All Forum Posts by: Rashad Nelson

Thanks for the welcome guys. Good deal on the Atlanta REIA south meeting. I'll have to look that up.

Hi all, 

I'm Rashad.  I just moved here a few months ago from Baltimore.  I'm new here to the Atlanta market, but I joined BP sometime early mid last year.  I'm a cash buyer with a main strategy of buy and flip.  

Currently scouring for a deal, looking mostly in the SW and SE regions of Atlanta, that seems to be where the most activity is.  Heard a lot of good things about West End, Adair Park, Grant Park, East Atlanta, Edgewood, and Kirkwood (especially Kirkwood).  

Feel free to reach out, I'm always happy to make connections with good people with similar goals in mind.  Cheers.

My last deal was a property from Hubzu.  I admit, they are not the easiest to deal with, especially according to my title guy.  They do absolutely everything last minute in regards to paperwork and communication.  It's only the day of closing that we found out who the key players were on their end, but it was already too late.  We had to delay the closing by a week (not too bad).  

Extremely important and can't be overstated - always, always use your own local title company when dealing with them - never theirs.  Thank God I did on this deal.  The extra money in closing was more than worth it.  We did close about a week behind schedule, but it could've been a lot worse.  

Despite the experience, I would do another deal with them.  In the end, the numbers worked out well.  

Hey Joel, 

I'm not a wholesaler (not my niche), but I would certainly add to the list the purchase and sale agreement for your seller to sign thereby securing the property under contract and if your list is in order of 1st to last, I would place establishing a buyer's list as number one, even before initiating your marketing campaign to prospective motivated sellers.  This ensures speed of closing for your seller and gives you confidence to close the deal.  

Wow, great thread!  Thanks everyone for chipping in their two cents.  

I haven't been doing this real estate thing nearly as long as some folks here (about 4 years), but from the very few deals I've done, I can certainly attest that some ample capital is indeed needed to get deals done, or at least initiated.  If financing with hard money, between closing costs, inspection, appraisal, and other fees, between $10K to $14K per deal, depending on lending terms and the property you're acquiring, plus typically your lender will want to see some additional liquid funds at the ready for the warm and fuzzy. Seems fair, you can't get something for nothing.  I believe this is the typical path for the average investor like myself while the more creative ways to construct deals are solely for the more experienced and savvy investor, depending on their comfort level with such tactics.

I'm still working on the network end of things to perhaps someday JV with someone on potential opportunities to avoid lenders and banks altogether, but again, skin in the game is still needed by someone. Thanks again all.

Hey Mark.  I've never been in that situation, but from the seller's standpoint, if they're not very familiar with real estate transactions in general, then they'll definitely get an attorney or perhaps at the bare minimum, a real estate agent to act on their behalf to protect themselves from any potential funny business.  Not saying you would do anything like that, but clearly this person would rather be safe than sorry.  

Hi,

As one who lost a very close family member recently and suddenly received quite a few probate letters from local investors, my advice would be to add a good three to four sentences stating your condolences and somehow tie that in with the solution you're providing the new heirs / owners.  No condelences comes off as insensitive and one sentence comes off as insincere.  Three to four tells me someone has put in a caring effort.  

Also, to increase your chances of success, I would call each of your leads until you speak with someone.  You'll definitely stand out from those who simply send letters out hoping someone will contact them.  If someone sends out a letter, but does not follow up with a phone call, that says they're uncomfortable with speaking to people about their situation in probate.  

Unfortunately, for a quite individuals who will receive investor probate letters and / or calls, you will be viewed simply as a vulture preying on their grief, especially if the property they inherit is not a distressed one.  For others, you may be a Godsend, depending on the situation. 

Kudos to you.  As an investor, I personally don't feel comfortable going after probate properties due to the emotions involved.  I'm currently going through a probate process now where I've been named as an eatate administrator and emotionally, it's certainly not easy. However, it can prove fruitful for those investors that can take the heat of being labeled, plus there's decreased competition.  I hope this helps.

Great forum, :-). The most challenging aspect for me are finding deals where acquisition and renovation costs combined fall at or below 70% of ARV (after rehab value). Most properties I see in my area require at least $35K to $40K worth of rehab work, but the purchase prices are simply too high, so the math often times does not work. All I can do is continue to make low offers and hopefully something will stick. That and fierce competition, :-).

Thanks Brandon for welcoming me aboard. Oh, you're right, :-).  I'll certainly check out the key word function to maximize my experience on here.  So far, I've only added my targeted marketed cities.

Best,

Rashad

Hey all, new member here.  Thanks all for posting your thoughts regarding recommended landlord insurance.  I'm having some continual admin issues with Geico, so I'll definitely look into the USAA route.