All Forum Posts by: Evan Parker

So I'm just wrapping up the finishing touches on my first campaign out in Atlanta GA and I just wanted to share my journey and use this as a place to keep everyone posted on the progress as things move along. I've been shifting my strategy from buy and hold to try and be a bit more creative with my deal flow, to avoid hangups, only looking at the puzzle from one angle, and neglecting to realize a not for me may very well be a deal for someone within my network.

My target for the properties are all:

• Multi-family (which is an extreme rarity in this city I'm finding out)
• Equity 70% and higher 
• Both Absentee and Non-Absentee Owners
• In the City of Atlanta

I ended up with about 50 properties that fit the criteria after I filtered out all town homes & condos. 

The verbiage in the letter I used was: 

"Hey {Owner's First Name}!

My name is Evan Parker, my wife Crystal and I are local real estate investors in the Atlanta area, and I’d love to talk to you about purchasing your home on {Underlined Home Address}.

Please feel free to call me any time at {My Business # bolded}, even if you have not previously thought of selling, we may be able to help one another out.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Evan Parker

BEL Property Group

{My Business # plain text}"

All of the envelopes will have hand written addresses on them. I contemplated writing the actual letters by hand also but after the first letter I realized I was completely wasting my time and made the text template ASAP. 

I'm open to any and all critiques/feedback/questions! 

I'll keep everyone posted on how things go.

@Jimmie Keyes great question, I'm finding out there's a great market for those with capital for flipping or those who wholesale. I'm on the latter at this moment.

It's required bit of a kind switch for me, from looking for a deal that fits MY personal needs, to looking for a deal period, and finding a partner/person/group where that deal will make sense for them, and present it.

@Jeff Brower thanks for sharing! Fantastic post

I apologize for the formatting. I made the post on my phone and apparently starting new lines don't work well.

I just recently relocated to Atlanta this past summer from the Midwest for my career and I am curious as to who is doing what in ATL from an REI perspective? I don't have all of the answers, but it seems insanely tough to even remotely find anything worth getting into as an investment. Are folk actively investing in new deals? Are *all* of the profitable deals being done under covers and not visible to the public? What are some of your strategies? I know the whole, "deals aren't found on the MLS" stereotype, but even in those scenarios the MLS provides an inkling of the kind of opportunities available, and I'd like to understand how I can educate myself on the approach. Anything will help!

@Justin Windham

Thanks for the detailed answer there, Justin. Do you have a Solo 401k provider with checkbook control that you recommend? 

In my research I've found "my solo 401k financial" that allows for REI investing, but haven't had any true luck with any others. Especially big name firms.

Any tips will help. 

Thanks everyone for the input! 

Im seeing a pretty decent amount of deals in my area that are on market and the selling agent makes it a point to say that this property is "no disclosure". 

Is this very common in your experiences? Should I be aware of potential headaches ahead should I pursue? 

I pose a question to you all out there. What is your opinion on audio books versus reading the actual text from the book yourself (whether that be on a Kindle or physical copy) as it relates to intellectual value and information retention?

And when I'm using "value" what I mean are things like this.

Especially with a topic like REI.

All feelings and thoughts are welcomed! 

Thanks for sharing this! On the note above, are you finding that the % of homes valued under $100,000 is decreasing year over year? I've been having my eye on out of state opportunities and Memphis has been a city on my list so any additional information is always great.