Savannah REIA Blog

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Many people get into real estate, a few succeed, and others decide real estate is not for them. There are many roles a person can take on in real estate but being an investor requires the thickest skin. An investor faces rejection daily, is essentially profiting from other’s misfortune, and depending on the level of the investor, can be risking thousands of dollars.

As an investor, rejection sometimes comes as a simple NO and other times it comes with plenty of four letter words. Why does this happen? Well, you are or should be attempting to negotiate a purchase price low enough to make a profit. At the same time you must make sure you can validate the offer and can explain it to the seller. When you just give a seller an offer that investors give, the seller is usually quick to say NO. Many sellers do not look at their properties from an investment stand point but are emotionally tied to the property. This causes them to take an investor’s offer as an insult. When the seller takes an offer as a huge insult, the seller may do a number of things from hanging up to lecturing you about how the offer was so insulting, to yelling. This is where negotiation skills come in to play. You must have thick enough skin to let all this go and, if given the opportunity, explain the reasoning behind the offer. I have seen newbies and veteran investors both lose it, get into an argument, and as a result lose the deal. I have always said, “Lose your composure, lose the deal.” Read More >>

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Join us at the Savannah REIA Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, May 12th at 6:30PM at the Savannah Board of Realtors Office located at 7015 Hodgson Memorial Dr in Savannah, GA.

This is our main Savannah REIA Meeting for the month, so don’t miss it! Please be sure to invite your friends to join us at the meeting and to follow us on Meetup.com and Facebook.com.  Read More >>

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I first went online in 2003 and my first website sold over a million dollars of product. At one time, we were one of the most top ranked websites in the world. We actually had more traffic going to our website than Oprah had going to her website. (For you internet geeks out there, our Alexa ranking was a hair under 10,000 at the time)

Marketing has changed dramatically since those days. It is no longer good enough to be "found on Google." Your competitors are there too. Today, more than ever, people have a choice of who they choose to do business with and they want to do business with the LEADER or Authority in their field.

If you have a serious legal issue, you want the BEST Attorney that money can buy. If you are selling your home, you do not want just anybody selling your home.

The Million Dollar question is this:

If I were to visit your website or social media pages, how obvious would it be that YOU are the Number 1 choice? Read More >>

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In many markets, properties are receiving multiple offers within days of being listed. This includes retail listings, foreclosures, short sales, etc. As long as the list price is remotely reasonable the properties are going into highest and best. This is not an ideal situation for investors because it means they may need to pay a higher price to be competitive. This can also be true for unlisted properties because all buyers, including retail buyers, are looking everywhere for their next purchase.

A solution to this problem can be solved by using wholetailing. What is wholetailing? It is selling a home for a price above the wholesale price but below the market retail price, maybe even at the market retail price in some cases. Typically these properties need mostly cosmetic or smaller, less serious repairs and/or updating. For this reason the seller is not willing to sell it at a wholesale price. As an investor you can close on the property at a discount, but not as low as a wholesale, and rehab it relatively fast. Once the property is ready you can advertise it at a profitable price below market retail value and get it sold fast if priced right. Some properties may need nothing more than just a deep cleaning. The targeted buyers are investors that may be looking for a rental property with minimal to no repairs and/or owner occupant buyers that are looking for a deal and not afraid of doing some sweat equity. This allows the investors to rent the property immediately to begin cash flowing ASAP. Owner occupant buyers already save thousands buying a wholetail property but they can also increase their equity if they decide to update or remodel the home to the property’s full potential. All these situations create a win-win all around. Read More >>

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That sounds too good to be true! Guess who made this possible… The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS)! There is a shockwave moving through the mortgage industry caused by a unanimous SCOTUS ruling in January. The court settled once and for all exactly what a borrower’s Right of Rescission is, and what latitude the courts have when dealing with it. The content of that ruling is a major win for homeowners and real estate investors alike, but what exactly does it mean for you and your business?

First let’s begin with what the Right of Rescission is. It was established by the federal government in the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). It gives a borrower the right to rescind any residential mortgage transaction within three days of the lender providing all of the disclosures required by TILA. The traditional Right of Rescission happens within 3 days of the closing and allows the buyer to cancel the transaction and get all funds returned by the lender. The Right of Rescission we are interested in is much more expansive. If the lender does not make the disclosures, or the borrower claims that the lender didn’t provide them, or the lender did not fully disclose the nature of the transaction, or the lender was fraudulent in their representation, the period can be extended up to three years after the borrower discovers the fraud. The bank must give up its claim to the property by providing the borrower with a cancelled note and mortgage and by returning every dollar the borrower has paid since inception of the loan. The lender has to respond within 20 days of the notice of rescission being dropped in the mail by the borrower. Read More >>

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I will never forget my first business/real estate mentor. I was set to taxi the plane out to the runway on a flight to Carrabelle Florida. My passenger for the day was a wealthy real estate investor and developer. I was flying him to FL for the afternoon because he was in the middle of developing a new condominium community on a prime piece of water front real estate that I had watched him negotiate and purchase a few weeks prior on a separate trip that I flew him to Florida for.

