All Forum Posts by: Assaf Furman

Bird-dogging is the name for walking/driving around neighborhoods to spot potential properties. 

A wholesaler will put assignable purchase contracts on properties, and once accepted he may assign it to another investor for a mark-up.

As a wholesaler, you actually CAN force numbers in order to make it work. Since (I hope) you're dealing with owners on off-market sales, you can put an offer that reflects numbers that work for your B&H investors. When evaluating an opportunity you can use the x% rule to quickly come up with a purchase price that should work, and tweak it according to the specific situation (repair costs, taxes, neighborhood class etc.). But than again, you need to figure out what's that x%, and the best way is simply asking your fellow investors what numbers do they look at.

@J. Martin

I asked myself the same question, and my conclusion was that working harder and smarter now in a hot market is better than waiting for better market conditions. The reason being is that when deals are scarce you have to come up with the best methods to find them, figure out how to outsmart the other investors (and home buyers for that matter), and willing to work harder than them. The result will be that when the market turns you'll be able to pick up the best deals using the same methods when the market was hot. That's my plan anyway. 

As for enjoying life, I can't see how does that contradict the fact you have to work harder to find deals. You can do both if you utilize the time right.  

@vishak 

@Vishak Ganeshundefined

Welcome to BP and soon to San Jose. I'm a fairly new player in the RE scene, but can tell you a few things out of my personal experience. I've been looking for off-market deals in the past 7 months, focusing on SFR in the suburbs of the South Bay area (Santa Clara county). Everyone here knows about the crazy demand and low inventory that's going on, and know their houses are worth a ton of money regardless to condition. It's not uncommon to see houses listed at a very high price and sold for even higher due to multiple offers. Thus, fixers are sold close to their ARV and I even saw a house the was sold by owner at above the ARV.

Because of that, the deals I began targeting are tear-downs or houses that require a substantial amount of construction to fully maximize the size of the lot. You haven't mentioned what type of investing you're after, but flipping is very popular here.

Construction prices: $200-$250/sqft as far as I've been told by several developers.

What are the construction prices around Atlanta?

I've been getting messages from several Pm's suggesting themselves, even though I didn't ask for it. 

I'm trying to get information about this company in particular, Alpha RE group. Anyone?

Has anyone worked or is working with this company and can share his/her experience? It's based at Sandy Springs.

I'm especially interested in their property management side.

@Joshua Meyers

Like you I'm relatively new to REI as well. I was fortunate enough to find an experienced investor to guide me and give tips relevant to my market.

This is my opinion: 

There are many things you can learn by yourself without the need of paying for mentorship (either with time or money). For example, you can look at your own back yard and start with getting to know your market. You can decide on short-term and long-term goals, and based on what you come up with, seek a mentor that can be of help in that direction. 

I find a great value participating in meetups on a regular basis, and have been doing it since the very beginning. You should look for several meetups in your area, and ask the investors what type of investing they do and how they started out. I for example noticed what people DON'T do in my market - and started doing that.

@J. Martin

A layman's question: If the purpose of your investments is cashflow, can't you offset the capex with gained equity? 

In other words: By the time you need to redo the floors and roof, you can get a HELOC in advance and pay them off of that.

@Chad K.

In the title of this thread you asked what's the easiest way. I'm assuming here that you don't have the time or the will to chase MFH owners. The easiest way is to do that is develop relationship with professionals who actively work with owners such as property managers or commercial brokers, and talk to people around you about the property they rent and more importantly - their landlord. 

As Phillip wrote, the best way to get a creative structure for a deal is to find off-market opportunities and than you're talking directly with the owner. How to do that? There are plenty of articles on strategies like direct mail, approaching landlords, eviction records, property managers and many others.

If you choose to look on the MLS the first thing you should do is find an investor friendly realtor. They can help you find properties, get the financials of the property to see if a seller finance is an option, and in general advise on specific deals.

Much like you I'm also looking to buy a small multi in the Atlanta metro.