As we arrive in the homestretch of this year, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the best places to invest in rental properties in 2019. At Mynd Property Management, we are active in a number of markets across the country. We have a unique view of where things are going well and where investors are struggling.Before you decide to buy a rental property, you’ll need to figure out what your investment goals are. This will have a huge impact on the market you choose. So, we’re categorizing our advice on where to invest into two different investment strategies.If you’re looking for long term investments, you’ll want to buy rental properties in markets like Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, or Atlanta. Those Texas cities are amazing for long term returns on rental properties. We think there’s a lot of potential for investors who are hoping to hold onto their properties for many years. You can plan on strong appreciation plus a decent cash flow when you know where to look and how to structure your investment.For short term investments, we suggest you take a look at the Midwest. You’ll find some excellent opportunities in places such as Columbus, Ohio, Memphis, Tennessee, and Indianapolis. These markets provide investors with high yields and good cash flow.But let’s dig a little deeper into these markets and talk about what you should be looking for. If you’re an experienced investor who is growing an existing portfolio, you’ll want to find properties that fill some gaps or complement what you already own. If you’re a new investor, you’ll want to spend some time doing some research and due diligence before you make your first purchase.
When you’re planning to invest for the long term, you have a specific set of criteria that you want to look at before you acquire a new rental property. We recommend that you look for appreciation, that you evaluate the growth numbers, and that you take a holistic view of the economy. These are the things that feed a successful long term investment property.Dallas is a great market and it illustrates everything that we’re talking about. There’s a lot of potential for growth in Dallas. For example, last year, there was a 10 percent growth; and that’s a great number for investors who want to allow their properties to grow in value over time. You’re going to make a lot of money with that kind of growth.The challenge with Dallas and markets like Dallas is that they can be hard to get into. If you want to buy something in the Dallas proper area, you’ll find that you have to spend a bit more than you might have planned. If you find that you cannot locate a great investment property in downtown Dallas, there’s nothing wrong with going out to the suburbs. In the outskirts of Dallas, you can find and buy a home that’s affordable. With that property, you’ll be able to hold onto it for a while. The rental income will be steady and the rental value will continue to increase. As its value increases, this property will deliver a lot of appreciation and it won’t be long before it becomes a cash cow.There are some other factors we like to look at when we’re deciding where our clients should invest. For example, we like to follow where the young people are going. The millennial generation is huge and it’s arriving in the rental market in a large wave, especially recently. If you’re an investor who wants to attract millennial tenants, you need to make sure you’re buying in places that they want to live.
This is a big demographic, and it should be a part of your investment strategy. The millennial tenants we see flooding rental markets want to be in or near a city. They want homes in Austin, Dallas, and Atlanta. So, as an investor, there’s a huge potential in these markets. Austin actually has had the most growth in the country for the last three years. We know the millennial population wants urban areas.A good strategy is to pick out a suburb that’s close to the areas that they’re flocking to. In Dallas, you probably won’t have a lot of millennial tenants who can afford a glitzy new Dallas high-rise condo. But, if you buy a property in the suburbs, you’ll attract millennial tenants who want to be within commuting distance. They might be looking for a home that’s less than 30 minutes away from downtown, especially if they’re starting a small family. So, check out the outskirts when you’re looking for a profitable investment. You’ll find a reliable population of well-qualified tenants and a growing economy.Consider Atlanta and some of these Texas markets. In Frisco, right outside of Dallas, there’s a section of commercial real estate called Five Billion Dollar Mile. A lot of corporate headquarters are developing properties there. It’s where a lot of the new jobs will show up around Dallas. Invest there, and you won’t only have a lot of long term appreciation – you’ll have an endless supply of tenants with excellent jobs. Isolate your search to these economic and population-heavy areas.
We prefer long term investment strategies, but we know it’s not for everyone. If you’re only interested in holding onto a rental home for a short amount of time, with cash flow in mind, you’ll need to focus your search on areas where it’s still cheap to buy a property. It’s still important that rents are high in these areas; however, so you can earn the income you want.Take a look at Memphis, for example. This is a great market for short term investors who want to earn as much as possible in rent and not think too much about long term strategies. In Memphis, you can buy a great home in a desirable neighborhood for $150,000 or even less. With that reasonable investment, you’re going to earn a rent that’s around $1,200 or $1,300 per month. You’ll have immediate cash flow. You can find these types of numbers in markets like Indianapolis as well.Find out where these markets are. Do some research and get to know where you can earn the money you’re hoping to earn. There are a lot of areas in the Midwest where this is possible. Your best investment markets won’t necessarily be on the coasts.