At this point my real estate career didn’t exist at all. I was a pilot flying for a medical supply company in Macon, GA. My passenger (Lee) was a friend of the owner of the company I worked for. The owner had invested in Lee’s next development and had given him access to the plane (and me) to take him down to the development site when he needed. At this point in time I was working on my flying career but I was slowly getting the real estate bug. Little did I know that in less than a year from that fateful flight, I would be completely out of aviation and full time in real estate, never to look back.

As we taxied out to the runway on a beautiful spring day Lee said something that would change the course of my life forever “what’s that button for?” Read More >>

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As investors we have to watch numerous indicators to insure we make a profit when we buy. Knowing the value of a property is extremely important. Today the adjustment in property tax values is for once a viable market indicator.

Knowing the true value of real estate is critical, try to do a deal without it and see. The guidance and data within REIAComps has consistently shown investors how to determine both solid acquisition value and after repair value to earn lasting profits.

Property values nationwide continue to rebound, according to numerous local and national reports. The taxable value of real and personal property nationally has increased 2.38 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Of the 10-20 reports I regularly review, they show the assessed value of real estate, which is 50 percent of market value, increased 2.75-3.0 percent. Translation, the real estate market is still up, although it is a gradual, slow increase. Read More >>

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In the real estate world, it’s all about income. Real estate IRA veterans know that if prices get too far ahead of rents, driving gross yields down, bad things happen. You don’t want to get caught up in the next bubble, trying to sell over appreciated real estate to some greater fool. Any time your entire investment thesis for residential real estate relies on future price appreciation without regard to income generated, you are on hazardous footing.

Smart real estate investors, then, try to maximize their yields on investment – that is, the amount of cash that comes in as a percentage of the amount invested.

Of course, individual properties vary widely when it comes to the cost of repairs and renovations needed to get them to work. But we can get a good idea of the health of a rental real estate market just by looking at gross yields – that is, income divided by the total current property value.

From that perspective, the market for real estate IRA investors looks strong indeed. RealtyTrac recently published its 2015 Residential Rental Market Report, aggregating rental income and price data from hundreds of metro markets, nationwide. The report comes on the heels of another report from Zillow.com reporting that rents have been increasing strongly, even outpacing inflation and household incomes. That’s not great news for renters, unfortunately, who have seen their fraction of incomes absorbed by housing costs increase from 25 percent to 30 percent in the space of just a few years. But it’s good news for landlords, who are reporting solid returns on investment in the vast majority of markets, nationwide. Read More >>

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Many Buyers start house shopping without even knowing the price range in which they are qualified. At Sell Fast Realty, our company policy is that the Buyer must be pre-qualified by a Mortgage Lender and has already submitted all their financial documents so their debt to income ratio can direct them to the correct price range of homes. I get a lot of Buyers who have no idea if they can qualify for the price of the home that they want to buy. My Mentor Students and I use my Buyer information sheet to pre-qualify all of our Buyers.

1. Are they a Homeowner, Investor or Realtor?
2. Their full name, telephone number and email address.
3. What are their wants versus needs: how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and then garage/pool etc.
4. How much money do they have to put down NOW? (Notice the now, because they could be waiting on income tax refund, lawsuit or gift money etc.
5. How much can they afford monthly? I use this rule of thumb: If a house is selling for $100,000 then their monthly payment will be close to $1,000 principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI). However with lower interest rates, then their payment would be lower).
6. Are they a CASH or Mortgage Buyer?
7. If Cash, then what is the price range they can afford? We would request a bank/IRA/investment statement showing this amount.
8. If they are a Mortgage Buyer, have they been pre-approved and for how much?
9. How is their credit? Good, Fair or Poor and what is their credit score?
10. Have they ever filed bankruptcy and when was it discharged (Chapter 7) or dismissed (Chapter 13)?
11. How soon are they looking to move and why?

