Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Congratulations to your friend on the move. I live in 30331 off the New Hope Road corridor off Cascade Road, and this is a good area to start out as a young professional. There is a large concentration of high-income black families, but it can be a mixed bag in places. Amenities and services are lacking, so she'll find herself driving to areas north of I-20 for shopping and entertainment. And sending any future kids to public schools in the area is a no-go, so factor in a private school like Woodward for additional costs.
The terrain and housing stock is not too dissimilar to what you'll find in the norther burbs, but because of real and misperceived challenges of SW Atlanta, the housing recovery has a long way to go. There are 3000sf+ homes in several John Weiland communities in the area that sold for more than $1M 10 years ago that are currently on the market or auction block in the $500s-$600s. Her plan to stay for five years is a good one, and she could use that rental income to get into more expensive parts of the city.
Thanks!
She doesn't have kids to worry about (I don't either and won't be having any).
I will probably be following a similar plan, but the type of property and location has yet to be determined. After seeing the prices in this area I will include it as a place to consider. But I have to narrow down location...I have plenty of time for that as I'm not buying until 3rd quarter of next year.
I'm in that zip code and only stay because it is cheap living and I'm too old to pull up roots and find something better which will be more expensive. I have good neighbors and bad ones. I rarely shop in this area and never go walking. There have been times I was afraid to work in my own yards due to the drug people coming by, one or two can ruin your year. Just my 2 cents. Sorry about the rant.
With regard to her pkan to rent and move on in five years, pls note that home loan qualification laws will require her to show she has rented the home with income covering the mortgage for TWO YEARS on her income tax documents before a loan company will NOT count the mortgage of the townhome AND the mortgage of the new home she would try to purchase in her debt to income ratio. Otherwise, she must have enough pay to cover both homes, and all bills with a sufficient debt to income ratio to qualify for a new mortgage somewhere else. She could well have to rent her townhome for two years while living in an aptmt if she must show it on her taxes and cannot cover both mortgages to the acceptances of the loan officer so she should be ready for that. The fact that there is an alarm in every room and it is associated with the HOA means breakins are such a concern the HOA has taken note and action. As a woman I would encourage her to take note of that and consider other options. The only adv of an alarm is you are notified while someone is breaking in. This does not tend to have the effect of providing protection or saving your property bc burglars know they still have several minutes to run through the home and pillage...and they do. The HOAs in this area have regularly reported online and on the news the police taking sometimes 15 minutes to arrive. That is a very long time for someone to be in your home. Especially if you are also in the home
I know it seems like a few numbers off the price is the way to go but this tells me she does not have a very good agent bc the reality is that she can add probably 30k to her bottom line home price and pay only about 8 dollars more per month on the mortgage. I cannot recall the exact ratio at this early hour but she can go to different mortgage calculators online and type in the same interest rate over and over and play with the different purchase prices to see what I mean. The closing costs and downpaymt will not change even 100 dollars in most cases. She may be able to go up to 50k more and get a home in a safer neighborhood and pay practically the same per month. The 30-50k is worth her safety.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southkakkatlantan
Thank you everyone for the input so far.
I went with her to the house (it's a townhome). The HOA includes security alarms in every home which I felt good about for her. The townhome itself is nice...amazing amount of space for the price.
Not as close to the city as she's used to being but that's ok. I think she may stay in it 5 years or so and then she plans to hold it and rent it out afterwards.
I'd have to drive the area some more to get more comfortable with the surroundings and familiar with what's around this particular neighborhood. We did stop and talk to three people in the community and they all said the exact same thing to us...they'd all been there 6-8 years, that the community was quiet and they overall enjoyed living there, and that there are several policemen that live in the neighborhood. I was glad to hear that.
I'm in that zip code and only stay because it is cheap living and I'm too old to pull up roots and find something better which will be more expensive. I have good neighbors and bad ones. I rarely shop in this area and never go walking. There have been times I was afraid to work in my own yards due to the drug people coming by, one or two can ruin your year. Just my 2 cents. Sorry about the rant.
30331 covers a lot of area though, and it's not all the same and usually the differences in areas can be one neighborhood to the next. Loch Lomond/New Hope Rd area? Quiet as a mouse, but Kimberly Rd next door can have a semi hot block here or there. But I still wouldn't even call those areas bad. Now the northern part of 30331 that's in Adamsville is a different story, those areas are rough and I wouldn't advise anyone to move into them. But the majority of 30331 that's in what we think of as SW is mostly pretty good to downright nice.
