Chattanooga Rental Markets/Neighborhoods

[Daniel Walker]

I'm currently interested in SFRs in the Chattanooga, TN area and very interested in neighborhoods with good value.  Several old threads have outlined good areas, but all are dated by now.  Curious if anyone has any recent perspective on this.  Thanks in advance.

[Brian Levredge]

Prices are up across the board in all sub markets here.  Value can be found in all of them but it generally requires a boots on the ground mentality or good contacts passing deals along.   While inventory is up over last year at this time it's still well down below the levels of a couple years ago.  That combined with the fact that Chattanooga is gaining more traction nationally means there's a lot more competition.  

That said the lower rent areas are East Chatt, East Lake, Alton Park, Highland Park (outside of the Highland Neighborhood Association).  You're typically 750-900/month in rent for a three bed house.  Prices are up so you're generally looking at 50-80k for a house that doesn't need much work. 

Middle rent range areas are East Ridge, Hixson, and Red Bank.  You can get about 1000-1500 or so for a three bed depending on neighborhood.  This is kind of the sweet spot in town rent wise.  Short vacancies and stable tenants.  Plan to pay around 100x rent in these neighborhoods, at least right now.

East Brainerd and Ooltewah are the upper middle to upper rent areas.  There are pockets where the rent is lower but you're generally looking at 1300-2000 for a three bed, depending.  The public schools in these areas are more highly regarded so values are higher.  Expect to pay a premium, which doesn't help a lot from the investment perspective. 

The high end would be Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, North Chatt, and Riverview.  Those are high, high demand areas for purchase so finding a rental is very difficult, especially one that makes sense financially.