Is living in Midtown, Grant Park, OFW worth it??? (East Point: renting, condos)

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by jhtrico1850

To be making that amount of $ in tech, you really have to be gifted and have had that drive and interest early on. I don't think you should pursue tech as a midlife career change to get rich. Medical school and law school are still tough but more attainable I think for most people.

Medical school is basically guaranteed $200k if you can pull it off.

If you're a top associate at a big law firm, $200k is feasible, and $500k is starter pay once you reach partner. I have this insider info from working at a law firm.

I'm curious who is buying these houses in Atlanta (lawyers? trust fund babies?)

I agree tech is not a get-rich quick strategy. If making money is the only goal, I'd look into banking and finance, or business school. I'm not sure who it is buying all these super-expensive houses, but I suspect it is the business types--your corporate executives, start up founders, hedge fund managers, etc. Bankers esp make an obscene amount of money for what they do--and it seems no one actually understands what it is they actually do.

I definitely wouldn't recommend law as a surefire way to make a $200K salary out of the gate. Only a very small percentage of attorneys work at big law firms--the superstars and well-connected. The vast majority of the rest are making very ordinary salaries at smaller law firms and in government and still have lots of student loans to pay off.

Medical school has a more guaranteed salary, but you have to work incredibly hard at it.

[AtlJan]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

I agree tech is not a get-rich quick strategy. If making money is the only goal, I'd look into banking and finance, or business school. I'm not sure who it is buying all these super-expensive houses, but I suspect it is the business types--your corporate executives, start up founders, hedge fund managers, etc. Bankers esp make an obscene amount of money for what they do--and it seems no one actually understands what it is they actually do.

I definitely wouldn't recommend law as a surefire way to make a $200K salary out of the gate. Only a very small percentage of attorneys work at big law firms--the superstars and well-connected. The vast majority of the rest are making very ordinary salaries at smaller law firms and in government and still have lots of student loans to pay off.

Medical school has a more guaranteed salary, but you have to work incredibly hard at it.

I live in Buckhead--a tear-down 4/3 is in the $700-800k range. It is not that big of a deal for a lot of people--I know for me, I bought my first house in my 20s in the late 1990s. I rented it out, lived at home, and saved and invested. Real estate has appreciated so much, as well as the stock market, that 20 years later, I could put a big chunk of cash down on this house and still have enough left to buy rental houses.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

You can also live intown without giving up a car entirely.

If you don't drive it much, it won't cost much. And if you get an electric car, it will cost even less as they don't require oil changes or other maintenance that gas cars do.

I don't advocate a car-centric life (even though I lead one, I would do it less if I could.) But I kind of do think it's a good idea for most people to keep some sort of car around for buying groceries, road trips, etc. I mean, even something as simple as stubbing a toe or tearing an ACL can make walking problematic. I just don't think I could give up a car completely, and living intown doesn't mean you have to.

I'm not even sure how being car-free entered the picture since the OP never asked about it. Just part of the agenda of a handful of the posters here, but still very much the minority in our metro and intown as well.

I would have to assume that most people who live intown have cars. I've known very few who didn't get around by automobile.

[stoxdiamond]

I wouldn't assume all purchasers of homes are lawyers/doctors or trust fund babies.

A young DINK (double income no kids) couple each making ~$100K in a variety of jobs can easily qualify for intown properties.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

I agree tech is not a get-rich quick strategy. If making money is the only goal, I'd look into banking and finance, or business school. I'm not sure who it is buying all these super-expensive houses, but I suspect it is the business types--your corporate executives, start up founders, hedge fund managers, etc. Bankers esp make an obscene amount of money for what they do--and it seems no one actually understands what it is they actually do.

I definitely wouldn't recommend law as a surefire way to make a $200K salary out of the gate. Only a very small percentage of attorneys work at big law firms--the superstars and well-connected. The vast majority of the rest are making very ordinary salaries at smaller law firms and in government and still have lots of student loans to pay off.

Medical school has a more guaranteed salary, but you have to work incredibly hard at it.

And it’s not like medical school is big money out of the gate—school, school, residency—you are in 30s when you start making money (and the sexier the specialty, the longer the residency).
Same thing for PhD level scientists who want to become university professors, and most don’t even get into that position. There are probably some engineering and science fields that make good money early, but you are chasing a moving target, as far as what will be in demand, and more and more of these good-paying jobs can be off-shored and H1B’d like everything else.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Well, that's the thing: he doesn't need to adjust his expectations on house size if what he wants is a larger house. He needs to adjust where he lives. For me, living in the center of the city would not be worth it. For you it is. Everything depends on what the individual wants out of it.