With regard to her pkan to rent and move on in five years, pls note that home loan qualification laws will require her to show she has rented the home with income covering the mortgage for TWO YEARS on her income tax documents before a loan company will NOT count the mortgage of the townhome AND the mortgage of the new home she would try to purchase in her debt to income ratio. Otherwise, she must have enough pay to cover both homes, and all bills with a sufficient debt to income ratio to qualify for a new mortgage somewhere else. She could well have to rent her townhome for two years while living in an aptmt if she must show it on her taxes and cannot cover both mortgages to the acceptances of the loan officer so she should be ready for that. The fact that there is an alarm in every room and it is associated with the HOA means breakins are such a concern the HOA has taken note and action. As a woman I would encourage her to take note of that and consider other options. The only adv of an alarm is you are notified while someone is breaking in. This does not tend to have the effect of providing protection or saving your property bc burglars know they still have several minutes to run through the home and pillage...and they do. The HOAs in this area have regularly reported online and on the news the police taking sometimes 15 minutes to arrive. That is a very long time for someone to be in your home. Especially if you are also in the home
I know it seems like a few numbers off the price is the way to go but this tells me she does not have a very good agent bc the reality is that she can add probably 30k to her bottom line home price and pay only about 8 dollars more per month on the mortgage. I cannot recall the exact ratio at this early hour but she can go to different mortgage calculators online and type in the same interest rate over and over and play with the different purchase prices to see what I mean. The closing costs and downpaymt will not change even 100 dollars in most cases. She may be able to go up to 50k more and get a home in a safer neighborhood and pay practically the same per month. The 30-50k is worth her safety.
Let me clarify that there's an alarm in every townhome (not necessarily in every 'room' as you mentioned...although I'm not sure this clarification makes any difference in your argument ).
She lost out on the home...someone beat her to the punch. She found another one in the same exact neighborhood. Her mom is going to look at it with her today. I am happy about that and will wait to see if she voices any safety concerns after riding through the neighborhood with her like I did. Honestly I am not sure if I would live there but that is not based on any statistics of crime--I would have to pull crime stats for the area. That is the only reason I haven't mentioned to my best friend that it's probably not as safe of a place that I would prefer she be in.
She got her real estate license earlier this year so she is acting as her own agent. I think she's focusing on the price, which it is a great price, but doesn't seem to be worried about safety at all. I don't think she's looked into crime stats for the neighborhood. But I think she has a friend of a friend or two that live not too far away and neither of them have had problems...
30331 covers a lot of area though, and it's not all the same and usually the differences in areas can be one neighborhood to the next. Loch Lomond/New Hope Rd area? Quiet as a mouse, but Kimberly Rd next door can have a semi hot block here or there. But I still wouldn't even call those areas bad. Now the northern part of 30331 that's in Adamsville is a different story, those areas are rough and I wouldn't advise anyone to move into them. But the majority of 30331 that's in what we think of as SW is mostly pretty good to downright nice.
Thank you both to Silvers2 and oldschoolChevy for your insight...
If she has a real estate license I am sure she already knows all of the info re what she will have to show on her tax returns to purchase another property, etc and the crime. I am also sure she already knows she can add another 50k or so and that will only add a few dollars on her mortgage and finally real estate is all location, location, location. Having invested in real estate all over the city myself, I dont recommend it as a wise financial move but it sounds like she has made her mind up. Good lyck to her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southkakkatlantan
Let me clarify that there's an alarm in every townhome (not necessarily in every 'room' as you mentioned...although I'm not sure this clarification makes any difference in your argument ).
She lost out on the home...someone beat her to the punch. She found another one in the same exact neighborhood. Her mom is going to look at it with her today. I am happy about that and will wait to see if she voices any safety concerns after riding through the neighborhood with her like I did. Honestly I am not sure if I would live there but that is not based on any statistics of crime--I would have to pull crime stats for the area. That is the only reason I haven't mentioned to my best friend that it's probably not as safe of a place that I would prefer she be in.
She got her real estate license earlier this year so she is acting as her own agent. I think she's focusing on the price, which it is a great price, but doesn't seem to be worried about safety at all. I don't think she's looked into crime stats for the neighborhood. But I think she has a friend of a friend or two that live not too far away and neither of them have had problems...
If she has a real estate license I am sure she already knows all of the info re what she will have to show on her tax returns to purchase another property, etc and the crime. I am also sure she already knows she can add another 50k or so and that will only add a few dollars on her mortgage and finally real estate is all location, location, location. Having invested in real estate all over the city myself, I dont recommend it as a wise financial move but it sounds like she has made her mind up. Good lyck to her.
She was approved for $150k and the current townhome she's looking at is listed for $140k with offers on it already so as far as I know she can't offer any more as that would be more than she's even approved for.
I am curious if you'd mind sharing what areas you'd be looking to buy in if you were purchasing a home right now with the intent of staying in it for 5 years and then renting it out. Let's say you're in the $200kish range. What type of home would you be eyeing (condo, townhouse, SFH, etc.)?
Your friend might want to look into The Village of Cascade a gated townhome community on Benjamin E Mays (I assume this is where she found the home for $120?). Those are in her price range, the area seems really quite, a new park is being built at the corner of Benjamin E Mays and Fairburn rd, plus its still really close to shopping and 285. I use to stay down the street off Fairburn rd, never had any problems.
Your friend might want to look into The Village of Cascade a gated townhome community on Benjamin E Mays (I assume this is where she found the home for $120?). Those are in her price range, the area seems really quite, a new park is being built at the corner of Benjamin E Mays and Fairburn rd, plus its still really close to shopping and 285. I use to stay down the street off Fairburn rd, never had any problems.
She offered on one home in the neighborhood and they didn't go with her offer. Then she offered over listing price for the one above.....however she put in several stipulations so they went with someone else who didn't offer as much but didn't have stipulations.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
).
