We Buy Houses in Atlanta

The bungalow belt

Atlanta's west and south sides — the West End, Westview, Adair Park, Capitol View, Sylvan Hills, Mechanicsville, Pittsburgh — hold the city's largest concentration of early-twentieth-century housing. Craftsman bungalows and shotgun houses, mostly wood frame on pier-and-beam foundations, many built between 1910 and 1940.

The ones that come to us have original systems: knob-and-tube or cloth-insulated wiring, galvanized plumbing, settled or rotted piers, roofs with layered repairs, and no central HVAC. Grant Park, Ormewood Park, and East Atlanta have similar stock, further along in renovation.

Heirs' property and sixty-year ownerships

This is the single most common title situation we see in Atlanta. A house bought by a grandparent in the 1950s or 1960s, passed informally to children and then grandchildren, with no estate ever administered. Record title still stands in the deceased owner's name while descendants paid the taxes and kept the house up.

No closing attorney can insure a sale until that chain is cleared — through probate, an order of no administration necessary, or a proceeding to determine heirs. Georgia's heirs-property statute also gives co-owners a right to buy out an heir pushing for a sale rather than letting it go to auction. It is solvable, and it is almost always the longest step, so it is worth starting before looking for a buyer.

Rising assessments on long-held houses

As intown values rose, Fulton County assessments followed. Georgia values property at fair market value and assesses at 40 percent of it, and a house without a homestead exemption — which includes every estate and every rental — gets no protection from the increase.

For a long-time owner on a fixed income, or for heirs carrying a house nobody lives in, the tax bill is frequently what forces the decision. Delinquent taxes do not have to be cleared before selling; they are paid from the closing proceeds.

City of Atlanta code enforcement

The city enforces nuisance, overgrown-lot, and unsafe-structure rules and can pursue demolition, with the cost assessed against the property as a lien. Charges accumulate on a vacant house while notices go to whatever address the tax assessor has on file — which for heirs and absentee owners is often decades out of date.

An open case does not stop a sale. Send us the case number and any order; recorded liens are paid at closing. What moves a closing date is a case nobody mentioned that surfaces in the title examination.

Atlanta property we buy

• 1910s to 1940s bungalows and shotgun houses with original systems
• Heirs' property where no estate was ever opened
• Vacant houses with code cases or demolition orders
• Houses with pier-and-beam settlement, rot, or crawlspace moisture
• Unpermitted basement, attic, and porch conversions
• Single-family rentals with tenants in place, paying or in arrears
• Duplexes and small multifamily buildings in older neighborhoods
• Houses with delinquent Fulton County or DeKalb County taxes

Frequently asked questions