All Forum Posts by: Sam T.

That's a tough one. If I were in your shoes, I'd first try to just pay the tresspasser cash to leave (I'd then ice my bruised ego later), and if that doesn't work then talk with an eviction attorney and see if he/she has any ideas. Aside from that I don't think there's much that can be done right now, sadly.

@Steven Frey hi Steven, the best/ideal way to determine the ARV would be to have an actual appraisal done once the reno is done. Aside from going through the trouble of actually doing that though, getting an experienced agent who knows the local market here to research the comps for you, and suggest a value based on those similar, recently sold homes.

As for what a good agent should present to you, you should expect a full, well-researched CMA of similar properties, including both recently sold homes as well as ones currently listed for sale.

You could always try to do it yourself with realtor.com and other sites like that, but there's always going to be some info/small details that would be hard to find without a good agent's resources. I know Gwinnett very well, so feel free to PM me for help if you'd like.

I see quite a few opportunities come up in that west Atlanta area like you said. I've yet to jump on one yet though, but that could change soon. Looks like there's some good possibility of a little above-average appreciation there like you said, but I probably wouldn't bet on that. 

I'm continuing to run my numbers assuming values will just keep up with inflation, and if I end up buying something then any extra appreciation would just be icing on the cake.

 You'd probably be safest by just treating a "wholesale" deal like an off-market pocket listing and take a commission (that might be higher than the standard 3%). I'm obviously not a lawyer though so someone please say if there's something wrong with that approach.

@Bhanu Kuna simply looking on this site is a good place to start, also just asking other investors in your area what agents they use is what I would do.

@Kristian Gettemy

Welcome to BP. Investing here from EU will likely be a little more challenging than if you were local here, but it's certainly still worth pursuing, I think. To answer your questions the best I can:

1) you might want to consult a lawyer in GA about possible complications with opening an LLC from abroad, but yes I would look for this as a first step if I were you. Let me know if you'd like some lawyer recommendations here.

2) if you can find a lender (either in Norway or here in America) that will lend to you for your LLC, yes that would probably be the best route. Otherwise you'll likely either need to find an American partner or pay all cash.

3) turnkey would certainly be easier for you, especially from a long distance, but you'll be paying a little more in exchange for the ease.

4) most areas of GA should generally cash flow reasonably, but as a rough rule of thumb, the farther from Atlanta you are, the better your cash flow will likely be.

Feel free to reach out there's anything I can help with. I'm a local investor and agent in Atlanta. Always happy to talk about the market here.

@Anthony Guevara

Welcome Anthony, where in southern GA are you located? Do you have a family/kids or just a lot of free time on your hands to spend on being an agent?

@Keaton Roberson

Your estimates might be a tad high but not necessarily unrealistic I don't think. I have a friend who lives in a nice, gated-community house in Marietta who rents his rooms (each has its own bathroom) for $700/mo each, all utilities included. So maybe that's a little less than what he could be getting if he really wanted to maximize the rents, but it seems like a reasonable price to me.

Just one real life example, for what it's worth.

First thing you should look for in my opinion is whether they take longer than a day to ever return a message/call. Any longer than that (unless they have a seriously good excuse) is just disrespectful and sends a very clear message that they're not interested in your business.

Also I'd be weary of using an agent (for your investing anyway) who doesn't invest in real estate him/herself.

I would definitely keep it and refi if I were you. You get to keep all that equity instead of losing half of it to selling costs and taxes, plus you should be able to get out at least some cash from the refi to go reinvest elsewhere.

The only way I'd sell is if you have some very good reason to believe the area is going downhill.