Here is our May 17th, 2021 Email Update about Real Estate in Northwest Atlanta;
In April we had an investor from the West Coast call us and say they had a $400,000 condominium under contract and they were looking to 1031 Exchange into a property here or in Tennessee. I am not an expert in Tennessee, but they were really impressed with what we have to offer here in Northwest Atlanta. The condo was owned free and clear and had been inherited and cash flowed between $741 a month after property taxes, maintenance fees, and repairs over the past three years. The owners ended up buying two $217,000 townhomes in Cartersville. The units will rent for $1450 a month. The property taxes are about $180 a month. The maintenance fee is $125 a month. Insurance is $40 a month. Management fees will be $145 (which we are handling.) Total fees for these brand-new properties will be $500 a month each. They will net $950 each or they effectively are turning $741 a month (with upcoming repairs) into $1900 a month. We specialize in supporting owners to maximize cash flow from their real estate investments. Just give us a call or email to get your personalized recommendations.
1031 Exchanges, Step-ups, and capital gains changing? President Biden had proposed almost doubling the capital gains taxes from 20% to 39.6% for households making over $1,000,000. He is also advocating the elimination of the ability to step up the value of the home when inherited which would significantly increase the tax burden on people who receive property as an inheritance. Lastly, Biden is wanting to eliminate the ability to defer gains over $500,000 by conducting a 1031 Exchange. Although any of these changes would affect 99% of our clients we expect strong opposition from Republicans and Realtors over the next few months.
Georgia is a TOP 10 State to live in. Interesting article and methodology. Apparently warm weather, outdoor activities, and legalized marijuana ups a states Likability J
Georgias’ Population jumped 10% between 2010 and 2020 ad added about a million people. We now have 10.7 million people. Continued growth is expected.
Real Estate Stats and Thoughts:
Cherokee Association of Realtors has about 1400 members (in Georgia about half of the licensed agents belong to a Board) and only 440 active listings on May 3rd. This is about 1/3 the number of listings we had last year at this time.
Our primary areas of service are below and it is a never-before-seen strong seller’s market. Average appreciation is just over 16% year over the year!!!! Median Days on market are at all-time lows too! We predict this to be the best time to sell in 9 years.
Property Management Question of the Month – How important is a Move-in and Move-out inspection? 
The Move-in form is critical in assessing and keeping security deposit monies from a tenant in the cases where the tenants cause damage to a property they rent. Every judge or mediator asks for a copy of the lease and a copy of the Move-In form in any security deposit dispute. If you don’t have one your case is weakened tremendously.
We treat the Move-in as an event. We take lots of pictures (between 40 and 100) to document the condition of the home. We fill out the Move-in form in detail and provide all tenants with a copy of our Tenant Handbook which clearly outlines their responsibilities for upkeep and maintenance and estimated expenses charged is they do damage the property. When we withhold monies and the tenant disagrees, we show them the move-in form, the pictures, the tenant handbook and explain why what we withheld is reasonable. It has prevented further arbitration or court in virtually every case.
What is surprising to us is the number of accounts we take over from other companies that have no move-in form and no pictures. This is a very risky practice. If you have questions on how to properly protect your property feel free to give us a call or email.
