Atlanta Realtor Reveals How to Build Wealth with Real Estate in 2025 | Off-Market & Rental Strategies

Unlock the secrets of real estate investing in 2025 with Angelina Grant Ashanti - a Multi-Million dollar producing Atlanta realtor, HGTV’s House Hunters guest, Airbnb Superhost, and investor. In this exclusive interview, we dive deep into off-market deals, distressed properties, flipping vs. buy & hold strategies, mid-term rentals, and the Atlanta housing market forecast for 2025.

Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer, real estate investor, or looking to cash flow with rentals, this video will give you practical insights to build wealth, find hidden deals, and stay ahead in today’s shifting market.

Foreclosure Homes in Atlanta, Ga: https://www.foreclosure.com/youtube/listings/atlanta-ga/

📌 What You’ll Learn:

✅ How Angelina got started in real estate & built long-term wealth

✅ Best ways to find off-market and distressed properties

✅ Flipping vs. Airbnb vs. mid-term rental investing explained

✅ How to use social media to source real estate deals

✅ Tips for first-time homebuyers and new investors in 2025

✅ Atlanta real estate market forecast into 2026

If you’re in the Atlanta Metro Area and have any questions for Angelina, you can contact her here: https://www.instagram.com/angierealestate/

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Transcript

0:00: She's been featured on HDTV's House Hunters. 
 0:03: Networking is always gonna be number one. 
 0:06: Other agents are not your competition. 
 0:08: You can work with other agents on properties that they have available and don't fear an ugly house. 
 0:15: You need to look at. 
 0:16: The numbers, you need to look at the data and see what that ugly house will bring you, especially if it's an ugly house in a great community. 
 0:23: And now it's leveling out and now it's more of the buyer has the ball back in their court again. 
 0:30: So right now is a great time to buy. 
 0:37: Hello, everyone. 
 0:37: I'm Tim Jones with Foreclosure.com. 
 0:39: I'm excited to be joined today by Angelina Grant Ashanti, a multi-million dollar producing real estate agent and investor in the Atlanta metro area. 
 0:48: She's been featured on HGTV's House Hunters. 
 0:52: She's an Airbnb super hosts, a veteran, and a registered nurse. 
 0:55: Angelina, thank you so much for being here today. 
 0:58: Thank you for having me. 
 1:00: Well, it's always nice to speak with you. 
 1:01: So let's jump right in, OK? 
 1:03: OK. 
 1:04: So, how did you get started and what moment made you realize that real estate could be a long-term path to wealth? 
 1:14: What's funny is the way that I started as a real estate agent is that my husband and I were buying what would be like a dream home back in the early 2000s and I had already bought a property before this property and I saw how much the commission was. 
 1:32: So I got my real estate license because I wanted the commission off of our property. 
 1:36: So that, that is how I ended up getting my, my license. 
 1:40: I was like. 
 1:40: If we're gonna buy this property, why would I give that money to someone else? 
 1:45: And then the way that I knew that real estate was the way the long-term wealth is that when I met my husband, he already owned a town home. 
 1:54: I had bought a town home when I was 23 years old. 
 1:57: We were able to sell those two town homes and leverage the money that we made from those properties to buy the property that we wanted. 
 2:05: And so that was one. 
 2:06: We were able to see the, the rate of of of appreciation and the return on real estate when we were able to sell those two properties and use that money to buy a property that we really wanted. 
 2:18: Wow. 
 2:19: Yeah, that, that, that seems like a very, seems like a great way to get started, you know, and, and to see that, that extra revenue that you can get by being an agent, that's, that's very smart. 
 2:30: That's something I should be looking into myself. 
 2:33: So when assisting buyers and finding off-market or distressed properties, what is your primary strategy to kind of stay ahead of the competition? 
 2:43: Networking is always gonna be number one and then building relationships with wholesalers, contractors, and either even other agents, other agents are not your competition. 
 2:54: You can work with other agents on properties that they have available. 
 2:59: You can also leverage social media and local market research tools to identify properties before they hit the market. 
 3:06: The key is to stay, to stay visible in top of mind so that when opportunities come and they find me, I'm able to take those same opportunities and present them to my clients. 
 3:16: That, that makes a lot of sense. 
 3:18: So, In today's market, are you seeing more opportunity in flipping distressed homes or or holding them as an Airbnb short term rental? 
 3:28: I see both. 
 3:29: I honestly, if you're gonna flip, it has to be within a, a price point where people need a property like in the Atlanta market, you would flip to put a property on the market in the low 300s because that's a gap for our market. 
 3:45: There's not that many properties in that price range that are good properties. 