The one thing you’re looking at when you’re trying to decide about an investment is how much that home will rent for. It’s important, before you buy, to research the average market rent in the community. Compare that rental amount to the purchase price, and crunch your numbers.You also want to look at vacancy rates because that will have a huge impact on your cash flow. You can find vacancy and occupancy rates on sites like Zillow Research. Buy a home in a market that has high occupancy rates. That will translate to lower vacancy, so you’ll have an easy time cash flowing. A vacant property obviously doesn’t bring in any rent. Not only are you losing rent, you’re paying to keep the house up and losing money on utilities, landscaping costs, and other expenses. You’re not counting on appreciation as a short term investor, so you cannot invest in a rental home that’s likely to stay empty.When you’re sourcing potential investment properties, don’t forget to calculate your maintenance costs. You don’t want to buy a property that has a 17-year-old air conditioning unit. If you have to replace that unit while you own the property, you’re going to lose money. Think about what you’ll need to spend on rehabs or renovations. Think about what will be required just to get the property ready for the rental market. If you have to pay $4,000 for a new air conditioning unit and you’re only cash flowing $200 a month, you’ll have a hard time earning any money off your investment.First, think about what kind of investment you’d like to make. Once you know whether you’re going to buy for the long term or the short term, you can decide on a market that meets your needs. There are a lot of opportunities to invest in real estate. Property values have gone up between six and eight percent over the last year or two.Think about your home value and what you’re hoping to do with that property. Then, we can help you find the right market and the right rental home.At Mynd, we help people identify great investments in markets across the country. We can source some opportunities for you and run a rental analysis to ensure you’re successful when you invest.If you have any questions or if you'd like to move forward, please contact us at Mynd Property Management. We’d love to learn more about you and help you choose the right investment.
The topic today is professional Atlanta property management and whether it’s really necessary.If you’re an investor and you own property in the Atlanta area, there are a few benefits to working with a professional property management company. Let’s take a look at some of the value you can get from a good manager, and why it makes sense.
Atlanta investors can benefit from property management for the same reasons that investors all over the world can benefit: you save a lot of time, and you don’t have to worry about things like resident complaints and emergency maintenance issues in the middle of the night.A benefit that’s unique to Atlanta is that this market covers a lot of green space. The metro Atlanta area is huge and includes a lot of different neighborhoods that stretch across a geographically large city. Investors have a lot of opportunities in suburban Atlanta, but getting from one property to another will take a lot of legwork. When you have a property that needs attention, it’s not as easy as jumping in the car and getting there to do some maintenance. It’s going to take some time to get there and you may have to plan on spending the whole day at your investment property. Many Atlanta neighborhoods are more than an hour from the city.
Your Atlanta rental property also requires a lot of attention. We talk to a lot of investors who start off trying to manage on their own. They believe it will save them money to do all the leasing and maintenance and management and accounting on their own.It doesn’t take long before they realize that they don’t know how to handle effective vendor relationships. They don’t know what various legal statements and notices mean. They’re not sure how to evict a resident who isn’t paying rent.Managing your own rental home is a tedious process. It’s so much easier to pay a small percentage of your rental income to a professional property manager in Atlanta and let the expert do the work and do it well.It’s common for real estate investors not to think about the value of their time. But, you should be thinking about how this impacts your overall ROI and personal wealth. Is it really worth your time to drive to different parts of Atlanta to show a property or talk to a resident or supervise a repair?
Another benefit to professional Atlanta property management is that you don’t have to worry about legal risk and liability. There are a lot of laws that govern what landlords need to do when renting out a home, and these laws are frequently updated. Different cities and regions have different laws. What you do when you’re managing your property in Florida is much different from what you need to do with your Atlanta rental property.Unless you are willing to commit the time and resources required to become completely educated in landlord and tenant law, you’re taking on a lot of risk.At some point, you’re going to run out of hours in the day. It’s hard to be effective when you’re scrambling to meet the needs of your property and your residents while staying up to date on the law and the rental market trends in Atlanta.
