President's Corner:

A Season For Thanksgiving

One of the best ways that we can show our thanks is to give back to others, or pay it forward. There are at least two additional opportunities to do that during this season. The first is to bring a toy to the November meeting for Toys For Tots. The second is with the Fuller Center for Housing. There will be one or two small projects where a family needs assistance with making repairs on their home. More details will be available soon, so watch your email and the calendar for the dates and locations.

The November general meeting will focus on automating your business. As you move into 2016, consider how to ramp your business up to the next level. Tish Henderson will be presenting tools and apps that will help increase efficiency. The December meeting will feature our holiday party and Business Associate expo.

We at GaREIA, are so grateful to all of our members, Business Associates, volunteers and Sponsers! So sending a big THANK YOU out to all of you!

I will look forward to seeing you at these coming events.

Mike Jacobson

News Notes:Holiday Edition 2015

** Atlanta Emerges as a “Growing Affluent” Hub

According to a new report from Coldwell Banker NRT, four metropolitan areas in the United States are presently emerging as “affluent hubs.” One of those metro areas, not surprisingly, is Atlanta. Coldwell Banker defined “affluent hubs” as areas of the country currently experiencing booms in luxury real estate and associated economic growth. The report cited a skyrocketing number of $1- million-and-up homes on the market in 2015 and an ongoing, slightly delayed real estate recovery in the area at large that has led to Atlanta real estate appreciating faster than many other regions.

** More Georgia Homes Underwater Now than a Year Ago

It’s been nearly eight years since the housing crisis, although some would argue that the crash hit Atlanta somewhat later than other areas of the country, but equity in Georgia is still slipping. According to real estate data giant RealtyTrac, the number of “seriously underwater” homeowners is growing in the state, with nearly one in every five homeowners with mortgages in Georgia owing at least 25 percent more than market value on their property. That is up about a percentage point from 2014. Nationally, the underwater homeowner population is shrinking.

** Mayor Kasim Reed Promises Partnership with Hawks to Overhaul Philips Arena

If the Atlanta Hawks have been feeling left out while other Atlanta-area sports teams get new arenas and facilities, then they’re probably feeling better now. Mayor Kasim Reed recently announced that Atlanta is in talks with the Hawks organization to overhaul Philips Arena, which he described as being in need of a “serious refresh.” Philips Arena is the only major sporting events venue in the city that has not been updated since it opened in 1999. Reed suggested that changes, which could cost as much as $250 million, might include doing away with a suites seating wall and widening passages to improve pedestrian flow. The new design for Philips Arena will be revealed sometime during Q1 2016

Motivational Minute: The Fight to Find Deals in a Competitive Market

If you’re like most real estate investors who have been “at it” for a few years or less, then you probably have had at least one or two times in your investing career when you were tempted to hang it up and go back to your other, former profession. In many cases, you may not have fully left that profession, and I’ve heard more than a few investors refer to their “day job” as their “real job” while real estate remained firmly on the sidelines. This is a treacherous mindset if you truly want to become a full-time real estate investor and, admittedly, not all real estate investors do. However, the biggest hurdle that you will ever overcome on the way to becoming a full-time real estate investor or, even better, working in real estate part-time while earning a full-time income, will be the temptation to say that there are simply not enough deals out there for you to succeed.

Now, before we go any farther, let’s get one thing straight: in real estate, there are highs and lows in every market and, as a result, there will be highs and lows in your investing business as well. However, as a real estate investor, your decisions about how to deal with these peaks and valleys will determine not only your investing strategies, but your profits as well. You have two options:

1. You can go where the deals you want are located; or

2. You can adjust your strategies to optimize your options in the market in which you are already working.

Once you determine which option is the right one for you, then you will be able to decide how to ramp up your business when it seems like good deals are getting scarce.

If you decide that you are willing to follow the deals you like in order to continue doing the type of real estate you prefer, then you’ll need to adjust your business strategy if those types of deals start drying up. For example, if you are a wholesaler, you probably know that there are always deals in your local area if you know how to find them. However, if you live in a city with a high concentration of wholesalers, then you may need to go further afield if the competition gets too intense. Does this mean you need to move? No! It means you need to start looking in places other people are not looking. Maybe you can set up a network of birddogs to find deals in other cities. Perhaps you should consider adjusting your yellow letter campaigns to go out to a different target market that other competitors are overlooking at present. Many wholesalers eliminate geographic considerations entirely by taking their entire business online so that they can find and flip deals to other investors entirely by website and email list. The key to your success will lie in being willing to be flexible in order to stay true to your preferred strategy.

If you are the type of investor who is willing to be flexible in their investment methods, then the latter option we mentioned will likely be a good fit for you. In this case, you’ll need to study your market closely. Remember, a market is always “hot” for something. Think about the hardest-hit markets in the country during the housing crash. Multiple fortunes were made in those cities by investors willing to stop doing whatever they had been doing to make money in real estate and start figuring out how to leverage the biggest bargain-basement property sales the country had ever seen. However, multiple fortunes were lost too, often by those same investors, because they did not adjust their strategies in time as those markets evolved. If you decide to shift your strategy as your preferred market shifts, then you accept the responsibility for tracking your market’s movements closely and maintaining your education about the best way to generate wealth in your chosen market.