 3:50: You see a lot of properties in that price range that are picked with lipstick on them or either town homes. 
 3:55: So people are looking for good homes in that price point. 
 3:59: other than that, if you're gonna go higher than that, to me it would be best to do a bond hold. 
 4:05: and when you're gonna do a bond hold for me the best bond hold is gonna be a mid-term rental, which is gonna be. 
 4:12: Where you have a travel nurse, insurance companies have have a need for that. 
 4:18: You have in the Atlanta market we have a lot of people that are coming in for film. 
 4:23: We have people that are coming in to work on like building properties and things of that nature like they come here to work executives and things of that nature. 
 4:33: the market just moves so much. 
 4:35: It's like from 2022 Everything was high and it was a bidding war. 
 4:40: Now the market is softened and you know it's a, it's a buyer's market. 
 4:46: So it's moving so much it's hard to catch that spot, that sweet spot of. 
 4:52: So to me right now it would be to, to get a buy out and to do it as a mid-term rental. 
 4:58: OK, for those of us that don't exactly know what a midterm rental is, can you elaborate on that a little bit more? 
 5:04: Yeah, it's the best of both worlds. 
 5:07: So, with Airbnbs, it's a lot of turnover. 
 5:11: You got the two day stay, people want to do one day stay, they wanna do parties. 
 5:15: Then for the longer term people, it's long term, it's, you're not gonna make as much money. 
 5:22: Midterm is the middle of that, meaning that you have a a travel nurse that may want to come in, stay in your property and they're gonna be mid-term, meaning they're gonna stay for 30 days. 
 5:34: They're gonna pay you more comparable to what you would pay, what you would make with the short term rental, but then you don't get the hassle of the turnover with the short, short term rental, but then you get a little bit more of longevity as to what you would get if you were a long term rental. 
 5:51: So it's the middle of it. 
 5:52: It's the middle of a long term rental and a short term rental. 
 5:55: So like 3 to 6 months kind of, 3 to 6 months. 
 5:59: And then also another thing that I always tell people about the mid-term rental is someone is putting a bill for them. 
 6:06: So with the travel nurse, they receive a stipend or if it's an insurance company, the insurance company is gonna pay for it because they're paying for your stay until your home is ready for you to live in again. 
 6:18: If it's the film industry, they're gonna, they have a budget that they're coming out of if it's an executive, then their their company is gonna pay for it. 
 6:26: So it's also a way of making money and it's it's pretty much guaranteed money as well. 
 6:33: Yeah, interesting. 
 6:35: No, that's a great point. 
 6:36: , you had mentioned that the market's kind of shifted a little bit since, you know, 2022 and obviously around the country, you know, since they started increasing rates, I think that's been happening nationwide. 
 6:47: I know it's the market's definitely started to shift shift down here in Southeast, South Florida in general. 
 6:54: Have you been through other market cycles in the past where you've seen that same kind of shift? 
 6:59: Yes. 
 6:59: So I've been a realtor since 2001, and I started in 2001. 
 7:04: 2001 to 2007, it was a large market of stated loans, no doc loans. 
 7:11: So as a real estate agent, we ate. 
 7:13: I mean we were able to make deals work because you can state your income and you could buy a house at really for whatever price you wanted to. 
 7:22: So from 2001 to 2007, it was a really good market and in 2007, I believe is when the market crashed and everything came to a screeching halt. 
 7:33: So at that point for me, I went from making a lot of money to making no money in real estate. 
 7:42: so, on my page you'll see that I say that I'm a nurse and that is when I went back to nursing school and a lot of real estate agents at that point pivoted because we had to pivot if we wanted to make money. 
 7:53: You had some realtors that pivoted into only doing foreclosures. 
 7:58: You had some pivoting into other industries that They already had degrees in, but for the most we had to, to pivot. 
 8:05: So I've, I've been in those situations. 
 8:08: I've done it before, by the time I graduated from real estate, I'm sorry, from nursing school in 2013, the market was starting to shift again, so I was able to become a nurse and then gradually ease back in, back into real estate. 
 8:24: Wow, OK, no, that makes, that makes a lot of sense. 
 8:27: That seems like a great way to diversify and It kind of, kind of goes into my next question, which is, it appears that you handle a lot of your, your marketing on Instagram. 
 8:38: Have you used social media to source off-market deals or directly connect with investor clients? 
 8:45: Yeah, it's, it's, it's the same thing, but it's networking online. 
 8:50: So now I'm networking with clients, customers. 
 8:56: agents, wholesalers across the country. 
 9:00: So now I have access to deals in all states. 