In addition to leasing and managing a rental property, there’s also maintenance and accounting to consider. These are not easy things to fit into your schedule, and it’s hard to do everything properly. Something will eventually have to drop off.Many investment owners are making residual income from their rental properties. Maybe you have a full-time career of your own. Investment real estate should advance your life and not suck the joy out of it. But that’s exactly what can happen when you’re trying to remember the different ways that utilities are set up in College Park versus East Point.Managing your own property requires you to jump through a lot of hoops just to get the simplest thing accomplished. You don’t have to do everything yourself. If you’re like the average investor, you have a job and a family. You didn’t get into real estate investing to take on a second or third job. But, that’s often what happens when investors try to manage on their own.Owning a rental property doesn’t mean running the rental property. When you have money tied up in a piece of Atlanta real estate, the best thing you can do to help it earn you more money is to have professionals take care of it. Don’t take chances. You don’t want to break a property code law because you didn’t know something or you were too busy to get to a repair in time.The value of professional property management is in protecting your asset.If you’d like to learn more about Atlanta property management, please contact us at Mynd Property Management. We are here to help you protect your real estate assets and to ensure you have a better and less stressful investment experience.We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
Today’s discussion revolves around investing in Atlanta, and why it might make sense to consider this market if you’re a real estate investor looking to add properties to your existing portfolio.Atlanta is a hot market, and most investors know that it’s getting a lot of attention. Buyers from outside Atlanta and even from outside of the U.S. have noticed that it’s a great place to invest. But, Jessy is the local expert – she has lived and worked in Atlanta for the last 18 years, and she cares about her community. So, we asked her for the five best reasons that a real estate investor should consider buying rental property in Atlanta.
The fact that Atlanta is growing and also sustaining its growth is incredible. With every year that passes, the city gets even bigger, better, and more appealing to people. Part of this has to do with the opportunities in the city. It’s always on the move, and the growth percentage has consistently come in at levels that are almost unheard of. This has been going on for a few years now, and it shows no signs of letting up, making Atlanta’s growth pretty reliable.The city has everything it needs to continue doing well. There’s a lot of industry, there’s a lot of culture. Atlanta has diversity and education and professional sports and theater and a major airport.
Part of the reason that Atlanta continues to grow so fast is that it manages to attract and keep many global companies within the city. These are major corporate players such as Coca Cola and Delta and AT&T. These companies bring lots of jobs to the market, and massive amounts of people are coming here to work. Those people all need a place to live.The strength of Atlanta’s economy has created a strong rental market. The city’s demographics cover a lot of ground, but the largest population of new residents is between 26 and 36 years old. These residents are educated and they have good jobs and they’re not looking to buy property right now. Instead, they want to enjoy the low-maintenance lifestyle and flexibility that comes with renting. They also want the option to move around a bit more. They’re in Atlanta because the jobs are in Atlanta.Another thing Atlanta has is a large entertainment market. There are always movie sets and television shows being filmed here. People love that. It drives additional growth, and it brings in more residents who need housing.
Another excellent reason to invest in Atlanta is its landscape. The ground that we have covers a large area and many diverse and unique neighborhoods. There’s a lot of beautiful green space and people can choose to live near trees and nature or downtown in the middle of a lot of action. We have high rises and the city beltline. We have suburbs and neighborhoods that are both new and established. In Atlanta, investors can find single-family homes as well as multi-family housing. People love living here because they can rent a beautiful space right down the street from where they work and within walking distance of great shopping, restaurants, and nightlife. These things alone draw a lot of people to Atlanta.
The economy isn’t the only thing growing in Atlanta – the population is also surging. Plenty of people are moving to Atlanta, and this inbound influx is always a great indicator when you’re investing. When you’re choosing a market, you want to see outward people moving into a city and not just organic within the city.Atlanta attracts new residents from all over the world. A lot of that population growth comes from the education system in Atlanta. Some of the best universities are in the city, and they offer great degree programs as well as post-graduate opportunities. The technology is also pretty impressive. Emory University, for example, is doing a great job of attracting new people to Atlanta because of their tech programs. It brings people from all over the place.
A lot of investment property in Atlanta can be purchased at an affordable price. There’s also tremendous potential for value. Five years ago, we didn’t have a lot of owners who were willing to do upgrades and updates to add value to their rental property. That’s different, now. In the last few years, rehabs have been happening consistently, and they’ve been pretty exciting.Investors are moving forward. They’re buying properties for pennies, adding a little money to the investments, and earning a lot more in rent. This is a trend that’s happening throughout the Atlanta market.Atlanta is definitely a market to consider if you’re an investor looking to buy property and earn some great returns. A lot of the investors buying in Atlanta don’t live here. That’s an excellent reason to work with a local Atlanta property manager. Make sure you’re getting good advice from someone who spends every day paying attention to the trends and real estate industry in Atlanta.If you’d like to learn more about Atlanta property management, please contact us at Mynd Property Management. We can help you identify opportunities and manage your rental property.We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
If you’re an Atlanta real estate investor, you might want to know why other investors fail. It’s a good way to avoid making the same mistakes.
