All Forum Posts by: James Allen

@Drew Perkins - Thanks Drew for the info!

@Jesse LeBlanc - Nice to meet you. I have actually already done that and gotten some great insight. I  figured this is also a good way to establish relationships with people in this area. I'd also like to compare what I personally hear from people in this post with what I have already found so far. 

Hello BP Community,

Can anyone familiar with Atlanta help me determine some of the good areas/zip codes to invest in within the city of Atlanta and bad areas to avoid? I will be visiting in person soon to check out neighborhoods and would greatly appreciate any advice! 

Thanks,

James

Hello BP community, 

I am a buy and hold investor currently in the California area. I have decided to take the plunge and start investing out of state in Atlanta, Georgia. My goal is to buy a 2-4 unit Multifamily. I will fly out there between January 13-16th to scout out neighborhoods and meet with Real Estate Agents, Contractors, etc. I have cash and am ready to get things rolling. 

My Question for all the locals is where would you recommend are good areas/zip codes within Atlanta to invest in and which areas/zip codes should I be avoiding? 

Once again, I am also looking to meet with local Real Estate Agents/Brokers, General Contractors, Wholesalers, and Title Companies when I am out there so please feel to reach out to me on BP so that we can start talking and get to know each other. 

Thanks,

James

@Wallace Zhou - Here is the link that showed that...... https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2016-investor-market-index/

I'm here in Southern California, I invest in the Antelope Valley and I've got my first Direct Mail campaign that just arrived as of today. As I was reading one of the bigger pockets articles, I noticed that Los Angeles was rated the 3rd worst place in the Nation to invest right now as of the end of 2016. Everyone I have been talking with in Cali talks about trying to find a 1 % rule for rentals (1% of the purchase price in monthly rent) where as other states talk about a 2% rule with there being much better rent to value rates in other states. I started looking around on Zillow last night and found that right off the bat that there are better deals out of state available even just online for buy and hold. As someone who would love to acquire multi families and have plenty of units with cash flow down the road through the BRRRR process, am I wasting my time trying to invest in southern California when there are great deals out of state??

Hi there,

So I have been analyzing deals every day and one thing my mentor told me I should look for is funding sources when comping properties. In other words if the house was purchased with cash/FHA/Conventional, etc. I don't have access to the MLS yet (currently working on that) but my question for now is are there any websites out there that will show you what source of funding was used to purchase properties other than the MLS. I can't seem to find it anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

James

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. This helps a lot!

@Shawn Mcenteer - Would you mind telling me what monthly cash flow you would hope to get out of a property this price to make it worth your time? 

@Christopher Phillips - Yes, I can do as low as 15% conventional but I plan to do 20% to avoid any PMI. Interest rate would be 4.875% based on pre approval. Closing costs I did about 3% of the price given that this is also a FSBO.

Based on the pictures the place looks in great shape, maybe could use new paint if I wanted to increase the value of the house and such but for a rental, I figure it's not a neccessity. Nice hardwood floors and updated kitchens.