Live in Atlanta, love it here, trying to decide if I'm ready to buy a place (Sandy Springs: sales, real estate) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

Summer of George · 03-23-2010, 02:23 PM

I'm just going to list off my answers to the stickied post at the top about what information to give to get the best help.

1. Budget - not sure, and will probably talk to a mortgage lender soon. I have family that are in real estate and am waiting to hear back on their estimate of my readiness to buy and then what I can afford. My best guess would be 175 - 210K.

2. House/Townhouse - I'd want to buy either a House or a Townhouse. I'd rather live ITP and know that obviously things get more expensive, so I would be ok with a townhouse. I would PREFER a house.

3. Employment Status - employed and commute to Galleria everyday

4. Children - none, engaged and will be married this summer

5. I'd like to live ITP. I'm not opposed at all to the "urban" lifestyle, but I'm not going to be an early settler in a revitalization project (most of you know the areas I'm talking about).

6. Public Transit - not really a big deal, as MARTA doesn't go to work

7. Demographics - I'm not opposed to living somewhere where I'm the minority (I'm white), though like I said above I'd probably not want to be in the wave wave of integrators.

So........give it to me straight, what do you guys think? I will say that I very much do not want to live way out in the burbs (Woodstock, Alpharetta, Duluth, etc). I could manage East Cobb or Sandy Springs, but not much further.

bikefrontier · 03-23-2010, 02:30 PM

Based on your desire to live ITP, your estimated budget, and your preference for a house instead of a townhouse, Ive got to ask a very important question: How comfortable are you with buying a fixer-upper house? Im not talking about something thats not inhabitable (as I don't think that would work for you), but I am talking about something that, while livable, is older and may need some work.

Also, you say that you are engaged and will be married this summer...Is your fiance's income included in your budget? Where does she work? What are her biggest wants?

Summer of George · 03-23-2010, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akress

Based on your desire to live ITP, your estimated budget, and your preference for a house instead of a townhouse, Ive got to ask a very important question: How comfortable are you with buying a fixer-upper house? Im not talking about something thats not inhabitable (as I don't think that would work for you), but I am talking about something that, while livable, is older and may need some work.

Also, you say that you are engaged and will be married this summer...Is your fiance's income included in your budget? Where does she work? What are her biggest wants?

Thanks for the quick reply akress.

I (we) are comfortable with a fixer-upper that you described : one that is inhabitable. I have not included her income in my budget, though she makes a good living and it would greatly increase what we could do. As of today she thinks she wants to work forever (even if and when we have kids), but I'd rather take a more conservative approach with it (at least at the current time). The things I laid out in the original post are both of our wants, not just mine. The other downside to the current situation is that my savings account has probably enough for a down payment, but not a whole lot more, which makes me a little uneasy. We've only been working for about 8 months, so my/her savings just haven't had time to build way up yet.

WestsideATLCindy · 03-23-2010, 02:42 PM

You can get a good house for between $225,000 and $250,000 in Whittier Mill Village. If your budget gets up that high, check it out! Homes in there sell up to $350,000 but there are some cute ones on the market now for the above range.
Whittier Mill Village Neighborhood Association

plessthanpointohfive · 03-23-2010, 05:54 PM

Summer of George, also consider what my husband and I did. Not only is our house a fixer-upper, but it's also a duplex. We live in one apartment and rent out the other. We get $1200/mo in rent for the apt, which goes a LONG way towards the mortgage and to the fixing-it-upper.

We live IPT, in Candler Park. If you go our route you should be able, on your budget, to afford a duplex in that part of town. Then you'd sort of have a house, you'd be in a good school district for when/if you have kids or when/if you have to sell, and later as your incomes improve you may just convert the duplex to a house (we're doing that within the next 3 years).

So, keep something like that as an option. It can be a little bit of work. But it makes it affordable. There are some nice tax deductions on repairs/renovations, too, since it's a rental. 100% of what you spend on the rental unit and 50% of what you spend on the shell/property is tax deductable, 0% of what you spend on your owner-occupied unit is tax deductable. But it's helpful along with the rental check.

Best of luck!

bikefrontier · 03-24-2010, 06:38 AM

Alot of people are in your situation (would like to buy a fixer-upper but don't have the cash on hand to fix it up once they get a mortgage). Because of this, and because the government wants young, energetic people like ourselves to move into these places and fix them up (and therefore make neighborhoods better), they have some great government mortgage programs.

Im sure you have heard the acronym "FHA" thrown out more than a few times. FHA is the Federal Housing Administration. They are the largest government issuer of mortgages in the world. They have several different types of loan programs, mostly geared towards people with a small amount of cash.

The program that would probably most interest you is the FHA 203(k) loan. Essentially, the loan requires a 3.5% down payment (which is lower than conventional loans), and it allows you to include the cost of repairs within the loan, therefore requiring no further out-of-pocket costs to make the improvements to the home. Check out the following website (its the FHA 203(k) website): Funds for Handyman-Specials & Fixer-Uppers - HUD

This is just one method people can use to buy a fixer-upper. There are some other options as well. Shoot me a direct message if you want some more info.

sjuraud · 03-24-2010, 01:32 PM

I think there are some good deals in your price range right now. Just a cursory look with your parameters on trulia.com (you should try realtor.com also, apparently a lot of realty agents like that site) show that there are some places in your price range in Kirkwood & Druid Hills areas. You might go on there yourself and see what you come up with. I like to use the map feature to get a good idea of where all the home sales area located. Good luck!

bikefrontier · 03-24-2010, 01:46 PM

Agree with sjuraud's recommendation of Kirkwood. I think the whole Edgewood, Kirkwood, East Lake area is a great place to look for fixer-uppers right now. Need to be careful though, especially in Edgewood and western Kirkwood, as those areas are not as far along as eastern Kirkwood and East Lake in terms of gentrification. What street you are on matters in those less-gentrified areas.

Summer of George · 03-25-2010, 02:12 PM

I've driven around down in the area quite a bit recently, especially in the Edgewood/Old 4th area. I just don't think I could get comfortable there. Kirkwood on the other hand, seems to be a little bit better, as well as East Lake.

sjuraud · 03-25-2010, 02:18 PM

City of Decatur or Oakhurst are really nice, but it's definitely reflects that in price. Usually 250k is on the low end for places there. You might be able to find a pretty good deal though because of the poor housing market.