Not making the needed upgrades on rental properties is one way that investors fail in Atlanta. This means more than just preventative maintenance. You have to take care of larger items and address repairs as well as upgrades. You don’t necessarily have to do a complete rehab, but maybe a small rehab is necessary. Perhaps replacing appliances is necessary. A new paint color might be required.
You need to bring your product into a competitive market. Many properties in Atlanta are being renovated and getting a lot of upgrades. If you’re not keeping up, you’re going to have a hard time succeeding. When everyone else is putting granite counters in their kitchens and you’re not, there will be a problem achieving good rents and attracting quality residents.
Maintaining your home includes adding value to it. A new mailbox isn’t going to add much value. But, changing your dated appliances to new black appliances might bring you $50 more per month in rent. You can also replace your ceiling fans from 1980 with new fans that have remotes. These are the things that keep residents in place and ensure your home is always leased. Be competitive, or you’ll run into vacancy and turnover. As you know, those are expensive.
A lot of investors make mistakes when they’re attaching a rental value to their property. Each area of Atlanta performs at a different level. Sometimes, investors want to attach a rent that isn’t attainable for their location. You might think that the average rental price in Atlanta is one thing, but that doesn’t mean your specific property can get that much. Pay attention to your location because that’s going to drive your rental value more than the general market rents in Atlanta. This is an excellent reason to work with an Atlanta property management company. If your rental property is vacant for a long time, it’s probably not priced correctly. We’re experts on this market, and we can look at competing properties and tell you what your rent should be.
You may think you need $1,500 in monthly rent because that’s your mortgage payment. But, if the property is only going to bring in $1,300 per month, you want to follow what the market dictates. Otherwise, you make emotional decisions during a long vacancy period. Those are never good. They’re reactionary and can get you in trouble. When your house has been vacant for three or six months, it puts you in a bad position.
Get a professional to tell you what the market dictates. And, remember that the real estate market is cyclical. Rents are higher in the summer. In the winter, not a lot of people are moving. If your property is vacant in the winter, it might stay vacant for longer or you’ll have to lower your rent expectations.
Sometimes, investors get frustrated and want to change management companies. If one property manager doesn’t agree that your house can get $1,500, you might want to keep moving on until you find one who tells you what you want to hear. It’s going to take a lot of time, money, and energy to look for a property management company that agrees you can get a rent that you actually won’t get. They aren’t doing you a service.
The third reason investors fail is their screening and resident placement process. Sometimes, investors are on one end, where they don’t want to bother with any kind of background check. They don’t care about credit. If the prospective applicant has a job and the cash to move in, they’ll accept them.
On the other end of the spectrum are the investors who have very high standards. They want a 700 credit score and income that’s at least four times the monthly rent. Both of these types of investors make selecting a good resident very difficult.
You need to consider the location of your investment property. If you have multiple rental homes throughout the city of Atlanta, your requirements may change from property to property. You need a set of standard criteria, but each market will drive the screening results. Incomes in one part of the city will be much different than incomes in another part of the city.
Criteria that’s too strict leads to vacancy while criteria that’s too loose leads to vacancy.
Avoiding fair housing issues is important. You can have different criteria for properties in different parts of town, but you have to screen every applicant for a particular property in the same way.
Stay away from these common investment mistakes. If you want to succeed as a real estate investor in Atlanta, make sure you’re paying attention to maintenance and upgrades. Price your property correctly with the help of a local Atlanta property management company. And, be reasonable with your resident selection criteria.
If you want some help avoiding these investment mistakes, contact us at Mynd Property Management in Atlanta. We’d love to tell you more about how to succeed in this market.
We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
Today, we’re talking about expenses and addressing the things that Atlanta investors will need to pay for if they’re not careful with the way their rental properties are managed.
