shopping for homes in Savannah (real estate, rentals, condos)

[Seance]

Hello,

There are so many posts here it's not hard to get lost when trying to figure out which neighborhoods to look at for purchasing a home in Savannah. I have been reading for a couple days now and still don't have much narrowed down.

Because of the charm and gay population, my wife and I want to purchase a home in an urban area of Savannah, that is safe for two almost 50's Caucasian women. We've vacationed in the Historic District a couple times but haven't checked out the downtown area at all. The Historic district would be our choice of course, due to the charm. However when shopping online for homes in the Historic District, all we can find around 150k are homes that need a great deal of work. Townhomes and Condo's aren't out of the question but they seem to be scarce. No small children so schools aren't an issue. Our original thought was to purchase a home that could be rented out as a vacation home - depending on our employment, we might not be using the home full time for a few years. I don't know anything about which areas are best for that option either.

I've reviewed the maps referenced in other posts to see crime rates in areas, but have also seen posts that there are neighborhoods that are predominately Latino, Jewish, etc. Not that we'd mind living amongst ANY group of people but I haven't seen any posts that mention gay neighborhoods and we'd like to feel welcome when we are there.

We're heading there later this year and want to be able to narrow down the search for our realtor.

Since it will become our permanent / only home in a few years, here is the criteria:
Below 150k, 2 bed
Safe
Close to restaurants, nightlife
possible vacation rentals if we are not using it for a couple months

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide during our research!

[Padgett2]

Here's the problem. For what you want, (restaurants, night life) the historic district is probably your best bet. However, getting something for that price is unlikely.

The Historic District IS the downtown area. If you want a regular home near shopping, you would need to go farther south. It's going to be difficult to find a decent home in your price range. You might have better luck with a condo.

[Seance]

Thanks for the information. Condo's aren't a problem as we'd enjoy not having a yard. It's not that we want to be close to shopping, just that we want to be away from the suburbs if that makes sense.

[pink caddy]

Just curious. Where did you find $150k houses in Historic District? I don't care about condition.


TIA.

[pink caddy]

ETA: many ppl confuse the lines between Historic and Victorian.

[gentlearts]

You might want to contact the folks at First City Network. They are a well established LGBT organization in Savannah. I know a few nice people who belong, and they are always glad to help new people in town. I know they have some real estate people in the group.

[ellie]

I just did a quick search of our local MLS for properties in the historic part of 31401 for less than 175k and found twenty-seven. There are a handful of condos in the group, though small ones, that are in decent parts of the Historic & Victorian districts.

@ Caddy, there are a few you should look at too. I imagine you may have seen them already.

OP, do as gentlearts suggests, it's a good idea. Find a real estate agent who understands what you're after.

Our city isn't big enough to have a gay neighborhood, nor could I imagine it happening. It's the only true integration we have going for us.

[pink caddy]

I'm still confused. If we are limiting the search to SFR* in Historic (or Victorian) under 175K in good or bad condition I can find or know of only two. One at East Park and one on Habersham. The one on East Park has a dangerous condition....way beyond "poor condition".....it's downright dangerous. I'm not sure but the one on Habersham might be a duplex not a SFR. I don't believe there are others that are within those two districts.
Wish I was wrong....would love to buy one myself.


* SFR---single family residence

[ellie]

There's a small sfr in the 500 block of East Park. Most of the others appear to be condos.

[pink caddy]

505 east waldburg sold in the past two weeks upward of 265k. 1800 SQF new and plain Jane.