Beginngers doing something wrong. What is it?

[Cristina S.]

My husband and I have been looking for our first rental - with an 150,000 upper limit.

We wanted to start small, no major risk. We'll put abut 50% down.

We're looking mainly at condos and townhouses as we are afraid that renters in a house a bit above 100,000 might present a higher risk, on average, than renters of condos and townhouses at the same price; plus the issues of kids, yard, roof, mess etc. We just kind of wanted to start by renting to a young, white-collar professional, no kids.

As we both have full-time careers and two children this is not something we want to do "for a living". We can't' drive around for money, approach owners, cold calling, chase deals under market value, etc. 

We are working with an agent and waiting to see what pops up on MLS.

We found 2-3 opportunities so far but not matter how fast we tried to move, by the time we made an offer, someone else had already snatched it. We are at a point where it's kind of like "Good God!". 

We are not even looking for the "deal of a lifetime" as we know we don't have the time and energy to hunt for major bargains under market value when there are professionals doing this for a living.

We just need to place some money in a real estate piece, using some leverage. 

But it looks like any unit in a decent neighborhood goes in a matter of hours, if not minutes.

What in the world?

This is the  North Atlanta area I am talking about. 

Any views and tips would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much.