A rental property expense that you can expect as an investor is professional repair work. If you choose a vendor who isn’t licensed or insured, you’ll have to pay a lot of extra money to fix the problem. Some property owners think they’re saving money by working with cheap vendors. But, choosing the wrong vendor will cost more money than the price of an established professional with good references.Cheaper is not always cheaper.Working with an Atlanta property management company can save you money on vendors and contractors. You don’t have to think about vendor selection at all, and most property managers have a long list of experienced people that they work with every day. You won’t have to worry about looking for a reliable plumber or an HVAC technician who is going to prioritize your property in the heat of the summer. You need professional vendors who do a great job at a good price.Everyone has that one guy who can do any job for cheap. That’s great if you need someone to cut a small lawn. You don’t need to overpay for a landscaping company in that situation. But, don’t look for the cheapest vendor. You’ll end up getting someone less qualified, and you’ll have to send someone else back in to do the same work. It costs more than you can imagine to rebound from a mistake like that.
Another major expense is vacancy. Every investor expects a little bit of vacancy time. You’ll have to factor in the days that your property isn’t rented. While vacancy is normal between tenants or when you first purchase a property or have to do some work on it, you don’t want that vacancy cost to be higher than you budgeted.When you have an Atlanta rental property that is ready for the market and should be occupied but it’s not, we consider that a loss. The vacancy is a loss of income and an expense. Vacancy loss is the money you are not making because no one is paying rent. That can be one of the most expensive loses on a P&L for an investor. Even if you’re doing all the right things, not having a resident in place will be a loss.Think about the things that can help you avoid vacancy loss. Hang onto your great residents so you don’t have a high turnover. Make sure the home is priced competitively for your market. Pay attention to marketing and the showing process. Work with an Atlanta property management company to make sure everything is being done to keep rent coming in and vacancy rates low.
Every rental property is also going to have maintenance and repair costs associated with it. There will always be maintenance costs, even if your home is new and in excellent condition.By not addressing maintenance issues, you’re only going to spend more money. Sometimes, investors hesitate to spend money on preventative items. It might be difficult to pay for minor issues. However, those things keep your rental property in good condition, and if you don’t pay attention to the small maintenance items, one of two things will happen:Your resident won’t care about the property because it seems like you don’t care about the property. So, they’ll treat it poorly. A resident that doesn’t care about whether you fix things and respond to maintenance is a resident who isn’t going to keep the place clean or help you maintain it. When that resident leaves, you’ll likely spend a lot of money turning the unit in order to get a new person in place.You might have an excellent resident in place, and you’ll want that person to stay put and continue renewing their lease. But, if you don’t make the necessary repairs, you’re opening the door to a turnover. Turnovers lead to vacancy.If you don’t maintain the property and do the repairs, you’re losing more money than you think you’re saving. Quality residents want to live in a nice home that’s well-maintained.We are always surprised when an investor doesn’t want to pay $50 to pay for a leaking pipe. Later, that leaking pipe can turn into thousands of dollars that have to be spent remediating a mold problem. Neglect costs money. Preventative maintenance saves money.You’re going to need to spend some money on maintenance, vendors, and vacancy. But, you don’t have to make those rental expenses worse. You can avoid paying more than you have to by working with great vendors and contractors, responding to the maintenance needs of your residents and your property, and keeping you vacancy rates low.If you’d like to talk more about Atlanta real estate and how to save money on your rental properties, please contact us at Mynd Property Management. We’d be happy to tell you more about how we work with owners and investors to earn more and spend less on their properties.We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
Every rental property will have emergency maintenance required at some point. As an investor in Atlanta, you need to be prepared for how you will define and respond to an emergency at your rental home.
First, you need to know what the Atlanta law requires when it comes to emergencies. Then, you need to go further than what the law requires in order to provide a high level of service to your residents. You have a responsibility to provide services for someone who is renting your home. If there’s a flood at the property or the heat doesn’t work when it’s cold outside or the air conditioning doesn’t work when it’s hot outside, you need to respond right away. If the residents only have one toilet and it stops working; that’s a legal emergency.Other types of repair requests won’t meet the legal definition of an emergency, but they are things you should take care of immediately anyway. For example, if your resident reports that the refrigerator is broken, you can address it with the same sense of urgency that you’d address a lack of heat or water. This helps your relationship with your resident. And, if the fridge stops working on a Friday night, do you really want them to wait until Monday to have it taken care of? Legally, that’s okay, but think about the food that will be spoiled and the way your resident will feel about your responsiveness.Customer service is different from legal obligation.
