Is fix and flip still working in Atlanta?

Question

Hey Everyone,

My partner and I did rentals in Cleveland and are now transitioning to Atlanta and trying to figure out if flips still pencil here.

We started by hunting off-market and on-market deals in the NE submarkets: Dunwoody, Decatur (30030/30033), Sandy Springs, etc. The pattern was clear: the numbers only work for other buyers at roughly +30K over what we can pay. Our financing is solid; we have a GC with decent pricing, and even running it lean with just a small crew and subs (no GC markup), the deals here just don't work for us. People kept catching properties for more than we could justify. Is the north side just too saturated?

About a month ago we changed the approach:

• 1. Cut our close from 21 days to 14
• 2. Cut DD 
• 3. Moved to the southern submarkets (College Park, East Point, Forest Park, Pittsburgh), but only in pockets where DOM is under 90

With that, we've managed to make a few deals work at about 20K profit after underwriting. As you guys know, that number can erode fast once you open walls and start finding surprises, so 20K feels thin. We also landed one wholesale deal at 80K profit in that stretch, but that felt more like luck than a repeatable process.

So I'm trying to gut check where we are:

• Are we wasting our time in Atlanta's southern submarkets?
• How are you all fighting rising renovation costs and the fierce competition on properties?
• Is fix and flip basically dead in this market right now?
• Is direct-to-seller plus your own subs and in-house reno team the only way to compete today?

Appreciate any honest takes, especially from people actively flipping in Metro Atlanta.

Garrett Crosby · Answer

Sharon, the fact that you're consistently getting outbid by ~30K tells me your underwriting is disciplined, not that you're doing anything wrong. In a competitive metro like Atlanta's north side, the buyers winning those deals are usually accepting margins you shouldn't - and a chunk of them are the same people who post here six months later about a flip that went upside down. Getting outbid on a deal that didn't pencil is a win, even though it doesn't feel like one.

On your specific questions:

A $20K projected profit is genuinely too thin for a flip, and you already know it - you said it yourself, that number erodes fast the second you open a wall. My rule of thumb is that if the projected spread can't absorb a 15-20% rehab overrun and still leave me profitable, it's not a deal, it's a hope. In this market I'd rather do fewer flips at real margins than churn thin ones and hand my profit to the first surprise behind the drywall.

On competition and rising reno costs: the two levers that actually move the needle are acquisition and scope discipline, not shaving days off DD (cutting due diligence to win is exactly how the thin-margin crowd gets hurt). Direct-to-seller is the most reliable way to buy below the retail-investor frenzy, and yes, controlling your own subs helps - but I'd frame it as a margin cushion, not a magic bullet. The best flippers I know win on buy price and buy box, not on being the fastest to skip inspections.

Is flipping dead in Atlanta? No - but the easy version is. The southern submarkets you moved into can absolutely work if you tighten your buy box to specific ZIP pockets with sub-90 DOM and treat that 20K floor as a hard no. That wholesale 80K deal wasn't luck so much as proof that your deal flow occasionally surfaces real spreads; the goal is building a pipeline where those show up on purpose.

Feel free to DM if you want to talk through buy-box criteria or how to structure the direct-to-seller side - happy to compare notes.

Andy Sabisch · Answer

The north side of Atlanta is a tough area to find deals as you have found due to the competition out there.  What we found (when we were in Atlanta and talking to friends that are still there doing investing) is that people were willing to pay way more than they should have to get a property.  In a few cases we followed-up as the flip neared completion and talked to the people that were doing it . . . in most cases they admitted they over paid and found issues that they had missed up front.  Stick to your model and numbers . . . we have walked away from far more deals than we have bought but we have dodged bullets in doing so.

Kevin Polite · Answer

@Sharon Israel I sold 3 this year in 30032 and did okay on the flip, but the other 2 were rentals I spruced up to retail and I'd had them for 12 years. Buyers are definitely more choosy these days.

Kevin Polite · Answer

I sold a house in 30030 for $375k and the investor that purchased it is building a $1.2mil house. 30030 has City of Decatur and unincorporated. Mine was in Midway Woods which is unincorporated. He’s sold 4 homes in the last 2 years. That price point there tends to sell fast. Much higher in City of Decatur. Seems like you’re doing the right thing. What price point are you selling.

Sharon Israel · Answer

Hey Kevin,

Currently, we are looking at properties with an ARV up to ~$800K.

I completely agree with you about 30030; it has very strong demand, and there is almost no risk of properties sitting on the market. However, the over-competitive climate for investors makes it nearly impossible to purchase at a price where a hard money fix-and-flip actually works. Because of this, our current active project is in 30032. We managed to purchase it at a reasonable price, but margins are still tight - we expect a profit of around $20K.

Regarding new construction, we are holding off for now. At this stage, we prefer to allocate our investors' capital across a few smaller flips with a turnaround time of up to 6 months, rather than tying it up in a single new build that could take a year or more due to permitting.