Atlanta rehab market

[Maverick V.]

Hello BP, I'm considering a move to Atlanta soon and I was wondering how the fix and flip market is. From all the posts i've read on here It sounds like it is very competitive, it's a sellers market, people are feeling the squeeze from institutional investors, prices have gotten to the point where rentals in some areas are hard to cash flow, but I haven't been able to find anything on flips. Also are the suburbs excluded when talking about Atlanta? Because after a quick search of surrounding areas it seemed like there were plenty of deals. While researching an area I was considering (stockbridge) I noticed The number of active foreclosures was well over 100% higher than the national average, other areas nearby were even higher. Am I missing something here? Are some of these suburbs "war zones"? Seems like there are many sub 50k properties around that seem very nice. Any insight from people familiar with the area would be greatly appreciated.

[J Scott]

I've been mostly out of the Atlanta market for about 4 months now, so it's possible that my information is outdated, but I invested in the north and west suburbs for many years, and right now, there aren't many deals out there being listed publicly. The MLS is dried up, auctions are being overrun by large syndicates and newbies who don't know how to analyze a deal, so the mid-sized investor isn't going to get much there either.

Certainly, if you can do a good job finding off-market sellers, there's always opportunity, so that would need to be your focus. I'd stay away from short sales, as banks are getting hip to investor low-ball offers and BPOs are trending up quickly these days. And absentee owners (i.e., investors) tend to be more sophisticated in Atlanta than in other places, so marketing to landlords tends to be less fruitful (in my limited experience) than other forms of marketing in that area.

My recommendation is to focus your marketing on homeowners with equity, whether distressed or not, and try to find locations where prices are trending up faster than homeowners recognize (so you can take advantage of some quick appreciation during a short hold period).