It’s also important that you know your rental property. If it’s a plumbing emergency that your residents are calling about, make sure you can tell them where the shut-off valve is. You need to know where the HVAC system is located, and whether you’ll need to access it in the basement or the attic or in a cage in the backyard. If you know what you’re looking for, you can address the problem quickly. You can also give your residents a full orientation to the property when they move in. Put something in writing so they know where all the emergency shut-offs are. This will help make emergency situations less traumatic for everyone.When you work with qualified vendors and contractors, your property will also be better protected. Those professionals can tell you the specifics of what’s going on and what it means for the short and long term. Having the right information is crucial to acting correctly. If the person who responds to your emergency doesn’t know anything about the problem and can’t figure out how to stop the bleeding, you’ll be in a worse position than you were before the emergency occurred. Make sure you’re surrounded by capable and qualified contractors.
Having a good relationship in place with your residents will make emergencies far more manageable.Communication is especially important. You’ll need an established set of rules and standards that define exactly what an emergency is – and what an emergency isn’t. A door that isn’t closing properly isn’t going to be an emergency at 1:00 a.m. unless it’s the door to the property and it makes the home unsafe to live in. Establish what qualifies as an emergency, and make sure your residents are aware of how to handle each issue as they come up.If the house is flooding, everyone will consider this to be an emergency. Instead of waiting for you to arrive with a plumber, however, the residents can take a few steps on their own. They can shut the water off so the flooding doesn’t get worse. Have this conversation ahead of time and write up an emergency response plan so everyone understands their expectations and responsibilities.When you and your resident sign the lease, provide something that can easily be posted on the fridge or on a wall that includes your emergency contact information and the first steps that they should take when something happens.
It’s a good idea to remember that emergencies will happen, but they won’t happen on a regular basis. Few of the calls you get will actually require you to drop everything and rush over to the property. While you have to address things quickly, a house burning down is not something you will be called about during most tenancies.From a legal standpoint, not a lot of repair issues are even emergencies. But, from a customer service point of view, you want your residents to know that you care about your property and you’re committed to providing a secure and comfortable place to live. Keep them safe and happy.The habitability laws are different throughout the country. The way you deal with HVAC emergencies in Atlanta is different than the way you deal with them in Florida. If you’re working with a property management company, make sure you choose someone who understands what’s required in Atlanta. You need the local market expertise. An Atlanta property manager will know all the best air conditioning vendors to call. If you’re living in another state, trying to find a contractor at 2:00 a.m. is nearly impossible.Emergencies may happen, and the most important thing you can do is ensure your priorities are aligned with those of your resident.Talk to us further about Atlanta rental property maintenance and how to handle emergencies. Contact us at Mynd Property Management.We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
How do you choose the best Atlanta property management company?Naturally, we think that Mynd is the best choice for investors in the local Atlanta real estate market. But, if you’re an investor looking at different companies and options, we want you to know how to identify the management company that’s best for your Atlanta rental property.There are a few things you should consider.
It’s very easy to look at online reviews and make a judgment based on what you read. Everything is reviewed online these days. But, with property management, it’s important to not put a lot of weight in those online reviews. Often, a company will get a bad review simply by doing their job and doing it well. Enforcing a lease, for example, leaves a lot of residents disgruntled.Instead of focusing on the reviews you see online, ask for referrals from people you know and trust. Talk to other investors about the property managers they’re working with and find out what kind of experience they’re having. Those are the opinions that matter more than strangers online. When you’re looking for an Atlanta property management company, you can expect solid and honest feedback from someone who is using a management company and having a good experience.Online review sites are public sounding boards for unhappy people. Studies have shown that people are five times more likely to post a bad review when they’re unhappy than they are to post a good review when they’re pleased. So, you’re not getting a balanced look at a property management company when you rely entirely on the reviews you read.Most real estate investors know other investors. Use those resources to ask about a management company’s reputation or areas of expertise.
Ask a lot of questions. When you narrow your search down to a list and you’ve picked a few potential management companies, start having conversations. Talk about their management style and their values. Make sure your interests are aligned. This isn’t just another product. Property management is not something you buy. You’re investing in a partnership, and you need to be sure you’re working with the right company.Start by making sure they manage the types of properties that you own. Talk about your expectations. Discuss accounting systems and financial needs. If you’re looking for a management company to run specific reports and statements, you’ll want to be sure they have the software and expertise to do that. Some investors won’t need a lot of accounting expertise, but other investors will have partners and multiple parties who need reports in different formats. The management company you choose must have the capacity you need. That’s why you ask questions and that’s why you talk to other investors.
