Realtor in Atlanta

CH

A lot of this will come down to how willing are you to assist in the search for your own property – it is a LOT of fun but you need to know a few things (understatement)…

The BIG issue in the US we face being licensed real estate agents is to avoid being seen to be redlining or steering – i.e. “is this a good area” – you need to learn how to find that our for yourself through crime stats, trulia comparisons etc BUT working with a real estate agent gives you AMAZING tools…

Ask (other than are you a BUYERS agent):
1) To have them set you up on automatic MLS listings

2) Do they have an in-house property management system and at what percentage of gross rents – what do they charge to lease a property in the first place? Do they charge a renewal fee (iie if your tenant renews their lease and extends for an extra year)…… are they familiar with the nuances to dealing with foreigners – DO THEY CHARGE TO WIRE THE FUNDS BACK TO YOU IN OZ – remember, it is often BETTER to NOT have a US bank account – because unless you travel frequently to the US, you are pretty stuck getting funds out of a US bank!!! Better to leave the $$ in the Property Management company and have them wire…… even if it costs you $25 a quarter, TRUST ME IT IS CHEAPER THAN US BANK FEES!!!! Make sure you have built into your property management agreement that you have 6 monthly inspections conducted, that you MUST be consulted for any repairs over $200 AND GET COPIES OF ACTUAL RECEIPTS FROM THE TRADESMEN

3) If you are “doing” this alone – do they have contractors that they can recommend for repairs and what is their rate sheet if they have one… (to give you an idea, my painter charges $1500 to paint a house up to 2200 sq ft in Atlanta – 2 tone, semi gloss white for trim, including ceilings and doors, bathrooms and kitchen)….

4) Are they familiar with dealing with foreign investors – there are a MILLION nuances to this – test them…..- namely
a) They need to know your proof of funds MUST match the name you are holding title – if this is a Pty Ltd, you will be needing certified copies of the constitution most likely
b) You operate on a different time zone – can they ensure that even in rushed closings they will give you at least 5 days for money transfers if you are using OzForex etc
c) Vernacular – you will be getting a flurry – are they patient enough to explain what HUD means etc. If you don’t have a Social Security number, ITIN or EIN, there are properties you can’t even bid on.
d) Is the attorney that they use to close with familiar with us problem foreigners….you need to be receiving your Power of Attorney to have the real estate agent or someone physically in Atlanta to be at closing for you… that needs to be mailed a minimum of 10 days before the closing date……

5) How many REO (essentially foreclosures) have they dealt with and at what price level – they may HATE you if you are wanting as Jay says a 50k property ……and their clientele buy 200k plus…

6) The coolest tools – for every property that you see that you love – ASK FOR THE GEOJET REPORT of neighborhood sales (who owns the houses next door, how much did they pay for it etc) – obviously rental comps, sold comps – historical data, neighborhood demographics etc.. and in Atlanta there are just AWESOME tools available for you as an investor – actually http://www.listingbook.com is fabulous and linked to the FMLS…

FROM AN EMAIL I IRONICALLY SENT OUT TODAY…. relevant.

MLS (Multiple Listing System) Nuances
Again, remember that the MLS is simply a massive database of EVERY property that comes onto the open market listed by any real estate agent not those that come with any recommendations and 90% will probably be dire…. – so all the foreclosures, all the flips, all the “regular sales” – EVERY SINGLE PROPERTY – commercial, residential, multifamily…. Entire hotels… – the whole inventory that is publically listed via a real estate agent is on the MLS – so please be specific.. If you say “every property in Atlanta” – you could get that! the questionnaire would look like this:

1) MAXIMUM PURCHASE PRICE? MINIMUM PURCHASE PRICE?
Minimum… oh dear there are some LOVELY dire properties at 7k… (got guns?)
There are also some lovely mansions at 3 million… But you are probably wanting to cap – ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAS work backwards –

MAXIMUM OUTLAY = Amount you will NOT be divorced over…

MAXIMUM OUTLAY = PURCHASE PRICE + INSPECTION FEE (@$300) + CLOSING COSTS (1k) + REPAIR COSTS + TENANTING FEE (you will be directed to a property manager who will let you know)

Repair Costs
if you ASSUME that rule of thumb for average repair costs are: Vegas = 6k of work and Atlanta = 7k (that would get you complete new paint & carpet (up to 2200 sq ft), all appliances and the usual amount of electrical and plumbing thrown in), your MAXIMUM outlay has to be what will not kill you!

