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Updated over 8 years ago, 06/06/2016
Decatur Area
I am seeing a lot of properties for sale in Decatur area, lots of multifamilies too. It seems like every week i see a few more. Is there something going on in that area that everyone is cashing out? I look at some the deals and they seem good, but with so many i feel like I might not know something about the area. What are your thoughts?
Decatur is very hot right now and I believe people are getting great offers. There is lots of construction going on including a new multi-purpose live and play in downtown Decatur. My guess is people are seeing if someone will pay a crazy price.
Hey @Mike Anderson, @Rush Wall is correct: Decatur is hot right now! Especially in 30032 and 30034. That being said, do your diligence before you make a deal.
Make sure you know which 'Decatur' you're looking at. If its the City of Decatur where Rush is alluding to, you've got sky-high prices due to the great school system. If it's the much larger greater-Decatur area that often is outside of the city limits of Decatur which Marvin is referring to, you've got a completely different lens to look through. Great deals both inside and out of the city can be found, but make sure to pay attention to that distinction.
@Marvin McTaw Always have to do the diligence.. I wanted to make sure i wasn't missing something!
@Matt Wood Yea i am talking about both areas. Most recently kind of south west of the east lake golf course.
@Matt Wood - what are your thoughts on Belvedere Park? I have heard for the past 8 years that it is going to be a gold mine, however I am starting to wonder if the area is starting to gain traction.
@Rush Wall There are some good threads on BP about Belvedere from people investing in the area. It can be one of those 'block-by-block' areas where you really need to know what's going on with each individual street. Overall I'm bullish on the areas in the next 5+ years since I'm a buy-and-hold investor so it depends on your exit strategy. We've got a multi-family property under contract near Belvedere right now so we're gaining familiarity with the area.
@Rush Wall our investors seem to love Belvedere Park/ White Oak Hills (to the west of belvedere park). We actually just sold an off-market deal today on San Gabriel. Fully renovated homes in that area have been selling in <30days on average.
It gets a bit sketchy as you go north and get closer to Memorial. One side of belvedere ln backs up to commercial and there is this horrible apartment complex at the entrace to the pocket off memorial. Value seems to get a little better as you go south closer to glenwood. As @Matt Wood wood said, it is still kind of "block by block" as I looked at a house in that pocket a while back and the neighbor had at least 30 chickens free roaming the front yard.
They also just built the brand new Peachcrest Elementary school there that opened up last month...
Decatur in general has been hot and you are right I am seeing a lot of investor activity in the area around Belvedere Park zip codes 30032. However, you have to be careful and evaluate each property as @Matt Wood mentioned some streets can be great and others can be war zones. In addition, be informed when investing in these areas as prices have gone up significantly see the charts below to get a sense of YOY change in 30032. You still have to find true deals that are under market value and the key is to buy right. Overall, the long term trends are positive. In addition, there have been a lot of talks around re-development of memorial drive..here is one article just google "memorial drive development plans" and you will find several other links.
Decatur, GA Snapshot
Decatur, GA 30032
Hope this provides some valuable insight.
@Mike Anderson Great information so far. I would map out a grid over Decatur. The City of Decatur is a market unto itself. Unincorporated Dekalb areas of Decatur need to be further analyzed.
30030 Unincorporated -- Much nicer area with investment houses ranging from $140k - $200k and ARV from $340k to $650k. Good for flips if you're capable of a high end rehab. Too close to Memorial and you're gambling (e.g. Woodfern). Good area for cash flow neutral holds and appreciation (high W2 investors).
30317 - North of Memorial, East of Candler - Nice pocket being redeveloped/rehabbed. $150k - $230k investor prices with $350k - $550k ARV. Flips seem to be best.
30032 - You need to know where Memorial, Glenwood, Candler, Columbia, and McAfee are. Typically prices go down as you go south and east or get close to or on any of these major roads. There are many exceptions to this rule of thumb. Some of these properties *can* feed into a top tier charter school. Most can not. IMO, great for rentals. Ok for flips.
30034 - Newer, larger cheaply built houses. Long way to go. Potentially good income generating properties.
