Rental Property Investor · Clarkston, GA · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
HI George, A local info tip I have is that you should join the local REIAs. REIAs are where doers hang who know each zip, refer contractors. Tonight at GaREIA.com (click calendar) the new investors meeting see location on the calendar event is a landlord panel talking about your questions and more.
Read the paper off my profile 1st paragraph buying a bullet proof rental portfolio, which also answers many of your questions.
In short a quick go no go is the 1% guidline, $rent / $all in is 1% +/-. In Atlanta its a challenge to be at or better; $1200 (blue collar rent) / $120k all in (purchase + rehab + misc). Some landlords will dip below 1% to buy better neighborhoods. IE you buy the area 1st, the street 2nd, the house style 3rd, the condition of THIS house 4th. Location location location then house is same in buying rentals. Read my paper, the capital asset is not the house, its the tenant. You need to think in terms of attracting and how to keep quality tenants,, IE its much like fishing, you need to know what type of bait, where to fish to catch good fish. :)
Read my paper to avoid buying tough to manage areas just to get cheaper houses. Cheap houses often are tough to manage and actually get long term paying renters...
Leaning to screen and manage tenants is another key skill to having a decent stress free live as a landlord. GaREIA has an excellent landlording class 4th Thurs. Teacher is excellent and all evening classes are free. I learned a lot.
Rental Property Investor · Clarkston, GA · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
HI George, A local info tip I have is that you should join the local REIAs. REIAs are where doers hang who know each zip, refer contractors. Tonight at GaREIA.com (click calendar) the new investors meeting see location on the calendar event is a landlord panel talking about your questions and more.
Read the paper off my profile 1st paragraph buying a bullet proof rental portfolio, which also answers many of your questions.
In short a quick go no go is the 1% guidline, $rent / $all in is 1% +/-. In Atlanta its a challenge to be at or better; $1200 (blue collar rent) / $120k all in (purchase + rehab + misc). Some landlords will dip below 1% to buy better neighborhoods. IE you buy the area 1st, the street 2nd, the house style 3rd, the condition of THIS house 4th. Location location location then house is same in buying rentals. Read my paper, the capital asset is not the house, its the tenant. You need to think in terms of attracting and how to keep quality tenants,, IE its much like fishing, you need to know what type of bait, where to fish to catch good fish. :)
Read my paper to avoid buying tough to manage areas just to get cheaper houses. Cheap houses often are tough to manage and actually get long term paying renters...
Leaning to screen and manage tenants is another key skill to having a decent stress free live as a landlord. GaREIA has an excellent landlording class 4th Thurs. Teacher is excellent and all evening classes are free. I learned a lot.
Real Estate Investor · Philadephia, PA · Member since 2016 · 214 posts · 36 votes
7y
@Curt Smith I do agree with you, the 1% just the rule of thumb. And the real expense of the rental is function of quality of the tenants, so it depends the neighborhood and the real tenants you found.
That brings me another question, how to estimate the expense of different properties? 1% should not be answer, but there has to be some number to do the analyze, since you have good portfolio, do you have any thoughts on that?
Property Manager · Senoia, GA · Member since 2014 · 32 posts · 21 votes
7y
Honestly, finding 1% properties in the Atlanta area is a piece of cake. It's only difficult if you insist on staying in the close-in suburbs or the north side of town. If you move out away from the city and look in places like Spalding, Henry, and Clayton counties, you can find quality properties that are 1.5% or better. I've picked up several myself that exceed 2%. Are these A-Class properties? No, but they're B-Class or C+, and the market is so strong that you can easily place quality tenants in them and cashflow like crazy.
Property Manager · Senoia, GA · Member since 2014 · 32 posts · 21 votes
7y
@Jon A. , we manage a number of properties in Forest Park. There are certainly nicer neighborhoods, but it's not a bad rental market at all. While our average time on market is around 2 weeks, Forest Park can trend a little longer, but we generally list properties about 30 days prior to vacancy, and we rarely have a problem placing a tenant before it's vacant, even in Forest Park. We syndicate our listings to just about every rental listings web site imaginable, so it's not hard to find tenants in this market, even in some C neighborhoods.