All Forum Posts by: Maggie Wray

We're new investors looking to purchase a small, single family buy-and-hold rental property in the metro Atlanta area. Since this will be our first purchase we'd like to find an experienced local real estate agent who works with investors and ideally also has personal experience investing in single family rentals. 

Do you know anyone you'd recommend?

This recent article in Forbes argues that Data proves REITs are better than buying real estate: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcprosser/2017/07/1...

I've been following Bigger Pockets and planning to buy my first rental property sometime this year...but this article made me wonder if I should be rethinking that decision, and investing in REITs instead!

So, I'd love to hear what Bigger Pockets members with more firsthand experience with real estate think about this article.

1. Are they right about this? Do you think the arguments in this article are valid, and REIT's really are a statistically better than buying real estate directly?
2. OR are there other counter-arguments this article was ignoring, that make purchasing real estate directly a better investment after all?
   

I'd love to attend the next meeting, as well!

Hi, I'm new to investing and live in the Atlanta area. My husband and I are looking to purchase our first SFR by the end of this year, and are looking for properties under $100,000, ideally 2 or 3 bedrooms and 2+ baths, that would provide cash flow of $250+/month. We can put 20% down, and have a lender who can get us a conventional loan for 75,000 at 4.75%. I am planning to start by managing the property myself, but want the numbers to work including property management, in case I find it's too much to do myself and want to find a property manager in the future.

Now that I've defined my criteria and found a lender, one of the next steps recommended from everything I've read & listened to on BP is to identify ideal locations to invest in.  

So, I'm wondering -- based on your experience -- do you think I'll be able to find properties that meet these criteria in the greater Atlanta area, in an area that will still be safe and allow us to attract quality tenants?   I currently live in Dunwoody and am willing to invest up to an hour away.  Alternatively, I'm also open to looking for properties out of state if it's too hard to find deals near Atlanta, but would love to start locally if possible.

Any suggestions would be very welcome!

Thanks, @Andrew Syrios!  Looking forward to learning from you all :)

Congrats on finding your first rental property, Dave! I'm in Atlanta, and am just getting started looking for SFR's, so will be hoping to follow in your footsteps soon. Your goals sound great -- I look forward to following your progress!

Thanks for the thoughtful replies!  @Jon Wesner I started with the most recent podcast as well...it will take me awhile to get through them all, but I'll get there eventually!  And thank you for the tips, @Dmitriy Fomichenko - I hadn't realized you could tag people in posts, so I really appreciate you sharing that :)

Thanks, Tan!  I'll check out the book on estimating rehab costs, and will definitely keep listening to the podcast...it's fantastic :)

Hi!

I’m just getting started with Bigger Pockets, and wanted to jump in and introduce myself here on the forums.

I am a small business owner in Atlanta, looking to generate more passive income over time by investing in buy-and-hold rental properties.

My current goal is to learn as much as possible about buying and managing rental properties, and to purchase my first property within the next 12 months.

During the past month, I’ve…

• Read Brandon's book on Managing Rental Properties
• Read Scott’s new book Set for Life
• Read The Millionaire Real Estate Investor
• Been constantly listening to the Bigger Pockets podcast episodes
• Attended several of the BP webinars
• Set up alerts on Zillow and Redfin for properties that meet my criteria

…and I just purchased the BP Pro membership yesterday, so I can use the calculators to analyze potential rental properties.

The two investment options I’m considering at this point are...

1. Purchasing a 2-bedroom townhouse, condo, or SFH in the Atlanta area that I could rent out for $100+ CF/month.
2. and/or Selling the townhouse where I'm currently living, so I can move to a duplex, triplex, or quadplex that could work as a house hack.

I would love to connect with other real estate investors in the Atlanta area, so if you know anyone in the area you think I should meet, please let me know :)

I’m thrilled to have found the Bigger Pockets community, and am looking forward to learning from you all!

Thanks & best wishes,

Maggie