PropertyManagementMaven: September 2010

The city of Atlanta, Georgia is set to try the theory that building affordable units for rent will help improve the conditions of neighborhoods in the area suffering from the high number of foreclosed residences and commercial properties for sale. Columbia Residential will soon build around 100 townhouses for rent at the neighborhood of Edgewood.

According to Columbia officials, because of the huge supplies of foreclosed homes in Atlanta, GA, most real estate companies are unable to sell single family dwellings even if they wanted to; hence the idea to build low-priced rental residences instead. The project will get some financial help from the U.S. federal government's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

This is not the first time that the metro area and the state have received help in battling the effects of foreclosed homes in Georgia from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's NSP. The state has earlier received $146 million from the first round of NSP financing, with Atlanta getting a $16.2 million share.

To start the project that will help counter the impact of foreclosed residential and commercial properties for sale, city officials, including Mayor Kasim Reed, will be touring the Edgewood neighborhood in preparation for the groundbreaking ceremony. People behind the project have stated that the location of the planned rental development is ideal since it is near schools, churches, grocery stores and child care services.

Real estate observers in the city have stated that rental units make more sense when it comes to battling the impact of foreclosed homes in USA. They added that such properties are what city residents need. They also asserted that for-rent properties will have more revitalization effect on the community than single family dwellings.

The project will be called Columbia Townhomes at Edgewood. It is part of one of the city's public-private partnerships and includes organizations and groups like the Zeist Foundation, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Atlanta Housing Authority and the Mayson Avenue Cooperative.

With neighborhoods suffering from the presence of foreclosed residential and commercial properties for sale, housing market experts have asserted that affordable for-rent townhouses would be a good way to help these neighborhoods recover from blight and improve the living conditions of the whole community.

Search foreclosed homes in GA cities:

• Foreclosed homes in Covington, GA
• Foreclosed homes in Douglasville, GA
• Foreclosed homes in Lithonia, GA
• Foreclosed homes in Mcdonough, GA
• Foreclosed homes in Stone Mountain, GA

Original Post: Rentals to Counter Foreclosed Home and Commercial Properties for Sale on Foreclosure-Support.com.

I was first licensed in Rochester, New York in 1996. I remember receiving a paper memo from my mentor about what tools I'd need to start my career. Just the fact that it was a paper memo speaks volumes. Among the things needed:

• Beeper
• Voicemail account
• 3-ring binder
• Plastic sleeves for the listing presentation
• Day planner
• Copy of "List More, Sell More" by Jerry Bresser
• Cassette player for training tapes
• A photo of myself saved on a floppy disc for cards and brochures

The office would provide all MLS forms, a dedicated fax number, and post it notes for phone messages. I had my own section in the message carousel at the front desk. 

AOL arrived in the office in 1997, when a PC replaced the MLS idiot terminal- listings now had a photo!! I chose the screen name JPHILIP as a lark- I hated my first initial/middle name setup inflicted by my parents. It was my first email address and I still have it today. The conventional wisdom at that time was to not devote too many resources to web pages or Internet marketing because it was an unknown commodity. I was approached by someone selling websites to get one, but all I did was pay $50 and register jphilip.com. My girlfriend at the time asked why, and I said jokingly that I thought I better get it before someone else did. If I only knew the headache getting jphilip.net would be a few years later. 

By 1998 I had my own PC and could work from my apartment, to the consternation of my manager. I had an analog cellular phone and a voicemail hotline tree with 15+ extensions for property descriptions of my listings. I added Microsoft Word (not Office- Word.) to my tool box. I retired my beeper and voicemail accounts. CDs replaced cassettes.  

Today, a new agent would have a far different list of tools needed to begin their business. These are the things a new licensee should have to begin their career:

• A smart phone with blue tooth
• A laptop with a wi-fi card
• A dedicated website with an IDX home search
• An Active Rain account, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn profile, and a Facebook business page
• A Gmail account with Google Docs and other Google business solutions, such as online photo and graphic storage.
• Full online organization so what used to be on Outlook is now in the Cloud- calender, planner, events, contact database, and a robust RSS reader for news, blogs, and Google alerts. 
• Copy of "List More, Sell More" by Jerry Bresser

That's probably the tip of the iceberg. The industry has evolved incredibly. And oh, how the toolbox has changed. 

 

• We Are Westchester County & Hudson Valley NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
• Free MLS Search! Register for a Free Listingbook account and search the MLS like an agent. 
• I am hiring agents. We offer outstanding support, marketing resources, and pasta. 

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Most condominium associations require that a copy of any lease be provided to the association management so they can keep track of how many properties in the complex are rentals.  Some require the owner obtain permission from the board in order to rent out their unit.  If you ignore the rule, thinking you'll get grandfathered in later, you might be in for a sad surprise.  Since you were in violation from the start, don't expect special treatment and if the board must disapprove an owner's request to rent out his property, you may not have any recourse. 

