All Forum Posts by: Amy E.

Call the Rhodes housing office and see if they have a "preferred" housing list that you can get on to advertise.  Or, if not, see if they have online bulletin boards (or real ones), or an information page that you can list your units for rent.  Most colleges have something unless they are trying to keep kids on campus for some reason.

Can someone detail the difference between the Pro Forma and Purchase Cap rates that the BP analyzer tool calculates?  I found several articles on cap rates in general and think I understand, but want to make sure I know what the BP tool is doing.

Everyone always recommends a mentor, but I think most try to over-formalize the relationship.  Also, we learn best from mistakes, anyway.  If I try to learn everything up front from a mentor, I would never get started since there is no step by step guide for each specific deal.  There are multiple ways to get a deal accomplished and everyone will likely have a different opinion.  

I didn't find professionals to help me at first.  I asked around at my 9-5 and found several folks who owned rentals.  I picked their brains over lunch and started networking (got recs for contractors, realtors, etc.) and then picked a house and bought it.  Those were my mentors because they started out as I did.  Of course, I was doing SFRs, so no need to find a professional.

I made a bunch of mistakes, but it was a great way to learn. In fact, we learn more by making mistakes than we do by achieving success.  Think about it, if you succeed, you're still always going to try to figure out how to make it "better".  Its human nature.  Eventually, if you keep tweaking what you did, you'll end up screwing up and then learn "not to do that again".  I figure its better to screw up now with my $50k house than to screw up with a $50M apartment complex.

Once I had a couple of deals under my belt, then I sought out professional mentors through our local REIA and word of mouth. We still don't have a formal relationship; I just expanded my list of folks I can ask random questions to.

@Avery Gilmer, talking to neighbors must be for extroverts, because that is something I have never actually considered.  Occam's Razor, baby!  The simplest answer is usually the best.....but then you'd have to talk people (shudder).

Depends on your area.  In my area, which is rural with a large military base, it is definitely an issue.  I can find tenants, but not good tenants.  My "season" around here is April thru July.  The military folks PCS (permanent change of station) in April and school starts the first week of August.  

That said, the best BUYS, are typically in the September/October/Early November timeframe.  Why?  You guessed it, people realize that they missed the "window" and start lowering prices.

I would say when to buy depends on the type of property you are buying and the type of tenants you want to attract.  If you are buying turnkey properties in class A neighborhoods for young professionals where rentals are hot right now, it may not matter.  If you're like me in a rural area, buying class C homes (ugly but good bones) for class C families who want to be settled prior to school starting, with rehab work that won't get finished until just before the holidays, you may not want to risk it. 

I do have one question though, if the new properties are "cash flowing properties", aren't they already rented?  Then it doesn't matter what time to trade....

Most Georgia counties use qpublic.net as their tax assessor site.  If you click on "show parcel map" for a known address on the street you're looking on.  Once you see the map, you can scroll around until you find the parcel you're interested in.  Once its selected, there will be some numbers on the right that are hyperlinked next to the words "selected parcel".  Click on the hyperlink and that will take you back to the tax info for that parcel.  They are supposed to have a name and address for all owners.  As far as I know, all Georgia counties have free access to tax assessor websites.

If you can't figure out who it belongs to from the tax assessor site, the next step is to look up the liens, warranty deeds and/or security deeds against the property and see who's listed.  Just google "Superior Court Clerk" and the county name.  In my county, I can access the court clerk's records for free.  The Atlanta counties charge you for access to the court clerk's online records (which is bogus, IMO, I get them free 100 miles south).  The website is: http://apps.gsccca.org/pt61efiling/PT61.asp But double check that you have to pay, you may not, it's been awhile since I poked around in the ATL area.  

Worst case, walk yourself down to the court house and ask to see the records, once you get the plat information from the tax assessor site.

Good luck!

Should have mentioned, all three titles are in the name of an LLC.

Hi all,

I'm in Central GA and own three rental properties I've paid cash for.  I'm looking to expand my business and have spent the past few days talking with commercial lenders at banks.  All are confident they can provide me a product, but I have a bit of sticker shock at the rates (5-7%) and terms (no more than 20 years amortization, most with a balloon payment at 5 years).  I guess it just bugs me that I have to personally guarantee it (my personal credit is excellent), but they will still treat it completely like a business loan with business terms.  I do understand their viewpoint, I have been in business less than two years and am showing a loss on my first tax return (but rent is rolling in and we're doing great, we're just putting cash back into the business).

Do portfolio lenders typically offer terms that are more like a conventional mortgage with similar rates?

Additionally, does anyone have the name of portfolio lenders in Georgia I can call?

You may want to subscribe to the Georgia Forum.  There are also sub-forums for Athens, Atlanta, Savannah and Sandy Springs....I think they need one for "other GA".

It depends on the cost of the PMI vs. the amount you would have in your pocket.