GaREIA Events for November 2015

• General Meeting - November 9, 2015 @5:30pm, Wyndham Atlanta Galleria
• New Investors Subgroup - November 10, 2015 @7:00pm, GaREIA Headquarters
• Dealmakers Subgroup - Every Wednesday @10:00am, GaREIA Headquarters
• Market Update/Technology Subgroup - November 12, 2015 @7pm, GaREIA Headquarters
• DeKalb Subgroup - November 16, 2015 @6:30pm, Picadilly Restaurant, N. Druid Hills Rd.
• Board of Directors Meeting - November 23, 2015 @6:30pm, GaREIA Headquarters (GaREIA members only are welcome to attend)
• Cashflow Game Sugbgroup - November 17, 2015 @7pm, GaREIA Headquarters
• REI Strategies SubGroup - November 18, 2015 @7pm, GaREIA Headquarters
• Lanier/Gainesville Subgroup - November 18, 2015 @7:30pm, contact Todd VanMeter for location
• GaREIA Coaching Program – Program Participants Only
• Mastering Passive Income Study Group – Contact Karen Yaap for details
• Please note, all GaREIA events for the week of Thanksgiving (November 23-27) have been canceled. Have a wonderful holiday!

GaREIA Featured Business Associate November 2015: Advanta IRA

We are GaREIA interviewed Mike Gentry, Advanta IRA’s full-time Atlanta area representative.

Q: Please tell me a little bit about your business.

A: Advanta IRA is a self-directed IRA administrator that helps individuals who want to use their retirement funds (IRAs and 401ks) to invest in real estate and private notes rather than investing their funds into stocks and mutual funds. We do not sell any products, but simply provide the services to allow an individual to use their retirement funds for real estate investments, since most IRA custodians (like banks and brokerage houses) will not hold real estate.

Q: How could a new real estate investor best work with you?

A: A new real estate investor who is looking for capital to funds their first deal could certainly look to use their IRA or old 401k funds to make that investment. Rather than going to a bank, they could simply have their IRA make the purchase. IRA purchases of real estate are usually all-cash and thus a simpler transaction.

Q: How about an experienced investor?

A: Many of our clients are already experienced investors and simply use their IRA to fund some of the deals that they come upon. Experienced investors who work with private lenders can also let their private lenders know about how the private lender can use their IRA cash to fund a deal, and then have the interest and profits on the deal ago back to the IRA without any tax consequence. Showing their private lenders how to earn tax-free returns can be very beneficial to all investors.

Q: What should a GaREIA member ask you when they meet you? – They should ask us about how they can learn more about self-directed IRAs and why should they learn in the first place. There are so many individuals with funds in a retirement plan that they don’t know what to do, or are not comfortable with their current portfolio. Knowing how to invest in real estate with a IRA is a tool that every investor should have. We hold many free educational events for individuals and investors to learn more.

Q: How can GaREIA members reach you?

A: They can contact as our office in the Buckhead area by calling 678-513-8913, email me at mventryu@advantairagroup.com, visit our website at www.advantaira.com or they can come to our office at 3525 Piedmont Rd NE, Bldg. 8, Suite 101, Atlanta, GA 30305. Check out my picture along with this article so you know who to look for!

Q: What do you wish every GaREIA member knew about your business?

A: I wish they know how easy we are to work with and how committed we are to providing top-notch service to all of our clients. I also wish they know (and hopefully they know now from this interview) that they can use IRA funds to invest in things other than mutual funds and stocks, and can use these funds to invest into real estate.

GaREIA Success Story: Dave Vaz

Dave Vaz

Dave Vaz purchased a Lilburn property for $10,500 via a Gwinnett County Tax Deed. The county was owed $4,500, and Dave had to bid $10,500 to gain control of the property. He then invested another $3,869 in quiet title and $46,000 in rehab, making the total acquisition cost $60,369. After the property’s repairs, it appraised for $144,000, and Dave predicts that it will bring in an annualized $13,200 in rents before maintenance, property taxes, management, and insurance. After factoring all of these expenses in, the annualized return is projected at $7,908, or a 14-percent net return before write-offs and appreciation.

Dave spent 17 years in the semiconductor industry as an engineer before turning his full-time focus to real estate investing. He has experience in multiple states in wholesaling, rehabbing, tax deeds, and long-term property rentals. He also has successfully managed projects in Jamaica from the comfort of his home office. Dave is the founder of IRIE Investments LLC and the principal fund manager for Blue Igneous Capital LLC.

November 2015 Market Update

The Q3 2015 Numbers are in, and there is some pretty “mixed news” for Georgia. Fulton County made waves with home prices falling 9.3 percent year-over-year, and institutional investor activity in Georgia in general and Columbus, Georgia, in particular was nearly three times that of the national average. Columbus also garnered a spot for having one of the most foreclosure-heavy markets in the country (17.4 percent vs. 8.1 percent nationally).