I think it's important to explain what type of house you got for $250k and where. They weren't 3/2, 2,000 square feet, newer, and with garages.

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Absolutely. if your priority is to live car-free or car-lite, you are going to want to spend the extra money on housing or give up the extra space to achieve that. If you want the extra space at home, you're either going to have to pay for it, or go somewhere where you must use a car.

I guess, it's kind of like many other things...choose two:

Car-free
Low cost
Large space

Rarely will you find all three.

Yep. It is all about what you want to prioritize. Being able to comfortably live car free (also saves money and improves health / safety) and being close to amenities ranks higher than house size for me.

But still, there are some good options for how you want to balance those choices.

The three places I have owned over the last decade:

-2BR, 1BA 800sf Midtown Condo with garage parking bought for ~$200K

-4BR, 2BA 1,600sf in Ormewood Park (no garage) bought for ~$150K.

-6,000sf building in South Downtown (no parking) bought for ~$230K. (Will spend that much again to build out 2000sf with 2 units with a total of 4 bedrooms and 4 baths between them and refurbish remaining commercial space for lease)

Now, you may not be able to find those deals in those places today, but there are neighborhoods in similar states that you can find similar options today. For example, the market for condos downtown is comparable to what it was in Midtown 10 years ago and you can find two bedroom condos for under $200K there today. And places like West End / Capital View are like what Ormewood Park was when I bought there six years ago.

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by stoxdiamond

I wouldn't assume all purchasers of homes are lawyers/doctors or trust fund babies.

A young DINK (double income no kids) couple each making ~$100K in a variety of jobs can easily qualify for intown properties.

I don't think it's so easy. Many are going to have very high student loans and are going to have to cough up a down payment from somewhere. On a $750K house, the down payment alone is going to be in the $35K range and what how many young people are going to be able to save that much after paying back loans, health insurance,etc. Rents are also sky-high now so that eats up a huge chunk. Unless you've got some parents you can loan you that kind of money, it's tough.

It's tough for young, first-time homebuyers to find decent starter homes because everything affordable is being snapped up by investors, so the typical path increasingly is not an option for young buyers. It's not 1998 anymore.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

I don't think it's so easy. Many are going to have very high student loans and are going to have to cough up a down payment from somewhere. On a $750K house, the down payment alone is going to be in the $35K range and what how many young people are going to be able to save that much after paying back loans, health insurance,etc. Rents are also sky-high now so that eats up a huge chunk. Unless you've got some parents you can loan you that kind of money, it's tough.

It's tough for young, first-time homebuyers to find decent starter homes because everything affordable is being snapped up by investors, so the typical path increasingly is not an option for young buyers. It's not 1998 anymore.

I wouldn't think that typical young first-time buyers are looking for a $750,000 house.

That's what you might be able to afford after a decade or two (or more) of hard work, saving and smart investing. And for many people, that will always be way out of range.

[Otakumaster]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

I don't think it's so easy. Many are going to have very high student loans and are going to have to cough up a down payment from somewhere. On a $750K house, the down payment alone is going to be in the $35K range and what how many young people are going to be able to save that much after paying back loans, health insurance,etc. Rents are also sky-high now so that eats up a huge chunk. Unless you've got some parents you can loan you that kind of money, it's tough.

It's tough for young, first-time homebuyers to find decent starter homes because everything affordable is being snapped up by investors, so the typical path increasingly is not an option for young buyers. It's not 1998 anymore.

I have millennial friends in sales that can do this and they only have bachelors degree at a state school so their debt is low to none.

That being said everyone isn't in sales.

Also, you absolutely right about first-time buying these days. We need more supply.

[kgpremed13]

Originally Posted by jsvh

And places like West End / Capital View are like what Ormewood Park was when I bought there six years ago.

6 years seems like an incredibly rapid timeline for that much gentrification to happen, I'd think it would be more like 15-20 years. Also, new houses for sale in West End and Capital View are already pushing 350k after developers buy them and fix them up.

I wonder how much more land around the city developers have to build on. Maybe 50 years from now houses in Mableton will start appreciating in value like the ones in Midtown because there is a lack of land. With population growth and everyone migrating to the sunbelt, at some point land will start to become limited and buying a 6 bed 5 bath for 450k in Mableton now will seem like a smart deal compared to the 700k 3/2 in Midtown.