Finding a good Atlanta property management company is even more critical for investors who are outside of Atlanta or even outside of the country. In this case, the best management company will be the one with the software and the systems that can make your life easier and your property more protected.Financial reporting will be especially important to you because you’ll want to know how your property is performing. Make sure you won’t have to wait for someone to come into the office to help you because you’ll be in a different time zone, and anxious to get the information you need when you need it.Make sure you’re working with a management company that understands your type of property and your unique market. If you just purchased a rental home that can earn $5,000 a month in rent, you don’t want to work with a property management company that focuses on homes in the $500 per month range. That won’t be the right place for you.Be on the same path with your property management company. You’ll need to choose a property manager that understands your unique needs. Maybe you’re more concerned with maintenance and you want to retain some control over how repairs are completed. Maybe you’re more interested in a company that can develop and maintain great resident relationships.Whichever company you choose and whatever you want to focus on with your investment, it’s important that you’re working with someone that can help you create wealth. This is why you invest in real estate, and this is why you choose a property management partner: to earn money. You don’t want to work with a company that requires a lot of direction and babysitting. Have substantive conversations before you hire someone. You don’t want a contractor who you’re simply paying for services. You want a partner who is a valuable member of your investment team.The Atlanta property management company you choose to work with should be a leader in the industry and your local market. Don’t hire a company with limitations because those limitations will get in your way and end up costing you money and wasting your time.If you’d like to learn more about the best property management company in Atlanta, contact us at Mynd Property Management. We have a unique ability to deliver the best in residential and investment management, and we’d love to tell you more about it.We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
Today, we’re addressing the question: What does a property manager do? The answer depends on the Atlanta property management company that you choose.
Every management company is different and offers its own set of services. A lot of management companies will call themselves full-service, but that doesn’t mean they do anything more than leasing and maybe a little financial work. If a property manager isn’t set up to handle major maintenance projects or turnovers between residents, you’re not really getting a full range of services.Some property management companies will only do accounting for your rental properties. Sometimes they’ll be real estate companies that have real estate agents working as leasing agents.Mynd Property Management is an example of a full-service property management company.We start helping investors at the beginning of their investment property purchase and work with them all the way through the leasing, management, and maintenance of that investment right through to the other side if that investor wants to sell the property in the future. We help from the moment of purchase. Then, we do all the necessary onboarding, we take care of renovations, and we manage vendor relationships.Once the property is ready for the rental market, a full-service property manager will handle all the marketing and the leasing. The property will attract a large pool of potential residents with a strategic advertising process, and it will quickly be leased. Hopefully, the qualified resident that’s placed will stay in place for a long time, avoiding turnover and vacancy costs. When the resident does move, your property manager should handle the move-out process and all the legal compliance that comes with it, including move-out inspections and the return of the security deposit.A full-service property management company will also take care of evictions if they become necessary. Anything resident-based will be handled by your manager, whether it’s a maintenance request or a question about the lease agreement. During the turnover period, we work quickly with our qualified maintenance partners to do all the necessary repairs and maintenance so it’s ready to be rented again.
