The Million Dollar Question: Where to Invest? (Atlanta, Douglasville: rental, credit)

[Fauzzy]

I live in the great white north, and am looking at buying a couple single family homes in the Atlanta area as rental properties. Preferably in newer subdivisions 1998 and younger. The immediate goal is to buy in a location that will attract the highest quality tenant and generate cash flow, with the obvious long term goal of property appreciation. The markets that I'm looking at are obviously not upscale, AAA locations and I realize that, but on a price per square foot/income basis they look quite attractive on the surface. I have narrowed the search down to:

Decatur (non incorp)
Fairburn
Ellenwood
Mcdonough
Fayetteville
Powder Springs
Snelleville
Douglasville

My question to anybody local would be: if you were to buy an investment property what would be your top 3 choices amongst the selections above?

Thanks everyone

[ATLTJL]

You are very likely to get horrible tenants in any of those areas unless you screen extremely thoroughly.

Personally I wouldn't buy in any of those areas if I wasn't local and couldn't keep an eye on the properties. I'd predict several thousands of dollars worth of repairs between tenants in any of those locations, with the possible exceptions of Snellville and McDonough.

Maybe I'm just pessimistic.

[lastminutemom]

In some of those areas, appreciation may never really occur. It is hard to know what their trajectory will be. (Google poverty in the suburbs to read about possible scenarios.)

I wouldn't be an absentee landlord.

[athensvaasi]

If you are looking to buy a rental property at 130K or less, Athens may be a good choice. Since 130K is in the midrange for Athens, you will likely get good tenants. Probably 1K or so rent per month.

[SW30303]

I agree with the poster above. I would never be a long distance landlord unless you know you have extra money to lose. If you have someone else manage it for you, you are always at a disadvantage being far away. No one else would have as much best interest in the property except you.

Are you planning to move to the Atlanta area? Since you ask, I would pick out either Fayetteville or Snellville from this list.

[Fauzzy]

Hey thanks for the feedback folks, i will be hiring a reputable property management company to look after tenant screening and maintenance of the property. I'm looking for a decent suburb where i can buy a 4 bedroom newer home within a 30-45min commute of Atlanta for under $120k. I am buying strictly on an investment basis and have no intention of living there myself. All of the locations above offer many properties that fit the bill and I was just looking for perhaps the most desirable in the eyes of local Atlanteans. I'm not looking for GREAT locations as i know they won't be found in my budget, what i was hoping for was to find the Best of the "OK" locations

[ATLTJL]

I don't know much about how property management companies work, but I'm sur part of the tenant screening process involves checking credit.

That's great, but if I were you, I would insist on criminal background checks as well.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Fauzzy

I live in the great white north, and am looking at buying a couple single family homes in the Atlanta area as rental properties. Preferably in newer subdivisions 1998 and younger. The immediate goal is to buy in a location that will attract the highest quality tenant and generate cash flow, with the obvious long term goal of property appreciation. The markets that I'm looking at are obviously not upscale, AAA locations and I realize that, but on a price per square foot/income basis they look quite attractive on the surface. I have narrowed the search down to:

Decatur (non incorp)
Fairburn
Ellenwood
Mcdonough
Fayetteville
Powder Springs
Snelleville
Douglasville

My question to anybody local would be: if you were to buy an investment property what would be your top 3 choices amongst the selections above?

Thanks everyone

Well--McDonough, Fayetteville, Powder Springs, Snellville, and Douglasville can mean a lot of things. These five areas have some really good areas and some not-so-good areas...it all depends on the high school district. What are the high school districts for the homes you are interested in--in the five areas I listed?

(And for the record--in Metro Atlanta, especially the suburbs, the city/town names are usually too broad. It is better to ask for advice based on high school district. High school districts really are the "towns" of suburban Metro Atlanta.) *I can explain this further with examples if you'd like.

[Huckleberry3911948]

i think alanta is a good choice. i will continue to read your thread and hopefully learn from it.

[Ron.]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

i think alanta is a good choice. i will continue to read your thread and hopefully learn from it.

Hey Huck,

thinking about buying in Atl?

If I could make up my mind, I will eventually buy a home. But I cannot decide if I want to Move to NYC or another major city(not Chicago, I already lived there).