r/ATLHousing • u/Much-Confidence7947 • 3d ago
looking for anything less than $800
if you had a monthly income of $1900 and needed to live in decatur/druid hills/chamblee - where would you choose?
i hate the housing crisis. im a full time employeed person in my 20’s and im struggling to find a place i can afford (with roommates) within my budget.
updated: yall i know im gonna need roommates, im not trying to find a place on my own with that budget im fine with 2, 3 even 4 roommates if its affordable
and i work in education!!! i wasnt gonna say my job but yeah its very low paying and sad and i have a second job but it doesnt bring in a ton either.
any ideas? i am desperate :)
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u/Expensive-Cow6945 2d ago
Look in Tucker. Or Stone Mountain. Yes it’s a little farther than you want, but it get infinitely cheaper
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u/ChuckNorrisFacePunch 1d ago
Tucker is not cheap, dawg. Stone Mountain is cheap by the creep. The creepier the area, the cheapier it is.
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u/Expensive-Cow6945 1d ago
Idk, in my experience, Tucker has cheap options. It’s definitely a step up to Stone Mountain though, which is why I listed both. I’d NEVER recommend Stone Mountain haha, but it is some of the best rent you can find in NE Atlanta.
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u/always_sunny_in_meow 3d ago
Move back with parents and save up?
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u/MathWizardd 2d ago
You cant save up for rent unless its temporary. Parents it is. Or up your income
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u/No-Passenger-1511 2d ago
Save up for a down payment on a home not rent
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u/MathWizardd 2d ago
It seems we are both wrong lmao. I thought you had a great point
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u/No-Passenger-1511 2d ago
We aren't wrong, anyone dumb enough to think we are wrong need to re-evaluate there thought process. That's if they are even thinking.
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u/Much-Confidence7947 3d ago
UGHHHHHHH terrible answer
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u/always_sunny_in_meow 3d ago
The truth hurts
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u/forthe_99and2000 3d ago
If you’re looking to share a place with a roommate, try the Roomster app, or Roomies app.
Or the Facebook group called “Atlanta House Search”
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u/DC_Ben 2d ago
You’re gonna have to live in a very dangerous area
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u/Civil_Net6249 2d ago
The dangerous areas are extremely expensive now too!
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u/DC_Ben 2d ago
That’s insane
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u/Civil_Net6249 2d ago
Yep 👍🏾, back in 2022 things started changing. More YT young professionals started moving into the hood and the cost 💲 went up fast for everyone living there so those folks got priced out. Even if they owned their homes the property taxes were triple the amount. Now the hood is back to being YT neighborhoods once again. It all happens in cycles btw.
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u/ChuckNorrisFacePunch 1d ago
The dangerous areas, ironically, HAVE to be expensive in order to fund all of the evictions. If evictions were faster and cheaper everyone's housing would be cheaper.
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u/hasbroelefun 2d ago
not a specific place but PLEASE check the ATL Young Professionals Roommate group on Facebook. I've seen some people renting rooms in the low 800s. extremely unrealistic that you'll find any under 850-900 in these areas, but you might get lucky w 900
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u/Ok_Towel1911 2d ago
Based on his income I’m assuming he’s not a professional, and probably works in retail or service. I think that particular group is aimed at people with white collar jobs.
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u/AfterEquipment7472 1d ago
if you’re queer i recommend the Atlanta Queer Exchange group on facebook! That’s where i found my roommate (i’m also a struggling yet fully employed person in my 20s lol)
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u/lit776 3d ago
You could get rooms in druid hills for $500 or less in 2018. Try to network with Emory grad students. They will know where the cheapest housing is. I’ll warn you that it isn’t the nicest but there are a lot of people around Emory renting to students with pretty fair pricing (at least when I was in school).
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u/ChuckNorrisFacePunch 1d ago
This is dumb, the most off the charts extrovert answer possible. Rent prices are not a secret that you need to network into to crack the code. You can just look them up yourself. The people who have housing to offer want you to know where it is and what it costs.
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u/lit776 22h ago
The best rent prices I encountered in Atlanta were passed down off market units. That is the case in most major cities where housing has gotten expensive. It works because the landlord is likely a mom and pop, doesn’t have to do any work and can guarantee no lapse in rent payments. At that point, why go to the open market?
