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Atlanta native, Jimmy Jones is best known for his skills in the real estate industry while also serving as an entrepreneur. Popularly known as Sell Your Home Jimmy Jones, the mogul first started his entrepreneurial journey back in 2004, when he founded Tonight Atlanta – which happens to be Atlanta’s largest e-mail marketing company for events with over 80,000+ subscribers! We recently had the chance to sit down with Jones to discuss his journey to success, offers his best advice to first-buyers, and much more!

Tell us how you first got into real estate.

Real Estate has always been fascinating to me. I’ve always looked at it like a second language. The language of rich people. I was on an elevator one day at the same time as some rich people, and I overheard their conversation. They were talking about some big Real Estate deal or something, but at the time, I couldn’t understand what they were talking about… I didn’t understand the language of Real Estate. Praise God now I’m fluent in it.

What are some things that people need to know about working with a realtor, especially if they’ve never worked with one before?

Be realistic with your timeline and find a realtor (like myself) who can work best with any timeline. Whether you are in a hurry to buy or sell your home, or if you are taking your time to see how well the market is going to do, find someone who will service your needs professionally every step of the way to the closing table and after! It’s important to find a realtor that genuinely cares about your needs and can deliver. WHEN IT’S TIME TO SELL YOUR HOME, OR BUY YOUR DREAM HOME, PICK UP THE PHONE, AND CALL TEAM JIMMY JONES (770) 490.9911

For first-time buyers, what are some things that they need to do before-hand to prepare (credit score, budget, proof of income, supporting documents, and other things)? 

I love working with first-time home buyers because they are usually very motivated! The first thing to do after talking with your realtor is to get pre-approved by a mortgage lender, lending institution or bank. A good lender will advise them to make sure their credit score is AT LEAST in the mid 600’s or better. If you are W2 employee, be prepared to present your recent paycheck stubs, and make sure to have been. If you are a 1099 independent contractor or a business owner, you will need to show last 2 years tax returns. The lender will look at your NET INCOME (that is your gross income minus the total expenses you write off) to verify your total income. Debt to income ratio comes in to factor here (how much you have going out vs how much you have coming in per month) in order to determine the amount they can lend you. Last, I would suggest having several thousand dollars saved up in the bank for things such as closing costs and down payment.

What are some common mistakes that firstbuyers make?

A common mistake that first time buyers make is they assume that it is the seller’s responsibility to provide money towards their closing costs. Instead, it is a courtesy to the buyer, and the seller is not required to contribute anything. However, a skillful Realtor (like myself) will know how to structure the deal and convince the seller to pay for all or at least some of your closing costs.

How do you juggle life as a real estate agent, actor, marketing/promotions expert, and
more?

Ultimately, I’ve learned how to tie all of my specialties into each other, so they work together at raising the bar for the Jimmy Jones brand. I’m focused on luxury clients, incredible events, and showcasing my lifestyle on TV.

And to be honest I am not an actor. I am a reality TV star, praise God. I did some acting roles in my past, even took an acting class or 2, but I just wasn’t great at it (I was much better at improv). Memorizing and naturally repeating back lines is like impossible for me lol. Acting believable is hard. Like, people study it for years and go to school for a long time to perfect it. It’s not easy to be a great actor. But Reality TV comes more natural to me. It’s no preparation involved lol. You get to just be yourself!

As far as parties, I have slowed down tremendously on the weekly party grind (I still promote Saturday day parties and night parties at Whisky Mistress in Buckhead). It gets tough the older you get. I used to party (and throw parties) every night to make money. But to be honest, you lose so much in these streets (the weekly parties costed me a lot more than money) …over the years, costed me my family, my health, and my focus. So, I decided recently to focus instead more on special events, annually and quarterly, that tie into my new focus on luxury Real Estate clientele.

I recently started a Real Estate Team to assist with the influx of new buyers and sellers. My goal is to train 50 new Real Estate agents on how to take their career to the next level by the end of the year. My team allows me to handle more responsibility. The Jimmy Jones team at Paramount Properties specializes in luxury home sales, commercial sales, and management of single/multi-unit residential properties. We are excited to now focus on helping more successful entrepreneurs and self-employed people get houses! We offer a lender who has a new Stated Income Loan program, where you now DO NOT need Tax Returns to buy a house! They qualify you based upon your last 12-24 months bank statements (and 10% down payment) . It’s a sweet time for any successful self-employed person to buy their dream home! Call me for more info!

What are you currently working on and what can we expect to see from you in the rest of 2021?

Living a happier life and walking in God’s purpose.  Traveling more, building my Real Estate Team while helping more in the community. Elevating. Expanded my Real Estate coverage to Florida. Working more TV moves. I love being on TV, it feels natural (I recently got a chance to work on the TV production side, which was amazing). Catch me on upcoming episodes of “Love Match Atlanta” airing later this year on Bravo TV. Also, I just filmed in LA for Jay Leno’s new game show “You Bet Your Life” airing this Fall on Fox TV. Oh, and get ready for the remix to my jingle, “When it’s time to sell your home, call JIMMY JONES!!” #iwillnotbeoutworked.

For more on Jimmy Jones, click here.

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Featured Image by Israel Jacobs