Before I give information about the house that I am selling, I will ask these questions. If they are represented by a Realtor then I want to know if they are a CASH, FHA, VA or Conventional Mortgage Buyer. Read More >>

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The real beauty of owning rental property when the seller will allow you to pay them directly every month allows you to collect rent from each rental property you buy to pay for those properties.

The key to make this strategy work is to buy each income property so a tenant who will be renting the property will pay enough rent each month to cover 1/12^th of the annual property taxes, 1/12^th of the annual property insurance cost and at least 10% to 15% of the monthly rental income to cover the cost of the maintenance for that property when needed. This money for maintenance is set aside to pay for making the property look new when a tenant moves out such as new carpet, paint and any other damage to the property the tenant did during their stay. Also money for when the roof on that property eventually wears out, when the water heater eventually goes bad or the furnace or air conditioner breaks down and also enough money remaining each month to make the monthly payment to the seller and hopefully provide extra money each month for the owner to put into their pocket. Here is an example to show what I am talking about.

For this example each rental property brings in $1,000 in rent each month. This is the formula I use to determine if enough rent collected for each potential rental property to support itself and also provide extra income for the owner each month. Read More >>

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“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” ~ Albert Einstein

About a year ago, British Airways created an amazing billboard and put it near an airport. When an airplane would take off at the airport, the billboard would detect it. On the billboard, a little kid would follow the plane, pointing at it, until he ran past the end of the screen. When the plane was gone, he would run back into view. The billboard actually interacted with the world outside.

How did they do that? I have no idea.

If you’ve seen that billboard video, you’ve seen an example of “augmented reality.” (If you haven’t seen the video, you can find it by Googling “British Airways interactive billboard.”). Essentially, augmented reality adds digital content to real-life objects. The object could be an ad in a magazine, or it could be a famous painting, or it could be a house you just passed on the road. The essence is this: Point your tablet at it, and stuff happens. That stuff could be a link to a phone number, a video or animation you can watch, or other statistics about the thing you’re looking at. In the case of a house, it could tell you the price, square footage, and comps for the area. It could even give you a tour of the inside of the house. Read More >>

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One of the best ways I know of to grow personal wealth is by creating multiple streams of income in your life and in your business. In an uncertain economy, it is important not to place “all your eggs in one basket.” In order to protect your income long term you need to consider diversifying your investments so whether in a bad economy or a good economy you still have income from some of your investments.

As a real estate entrepreneur, there are several ways for you to accomplish this goal. One way to create multiple streams of income has to do with the way you purchase properties and structure your deals. You can wholesale properties for immediate income, or you can lease/option properties so you get some money today, some each month and a big chunk of cash at the end. When you do a lease/option with a tenant buyer, just remember to increase the initial asking price of the property by at least ten percent so you realize the gain in property values over the year. If you extend your lease/option for a second year, you get another chunk of cash; you increase the price again and continue to get a monthly income from it.

You can also hold onto rental properties and have someone else manage them for you. This way, you get to go the mailbox, get checks and not have to do any of the work or deal with the tenants. Apartment complexes and storage units are another great stream of income, especially when they are managed by someone else. Not only do you realize the gain on the property long-term but the monthly checks are even bigger. Read More >>

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We always hear how it is important to get a solid Buyers list whether large or small but ultimately of people that can perform. One such Buyer that is relatively untapped for wholesalers are Builders. These are in many ways some of my favorite Buyers because they can oftentimes pay higher prices than investor Buyers who have to hire them. Let’s take a look at why this is:

• Builders can choose whether or not to pay themselves during a build process. If they choose just to get paid on the end profit, this averages a savings of 15-20% that an investor Buyer would have to pay to them.
• Builders can save on their construction costs by not marking up anything. Investors are often billed a markup for these materials costs since they or their subcontractors have to source and pick up the materials.
• Builders save on the overhead of timing. Time is money and a builder has less people to coordinate with to accomplish building a house whereas an investor has to manage more people.
• Builders may do some of the labor themselves. Some of them just love to get their hands dirty no matter how good their crew is.
• Builders may have their own capital. Many investors leverage private capital but a well funded builder may have their own capital, thus saving on interest fees.

When you start mixing some of these potentials savings together, you can see how they can pay more for a house than an investor can thus making the difference in having a deal done vs having no Buyer. Let’s look at a specific example. Read More >>

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QuickBooks simplifies and speeds up your daily accounting work, but you’re missing out on valuable insight if you don’t tailor your report data.