2) FORECLOSURES ONLY?
difficult to limit in Atlanta as it is isn’t a field within their MLS

3) AGE OF BUILDING?
younger than 1978 avoids lead paint issues – younger than 1993 in Dekalb County in Atlanta avoids water requirements needed on anything other than a foreclosure

4) AREA?
Love only one area? Set up the search JUST for that area

5) SINGLE FAMILY ONLY?
I am still not an advocate of condos in Vegas but you might be! Ditto for townhomes in Atlanta (as you know, I have a few of those so can’t argue on that one) – for some, if you are looking under 30k, this may well be your best bet…

6) HOA?
EVERYONE knows I personally don’t love Home Owner Association Fees (think Strata Levy Fees) – healthy hatred of ANY variable I can’t control……..however I do get GREAT exercise mowing lawns but you might love them….

7) NUMBER OF BEDROOMS AND BATHROOMS?
Personally I am an advocate of 3 bedrooms min and 2 bathrooms min. We are buying suburbia in the main part – that means children… However in Vegas you can sometimes pick up some lovely 2 bedroom/2 bathroom houses and that might be a consideration if price is an issue

SORRY – TRIED TO PROOF THE ABOVE FOR EMMA-ISMS AND MY “STUFF”

Armed with the above – you will have enough information to whittle your short list down REALLY quickly…… again look for a BUYERS agent who specialized in the PRICE BRACKET you are looking for….. trust me, the 40k – 80k market is FAST – and I mean FAST – if you have an agent you are interested in, send them a question and if they don’t get back to you with a response in 6 hours, MOVE ON….. you need the person who is attached at the hip to iPad, iPhone, laptop and would interrupt their family Christmas dinner AND the birth of their child to reply….

Not really joking either.

I have just spent the last 3 hours sweating – DRIPPING – my (very petite) derriere removing wall paper today from one of my properties….

IT IS HOTTER THAN HADES AND A SAUNA HERE. My experiment for Atlanta is this: wrap a piece of wet sheetrock in plastic and photograph it every day to imagine for one second what a leak behind a wall would lead to…. In Vegas? Simple answer – nothing … no humidity – here, you ARE IN A SAUNA!!!!! As I just contended with 2 "mold like substances" today – NOT an insignificant consideration.

My personal home in Vegas? Sadly was a fire victim (yes dead body type thing – had to confront ghost thoughts type thing…..but walking distance to the strip – what can I say?) – took THREE fire engines to empty their entire loads before the flames were abated……… but were the hardwood floor boards in immaculate condition when I bought it a year later despite all that water sitting?????? HECK YES – IMMACULATE ….. NOT ONE OUNCE OF WATER DAMAGE – no warping, no buckling, no nothing!

BTW – for those who think that my business is helping fellow Aussies NOT get ripped off… you are missing my true and completely selfish REAL goal to be over here…

Yes everyone, I have been hiding a real truth ….. and now is the time to reveal it….

I am using property renovations (and have been for 13 years – to give me, 13 years later… credibility –  of course all those years ' a front' ) as my "in" for a new weight loss book – everything that I have written to date masks that ultimate goal

Title of new book:

"Dripping With Sweat to Dripping With Gold" – How to make every drop of Sweat  count – literally – A "how to" dripped in gold by Emma…. Every book will have a monopoly house book mark coloured gold accompany it….

Sure fire WIN…. only took 13 years of "faking" being addicted to US property renovations to show it…HAHHA

Calorie count = task … Hate Squats (don't we all) – how much does squatting to paint baseboard trim in semi gloss paint add to your house? $3000 – how many squats does it equal = 3,000 – calories burnt ENDLESS – do you NOTICE them  – NUP… your house looks prettier though – your arse just burns afterwards…. I have NEVER in my life been as toned as when I am working on properties and I seriously used to "gym it" and hate it a lot.

Calorie count for taping off a ceiling? They are leg ups (use a 5 gallon paint bucket "homer bucket" from Home Depot – extra height) = OODLES… ouch you hurt afterwards….. added value to your house for fresh paint??? $3,00?

Not noticing that you are exercising? PRICELESS – exercise and sweat equity increase in property value… .   (sync in evil laugh)…. MWAAAAHHHHHAHHHHHHHHH……. my new get rich scheme/…..

