All Forum Posts by: Michael Ehmann

Excited to provide this month's update. 

At the beginning of January, Brian Burke started a thread titled "It's 2018. Whatcha gonna do about it?" In an effort to keep myself accountable to the goals I set in Brian's thread, at the beginning of each month, I am going to start a thread recapping my previous month with the purpose of reviewing:

1. What I accomplished in the previous month to help me achieve my goals.
2. Where I fell short of my goals last month.
3. What I plan to tactically do this month to drive towards my goals. 

I invite others to join me in posting each month as a way for us to hold ourselves accountable and to also know that others will see what we have achieved, where we have fallen short, and what we plan to do going forward. 

First, what I accomplished in February:

• Got connected with several wholesalers in Atlanta. I'm starting realizing what I've heard people say for a while: the MLS may have some opportunities, but most of the stuff on the MLS isn't going to work.
• Viewed several properties in person with my agent and brought one contractor onsite to give a quote (working on getting another one there to get a second opinion, but I don't think the numbers will end up making sense)
• Figured out financing and how I will be able to make a deal work when I find a deal. 
• Purchased and began my online real estate license course (via Kaplan). 
• Started getting connected with contractors for when I do find an opportunity.
• Got connected with a few more folks on BP and am meeting up with someone soon to chat about real estate. 

Second, where I fell short:

• Did not do a good job attending local Atlanta REIA events. For some I was out of town, but there were at least 1 or 2 which could have gone to but just didn't. At the end of the day, I need to be more disciplined and go if I am able, even if I don't necessarily feel like it that day in particular.
• Wasn't quite as active on the BP forums the second half of the month. Part of this was because I was focusing on other RE activities, but it could still be better. 

Third, goals for next month:

• "Analyze" (at a very high level) at least 10 properties per week, be it MLS deals or deals I'm getting from a wholesaler.
• Visit at least 4 properties over the month to seriously evaluate the opportunity (hopefully it will be more than 4, but this is the minimum). 
• Get connected with at least 1 more wholesaler and 3 more contractors to improve deal flow and increase likelihood of being able to move on an opportunity. 
• Complete at least 10 more hours on my real estate license course. 
• Be a little more active on the BP forums - a few hours a week. 

Link to last month's update. 

@Damir Kamber and @Erik Anderson: how'd you guys do? 

Welcome! Nice to meet someone in a similar situation (currently househacking, recovering ex-consultant, also hoping to quit the 9-5 at some point in the near-ish future, and looking for properties in similar parts of town).

Brian Lewis , make sure you look into the legal aspects of syndication. From what I understand, you need to either have a prior relationship with the syndicator or be an accredited investor with the SEC. If I'm remembering this podcast episode correctly, the guest started straight into multifamily because he already had a lot of capital he could throw down. Without significant capital or experience, I think syndication could be a tough place to start. That being said, if you don't have capital to offer, maybe you can earn some sweat equity by putting in your time/effort to help someone. I think you'll be more likely to find a way to help someone if you're looking locally (somewhere within reasonable driving distance), unless you have a particular unique skill set which could be applied at a distance. While it's great to have big goals of multifamily and syndication, but for someone who's constraints are experience and capital, I think this may be a tough place to start. In my opinion, when you're starting out, any experience is good experience. For me personally, I'm working towards doing my first deal right now. Long term, I'd like to get into multifamily, but because my biggest constraints are capital and experience, I'm looking at a few flips for my first deals because this is a way to gain more capital and real estate experience (so that in the future I'll have more money and some street cred to be part of bigger things when those opportunities present themselves). In my opinion, you should keep syndication and multifamily on your radar, but also think about what else you could do RIGHT NOW to mitigate your personal constraints, even if means doing a smaller SFH deal to start.

Welcome! If you haven't already, check out the BP Podcast. Tons of great content there.

While I'm not familiar with the state of Georgia's laws, the city of Atlanta itself is extremely LQBTQ-friendly, so I don't know whether the state's laws will be a deal breaker (though I could definitely see Amazon using its power to impact legislation).

At the beginning of January, the one and only Brian Burke started a thread titled "It's 2018. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

In an effort to keep myself accountable to the goals I set in Brian's thread, at the beginning of each month, I am going to start a thread recapping my month with the purpose of reviewing:

1. What are my goals I set, and have any of them changed?
2. What I accomplished in the previous month to help me achieve my goals. 
3. Where I fell short of my goals last month. 
4. What I plan to tactically do this month to drive towards my goals. 

I invite others to join me in posting each month as a way for us to hold ourselves accountable and to also know that others will see what we have achieved, where we have fallen short, and what we plan to do going forward. Maybe we'll get a small group of regular posters month-to-month, who knows. 

First, a recap of my goals: 1) get a few deals (at least 3) under my belt to build credibility and experience and 2) get plugged into my local RE community in Atlanta.

So far, these have not changed. I may expand on them in the coming months. But be it a buy-and-hold or a flip, I am considering a deal a deal for now. 

