All Forum Posts by: Jason A.

When I started I bought rentals in both good areas and not so good areas. 15 years later I am dumping my rentals in the not so good areas. They had cashflow when the tenants were paying but they still weren't worth the hassle IMO.

@Corey Depuy It sucks to miss out on a deal like that, but hey you learned something right? You should call the listing agent and tell them to let you know if the deal falls through. And tell the agent to let you know as soon as something similar hits the market. Good luck!

@Al Pat From the looks of the rent roll the property is totally mismanaged. Half of the tenants are behind in rent (and those are just the ones that he admitted to). I can see from google earth that the roofs are patched in multiple places and the places look run down. I was hoping it was an area where good tenants could be attracted once value was added, but it sounds like this may not necessarily be the case. It's probably too heavy of a lift for me to perform remotely. Thanks for the input. 

@Scott Runyan yep

Thanks for the feedback everybody. After doing some research it seems that, just like many areas, Forest Park has it's bad elements. They're specifically on Hill and College St. I'm pretty sure the buildings that I am looking at currently house these bad elements. They are likely heavy rehabs with a non-paying tenant base (per the rent roll). They're 30 units priced at about$70k/unit (my offer would be much less). It's still an intriguing deal because new construction appears to be occurring nearby. I realize that SE Atlanta is where the lower rents are found, but with the Fort Gillem project and Airport project I thought maybe SE Atlanta may become more attractive. 

Is this Atlanta suburb worth investing in?? I have found an apartment complex with some upside but I'm not from the area. I tend to target SAFE blue collar markets, but data on Forest Park seems mixed. Any insight would be appreciated.

Be wary of tenants who qualify and then move other visitors in shortly thereafter. It's often those 'visitors' who cause the problems.

@Deforrest Ferguson if you’re going to go this route be sure that your exit strategy allows for repaying the credit line in full rather quickly. Many credit lenders frown upon lending long term and the interest can add up quickly.

Where I live in PA it is the local banks who offer the no-season cashout refi's on non-owner occupied properties. The terms I am seeing here are 80% LTV with rates around 6.25%. Sadly the best i've found is 20-year amortization. Perhaps call up some of your smaller local banks and strike up a conversation.

If you're going it alone and plan to use OPM then you'd better know what your doing. Learn, learn learn! I recommend reading three books to get your feet wet:

1 Wheelbarrow Profits

2 Financial Freedom with real estate investing

3 Best ever apartment syndication book

There are podcasts by each of the above authors as well. 

Once that's done start underwriting sample apartment deals using loopnet listings.