All Forum Posts by: Mark Graffagnino

Great points by @Michaela G. and @Denette Casey above.  People have made millions of dollars investing in SW Atlanta.  There are some areas like West End where now you're too late to the party.  I've done great deals in SW Atlanta, but those houses I was buying for $20-$30k are now selling as wholesale deals for $80-$90k.  Personally I'm still not ready to venture into English Ave or Vine City, but I know investors who are buying vacant homes and just sitting on them and waiting (property tax bills are not even a rounding error for them).  I like Bankhead and Grove Park, but prices have gotten too high IMO for wholesale deals over there, if you want to flip.  If you're interested in buy and hold I think you can do well.

I like CP, EP and Hapeville because of the proximity to the airport.  I have an AirBnB near that airport that is doing well.  Some areas of FP are right on the approach path to the airport runways which can hurt your property values.  I was looking at a vacant apartment complex in FP and wondering why it was vacant, the place looked like it was nice back in the day.  Then a plane came screaming overhead on a landing approach and I knew why it was vacant. 

Great post @David Robertson.  I've used some of those and am going to look into the others that you recommended.

I like Asana for Tasks and To Do Lists, and have been using Active Collab, which is kind of a Basecamp-lite, for the typical PM functions.  It also allows you to add your investors as limited capacity team members and only give them access to certain parts of the platform, such as jobsite photos, or calendars.  It's also on $25/month.  I've been part of teams where the lead is using Basecamp and it's a great platform but I don't have the volume of work, or size of the team, to justify the cost.

I also need to say that I use David's House Flipping Spreadsheet on all my flips.  It is a wonderful tool, although I probably only use about 10% of it's capacity...and I need to get better about using more of the functionality.

@Christiana Torere people have been wondering that for a long time.  I know @Michaela G. has a lot of holdings in Pittsburgh.  

How are you liking Bankhead?  I've been investing in Collier Heights, but have started driving Bankhead and Grove Park to get closer to the Beltline.  Focusing mainly on small multis in that area.

I recently had success by disputing an appraisal.  The appraiser would not change it so the lender ordered a 2nd appraisal.  Now this was a situation where the 1st appraisal was incompetently low, which the lender recognized.  Sale price was $130, 1st appraisal came in at $80, 2nd appraisal came in at $140.  No doubt the last appraisal that first guy did for that lender.

@Tiffany Allen make sure you run your plans through the Historic Preservation/Urban Design Commission before you start any exterior improvements.  They will issue a Stop Work Order and shut you down cold if they see any unapproved work going on.

I found the people from the Collier Heights Neighborhood Association very easy to work with.

@Kevin Polite I see your deal on Chalmers (nice rehab!), but don't see many others. I only have access to Zillow and only see 4 sold above $200 in the last 3 years. I'm trying to decide whether to go bigger on the rehab and shoot for a higher ARV. In your basement did you use laminate flooring?

Thanks.

I rehabbed 2 houses in 30318, also Collier Heights, back in 2013 and held them as rentals until selling one in August 2016 and one last August. They cash flowed well over the years and each one sold very fast. Both were sold to first time home buyers. When early contracts dropped out we got new full priced offers within 24 hours. Based on that success, and the lower ARV, which I like because if for some reason they didn't sell they'd be fine as rentals, I'm closing on a new one next week that will be a straight flip deal. It's a major renovation (hoarder/mold/storm damage).

Some rehabbers have gone the open plan/granite/stainless model and sold in the $170-$200 range.  I'm planning on being a little more conservative with the rehab and sticking in the $150 range.  Also, you probably know this, but Collier Heights is a historic district and they are VERY strict on what improvements you can make to the exterior.  Changing out a window on the side of the house on one of my rehabs delayed me 60 days waiting for approval.

I'd be glad to discuss further if you'd like.  You can reach out via email for phone call.  Can also give you my experiences (good and bad) with tenant screening.

Mark

@Jered Sturm hosts a monthly meetup in Dunwoody, usually the last Tuesday of the month (2 days ago unfortunately).  Next one is on October 24th.  He always sends out a forum reminder a few days prior.  It's a great meetup with a great format; lots of networking and no selling.

@Account Closed I'd call around and get quotes.  If given the choice I'd credit the buyer the cost of the system and let them do it.  Looks like pricing in Atlanta is somewhat high, compared to other areas.  One reason might be the limited number of companies that do it.  I called 4 companies.....2 never called back, 1 called to say they relocated to Kentucky.

I've just finished a radon mitigation project on a home I am selling.  The greater Atlanta area has higher than normal radon levels, probably due to the large amounts of subsurface rock.  This is the first time I've had to do this on a house, so thought I'd share the details.  It began when  buyer during due diligence tested for radon (first time that has happened).  Test results came in suspiciously high (and fast), so I hired a professional radon testing company.  Their results were not nearly as high but still above the recommended minimum levels.  Honestly, I'm not totally sold on the ethics of the whole radon industry.  But now that this has been confirmed I have to disclose.

I hired a local radon mitigation company to install a passive exhaust system.  The house has an unfinished basement.  The passive system is designed to suck any radon gases from the ground below and vent them outside the house (photos below).  They dug two holes below the slab, and put one hole in the foundation wall; then installed pvc pipe up to the ceiling and out the back, where it turned upward, connected to a fan and then vented out above the roof.  They also sealed up any cracks in the slab and foundation wall to keep the gas out.  One day installation, and all the work was done neatly and cleaned up.  There is a monitor inside the basement to confirm that the fan is running.  They provide a 10-year warranty that the radon levels will be below the recommended minimum, which I can transfer to the buyer.  The testing company came back out and set up their machine today for a post-mitigation test.  Tests have to be a minimum of 48 hours.

It turned out to be not as painful as I thought.  Total cost of the system was about $2,000; pre and post testing was a total of $300.  Certainly not money I wanted to spend, but when I heard "radon" I was thinking it was going to be a five figure problem.

If anybody runs into this I'd be glad to recommend both the testing company and the mitigation company.  I think it's important that they be separate companies....too much conflict of interest if the testing company also does the mitigation work.