First time homebuyer in metro Atlanta (Marietta, East Point: apartments, HOA fees, condominiums)

[dark_knight08]

I'm a single Black male in my early 30's looking to purchase my first home this year, or early 2022. I currently live in Lithonia, and work in the Clarkston area. My job could possibly be moving to Atlanta sometime this year.

I have a budget of $215k. I'm open to a single family home, or townhouse. I hoping to live in a reasonable drive to the city for shopping/dining/events for some weekends. I don't have children, so school districts aren't a concern for me. Safety, however is a huge concern for me. I prefer not to live in a crime ridden neighborhood. Diversity is a huge plus for me as well.

I know the housing market is crazy right now, so I'm willing to take my time to find my ideal home. Any suggestions where I should look?

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by dark_knight08

I'm a single Black male in my early 30's looking to purchase my first home this year, or early 2022. I currently live in Lithonia, and work in the Clarkston area. My job could possibly be moving to Atlanta sometime this year.

I have a budget of $215k. I'm open to a single family home, or townhouse. I hoping to live in a reasonable drive to the city for shopping/dining/events for some weekends. I don't have children, so school districts aren't a concern for me. Safety, however is a huge concern for me. I prefer not to live in a crime ridden neighborhood. Diversity is a huge plus for me as well.

I know the housing market is crazy right now, so I'm willing to take my time to find my ideal home. Any suggestions where I should look?

Would you be willing to landlord?

There are a lot of economic benefits to buying a 2 to 4 family building, staying 5 years & moving to a single family home or another multi-family.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by dark_knight08

I'm a single Black male in my early 30's looking to purchase my first home this year, or early 2022. I currently live in Lithonia, and work in the Clarkston area. My job could possibly be moving to Atlanta sometime this year.

I have a budget of $215k. I'm open to a single family home, or townhouse. I hoping to live in a reasonable drive to the city for shopping/dining/events for some weekends. I don't have children, so school districts aren't a concern for me. Safety, however is a huge concern for me. I prefer not to live in a crime ridden neighborhood. Diversity is a huge plus for me as well.

I know the housing market is crazy right now, so I'm willing to take my time to find my ideal home. Any suggestions where I should look?

If you want to live in an area with very little or no crime with a housing budget of $215k, you likely may not be within the most reasonable drive of the city in a very highly competitive housing market like this.

If you want to live in an area of virtually no crime on a budget of $215k, far-flung outer-suburban areas like some parts of Conyers/Rockdale County, Covington/Newton County, Locust Grove in south Henry County, Douglasville/Douglas County. Newnan (in Coweta County) and Hampton (in west Henry County) may also be options.

Closer-in, the quality of the housing stock available within that price range decreases (often significantly) and/or the threat of crime increases (often noticeably).

North of I-20, there appears to be virtually nothing available within that price range available for dozens of miles until one gets about at least 40-50 miles away from Downtown Atlanta.

You might could see if you might could be able to increase your living options if you add apartments and condominiums to your housing search, but the housing market seemingly is insanely competitive right now, especially in many areas north of I-20, even with the increased threat of crime in many of the more popular areas.

[AtlJan]

If you look at townhomes/condos make sure to include HOA fees in your calculations. Some of these complexes have artificially low purchase prices because the HOA fees are so high that it keeps the home prices down.

[FindingHomeATL]

There are some older condos in Marietta in that price range, possibly townhouses as well. The HOA fees do have to be factored in.

Be especially careful about buying a condo or townhouse during an up market like we have now. From what I understand, their pricing is more volatile. The rising tide lifts their prices, so they aren't all that cheap right now. But in a down market, they fall more dramatically than houses, and they can become hard to sell. If you look at the pricing history of some properties on Zillow you'll see what I mean.

[Raziel17]

Originally Posted by dark_knight08

I'm a single Black male in my early 30's looking to purchase my first home this year, or early 2022. I currently live in Lithonia, and work in the Clarkston area. My job could possibly be moving to Atlanta sometime this year.

I have a budget of $215k. I'm open to a single family home, or townhouse. I hoping to live in a reasonable drive to the city for shopping/dining/events for some weekends. I don't have children, so school districts aren't a concern for me. Safety, however is a huge concern for me. I prefer not to live in a crime ridden neighborhood. Diversity is a huge plus for me as well.

I know the housing market is crazy right now, so I'm willing to take my time to find my ideal home. Any suggestions where I should look?

Hey dark_knight08, my question is kind of the reverse of your, I am about to be 30, have no kids, am a single Black male for whom safety is one of the biggest concerns. I am looking to relocate to Atlanta, GA for work soon and have been seeing a lot of great deals for my budget in Lithonia, and the prices are much lower than other places I look at for the same house. Am I missing something (aside for schools which I don't care about)? Since I am new to the area and you're living there now, should I be worried about Lithonia being a very high crime rate area or are there just some neighborhoods that I should stay away from? Thank you very much for your help!

[Need4Camaro]

Even pre-pandemic $215k would be a hard stretch to live in a desirable, commutable, safe part of the city. Right now it probably is unthinkable. The only chance you may have would be to pick up a home that needs alot of work and slowly rebuild it.

[AtlantaRising]

Check areas around Clarkston and south Tucker. Unincorporated Stone Mountain is also a great buy right now. You can't beat the quality of the brick homes there, with a lot of options close to the Stone Mountain Trail network. Quiet, relatively safe to have that kind of access to Emory and CDC, Druid Hills and Decatur. The takeout options are a nice plus.

[T Block]

East Point has a train station.

But the big 1960's subdivisions are two to three miles from Main Street. That's Arrowood, Forest Hills, Headland Heights, Meadowlark, Piney Woods, and others. There's no overhead air traffic in these areas except when there are storms.

[dark_knight08]

check your PM