Do you remember why you started using QuickBooks? You may have simply wanted to produce sales forms and record payments electronically. Gradually, you expanded your use of the software, perhaps paying and tracking bills through it and keeping an eagle eye on your inventory levels. Certainly, you’ve run at least some of the pre-built report templates offered by all versions of QuickBooks since their inception.

QuickBooks’ automation of your daily bookkeeping tasks has undoubtedly served you well. But that’s merely limited use; now it’s time to take advantage of QuickBooks’ greatest strength: customizable reports.

One of the rewards for diligently entering all of your accounting information is a better grasp of your company’s financial performance to date. That insight ultimately leads to better business decisions that can contribute to your future growth and success. Read More >>

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People often ask me, “Russ, how do you stay so motivated, confident, and upbeat?”

My answer? I know my assets, and I make sure that I have more assets than liabilities.

Do you know your assets?

Knowing your assets will allow you to assess whether or not you are heading in the right direction. It will show you if you are winning or losing. I like to know what my assets are because it builds my self-esteem and feeds my ego. There is nothing like a good ego boost!

Here are the 4 types of assets:

1. Physical/ Money
2. Community
3. Education/ Skills
4. People

Physical/ Money Assets

When we think of assets, we typically think of money! But there is much more than that. There are physical assets. Read More >>

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There are certain expenses a real estate entrepreneur will have in the business, and the more it ramps up, the more these expenses will increase along with revenue.

Fortunately for us, our overhead is extremely small. And when I say extremely, let me do a few comparisons for you:

When my restaurant was open, my break-even was approximately $100,000 per month. That’s just what it took to keep the doors open, including all the costs inherent in a restaurant and most other businesses like labor, insurance, utilities, product, etc. The food alone was $.40 of every dollar that came through the door. That’s a tough nut to crack for any business, especially when you’re dealing with small numbers like those found on your dinner check. There were many times I wish I could sell a filet mignon for $10,000 like we get out of houses with little overheard and very little work.

In the restaurant business, we’re open for lunch and dinner most of the time. There were always at least 12-15 people on duty with over 50 employees total, open seven days a week, and a manager or assistant manager had to be there 100% of the time. If that manager happens to be the boss, that pretty much sucks up that life. Read More >>

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Welcome back...again! Quick refresher: We’ve been discussing two classic & powerful, tried & true real estate investing strategies:

Wholesaling and Lease Options, aka “Ugly” vs. “Pretty”.

Part One of this series was devoted to Wholesaling, and Part Two was focused on Lease Options. Examples were given. Terms discussed. Money put on the table. Moving on...

Whenever a ‘newby’ investor asks me where they should start, I usually tell them that wholesaling is a great way to earn some great money while learning the business, so they should consider starting there. After a while, and when their marketing starts generating leads from pretty house sellers, I tell them that it’s a great idea to learn that part of the business so that they can start to make money from those leads as well.

It’s a beautiful thing when a deal fits easily into a ‘type’ of transaction we know how to do, and it’s even more beautiful when all the stars are in alignment & a deal closes smoothly. But we live in the real world here, right? Besides, we’re problem solvers, and that’s why we get paid the big bucks! :) Read More >>

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Last Saturday, I took thirteen real estate investors from the Chattanooga Real Estate Investors Association door-knocking. Before heading out, we discussed how to make a written offer to a seller.

The group had a number of questions: 1) How do I find a property’s fair market value? 2) How do I discover market rents in the area? 3) How do I make a written offer right there on the spot?

The first thing to remember is that an offer is different from a purchase contract. A purchase contract is often a formal document written in legalese that no one – especially the buyer and seller – understands. On the other hand, an offer can be written in plain English on a Post-it note that makes sense to everyone! (NOTE: On North Georgia REIA’s Facebook page, you’ll see three of the written offers I made in Chattanooga.)

Randy Shelley is an investor who lives in that area. We spent the day knocking doors in his subdivision. Though he already knew the fair market values and approximate rents for his neighborhood, I asked him not to share this information with the group. Read More >>

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Savannah REIA is excited to announce that Don DeRosa will be our special guest speaker this month at our Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, April 14th at 6:30PM at the Savannah Board of Realtors located at 7015 Hodgson Memorial Drive in Savannah, GA (map). Don will be sharing with us many of the "New Subject-To" strategies, tools, and techniques he uses every day to create winning deals for himself as well as his buyers and sellers. Don is a part time real estate trainer and mentor and full-time real estate investor who actively buys, sells and holds properties each month for huge profits and long term cash flow.