Yeah, basically what @Rick Baggenstoss said. I have 3 rentals in 30032, two in the Belvedere area, one just south of East Lake proper. The rental market has gotten better and better in the last 5 years, but my folks are all relatively short-term (1-4 years). It's not a place where many house-buying families look, but a place where younger folks will buy: close to trendy Decatur, but outside the price lines. I just had a young artsy couple break a lease in Midway Park because Mom bought them a house 6 streets away, and one of their musician friends signed a lease and moved in the next day.
When I was buying, I shyed away from anything too close to Glenwood (on the north side) and east of Candler. Pressure is pushing those boundaries, but it's still worth paying lots of attention to. The further west you go on Glenwood (toward East Atlanta proper), the further south you can go and still be in attractive areas to both renters and buyers. I had great renters who left the East Lake Terrace house last year to buy a house right off Fayetteville and I-20 (about a mile west as the crow flies).
That said, I got the 3rd house last winter in Midway Park (just across Memorial from Avondale Estates), a rehabbed (oh, except for the crappy wiring and totally rat-eaten ductwork) 1,200 sq. ft. 3 br/1.5 bath ranch, for $60k last February, but haven't seen ANYTHING coming close to that price on the open market since.
FYI - my rents are: for the 2 br/1 bath near East Lake, $800 (includes $25/month pet surcharge); 2 br/1 bath on Columbia Circle, $750; and for the Midway Park 3 br/1.5 bath near Peachcrest & Midway, $875 (includes pet surcharge).
Decatur 30032 is all over the place as far as rents and pricing. Since 1/1/15 there have been 325 homes sold and of those 181 were under 99K. The highest being $460k and lowest a fire damaged property for $10,977. The area closest to East Lake probably has the highest, but there are diamonds in the rough all over. We picked up a 4/1 and made it a 3/2 1200sqft. and rented it before completion for $1200/mo. Have another immediately off Memorial 4/3 renting for $1650/mo. a couple others close by (not ours) that rent for $1700 & $2000. Anomalies? What we found was is if you find the right area within the zip and remodel to a little higher standard you'll get the fresh out college, with good jobs and 700+ credit scores that want to live near Decatur/Kirkwood/Avondale Estate, but don't want to live in a crappy house. 2 years we may have priced a couple of ours a little lower not realizing the market had changed so rapidly. Last year we rented out two properties we finished within 3 months of each other and both rented out in less than 2 weeks of listing on Postlets.
I had a sign up and got a ton of calls, but when they heard the price they all said it was way too high. I had a neighbor come and look at one and I told him what we were asking and he said you'll never get that over here. However, when we listed it we got our target demo and our rental price.
My point is because this area is so close to interstates, restaurants, etc. even though most areas score low in "walkability" you can get higher rents here. We just closed on our first home for a flip in the area and should start soon as a 3/3 home we're using for comp sold this year for $175k.
A couple of good points:
Atlanta Falcon/Soccer team owner and founder of Home Depot is building the pro soccer team practice fields and corporate office here, right across from the original Home Depot (now a County office). It's near 4 mass transit stations, 3 of which are building mixed use developments over the next 3 years.
Memorial Drive: Don't confuse the Atlanta portion of Memorial Drive with the Decatur portion. It's exploding with new development currently and on the board. The Decatur portion actually starts at Candler going toward 285, or the Perimeter as we call it here, it is a different story, but it's in 30032 and the same as above applies. I agree with @Rick Baggenstoss (howdy neighbor) and @Anna Watkins as well.
This is great info! My fiance' and I are ready for our first investment in 30032. We've been looking at Belvedere and White Oak in particular. We're hoping to find something under $60k as a good first flip! Thanks for all of the insight.
Originally posted by @Lynn Angus:
This is great info! My fiance' and I are ready for our first investment in 30032. We've been looking at Belvedere and White Oak in particular. We're hoping to find something under $60k as a good first flip! Thanks for all of the insight.
That will definitely need to be an off market deal, but they are out there.
30032 has been great for me. I have 3 properties around the Columbia Dr area and while I don't expect much in the equity department (but boy have my taxes gone up) these rentals are cash flow work horses. I always get young starter families that want to stay 2-3 years and pull between 940 to 1140 on 2/2 or 3/2 houses. I tell people all the time if you want to hit home runs you gotta be SW ATL inside the belt line and wither the storm. But if you want stable rock solid cash flow day one then 30032
Came across this thread. Im looking into a property on Riverside Pkwy, Decatur, GA 30034.
Can anyone give me some insight on this particular pocket from an investment stand point?