All Forum Posts by: Anna Watkins

@Kyle Soderman -- what Mitch said . . .  plus, it's in my lease that the tenants have to get the utilities in their names within 5 days of the start date of the lease, and that they HAVE to get basic utilities (electric, water & gas, if applicable) or it's grounds for eviction. 

 I looked at a duplex last year where the tenant had not gotten the gas turned on -- so no working stove or furnace.  Apparently he used small space heaters whenever he was there, but in Atlanta if you don't have air moving, you get mildew -- the closets of this place were full of it.  

Wal-Mart (which is for sure in Columbus, probably Phoenix too) has a card with American Express called Bluebird -  one of the ways to load the card is by taking cash to WalMart and doing it at Customer Service or even at a checkout line.  If you set up the account, you could move the rent money out of the Bluebird into your rental account and the tenant doesn't have your bank information or even the ability to login to Bluebird online. If you don't move money until the total rent is there, no claims of partial payments can be made.  Probably a lawyer should look over the plan, but it's an idea.

Whenever you make an arrangement with a tenant for a payment plan, write an addendum to the lease and both you and the tenant sign it.  And fix up that lease for the next time, now.  Everything, always, in writing!

@Rick Baggenstoss  --  how about Watkinsville??  Wait, I think that one's taken . . .

According to what I've read, one of the goals of Greenhaven is to avoid the burden of DeKalb County's pension fund, which has fallen on South DeKalb since there've been so many citihood defections from North DeKalb and they apparently don't have to contribute to the county's pension.

Most of the reasoning is AGAINST the status quo in the county, and not TOWARD whatever would be gained by a new city.  As for funding -- will there be a Greenhaven Board of Education (with Decatur-level taxation)?  A Greenhaven Water District?  Fire Department? Whatever services will be provided will duplicate the (possibly shabby) services currently provided by the county, at a higher tax rate, with no guarantee that it'll be any better, more responsive, or less corrupt than what we've got now.  It's not going to be a small, manageable town like Pine Lake, or even Decatur.  

I just re-read my post, and realized the crucial keyword didn't get mentioned once!  Here it is -- Decatur, Georgia!

@Ann Bellamy and @Jeff S. -- your comments are really helpful. I do think a podcast would be a valuable contribution to the conversation, if only to give information and dispel the myths you say abound (let's face it -- tons more people will hear a podcast than will read this thread!). I'd like to know, for instance, how much money is typical for a beginning lender to loan -- $10,000? $50,000? What's a typical loan period? How does one structure the documents (knowing that the specifics vary by state, but maybe with examples of how much different states vary in their regulations)? What's the difference between loans inside of and outside of a self-directed IRA? Does you manage payments yourself or do experienced private lenders have loan servicers (like landlords have property mangers)? I would think there's lots to cover that's general enough for a podcast!

DeKalb County has been barraged with a number of new proposed cities, one of which is the (astonishingly boringly named) Greenhaven.  This proposed city covers most of eastern & southern DeKalb County that's not already incorporated, would be the 2nd Largest city in Georgia!! (bigger than Columbus!!) and really doesn't make sense to me.  I own three rentals in 30032, one of the included zip codes, and don't want my properties to be included in a gigantic new baby city.  Cleaning up the county government is a much saner (if seriously challenging) way to go, in my opinion.  If you feel the same way, you can sign a petition at change.org - I do not want my property address to be included in the proposed new city of Greenhaven.

Do you have strong opinions for or against this city movement?  How do you think it will affect real estate investing in the area?

More info about the citihood craze and Greenhaven at 

New cities - Greenhaven

DeKalb Residents Ready to Fight for New Cities

@Brandon Turner and @Joshua Dorkin -- guys, I've been searching the podcast for similar info, and it's time for a show on Private Lending (from the lender side, not the borrower side).  Dave Van Horn's note show was good, but you don't have anything (yet) on being the person originating the  loans.  There are plenty of private lenders on the site who have tons of experience and knowledge to share (Jay Hinrichs, Jeff Rabinowitz, etc).   I'm holding my breath . . . .

Hi Layla -- I"m not sure I have much wisdom to share but give a shout if you're near Atlanta on your journeys.  I have a few single-family-rentals here and can tell you what I know.

Cheers!

Fair enough -- thanks for all the great experiences and insights you have and share.  Nothing's ever easy or straightforward when it comes to change.

@Michaela G. -- I'm with you, I do understand it's more complex that maybe my first post reflected.  Class and race, and the often-related education and financial sophistication levels, are huge variables in the neighborhood revival equation.

Yes, if housing appreciates, homeowners can sell for a huge profit (like my down my street who bought her house in the 60s for $11,000 and sold in 2012 for $210k -- but she had to move, in her 70s, to realize the profit). The problem with loans is that you have to have the reliable monthly income to pay it back, on top of the other expenses you have. Reverse mortgages are a fairly sophisticated financial transaction that goes against the grain for many folks who bought houses as investments -- it leaves nothing to hand down to your kids.   And if you've managed the upkeep of your house just fine over the years, but the taxes have tripled, well, nuff said.

I'm more thinking about the revitalization of all the boarded-up scary places in the neighborhood, where nobody lives and lower the overall neighborhood vibe.

What I'm specifically wondering is if it's possible to buy a vacant house in Pittsburgh or Mechanicsville, restore it to its original attractive and decent livable-though-perhaps-small condition, and sell it under some sort of neighborhood program to a person who maybe rents there now, or who used to live there, or would like to live there who's not a middle-class white yuppie (and I totally include myself in this category), and make a small profit ($10,000 maybe, for a 2-4 month flip).

And a more philosophical question -- is it possible to revitalize a neighborhood without changing it (from the way it was before decline)?