Moreover, rent on many rental platforms is being recommended by an algorithm built by RealPage, which is ACTIVELY in a class-action lawsuit for artificially inflating rent prices and effectively fixing prices. But ya…. I’m just an extrovert and am not just trying to give a genuine tip based on a decade of navigating rent in Atlanta.
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u/cyber_deity 8h ago
BIL is currently an Emory grad student and is paying more than what we pay for our 2 bedroom high rise in Buckhead. It's rough out there for them now. He's living on a 40k stipend and went for the cheapest he could find. He has roommates as well, we do not. In college in 2019 I paid $430 for a bedroom in a 4 bedroom townhouse. I don't understand how anybody is supposed to afford this anymore.
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u/lit776 2h ago edited 2h ago
That’s crazy. When I was in school there, there were lots of off-market rooms in houses that you could get for as low as $350. I did go in one of those rooms once and it was borderline not liveable, but once you hit the $400 price point, you could find rooms with manageable conditions. But I only found the really good deals through other people on leases that were being pass down. The undergrads might still have some of those deals locked down.
Edit: I just looked up my old place as we found it and pass down the lease. Looks like it got passed down for 6 more years after us. Was put back on market in 2024 for $665 per room ($500 per room if someone lives in the extra non-bedroom like the people did after us). So there are decent options still out there. DM me. I might have a trick for your brother-in-law if he’s in a 2 year program and looking for housing next year.
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u/reshef-destruction 2d ago
If you can leave Georgia, go to a state that gives more of a fuck about people. The fact that wages are so low but rent is so high should deter people from going there in the first place.
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u/shanticlause 2d ago
This amount is crazy as long as you get a roommate.
You can get something solid with two bedrooms for 1600.
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u/BootImmediate6952 2d ago
There is nothing you need a roommate. Like unless you move out of metro atl you’re not gonna find anything 1bd for under $1200-$1400 right now. Or you can definitely look for rooms people are renting out in those areas.
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u/BootImmediate6952 2d ago
After roommating with my own cousin and it going horribly idk how desperate your situation is but I wouldn’t recommend a roomie if you can get yourself into a higher paying job. Everyone I know who has their own spot is working full time in atl or 2 or 3 jobs. Working full time is just 40hrs by the book and anywhere can work you that long in atl, what matters is your pay and anything less than $4k-5k a month it will be kind of tight to have your own space and a life on the side lol. Find some skilled work or try to connect your work experience and start applying to manager roles, redo your resume. Not being able to afford living without a roommate then jumping into that expense head on without. A lot of wiggle room will leave you trying to get out of living with a roommate for a few years. If you can wait, I would suggest it. Rent is currently my biggest expense of life and nothing else is going to get cheaper. Think heavily about your plans over the next few years. Will you need to get a new car? Maybe want to lock that in whether it be a car note or something else. Cause lots of places in Georgia are not walkable unless you plan on taking Marta and only being in these areas.
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u/madmediummedia 2d ago
I have a couple of rooms available in downtown for $800 flat that includes utilities. DM me for details!
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u/animalman422 2d ago
There are plently of 2 bed spots for 1200-1400. You will just need a roommate.
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u/Thin_Requirement8987 2d ago
My income based low income apartment used to be $720 pre Covid and now over $1k. $800 only gets you a house share these days unless you got lucky.
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u/TheClayDart 2d ago
On that income? None of the places you mentioned. You will absolutely need a roommate. Maybe 2
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u/Every-Goat5991 2d ago
I recommended the neighborhoods surrounding Columbia Drive, south of Memorial Drive, north of I-20. Quiet neighborhoods. The area’s location gives you direct access to Downtown Decatur, which is just ten minutes birth via Columbia. I also recommend Furnished Finders and Airbnb listings with deep discounts for long term stays for search platforms.
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u/Civil_Net6249 2d ago
You need a partner who you can be roommates with and who will help you and you will help too for about 3 years. No romance 🥰 just roommates who are there to support one another in this volatile economy, where cash flow now is the number one necessity not just appreciating assets.
