All Forum Posts by: Joe Cassandra

I only know the ATL area so that's the best I can share. 

- Atlanta inside the perimeter, north of the city is more established. As you get to east, west and especially south, those are still developing and many investors have their hands there. You have to watch the streets as they change in an instance. 

-If you're looking for cashflow and don't care about neighborhood, Macon is a cash cow if you're willing to play in the D areas 

- If you go north of the city outside the perimeter (Roswell, Marietta, Woodstock, even Dallas and Smyrna) those areas are developed and thriving.  Schools are great, but rents haven't paced values, so you really gotta dig for good deals. Anytime a fixer house in Marietta pops up, there's dozens of investors that swarm it

- You can keep going north to Forsyth County, or east to Augusta. Augusta is thriving (many here on BP are investing there), Forsyth is pretty established, but if you go north Forsyth, you'll still find some remote areas that have yet to be developed. 

It all really depends on what you're looking for. Multi-family cap rates swing wildly depending on the Atlanta area. More established areas, you're looking at 4-7% on-market cap rates. On market properties are a battle and that's why I've started looking off market now and expanding my area of interest. Now, looking for more areas that are still in transition. Not D class, but maybe going from C--> B. 

Fastest way to find out: 

1) Google Columbus GA commercial brokers

2) Call one that has a few years experience

3) Ask "what is the average cap rate in Columbus"

4) Then, so they don't feel you're a joker, ask "know any properties that hit that cap rate right now?"

ALL will know off the top of their head else they're probably lousy at what they do :)

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It's different if you say "Atlanta" as the cap rates will swing wildly depending on which part of ATL.

I can agree with your agent, at the same time, make sure you gauge your agent's motives (ergo, are they out to help you and find a good deal, or do they just want you to buy something ASAP). 

Easy way to gauge that is ask them: "I'm fine with making sight unseen offers, but if I have to pull out of 1, 2, 3 deals, you have to be okay with that. If you're not, then you need to tell me now." 

Don't let the agent guide you into an investment you don't want. Take control now and set the expectations.

As others pointed out, if there's a bottom in RE, it'll happen in 12-24 months. 

Best way to track if something is happening is to watch inventory and DOM.(Zillow actually gives this info for free). 

Any foreclosure wave that would happen would take 12 months to materialize due to the lengthy process of foreclosure and how buyers can kick it down the road (filing for bankruptcy being one). 

I think we'll see an impact. 

While @Account Closed is correct, many of the job losses are in service based industries, they provide a nice chunk of consumer demand...meaning if they don't spend, executive job cuts would hit as well. Many executive pays have been cut, companies like Uber are shedding 3,000+ jobs (not drivers of Uber, actual behind-the-scenes workers of Uber). 

At some point, these millions will run out of money and lower consumer consumption. 

That'll take 12+ months to play out.

Anywhere in the Southeast (maybe besides most of Alabama and Mississippi) are great. 

I'm in North Atlanta, and there are tons of family-oriented neighborhoods with top notch schools. 

North and South Carolina are beautiful to live in with mountains on one side, beach on the other, cute downtowns in Charlotte, Greenville, Charleston. If we leave GA, we'd go right to Greenville, SC or Charlotte, NC in a heartbeat (we have 3 kids under 5)

Is this a low appraisal? Hard to tell what you're saying happened. 

If it's a low appraisal, try a different bank. 

If $94k is the right appraisal and you owe $225k...might have to just short sale. Or, rent it for awhile. 

If you have private lenders, you need to call them and tell them right now. Last thing you should do is put your head in the sand and ignore their calls. They may work with you to figure out what to do next.

It depends on your time. 

Do you have time to pound 300 phone numbers to get 2-3 appointments? 

I tried hiring out a VA to cold call expired listings. Waste of time. I've heard DM to expired listings works well. But depending on your market, if your VA has a hint of accent, I'm guessing the seller's put up walls. As bad as that sounds.

What's the opportunity cost? 

You could start with just a mass text campaign and see how that hits. I wouldn't do ring-to-voicemail except with warm leads

For a first property...#2 definitely. 

Doing major rehabs for a first property is rarely...if ever...a good idea. Not until you learn the truth costs (not costs 'learned' in a book), plus the art of juggling contractors.

No need to hit a homerun on your first at bat

Go to https://www.zillow.com/research/data/ and start digging through which areas are seeing 

1. Stagnating RE prices

2. Longer DOM

3. Increasing inventory

There you'll find the Airbnb busts

Numbers are nice and conservative. Rehab already completed. I'd say that's a pretty good deal (assuming in a good rental market)