All Forum Posts by: Ethan Atkinson

Monthly Meeting coming up on February 29, 2016 for the Athens REIA. I am not great about communicating well about the local meetup we have been having for the last couple years. It keeps getting bigger and better every month. The next meeting we will be having Don Derosa a full time investor in Atlanta, who also is a coach and mentor. He regularly teaches Investing and for this meeting is the ever famous buying properties successfully Subject-To the existing mortgage as well as "Using systems to Automate your business.

Here is the link to RSVP to the Feb 29th Meeting.  http://februaryathensmeeting.eventbrite.com

THEN... 

We are having the first ever Athens REAI Conference coming up soon on March 5th.  There is more info here at the other post here on BP -  

Or you can click this link to find out all the details.  It's going to be great, and not just for Athens locals, but Atlanta folks are welcome as well, and really anyone who wants to learn more about investing, finding deals, creative financing, all of it!  Click this for March 5, event. 

First Ever Athens REIA Conference 

Have you looked at the real numbers of the income statements? Are the tenants actually paying what is advertised and are they paying on time?  Check out the real numbers of the expenses as well if that's even possible.  Call the power and water company to verify the units are up to date on payments.  Definitely get an inspection which should reveal plenty you might miss, but hopefully not too much.  This is all the easy research lots of folks don't do. Do they have deposits from tenants? Have you seen the old leases even though they are month to month? This will be a good amount of due diligence but also check with your agent. Or is this off market? 

In my opinion that cap rate is for A-locations and nice pretty A properties.  If there is a whole bunch of other quads and Multifamily on this street that might not be a good cap rate.  How are the neighbors too? Are the owners keeping properties nice? 

Where is the place - I was born and raised in Atl?  

@Mark Ferguson ,  You seem like you are in the perfect position and a great younger age to begin investing in larger multi-family deals.  There are under-performing and poorly managed properties in most large cities especially in the Southeastern US.  You can take 1 Million as a downpayment on a much larger multi-family property that you can add value to.  Take the leftover $200-$300 for renovations and borrowing power.  Or even team up with some other partners.  Seems that you likely have the skills to make it happen and either refinance, keep the property, keep the cash flow, or sell it and do it all over again, while keeping the management of the first property, thereby keeping some of the cash flow.   You are likely someone I would love to partner with on some projects seeing as you have experience and lots of capital.  And the need for some 1031 placement!!   I apologize I dont have the time to read all the pages of this thread and hope I am not repeating an idea already broadcast. 

Talk to a local loan officer who handles VA. It is just like qualifying for a regular loan. You still have to have all the right credentials. The advantage is you might be able to get a better overall price and or lower closing costs, but that is why you should talk to a couple different banks or mortgage brokers. Also if you are right on the edge as far as your credit score, don't let each bank check your credit because you will get a ding and possible lower score at the end of the day with too many inquiries.

Are you also licensed and want help with a wholesale buyers list? Or you want to wholesale? I'm assuming this is listed on an MLS or loopnet.com because you are talking about a broker? That might be ok since I don't know what deal you are talking about and you can make an assignment fee, but is the LOI price that much lower than asking. Where did you get the cap rate. Often times down on middle Georgia area require better caps but if these are the income numbers and rent can be increased I might have a couple serious buyers to talk with you about. Call me, my number is on my profile.

VA loans should still be assumable also! If you want to buy, find someone who purchased back when there were foreclosures aplenty who might be for sale right now. It is likely in the MLS some of the smarter agents might even list that the loan is Assumable. Others you will have to dig deeper and or you might know that this neighborhood or that street such and such has a bunch of likely VA loans because they are lived in by military. Just have your agent ask their agent. Or call the listing agent directly. The idea is that you can benefit from their windfall when they purchased when the market was slower, or even purchased a forecloused home using the VA loan to buy. Maybe they will owner finance any big profit they are making or maybe it's not even on the market and go after those first whcih might now be rental homes, unwanted by the owner who is now stationed far away. Most people don't want to be a landlord so that's why I say look for those first.

Both my wife and I have used realestateexpress.com for pre and post licensing.  It's a big time saver but one caveat with us - I didn't have to do the full course because I had college credit.  Only my wife used it for the pre-license and we are in Georgia.  Funny thing about post-license test though is that it's almost the same thing and you are required in Georgia to take it what seems right away and it's another 24 hour class I believe. Very good for my schedule and I learned fine online.  Mostly simple material where if you went to college will be pleasantly surprised at the ease of learning and then maybe disappointed at same time how "easy" it is to get the license. 

Where are you looking? I can help or point you in the right direction.  At least half my income is from working with investors.  

good ol' giant Wells Fargo. Also Element funding - they have an office in metro-Atl. If you're still looking when you see this send me a PM and I can give you people to contact. 

I am also an REI Friendly person who loves going to the beach at St. Simons, Sea Island, Hilton Head and those types of places so if you buy these places and need me to make sure it's a good vacation or weekend rental we can work something out.