Second, what I accomplished:

• Drove around 3 separate weekends during late December and January to better understand some specific parts of the city, which has helped me hone in on several target sub-markets within Atlanta , Georgia. 
• Met with my real estate agent to gather additional information on different markets and inform him of my plans.
• Found 2 parties who are interested in partnering on flip opportunities if we find a deal which makes sense. 
• "Analyzed" at least 40 deals, which is on track for my 10 deals/week. I use the term "analyze" roughly because sometimes it's a quick 1-2 minute analysis when I realize it does not make sense. 
• Posted regularly on the BP forums and listened to 5-10 podcast episodes to get connected with others in the community and learn more. 
• Do a good job at my day job, which will hopefully lead to a higher performance bonus (i.e. investment money...and maybe a new wakeboard, we'll see). 
• I also broadened my perspective for deals. Long term, I want to do more buy-and-hold, so I was not initially interested in flipping. However, after doing more research on different parts of Atlanta, I see flipping as a viable way for me to build some capital (cur

Third, where I fell short:

• I was not able to attend the Atlanta BP meetup event or another REIA this month because I was out of town for work. Out of my control, but I still fell short.
• I set the goal to identify an online course to get my RE license by the end of January. I have not selected a program yet. I am still on track long-term as long as I begin the program in February, but my goal is slightly more at risk. 

Fourth, goals for February:

• Analyze 10 deals/week and physically visit an average of 2 deals/week, with the hope of making an offer on at least one property. I won't make an offer on a bad deal, but I hope that I can find something worth offering this month. 
• Identify and purchase an online RE license course, and begin the program. 
• Attend the BP Atlanta meetup event and at least one other REIA event, as long as I am in town (looking at risk for now given work travel, but we'll see...).
• Continue to post on BP to build my network, learn, and stay plugged into the community. 

What about you? How did your January align toward your goals for this year, and what are your plans for February?

@Praful S., from my experience, I feel like it's more SFH than small multifamily. That said, I have come across some duplexes and triplexes in my limited searches, so they definitely exist. An agent might be able to point you to parts of town where those are more prevalent.

Also, if you have $500K to drop, it seems like you could explore the larger multifamily option, too. 

Thanks, all! @Gareth Jackson and @Michaela G., I really appreciate your perspectives on Pittsburgh and how it challenges my initial bias. I spoke to one of my realtor friends yesterday, and he shared similar perspectives to both of you. I am actually much more optimistic about that neighborhood and will keep it on my radar. 

Gonna have to disagree with Lane on this one, to an extent. The South parts have historically been rougher, but there is a lot of new activity in the market. To start: two important terms in Atlanta are ITP (inside the perimeter) and OTP (outside the perimeter). Interstate 285 forms a big loop around the city, and this look is referred to as the "perimeter". Most stuff OTP tends to be a little more suburban, although there is still a lot going on in some of these submarkets, too. Also another important aspect to the market: The Beltline. It's a large project that is transforming a lot of areas which historically may have been rougher. Any areas close to the Beltline are becoming hotter. Here are some of the areas I'm somewhat familiar with. This might be a good starting point for you. Marietta: this is NW OTP. Lots of families, pretty good high schools. Close to Kennesaw State, which is one of the largest universities in Georgia. Smyrna: a lot of properties here can get pretty expensive, especially for the ones on the NW perimeter getting close to the city. The Home Depot is one of the biggest companies in the area. Midtown: this is where I live. Several universities are close by, pretty central to the entire downtown area. Lots of downtown business and large corporations naturally. Virginia Highland: a little East of Midtown. Older, nice homes that tend to be very expensive. Buckhead: Lots of wealth here. It's a little North of Midtown. Draws a big nightlife scene. Sandy Springs: quite a few large companies are based up here. It's on the 285 perimeter, basically directly north of Midtown, a little past Buckhead. East Atlanta (Edgewood, Cabbage Town, Reynoldstown, etc): transitional market which has really blown up a lot. IMO things are starting to get overpriced here, but more experienced investors may have different perspectives. West Atlanta tends to be more "early transitional" than East Atlanta, which means a lot of areas are hot but may not be overpriced yet. There are lots of submarkets here. I'm not as familiar with NE Atlanta, but there are lots of submarkets that others have mentioned. If you're interested in connecting with an agent, one of my good friends is with Sotheby's and does a lot of work both ITP and OTP (particularly on the North side for OTP). He's a top performer in his office and is very knowledgeable about the different submarkets and how the city has been transitioning. Let me know if you want his info.

For all my ITP (inside the perimeter) Atlanta investors, what are everyone's perspectives on the transitional neighborhoods in Atlanta, particularly those on the West side of town? 

I have done some driving the past few weekends to check out some potential properties I've found online (side note - glad I did because it gave me a much better perspective on the properties and neighborhoods. Things that looked great in the pictures often became significantly less appealing in person...). Here are my observations on a few sub-markets.

Florida Heights - pretty "transitional", but there also seems to be a decent amount of investor activity. A lot of homes I've been watching get snatched up within 1-2 weeks, sometimes even just a few days. 

Pittsburgh - drove by their yesterday, and it was pretty rough. Definitely not somewhere I would feel safe living or visiting after dark. There seem to be some renovations going on in the area, but not nearly as many as the other transitional neighborhoods I've been to. I'm wondering if it's a little early in the transitioning stages for most investors? For the house I was looking at, even if I rehabbed it, I'm worried there may not be sufficient demand yet to flip it or rent it out at a price that makes the cash flow work. 

Ashview Heights - looks like there are several active renovations going on. Seems to be a little more mature in its transition than Florida Heights or Pittsburgh. 

Peoplestown / Reynoldstown / etc. - I feel like these markets on the East side are pretty saturated and inflated. There are still deals here, but they may be harder to find. 

What are everyone else's thoughts on different transitional sub-markets in Atlanta? Any perspectives on places you think are hot now, oversaturated, or which may become good opportunities in the near future as the city continues to transition?