 9:04: So yes, social media is is a great place to network, to, to reach out to wholesalers and a lot of times even when you're trying to network with a lot of people in these types of industries, one of the best ways to network with them is to start sharing their Share their share their information because they're gonna like that you share the information and that you're marketing them and getting them out as well and then they'll reach out to you and they'll they'll say thank you or you know, send you a heart or something for you sharing that information and that's your, your, they open up the conversation for you to now start networking with them. 
 9:43: So yes, social media is a great way to network to get off-market property. 
 9:47: Yeah, I'm a big fan of collaboration marketing, so that seems like you've hit that the nail right on the head. 
 9:54: I mean, I think since we've initially started speaking, your social media has almost tripled in in followers, so, and it seems like you've getting, you know, big. 
 10:04: Big opportunities like, you know, the, the opportunity with HGTVs, the House Hunters, so congrats on that. 
 10:09: And you know, it's nice to see you blossom. 
 10:11: I love it. 
 10:12: So, you know, for first-time home buyers looking to break into distressed properties, what's the one insight you wish someone had told you earlier? 
 10:23: Two things. 
 10:23: Number one, don't fear an ugly house. 
 10:27: You need to Look at the numbers, you need to look at the data and see what that ugly house will bring you, especially if it's an ugly house in a great community because you can make that ugly house look like the rest of those houses in in a great community and win off of the equity that you'll bring in from buying that house. 
 10:46: Another, another thing that I I learned is buying multi-families like if you to buy a property even if it's distressed, make sure it's a multi-family, get a duplex, a triplex, or a quad. 
 10:58: It's not gonna be that much of a difference is when you get the distressed properties, especially if you fix it up and you use one of the units as your primary. 
 11:06: You'll be able to take advantage of a lot of the loans that you'll be able to get with that once you get the distressed property up and running, and then you'll also be able To live in that unit and then use the the money that you make from the other units to pay your mortgage. 
 11:22: Cash flow is king, huh? 
 11:24: Cash flow is king. 
 11:24: You're absolutely right. 
 11:26: No, that, that's a great point. 
 11:27: No, it's something that a lot of people utilize our platform for not only to find residential, but to find, you know, commercial duplex, a quadplex. 
 11:39: So, you know, really, what are you seeing in the Atlanta metro area? 
 11:43: What kind of trends are, are you, are you noticing, you know, in the last couple of months? 
 11:48: What what do you, what's your forecast for the remainder of the year and into 2026? 
 11:53: I know that's hard. 
 11:53: No one has a crystal ball, but just, you know, you, you, you're, you're in the market, you're seeing a lot more than other people. 
 12:00: So I'm just curious what you're seeing out there. 
 12:02: Buyer's market right now, everybody's giving out incentives to buy their home. 
 12:08: Most of the resales, they're dropping the prices, they're working with you whereas during COVID, like 2022, no one was working with you. 
 12:16: They wouldn't even give you a chance to get a home inspection. 
 12:19: no one even paid attention to what the appraisal was. 
 12:21: They expected for you to pay above that. 
 12:24: Now it's leveling out and now it's more of the buyer. 
 12:28: Has the ball back in their court again. 
 12:30: So right now is a great time to buy. 
 12:33: Also the rates coming down a little bit is helping with the buyers for them to be able to get out and to be able to buy something. 
 12:41: So I, I think it's gonna be a buyer's market and I and I also feel as if just get in the market. 
 12:47: A lot of times with buyers, there's they they want the perfect house. 
 12:51: The first house is not gonna be your perfect the the Perfect house. 
 12:55: Just get in the market, own something. 
 12:58: My first property was a townhouse. 
 12:59: A lot in in the Atlanta market, the townhouse is the new starter home, but a lot of people don't want to get a town home. 
 13:06: But I feel as if a town home is a nice start. 
 13:09: It's the new starter home. 
 13:10: Yeah, I agree. 
 13:12: I mean down here in Southeast Florida, the price is appreciated so much that that's really a lot of the only options that are available for first-time home buyers. 
 13:20: , at least until the prices maybe come down a little bit more, but who knows, you know? 
 13:24: Right. 
 13:26: Well, well, thank you so much, Angelina. 
 13:27: I really appreciate this conversation and, and thank you for sharing your story. 
 13:32: If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like and subscribe and hit that notification bell so you don't miss out on any further updates. 
 13:39: And if you want to learn more about the stressed real estate, be sure to sign up for our free foreclosure alerts on foreclosure.com. 
 13:47: Until next time, I'm Tim Jones, and thank you for joining.