Today Don is working feverishly at buying properties "Subject To" using the existing financing on the seller's home instead of having to go to a bank or a hard money lender for funding. This allows Don to buy multiple properties fast, without coming up with all the purchase funds on the front end. This is the perfect strategy for buying and holding pretty houses in today's market where easy funding is not readily available for real estate investors.

Don will walk you through real deals, step-by-step to demonstrate how to evaluate the lead, determine your exit strategy, structure the deal, negotiate with the seller and get the paperwork done almost instantly and without any of the hard work you normally do to get your deals done.

By the end of the presentation, you'll know...

• How to recognize a "Subject To" opportunity and buy with little or no money!
• How to evaluate any lead and decide whether this is a winner for you and how much money you'll make before you make your offer
• How to combine buying strategies and exit strategies - that work right now, in 2015
• How to structure a deal in less than 10 minutes, so that you make a minimum of $20,000 on it, choosing from multiple purchase and exit strategies
• How to determine what the seller's hot buttons are so you can craft a deal the seller can't refuse
• How to use Don's proprietary tools to negotiate for you, so you never let your emotions talk you into making a bad deal!
• And much, much more!

And if this is not enough, Don will be back with us on Saturday, April 25th for a full day workshop on The Ultimate "How-To" Workshop on Buying Houses "Subject-To" where he will really drive these points home and give you all the subject-to details you need to succeed in real estate investing. Once you are armed with Don's training and the tools, you will be able to make this your best year ever!

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting! Read More >>

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On Saturday, April 25th from 9AM to 5PM, Don DeRosa will be conducting a special full day workshop with Savannah REIA on "How To Do The New Subject To" at Keller Williams located at 329 Commercial Dr, Suite 100 in Savannah, GA. This class is all about how to buy and own real estate and make lots of money with little or no money down.

Learn how to buy houses…

• Without using your own credit
• Without having to sign personally on a note
• Without having to qualify for a mortgage
• Without having much money

Beginner or experienced real estate investors can find immediate success using Don’s simple formula. There are six easy steps to follow when buying “Subject To.”

1. Locating Sellers
2. Prescreening Sellers
3. Constructing Offers
4. Presenting Offers
5. Finding the Money
6. Selling Houses

Once you learn to follow these steps you can do this over and over again for an average profit of over $20,000 per property.

There are many ways to make money in real estate and there will be something for everyone at the event. Don will be teaching you his trade secrets, including little-known buying techniques that have made him a very successful investor.

PLEASE NOTE: If you want to gain the cutting edge you need to succeed and bypass your competition, register now for the workshop and bring your iPad, tablet or smart phone and join us at the event!

PLEASE NOTE: Non-Members who join Savannah REIA between April 1st - 14th, 2015 can attend the workshop for FREE. When joining Savannah REIA, please indicate that you want to attend the workshop at no charge.

This event will show you from start to finish how to buy "subject to" properties… from raising capital, to finding leads, to meeting with the seller and closing the deal.

This workshop is jam packed with very important topics that Don will cover such as:

• How to focus on what matters most in the beginning
• Creating a business plan that fits your budget
• Setting meaningful goals and prioritize your time and how to track your progress
• Learn the five ways to profit in real estate
• How to buy houses with little or no money up front
• Finding the easiest ways to attract motivated sellers
• Top five advertising techniques that work every time
• How to evaluate any lead and decide whether this is a winner for you.
• Twenty questions you should always ask a potential seller
• Know how much money you'll make before you make an offer
• How to structure a deal in less than 10 minutes, so that you make a minimum of $20,000, choosing from multiple strategies!
• How to use Don's Green means 'GO', Red means 'NO' tools to negotiate for you, so you never let your emotions talk you into making a bad deal
• Determine comps and rents from anywhere!
• How to meet with the seller and make them feel comfortable with your offer, and how to avoid getting shut out of a deal
• How to become a "mindreader," to find exactly what the seller's hot buttons are so you can craft a deal the seller is dying to take
• How to prepare paperwork as if you were an attorney
• How to walk away with a signed offer the same day and put it in your lawyers hands while you're with the seller.
• Learn the top five negotiating tactics to get sellers to say "yes"!
• Find all the private money you need without putting loans in your name
• Convince private investors to lend you the money you need to do your deals
• How to combine buying strategies and exit strategies - that work right now, in 2015 - to effortlessly make a deal work you
• Exit strategies that will not only make you lots of money today, but make you wealthy long term
• The Secret to creating passive income deals of $350 + per month without any of your own money and with NO management on your part.
• And much, much more including your questions!

Read More >>

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