All Forum Posts by: Mitch Messer

Hey @Steven Barr, I suspect the various clerks were just being cranky and/or having a laugh at your expense.

Every county in Georgia has a physical "newspaper of record" where foreclosure notices (AKA "Notices of Sale Under Power") are required to be listed.

Fortunately, there's also a FREE website (https://www.georgiapublicnotice.com/) that aggregates data across multiple Georgia counties into a single, searchable database, bless their hearts!

Once on the site main page, select "Foreclosures" under the "Popular Searches" pulldown menu. Then, for example, if you want to see listings for Cobb County, set the "County" field to "Cobb." Then, hit the green "magnifying glass" icon down below and away you go!

Don't say BiggerPockets never helped you out!

Hey Max, I can certainly help by pointing you in the right direction! My BP profile lists the best ways to reach me.

Hi @Cory Grolman, welcome to BiggerPockets!

In Metro Atlanta, a 40-55% expense ratio (Operating_Expenses / Gross_Income) is pretty normal.

That said, if you're self-managing these rentals, you should remember to add back in that cost as well. Property management is an unavoidable expense, whether you do it yourself or not!

Honestly, you'll often pay much more when doing your own PM, since you will rarely achieve the same economies of scale as a professional. (I had to learn that lesson the hard way!)

Hey BigerPockets...

For the next month or so, I'll be living in Buenos Aires, Argentina enjoying the #digitalnomad life.

If you're an Argentine investor curious about rental property opportunities in the U.S., particularly those involving seller financing, let's connect!

Also, if you're a U.S. or international investor interested in learning more about investment opportunities here in Buenos Aires, let's chat!

Mi español es bastante bueno y siempre hay Google Translate! 😆

Yep, the outstanding Tulsa Remote program (TulsaRemote.com) is the MAIN reason why I'm so bullish on that town! My wife and I did a 1-year stint there in 2021-22 and completely fell in love with the city and all its charms. (We'd be there still if not for the irresistible lure of overseas spots like Medellín, Colombia and Lima, Perú!)

The Tulsa real estate market there was white hot when we arrived, and it's still pretty strong today, even with higher interest rates.

We bought 6 investment SFHs there in '22 and are busy looking for more!

Hi @Cassie Cole and welcome to BiggerPockets!

I applaud your drive to become a real estate investor. Here's my best advice: "Train the way you fight!"

While "real estate agent" and "home inspector" are both important and valuable professions, neither of their licensing training is designed to teach you how to invest in real estate.

If you want to become a complete real estate investor, you'll be much better served learning:

1. How to analyze, recognize, and structure profitable deals

2. How to engage with sellers to encourage them to tell you their problems

3. How to collaborate with other investors and real estate professionals to deliver comprehensive solutions to your sellers

And, best of all, you don't need to take a single licensing course to develop any of these skills!

There's a reason they call these skills "the fundamentals!"

Hey @Matthew Kalifeh, I would strongly recommend you take a closer look at Tulsa, Oklahoma! 

@Shirley P. Welcome to BiggerPockets and congratulations on finding a potential deal to sink your teeth into!

Some things to consider:

1. Start with the Numbers - As an investor, determining "whether a potential deal is good or not" IS the job, and you need to learn how. Until you can do this with confidence, you'll NEVER be comfortable making offers and talking to sellers. Fortunately, deal analysis (AKA underwriting) is mostly a math skill and can be learned in a day. (It's the practice that will take a lifetime!)

2. Know Your Buyer - The "70% Rule" isn't really a rule and applies mainly to residential rehab deals with a retail buyer. This is a cash flow deal intended for an investor buyer, so the "rule" won't help you here. You'll need to learn how a landlord would value this property and exactly how much they'd be willing to pay for it, if you're going to attempt to wholesale it.

3. Get the Facts - As mentioned by @Michael Dumler, you can't take any info you've been given at face value. Our main job as real estate investment professionals is to first verify, verify, verify.

4. Ask More Questions - How long has this property been listed? Why is this triplex vacant and for how long? What exactly are the repairs the seller thinks are needed?

Lastly, I urge you to, at very least, add a photo to your BP profile. Hundreds of faceless would-be investors file through these Forums every week, and most won't have the grit or persistence to stick around for the long term.

Showing your face signals to folks that you're here to stay!

I see NO cash flow in this deal.

Debt service alone is $16.6K annual. The operating expense (OpEx) shown on the spreadsheet leaves out property taxes ($5K) and sets vacancy at zero, which is always a red flag. There's also no accounting for management expense.

I'm seeing actual OpEx at closer to $10K, giving a Net Operating Income of $13K.

Cash flow would be negative $3.6K annually.

Now, I like a good seller finance deal as much as the next person, but I just don't see a deal here with these numbers.

What am I missing?

Hey @Robert Seay, for decades we've done it this way:

If the property is VACANT, get a combination lockbox put on with a key inside. Then, schedule appointments with each of your cash buyers to see inside. Via cell phone, talk them through getting into the house, taking a look around, and then locking it back up.

If the property is OCCUPIED, have the resident help you show it. Pay them $25 for each successful viewing.