Is Atlanta too hot a market and saturated with cash buyers?

[Athan D.]

Hello, everyone. I've been following the forums, listening/watching the podcasts, and reading up when I can. This is my very first post and I am very new to real estate investment. I live in Atlanta, particularly in Buckhead, where I was very fortunate to buy a small condo from 1965 at an affordable price (everything else in Buckhead is monetarily out of reach). I've owned property before where I house-hacked and made good money off of that, so I now want to start acquiring rental properties within a 30-40 minute drive of where I live. So, what's the issue? In just one year and a half, I've seen prices skyrocket, new humongous and luxurious condominiums are being built everywhere and the few rental properties I find off the usual real estate apps seem to be either dumps or, when very attractive properties, they are bought out almost immediately by cash buyers. Should I then start looking further out of the perimeter? Maybe even completely out of Atlanta? Is there any chance for little amateur without large amounts of cash guys like me? Thank you so much, and I'm sorry I made it a rather long post.

[Andrew Johnson]

Athan D. You can basically replace ATL with any large metro area. We're approaching a decade of housing recovery and increasing prices. Not to mention interest rates are still low. What compounds the challenge for a market like ATL is you still look like a bargain compared to NYC, SF, LA, and even newer high-dollar markets like Seattle and Denver. For whatever it's worth, you're far from alone! My advice would be to figure out what your "investment thesis" is. Some love cash-flow in Memphis, others will buy in San Diego because they think appreciation will outpace cash-flow gains. Neither approach is "wrong" in the same way that investing ITP in ATL isn't wrong or right. You just have to look at a deal that matches your thesis. I know this is super general but 1/2 of the people on BP don't seem to have a thought process wrapped around what makes a good investment for them. Consequently, it's nearly impossible to map to investment parameters when looking at deals.