When I lived in Alaska we used to say that below minus 30 degrees equalled out – we never really noticed the difference between minus 30 degrees and 60 degrees (damn cold was damn cold and Celsius and Fahrenheit equal out at minus 40 BUT BUT BUT

I lived in the middle east for 7 years (Bahrain), used to travel so SE Asia in monsoon time and I split my time now between Vegas and Atlanta and I think it is safe to say that THIS is up there…

Bad oppressive movies of the USA where sweat is dripping off someone's body even though they are sitting down??

GET PAID TO GET FIT AND MAKE MILLIONS IN THE PROCESS… just have GALLONS OF WATER AVAILABLE!!!

Forget the sqauting – use a milk crate to sit on. Makes the job so much easier. Also you won't need a knee operation down the track. Up for one right now and it's not fun.

Regards

Usainvestor…. As masochistic as it sounds….. I actually do do it intentionally the hard way as I hate gyms…. When I am speeding I of course spray the trim! However I did give up carpeting swapped down from an 18V to 14V drill for overhead stuff to save the joints… but yes, as a previous OSHA person I must say that looking after health is something we all underestimate.

Casa, you are very welcome. I a just so so so enthused that you are looking for a licensed real-estate agent….

most US banks do not charge if you have a nominal amount of money in the account say 5k or so.

Casa
No problems – here is the thing – the ONLY way that I know to realistically transfer OUT of the US unless you are physically sitting in front of them is XE.com – you have to sign up for an account (which is in and of itself a bit of a saga) but once you do you are GREAT to go – if you have a Wells Fargo account….they simply wire it over – wonderful – and avoid all the fees.

ANY OTHER MECHANISM YOU MUST PHYSICALLY BE SITTING IN FRONT OF A TELLER TO DO IT… NOT GOOD.

If you can't qualify for an XE account, the only other seriously viable option would be to have a debit card and take out of an ATM at $500 increments….

YES it is THAT stupid. You can't even write yourself a cheque as US drafted cheques aren't accepted in Oz banks.

So – XE account and then you can wire out of your Wells Fargo Account into your Australian account and you will open your Wells Fargo account for free when you set foot in the US and present them with your passport – BUT

No, you don't avoid fees with Wells Fargo – there used to be a great way of transferring x amount back and forth between savings and checking but of COURSE they caught on to that.

Ironically I closed all of my accounts with Wells Fargo over their fee structure and moved to Bank Of America but BofA aren't as friendly to aliens without Social Security Numbers.

So, if you have a job earning over 80k, can present every last widget of tax information to Xe and can wangle it, this would be my strongest recommendation.

Smaller banks and credit unions won't charge fees (or as much in fees) but this is a BIG lesson I have learnt – Never say never. If anyone had said when I was living in Alaska that I would invest and eventually in turn through all this become a real estate agent in 2 states in the Lower 48, let alone said Las Vegas and Atlanta (!), I would have toppled over backwards – but that is the problem with smaller banks – accessibility … you may never venture out of "x" state but if you did, Alaska Federal Credit Union is a FABULOUS bank with no monthly maintenance fees if you have even one direct deposit – but there are only 2 affiliate banks and each only have something like 2 branches at that  in Las Vegas that I could use… how is my tenant/pm etc seriously going to be depositing my funds there – a wire to my account is as much as a wire to Australia!

A primary concern to me is always – if your property manager and you fell out….. if they are the only mechanism of you getting the rents and they disappear?  Have a bank account in a bank that has many branches. If you HAD to, you would be able to tell your tenant directly to deposit into your account – remember, people generally pay rent in cash or cheque in most instances… online payment for rent is still VERY VERY rare…

Yep, if I was going to have 24k in rents in a year – i would NOT be leaving it all in the hands of anyone other than me… so I would either pay the wire fees to have it come to me every 3 months or I would indeed have a US bank account to shove it into.

Hope that helps.

Emma

Hi emma171,

You seem to be so knowledgable on Atlanta properties, is it possible i can pick your brain a little?

We are looking to purchase a property in Atlanta and after looking at the many companies that act as go betweens we are thinking that it would be best to do it directly ourselves through a realestate agent, but to be honest we just don't know where to start! We are looking at different areas but are not sure how to discern if its a decent street or even a decent neighbourhood, any advice you have would be much appreciated.

thanks