Working with a local Atlanta property management company means you can buy an investment property in Atlanta and never have to come to the city. You can work with good managers to identify and purchase a property, and then once it’s handed over for management, everything will be taken care of for you. It’s a turn-key process that leaves your investment in the capable hands of local experts.You do not have to be in Atlanta to advertise the property or find the resident or even sign the lease. Your Atlanta property manager will enforce the lease, collect the rent, and respond to any needs at your property. There will be ongoing maintenance and there may be emergencies. The property management company you trust will take care of all those things.It’s important that your property management company conducts routine inspections. At Mynd Property Management, our investors are everywhere. We expect we’ll continue working with people from all over the world because buying rental property in Atlanta is popular now. Our systems allow us to do digital inspections and virtual tours. We make digital floor plans. So, we can take photos of your property and submit reports to you at any time that you want or need them. You can always see the condition of your property.All of the data you need is immediately available. Our software is outstanding, and access to technology is another thing you should expect your property management company to provide for you. You can see full pictures. If your property is vacant, you can see an ongoing report about how much the loss is. You can also see how many people toured the property that week, and how many applications were submitted. All of the information you may need or want will be available within seconds. You never have to ask for help because it’s all right, but if you do have questions, there’s an entire team available to offer assistance and support.Investors need to think of themselves as the CEO of their own rental property business.Your property management company is a big and important piece of the puzzle. As the landlord and investor, you are the CEO. You are entitled to reports so you can make decisions based on data and not emotions. Your property management company should be able to provide that information. When a property manager can do this effectively, the investor can make intelligent decisions.The best part about having a good property manager on your team is that if you’re in another place or another time zone, it can be hard to get in touch with someone who can help you on your own schedule. Finding a time that works for everyone to be on the phone can be difficult. At Mynd Property Management, we have an international system where people all over the world in all time zones can call and always reach someone. If you’re awake in the middle of the night wondering if rent was paid, you can log in and see whether it’s there. You don’t have to worry about it all night or wait until the morning to call. This accessibility helps investors everywhere.If you’d like to talk more about what property managers do and how we can help you with Atlanta property management, please contact us at Mynd Property Management.We also have other opportunities to connect with us and learn more about investing in Atlanta. You can also visit our Facebook group of investors, which is called Master Mynd. It’s a real estate investors’ club, where you can exchange ideas with other owners. Check out our weekly podcast as well, called The Myndful Investor. We invite leaders in real estate and property management to talk about their success and, more importantly, their failures. There’s a lot to learn from this relatable content.
https://youtu.be/WxRK844_MAQ
Steve sat down with Jessie Porter, Mynd's Portfolio Manager in the Atlanta Market, to discuss how Atlanta is being affected on a grand scale by the spread of Covid-19. They also break it down even more to figure out how local and state governments are being affected and how they are dealing with this situation.
Boasting both a robust GDP and the world’s busiest airport—Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International—Atlanta is a major player when it comes to U.S. economies. Named as one of the U.S.’s top 10 economies by city, this deep South metropolis is also home to major corporate conglomerates, including: Coca Cola, Turner Broadcasting, Home Depot, and Delta Airlines.
Other factors combine to make Atlanta a Georgia city ripe for investing. Its sprawling metro includes assets in suburban locations with immediate cash flow; the city also features neighborhoods with relatively easy access to major thoroughfares and school districts (these typically meet the criteria of buyers seeking immediate returns). Investors with a longer time horizon can acquire urban core properties that tend to appreciate even more quickly.
Atlanta is home to the busiest and #1 ranked airport in the world, four Global Fortune 500 companies and 14 Fortune 500 companies. The metro has the lowest costs of transportation for services and manufacturing sectors out of the largest U.S. metros, strengthening distribution in the area. There is a projection of 1.5 million new jobs to be created by 2040. Atlanta-based Invesco will add 500 new jobs to the city when it completes its $70 million expansion in Midtown in 2022.
Atlanta is predicted to add 2.9 million residents by 2050, pushing the population to 8.6 million. As the metro keeps up with this population growth, the city is constructing a 22-mile long Beltline Transit Loop. The first phase, at the Westside Pavilion Park, was completed in 2019, with the entire project’s expected completion in 2022. The city is said to net $10–$15 billion dollars for the project.
Cobb County, containing Marietta City, is the ninth best school district in Atlanta. However, the northwest is known more for activities such as sports, camping, and whitewater rafting. With the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Georgia Tech, investing in the northwest remains promising.
The northeast has fantastic schools and great entertainment. According to Niche, the top 3 best school districts are in the northeast. Ranked in the #1 and #2 spots, are Buford City and Forsyth County, respectively.. Both of these districts lie outside the 285 perimeter. The third best school district is within the 285 perimeter. However, living in Decatur City is also more expensive than both Buford and Forsyth because it’s closer to downtown Atlanta. A popular place to invest is in Gwinnet County, which falls 10th on the list of best school districts in Atlanta.
The southwest is home to the 4th best school district in Atlanta: Fayette County. Aside from the school district, the southwest is home to Atlanta’s airport: Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the world.
The southeast has hot properties downtown, such as Reynolds town, Grant Park, and West End. But more importantly, Clayton County is located in the southeast. Clayton County is ranked 1st in single-family rental returns in 2017.
For more information, refer to our Knowledge Center and visit our Atlanta, GA Property Management page for local landlord tips and information. Our team has vast knowledge and experience in local Atlanta property management and can help you to have a better investment experience. We educate on topics in the area ranging from landlord tips, repairs and maintenance, leasing, how to choose the best property management company, and investor advice! We look forward to furthering your rental property education.
