell houses. In regards to training, I have a training module in my CRM/Project Management system and generally try to write everything down step-by-step and do a screencast so they will know exactly what they are supposed to do.

    In addition to training them, I would say one of the biggest tasks is making sure you hire the right people. You will get a a lot of people applying for your jobs. Sifting through them can be kind of difficult but when you find good ones, hold on to them.  

    What else would you like to know?

    cc: @Josh Singh

    0Reply
  • Kevin PolitePro Member
    Investor · Decatur Atlanta, GA · Member since 2011 · 610 posts · 232 votes
    11y

    @Marvin McTaw I've learned quite a bit at the REIA meetings and if you join all the meetings are free and I usually take home one nugget of information that I can use in my business. The best ones are the subgroups for a particular area.

    Off market deals are the best, especially the landlords that bought maybe 1-3 properties during the downturn and discovered being a landlord isn't easy. 

    0Reply
  • Marvin McTaw
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 807 posts · 274 votes
    11y

    @Kevin Polite - yeah you can definitely learn things at the meetings. Probably the most useful sub-group for me was the Creative Financing sub-group. I've gone two or three times.

    0Reply
  • Josh Singh
    Cumming, GA · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 3 votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Marvin McTaw:

    re: Virtual Assistants

    I use virtual assistants for a variety of tasks including marketing (e.g. contacting FSBO's, sending out direct mail campaigns, posting ads to sell properties, etc.), research (e.g. running skip traces, pulling comps, etc.), bidding on auction homes (HUD Homes, online auctions), and screening seller leads (i.e. anyone who calls in from marketing). I found a couple of the VA's I found on oDesk (now Upwork.com) and the other two that I have doing pre-screening were referred to me from a property management company manager.

    My virtual assistants are primarily based in the Philippines and the two pre-screeners are in South America. I pay them an hourly rate and bonuses for whenever we sell houses. In regards to training, I have a training module in my CRM/Project Management system and generally try to write everything down step-by-step and do a screencast so they will know exactly what they are supposed to do.

    In addition to training them, I would say one of the biggest tasks is making sure you hire the right people. You will get a a lot of people applying for your jobs. Sifting through them can be kind of difficult but when you find good ones, hold on to them.  

    What else would you like to know?

    cc: @Josh Singh

     this is very impressive and new to me. I was Realtor's expo last week at Cobb Galleria and there is actually a local company based in Alpharetta that is doing virtual assistance.Thanks for details. 

    0Reply
  • Phips Deus
    Douglasville, GA · Member since 2015 · 38 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    I am a wholesaler fairly new to BP and I am looking forward to doing everything to grow my business. I am on the verge of purchasing my first list and set of bandit signs. If anyone knows of a good Atlanta based mentor, I sure can use one. 

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