Hi Karen,

I think that Bee, Lee and Russ have offered excellent advice. I will throw in my two cents on East Atlanta... I live less than 2 miles from the Village (in Kirkwood) and as a single woman, there are many streets in East Atlanta that I would feel comfortable living on by myself. If you look at homes that are within 2 - 3 blocks of the Village, I think you won't have ANY problems renting the homes.

All the best,
Kerry Lucasse
Keller Williams Realty
404.432.1844
**** http://www.inEastAtlanta.com ****

When I work that area (mainly appraising the shells with six figure mortgages) I wear my Iron Man suit. I won't let any of my female co-workers go down unescorted and I have very set standard procedures for entering and exiting those homes. Suffice it to say that it reminds me of when I used to have a different career wearing fatigues.

I also have friends that work cleaning out and securing homes in the area - they stay busy there alone just keeping the buildings empty and resecuring them again and again. It's a tough area and as Ty points out, the expectations aren't lighting up the scoreboards.

I first want to make sure that you know that I have never travelled to this area (except to Harold's BBQ near the federal pen, which I believe is close to this), lived in this area, or even knew it was real until today.

However, I did decide to check around and find pertinent information for the discussion. I do believe I did just that from the US Census for 30316 which is the area code for this area. Read the following...scary...statistics from the 2000 census;

20.7% of all families below poverty level
Median household income - 32,500 (shouldn't have moved much considering area)
11.3% Bachelor's Degree (national average 25%) (meaning good for now because of renting, but won't necessarily create new wealth/equity due to people in area are not advancing skills, etc.)
Grandparents responsible as caregivers 54.4%
73.2% of all homes built before 1969 - no new growth in 40 years? yikes...

Good luck.

Karen,

I won't question your intentions, but I do want to put in my 2 cents as far as the crime aspect. Like Lee said, It is true that crime happens to people who have a false sense of security and forget to be cautious when living Intown or elsewhere. I am particularly wary of EAV for a few things: because the area is transitioning, people tend to have a false sense of security and secondly, because there are restaurants and bars, people are easier targets when leaving these areas. Here is a story I can tell: my next door neighbor in Edgewood inherited a roommate recently. The girl used to live in East Atlanta, close to the Village in a pocket close to Clifton/Paisley side. She was drinking wine on her front porch with her boyfriend one night when a man approached with a gun, ordered them inside, and tied her boyfriend up. Luckily, he did not do a good job tying the boyfriend up and he was able to call 911, but the perpetrator got away. She subsequently moved out of EA and into Edgewood (which is quite ironic considering our crime as well). I hear all kinds of stories from friends and neighbors who live in EA--armed robberies, muggings, home invasion, etc. But the truth is, crime is happening everywhere--East Atlanta, Edgewood, Candler Park, Grant Park ,Summerhill, Riverside, etc. Install an alarm for your tenants's safety...and tell them to make sure their flat screen tvs are not visible from the street. Btw, you can easily look up crime reports and sex offenders as well...

As far as rental, you can most likely get $1000/mo for a two bedroom--but the closer to the Village, the better...proximity in EA is key.

While I am a lender for many years I am also a buyer for my Rent2Own program. I buy forclosures and REO's.(AS SEEN ON 11:00 ALIVE NEWS) I buy in Grant Park but have considered other areas where I am not as familiar and might need someone to represent me. Do you not think I would promote my business if I was just looking for business?

Karen, I agree with Lee. You already know the answers to your questions. Why don't you disclose that you are a loan officer with Great Oaks Mortgage. Why don't you disclose that you are really trying to get business in selling your loans and products and you're questions are just rhetorical?

Karen,

You are a savvy experienced investor...I think that you already know the answer to these questions, don't you?

As long as you are a good landlord with a good property and a well written lease, there will always be demand for rentals in neighborhoods with vibrant retail, restaurant and live music businesses. EAV is going to be cool like that for a long, long time.

Crime is an everyday occurence. The unsuspecting and the unsecure in Intown Atlanta are often crime victims. No one is 100% safe and secure - we don't have gated neighborhoods around here, for the most part, except for that superb Federal Prison at McDonough and Boulevard.

Now that's a gated community.

Rental rates - I have a friend on Van Vleck, about 1.5 miles from the village, renting a very basic 2/2 for $650 a month. I also have friends with $1200 rentals in the area.

You'll do fine, just think ahead about security, curb appeal, etc.

Karen-
I am a home inspector and investor for more than 15 years.
This is maybe one of the best areas to buy and hold, it has already turned to new home buyers over the past few years and I see that trend continuing, I have a few rental houses in the area.
You would want to get something within a block or two of the east atlanta village for the highest rental rate and future appreciation. But you must buy it right, [ low ]
If the property was full rehab to high quality you could probably get $1000.
Most of my rentals are 3/2. Get atleast two baths. No area is immuned from crime, I do not have a problem.
Would be happy to help with home inspection or investing advise.
Russ Garmon

Karen,

I have a listing in that area right now in that area. It's a 2 bed, 1 bath, 4-sides brick with a large lot and it has a 2-car detached garage (atypical for that area). My seller moved in to that house about 10 years ago (I knew him then) and at the time, he felt he needed to put bars on his windows and set the alarm in his car.

Now, those feelings have evaporated. Indeed, I have no problems leaving my car unlocked when I go there.

You can also check out http://www.city-data.com for more on crime stats.

As far as being able to rent it for $1,000/month, yes. Doing a cursory glance at rental rates in that area, I would say a comparable house is going for anywhere between $895-$1400.

Plus, for you as a landlord, this house is 2 blocks outside the city limits so you only pay unincorporated Dekalb County taxes.
--
Tony Teixeira
770-851-5050
tonysellsatlanta@gmail.com
tony@muffleyhomes.com

Muffley & Associates
#1 Selling Keller Williams group in Atlanta 2007
#2 Selling KW group in South East Region 2007
#21 Selling KW group in the Country to date 2008