All Forum Posts by: Ethan Atkinson

I worked in the Gainesville coming Alpharetta and Roz well area for many years before the crash and into the crash of 2008. I still stay up-to-date on those markets. I would contact one of the larger property management companies in that area. Although probably the biggest property manager is likely the owner of thousands of past REOs around Atlanta. You should also check craigslist for the specific areas to see his rental comps as well. If you really want to find a deal go ahead and call those people trying to rent houses because they might want to sell them for a deal. Personally I would go after an off market deal so you could be getting the biggest bang for your buck. There are still sometimes deals on the MLS but there is also so much competition because just like you There has been a huge increase in people searching for and buying rental properties. There are duplexes and quadruplexes in all the areas you are already searching. That will help you mitigate the risk in case you have a bad tenant or vacancies. My advice as an agent and as an investor is to get preapproved completely not just prequalified. That means submitting all documents a loan officer would require to approve. Once you go to make an offer it is like do you have cash and there will be no worry on the sellers and you are a qualified buyer. Maybe you can get a better deal that way also. Look up at @CJ Geiger here on BP for a good 30 year loan to get the best rates and lowest payment. Just make sure you can can rent for 1% of the purchase price.

Let's say you sell all your properties and have an agent help you list and pay a 6% commission. You will be left with about $900,000. 1031 Tax exchange that into a larger multi-family property in a good/growing location of the country. Think Dallas, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Houston, Charlotte, Nashville. There is so much competition but you should still be able to find one or two properties the goal of which is to produce a cap rate of 7%+. This is where you have to be careful. Some of the C or worse properties are selling for a premium just because of the supply and demand issue. Maybe search to acquire a B- grade property and add value to improve to B+ or A- thus increasing your cap rate to more like 8%. You should be able to borrow around $3,600,000 maybe more depending on partners and a commercial loan. For the new folks this means that you will be netting from all property expenses of this new purchase around $250,000 per year. 3,600.000x.07 = 252.000 or $288,000 if 8% cap. You can be an employee of the company you create that creates the LLP that buys the new properties, then take the rest of the profit at a much better tax advantage and then boom! You are now free to go and find another great deal and leave the corporate world, or maybe downgrade, keep the job so you can go and borrow regular mortgages.

How does that sound?  

I've got no experience with Ritz or any high end short term rental but maybe that doesn't matter with this advice I'm throwing out - you need to think about all the costs involved in renting on your own. 1. Time and more time. You've got to answer all those questions online and quickly. Handle any problems with the front desk from long distance likely late at night or really early. 2. Do you get to use their cleaning crew or can you hire separate? and how do you make sure they did a good job? 3. How will you ever know if people take stuff or when things need to be repaired or replaced that don't involve cleaning crew expertise. How does that all cost for you to handle(or someone locally with you) vs. How much is Ritz or other management fee to handle everything?

Sounds like this HOA is a bunch of garbage and should be fired. 30 days to approve anything is just too long. I bet they charge $500 or $1000 to write a final closing letter and to start a new homeowner. Question I have is did you actually take it off the market and stop advertising and stop taking calls about it or turn people away from potentially renting? Maybe then you would be slightly justified in keeping the holding deposit. The frustrating world of landlording!

Everyone loves the Peach State. Come one, come all! Everything is going up and up!! Dont forget about Athens, Georgia when you are visiting or thinking about investing in the South. University of Georgia provides for some great rental returns. Lots of newer inventory of homes built after 2000. Still room to do good flips. Check out Hudhomestore.com for a really great Athens HUD deal right now. Almost can't miss, but yes, you can miss really big if you don't have a local helping you. Thanks BP!!

@Joe Kim

You don't have to have a lease up fee. At my company we only charge a %/month of rent so if it's not leased up we make no money, so that is the incentive.  OR Pay only for the lease up fee, and find a bookkeeper to help with the rent collection.  And find a handyman to handle all the repair requests.  You just also have to trust that it will all get done. OR Just find a good property manager who will lease it up quickly and make the monthly fee percentage.  It's just that simple with a competiive market.  

I could call a cab company locally and get a great licensed cab driver who will take me somewhere I need to go, or I could sit on an app, find an Uber driver, with likely a much nicer backseat, and get to the same place for the same money or less, because he won't take the long route.  Disruption!  

I am going to talk with Tom Gillette about this ASAP.  I have had this same situation happen, but I always treated the closing date at the maturity or expiration date as well, but obviously it should clearly state in the contract that if the purchase has not occurred by the "close date" it shall expire and there should be a separate paragraph relating to how the earnest money would be dispersed. 

I was checking on some comps. All the comps of $450+ are all new construction.  Almost every single one.  The remodels are bringing somehwere around $200-$220 per foot and most are $350-400 which is really great but that still only gets you about a $400k selling price.  Tell me if I am looking at the wrong comps, or maybe help me figure out how to make these numbers work, because you are selling these deals to somebody and they must still be making some money.  I am not trying to make you sound bad, I was just double checking my research and maybe I am wrong.  I have a partner and GC and we are looking for pop tops and new cosntruction at this price point but we want to have 20% plus profit because of the time the project takes and the risk  of that much cash.  

Did you assign this one yet?

Inside Atlanta, GA you can find quite a few good deals for $50-$100k and add value with a remodel and turn around and sell it for some big profits if you are in the right transitioning neighborhoods. Some areas have gone up as much as 20-30% in just 2 years or less.  Of course everyone and there brother is looking for deals like this so there is more competition but if you connect with some local good wholesalers that actually know their numbers, and also an agent who knows the markets really well then you can mitigate your risk. Check out College Park, East Atlanta, Decatur, West End.  All are basically Atlanta.  Seems there are plenty of deals for $50-$60 that need 25-30 but can sell for $140k or more.  Then there are also those deals on one street over where the market wont pay more than $75 or $80 even if it's all brand new.