While there are certainly some negative numbers in that data, the news is not really so negative. In the short term, institutional investors tend to drive up home values, although local investors need to monitor their activity carefully since their exit can herald a major slow-down. While many markets in the country with appreciation like the Atlanta area’s are in danger of “bubbling over” in the next 12 months, Atlanta has actually been labeled by the Urban Land Institute as “sustainable” for 2016 thanks to good levels of buying and selling on the parts of owner-occupants, investors, and larger entities, relatively easy availability of capital, and affordability.

While some analysts do warn that 2017 might bring a slow-down in the rate of growth in home values in the Atlanta area and in Georgia, even this is not entirely negative since a gradual cooling prevents the type of localized crash that many other markets of Atlanta’s size and growth history are at risk to experience in 2016 (think Dallas and Houston, Texas, and just about anywhere in California!) What should savvy Georgia real estate investors do?

• Monitor their markets

• Have multiple, viable exit strategies in place for every deal

• Do not neglect cash-flow opportunities that generate wealth regardless of appreciation rates

• Watch the “big guys” – when the institutional investors start moving, adjust your strategies!

• Maintain your education: Your best investment is your own education. Stay informed about your local market trends and keep your knowledge up to date with training, reading, coaching, or other forms of real estate education. You have lots of great options through GaREIA!

November 2015 Legislative Update: Federal Court Upholds Landlords’ 4th Amendment Rights

It’s making headlines mainly in Ohio, but the ramifications for landlords extend across the country. A recent federal court ruling in Columbus, Ohio, not only upholds landlords’ often-violated fourth amendment rights but also demands that cities that have violated these rights repay unjustly-exacted “rental inspection fees” to boot. The fourth amendment protects American citizens from unlawful searches and seizures. Essentially, no government can enter your property and search it or seize property without a warrant and probable cause. City governments across the country consistently violate this particular protection when it comes to landlords by demanding that they submit to government inspections of their rental properties to insure that there are no code violations. Adding insult to injury, these municipal governments often exact “rental inspection fees” for their “services.”

The case in question involved four rental property owners and the City of Portsmouth, Ohio. The landlords had rented their properties in Portsmouth out for years without license or inspections. None owned sufficient volumes of property so as to necessitate any type of business license or other licensing. However, Portsmouth ultimately opted to not only demand that all four pay $100 per rental home for a “rental licensing fee” and then submit to an open-ended, warrantless search of all the properties, but threatened to criminally prosecute and imprison them if they did not comply. However, the landlords instead took their case to the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, and eventually received a favorable ruling from Judge Susan Dlott of the Western Division of the Southern District of Ohio.

Not surprisingly, the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and landlords everywhere are hailing the ruling as “a victory for all property owners and tenants.” Prior to the ruling, any city exercising its option to search rental properties not only violated the landlord in question’s privacy, but the tenant’s as well. Furthermore, noted the center’s executive director, Maurice Thompson, “Government inspections of one’s home frequently results in arbitrary orders to make thousands of dollars’ worth of untenable improvements to even the most well-maintained properties.”

Have you ever experienced this type of unconstitutional treatment? Email carolejellis@gmail.com with your story, and you could have a case study in our next newsletter!

November General Meeting Feature: Tish Henderson

Tish Henderson

On November 9, 2015, at the GaREIA general meeting, Tish Henderson will present “How to Use Podio Ninja Automation Systems to Eliminate Chaos from Your Real Estate Investing Business, Giving You Back Time and Money!” Tish will present a method for customizing systems for your specific needs, including “ninja tricks” to make excel spreadsheets disappear into Podio (that’s a good thing!) for simpler transaction management and automated follow-up strategies to help you stay in touch with motivated buyers and sellers and close more deals. As Tish says, “Start 2016 by running a business rather than the lack of business running you out of business!”

Tish has nearly two decades’ experience in speaking, coaching, and real-life, in-the-trenches business experience. Her expertise lies in defining your business process and then identifying ways to help it run seamlessly. She is a business owner, licensed real estate broker, investor, and financial advisor. She is also a journalist and activist by education and passion, working with several organizations to feed the hungry and offering a $1,000 education scholarship to single mothers returning to school, and serves as the Investor Membership Director on the GaREIA Board of Directors.

The presentation will begin at 7:30pm.

Volunteer Corner: October 2015

GaREIA is always in need of members to provide support at the general meetings each month. Remember, the best way to make money as a real estate investor is to have a solid, supportive, productive network in place! Volunteering at the meetings is a great way to meet a lot of people and make connections without having to walk up “cold turkey” and start talking! Don’t miss this great opportunity. Contact Harry St. Louis (harry.stlouis@realestate-concepts.com) to volunteer.

HELP US HELP YOU!!

Also of Note: GaREIA is looking for candidates for board positions for 2016. Email Harry for details.