Associations often adopt the limit to ensure they don't go over 50% rentals which would make it more difficult (or impossible in some instances) to obtain financing for new buyers.  If renting your unit pushes them over the limit, that could mean no further sales to buyers who intend to occupy (unless they are paying cash-which is highly unlikely) and if investors are then the only ones who can buy, it pushes the condominium further into being rentals.  If your association has rules on renting out your unit, be sure to follow them.

Drick Ward, Realtor 757-227-9007

Exit Realty Central - Hampton Roads, Virginia

WHAT!  You are't looking at your stats???  WHY NOT!?#@?? 

 

Relax, my phony tirade is over, I wasn't looking at stats either until a couple of days ago.  But let me tell you what I discovered and couldn't wait to share with you.  Not all posts are created equal.  Well you knew that didn't you.  Did you know that you could peek at your stats and discover just how unequal your bog posts are.  

You might ask, what's the point, past posts are ancient history, but history tells a story or at least it tries to.  Take a look at the graphic (right).  A few weeks ago I wrote a few blogs that by my standards had a decent amount of views.  Then I noticed that one blog with only a few more views had nearly triple the clicks.  

Naturally I had to go back to see what I did differently in these two posts only a few days removed.  After all, as nice it is to get read, our blogs should be a call to action and without a click to my blog and a link there to my IDX it is not going to generate any action.  

Sometimes looking at only two posts won't tell the whole story and it might be more than subject matter or content.  Perhaps the day of week or time of day you posted are factors.  Without telling you what I discovered about these two posts I am telling that you should be a sleuth and investigate what to do to genterate those clicks.  Perhaps a catchier title, maybe visiting a few blogs leaving some comments, after all we are a community here.  Just unlock the code and beef up your traffic.

The point is, that unless you are checking your stats you are leaving a history unread and there is a story of value there to be told.

By the way, to find your statistics, go to your Active Rain "My Home" and scroll down the left side of the page to your "Statistics" link.  Happy Discovery!

Don't forget a link or two to your web site in the process 

Mike Nastri  

Keller Williams Realty
9175 Carothers Pkwy

Franklin, TN 37067

615.294.3912 MNastri@KW.com

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The opinions expressed by The Activerain Network and it's members and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Mike Nastri or Keller Williams Realty - Franklin, TN neither Mike Nastri or the Keller Williams Realty Franklin  office, which is independently owned and operated are responsible for the accuracy or content provided by The Community.

Being a landlord - buying your first investment - Is it for you?

You have 20% down payment, and ready to buy your first investment property.    What does this mean to you?   First, make sure you have enough reserves JUST IN CASE.    Having an investment proeprty means renters, which could mean - NO PAYMENTS.   Are you ready?    What happens when the hot water heater goes out, do you have the $500 to repair it, or can you do this yourself?   Do you have a good rental agreement explaining the late payments, and how eviction works?   Do you know how this process works?

There are options for property management, if you are not cut out for those 3 am calls!    Murphy's Law steps in a lot, and works its marvels, and when you are least expecting it!   Are you ready to have a bill on your rental property that you were not expecting!

Interest rates are down, even for investment properties.   There is a bump for investment properties, but still so low, that you can afford more property with these historically low interest rates!    You will normally need 20% of the purchase price as a down payment, so the lender is comfortable with the risk!

Now for BIG decisions --- what type of home are you looking for?   Do you need a READY TO MOVE IN home, or a FIX UP property?   Can you do repairs, or know someone reasonably priced to assist you with these repairs?

 

or  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You need to figure in all the costs that could be included in this investment.    If you need some estimates from vendors, get them!     Do get caught unprepared!     If you are buying a house for $200,000, and believe you can get rental income of $1500, then know what repairs are needed, and what to expect for deferred maintenance!

Are you thinking LANDLORD could fit into your vocabulary in the near future?

 

 Joan Cox, GRI,ABR,CRS, CNE,e-Pro      Denver Real Estate

A Denver Metropolitan Realtor     

If you would like to get on my email newsletter list and keep up with the Denver metro real estate market - please email me, and I will add you to this list!    Also, if you are moving into Denver and request additional information, please email me or call!             720-231-6373

Relocating to Denver --- Information for YOU!   

Search for Denver Lofts

                 

 

He is Done. According to CNN, more voters would trust the Tea Party than President Obama when it comes to recomending a candidate. The Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll has the man at -13. That is negative 13 by the way. Back to the CNN poll. 42 percent of Americans approve of his perfromance. 44 percent of Americans say they will vote to oust him. All bad news for a bad President.

In about 5 weeks, many Americans are going to go vote and I have a feeling that many incumbents who thought they would get to stay in office are going to recieve a pink slip. Time to go find a real job like the rest of us. Oh, only one problem for the newly ousted fools who have been runnning our country and our states: There aint no jobs you frickin boneheads. You have taxed us to death spent all of our money on illegals, lifetime welfare recipients, and civil service junkies, and run our once great country into the ground.

This November lets all vote to take our country back and throw the bums out.