Gonna buy a foreclosure....what area is best?

[AtlMuslimah]

I move to the West End (renting) off of Oak St Sw; I haven't been there two months and my Durango was broken into . Other than that incident against my property; the street is relatively quiet and the West End park with play ground isn't but 5 minute walk for my son to release some pin up energy.

West End Rail station (Marta) is about a 15-20 minute walk, there's a CVS pharmacy at the corner Joseph E. Lowery Blvd & Ralph David Abernathy Blvd, Kroger is nearby and there's a Publix off of MLK Dr. Mall shopping, you'll want to go to one of the other area malls. There's also Black Madonna Book store, which sales beside books, artwork/crafts from a variety of vendors.

A coffee shop, Kristy Kremes, Quiznos and several other establish eatries. Plenty of braid shops; although I've never visit any of them. No Applebees or anything like that in the immediate area. There are plenty of houses on the market (foreclosures) here, some of them are being scatch up by investors and either being rehab or not or by others seeking to be homeowners. Oh and the Post Office is convently here nearby. That's my unbiase opinion.

[ccrotzer]

I too am interested in a foreclosure due to income restrictions with a terminal husband. Anyway, saw one on Butner Road SW, looked on google, went up and down the road on google street view, looked nice, had a lot of trees around, streets behind and in front looked nice, too, but can anyone tell me really how that area is, married middle aged white couple with a four year old. Thanks very much for your help.

[B Wagner]

When you go to buy a foreclosure in these areas, you will definately have to do a good bit of repair. The prices on the southwest side of town is because a few years ago that was the number one area for mortgage fraud in the country. There are some great buys because no one can sell there homes there because of it. Some investors bought homes there and lost everything because they could resell. There are safer areas, Lithonia is an alternative to buying there. It is an area where there was starting to be a boom and the mortgage debacle happened and prices deflated because of it. But when the market comes back in a year or so Lithonia will be one of the places that will start to grow fast. With Hwy 124 & I-20; Stonecrest Mall area will head north up 124 to the Gwinnett area and will be one of the hubs of Atlanta in ten years from now. You may want to look at HUD homes, there are a lot of great deals from HUD right now.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by ccrotzer

I too am interested in a foreclosure due to income restrictions with a terminal husband. Anyway, saw one on Butner Road SW, looked on google, went up and down the road on google street view, looked nice, had a lot of trees around, streets behind and in front looked nice, too, but can anyone tell me really how that area is, married middle aged white couple with a four year old. Thanks very much for your help.

One thing about Atlanta that isn't exactly like some other larger cities that you should know, is that you can street view or drive through a neighborhood that looks perfectly nice in daylight, yet, it could possibly be one of the worst neighborhoods around regarding crime. Looks here can be very deceiving and bad neighborhoods do not always look bad from the outside or while passing through. Be there at night, or live there though - things may be different.

The area you're describing: Some will say it's "up and coming". Others will say avoid it completely, others say if the price is right, take it. I'll leave it up to the others to comment, but if you are a white couple with one of you suffering from a terminal illness and you have a 4 year old child - no, I would personally not pick that area myself, to live in. Just my opinion.