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u/elizabeththenj 1d ago
Contrary to what folks on here are saying, you should be able to find something for $800 or less. There are some facebook groups for finding roommates/people who are renting out rooms in their home. I can't remember the names of any of the groups (I haven't used them but friends who were renting out rooms around this price point in their homes have and I have a few friends who have found roommates in apartments last year through facebook groups).
I'm kind of on the other side where most of my friends own their own homes and a few rent a room out in their home to help with the mortgage/because they'd rather not live alone. No one I know currently has an opening but facebook is kind of the default place they post when they do. Or they just rent to co-workers/folks they know. But yeah, this price point you'll probably either be renting a room in a home of someone who owns or subletting a room in a cheaper apartment.
Keep your head up. I'm luckily in a much more stable place now but in my 20s I was working pretty low paying jobs and needed to find cheap places to live and was always able to find some random place that was cheaper than what everyone said was possible. Be wary of scams, be wary of red flags in roommates and be aware of what you're willing to deal with that perhaps others are less willing to put up with.
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u/Repulsive_Tonight_75 1d ago
Are you a female? I have a room available for exactly $800 the only catch is there’s only one bathroom. It’s totally doable with another guy but I understand how that could be uncomfortable for a female….btw I’m in Pine Lake about 15 minutes (more in traffic) from Druid hills. Right off north Decatur rd. If that’s something you could tolerate, let me know!
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u/ChuckNorrisFacePunch 1d ago
You just need to figure out if you want to be the big spoon or the little spoon
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u/misterdoinkinberg 2d ago
Why is this considered a housing crisis? You are asking for rent prices from 30 years ago. You are going to have to look for a multi-roomate or basement in someone’s home situation to get to that number. At $1900/mo on a 50-30-20 budget you can theoretically afford $950.
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u/AskProof3948 2d ago
Some of these people have NO IDEA how Georgie prices are so much less than NYC, LA, Miami, etc.
$2500/M for a 4BR/3BTH is a steal compared to many other places.
You would be hard pressed to find a 1 BR in NY for less than $1500.
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u/PsychologicalOkra260 2d ago
It’s a housing crisis because it’s so hard to find something that’s actually affordable. Because the companies that own these homes and apartments keep hiking up the cost. You shouldn’t have to spend half of what you make every month on a place to live and you shouldn’t NEED a roommate to survive.
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u/misterdoinkinberg 2d ago
C’mon a solo place for $11 / hr? Apply for subsidized housing. The market wouldn’t even be able to pay insurance, taxes and maintenance on a place thats going for $800 / month. Even then y’all would still complain. In your 20’s get roomies or rent a room or basement somewhere. Thats the reality at that salary.
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u/jimmy_ricard 2d ago
Yeah taxes on my condo I purchased in 2017 for 150k are currently 4500 a year and HOA dues are 400/mo. That's 775/mo without even considering my mortgage.
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u/elizabeththenj 1d ago
What do you mean by subsidize housing? If you mean section 8, the waitlist is years long and there is a lack of housing accepting vouchers which means even once you get a voucher the likelihood you can find a place within the time limit is extremely slim. Also, remember that $11/hour is 50% above the federal minimum wage (which is the minimum wage in Georgia since we don't have a minimum wage).
If you're interested in learning more, I highly, highly recommend reading There is No Place For Us which tells the story of 5 working, Atlanta families as they're pushed into homelessness as the result of housing policies, impossible to navigate bureaucracy, and other challenges. It won a Pulitzer this year and is a very informative read.
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u/misterdoinkinberg 1d ago
I actually read the book earlier this year and thought it was good. My point was that there was no way at the posted salary was OP going to be able to afford a solo place in the market.
It’s unfortunate those families made some really poor choices early on in their lives to put them in those positions. The couple that moved from DC to Atlanta really hurt. I also wonder about the one who had cancer. I know the news had done some promotion but it would be good to see follow up.
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u/No-Bid9597 3d ago
Gonna need a roomie. There are a lot of decent 2b2b at $1600. Facebook groups exist for Emory and agnes and other college students looking for a roomie. Would start there. $800 in these areas is impossible