Atlanta employment hubs?

Question

Hi Everyone,

My business partner and I are looking to expand our portfolio into the Atlanta market and are in the process of conducting some early research on the city.

We are specifically interested in getting some information about the main employment hubs - and how they are accessed.

Would love to hear from some local connections in Atlanta!

Cheers,

Simon

Frank Iglesias · Answer

Welcome to Atlanta Simon.  It is very competitive here right now.  There is a lot of opportunity and you have to do move quick to get the good deals.  One of the best things we offer in Atlanta is high standards for a low cost of living.  That is pretty consistent through much of the metro area.  Would enjoy the opportunity to speak with you further at your convenience.

Stephen Masek · Answer

Flights are cheap.  We did research, but bought two houses in the Atlanta area we visited while there last year.  We look for nice newer houses in nice subdivisions with good schools, and convenience to shopping, commuting, and such, so we have a good percentage return and real appreciation potential.

A seller of real estate here in southern California was trying to sell ones in the Atlanta area which we thought were too far out from employment opportunities, and going there confirmed our impression.   We spent one week there, made offers on six, and got two.  One is a 4/3 bought for a total of $104,395.08 which just needed a stove shortly after the tenant moved-in and a minor floor spot repair and isr ented for $1,150.  We bought the other 4/3 for a total of $119,495.77 which includes one new furnace, some appliances, and various minor items, and it is rented at $1,295.

The main problem with the Atlanta area is that property managers are greedy, wanting a full month's rent to lease a house, and 10% per month.  We found one guy, operating in just part of the region, who wants "just" 50% to lease a house.

You have to be careful and thorough.  One very nice house we saw was just a few hundred feet from an active freight railroad track.  We saw two super nice houses in teh same gated subdivision in Phoenix south of I-10 in a gated subdivision with nice new shopping centers nearby, then had two different property managers and a guy who works for the highway department incident response unit tell us they would take a long time to rent, rent for not much, and then be trashed, as the area is infested with gangs from south of the border.

Kiran K · Answer

Simon,

Atlanta with its suburbs is a big city so jobs are scattered all around suburbs.

Smyrna , marietta , vinings are good areas with access to downtown and job hubs.

Hwy 400 almost till exit 12 have lot of companies and jobs with cities like sandy springs, roswell, alpharetta, milton, johns creek.

there are more and will let somebody familiar with other cities post.

-Kiran

Joel Owens · Answer

Hi Simon,

It's still kind of vague what you are trying to accomplish.

I understand what you are saying in that you are looking at work/commute patters for jobs.

Understand for Atlanta we have the actual city that resides in Fulton county. Then we have what is called a MSA area (metropolitan statistical area). This area encompasses over 20 counties in Georgia.

There are commutes to Atlanta for workers but there are many corporate jobs within each county and city themselves.

For house rentals I would try and give J a call to get some market demographics. If you are looking into 5+ units for apartments or retail etc. for commercial then the analyses will be different and you might want to contact me or give a call.

I can always answer questions on here. It's hard to know if you are just trying to place money here in the states for loans to people for rehabs, or buy and do the rehabs yourself, or short term holds with 3 to 5 years and exit for rentals??

Hope it helps.............

Simon Walker · Answer

Thanks for the great responses Scott and Joel - however I think I failed to articulate my question sufficiently enough.

One of the important aspects that my investing partner and I look into with any new city is essentially where are all the jobs located? CBD, city fringes, employment  'pockets' scattered around the region?

Travel time and distance as well as the means by which people access the major employment hubs of a city are critical for us to ensure that we are looking into suburbs with close proximity or at the very least good access to major roads/train systems.

I hope this clarifies things - let me know what you think.

J Scott · Answer

Hi Simon,

Not sure I completely understand your question about "how are the main employment hubs accessed?"  What exactly do you mean by "accessed?"

In general, the Atlanta market has become quite saturated with investors over the past 8 months, especially in the $150K and below price range.  Most move-in-ready properties listed in that range will receive multiple offers (we typically get 10-20 offers on our properties these days) and often sell at a price that I consider unprofitable from an investment standpoint.  The buyers are typically out-of-state investors desperate to get their capital working, and are willing to give up some equity and cashflow just to get the deals.

If you're willing to take on renovation projects, you may have a bit more luck, but even those are pretty competitive these days.  Most of our deals are coming either through direct marketing and/or are big projects (tear downs).

Happy to answer more specific questions if you have them.  And, as Joel pointed out, for anything other than SFR, he's going to be a lot more knowledgeable than I will.  There are also a lot of other very experienced SFR investors from Atlanta on here as well, so if you have follow-up questions, you're in good hands.

Joel Owens · Answer

Yes for the little houses J is definitely the person in Atlanta.

I am on the commercial side of things (large multifamily, retail, etc.) and do not mess with the SFR.

I can tell you from living in Georgia all of my life that SFR the percentages from investor purchases to homebuyer purchases has shifted. This is even more true as the summer months approach which are the big buying months for home buyers. The FHA loan changes occurring here in a few months is creating a wave of homebuyer purchases as well. There are still deals but they go quick and is all dependent on what you are trying to do. It is much harder to find flip deals than buy and hold as the numbers have to be much lower to work. Unless you are getting a property with tons and tons of work you will get beat out by buy and hold or home buyers at a higher offer price.

Hope it helps.

Simon Walker · Answer

Haha thanks for that Bill - I'll keep my lucky stars close by!

Bill Gulley · Answer

Welcome Simon,

I will try to summon the Oz of Atlanta for you, (LOL)
@J. Scott, but his name doesn't pop up usually unless he has commented in a thread, but he's one to ask about Atlanta. Good luck