The school district of this home is in Peachtree Ridge
SchoolDigger Ranks Peachtree Ridge High School 55th of 367 Georgia public source: www.schooldigger.com
I honestly have to admit, that this home was very difficult to rent and I was emotionally drained from this experience. Two mistakes i made was that first, i didn't know how to research schools/demographics back in 2006. I just thought a brand new 4000 sq/ft home seems cheap at $500k compared to Irvine. I learned to never purchase a $500,000 home in a $200,000 neighborhood. What you want to do is purchase a $200,000 house in the a $500,000 neighborhood in the best school district and location you can afford.
I look at three things to screen tenants. I check their credit score, 2 bank statements, and 2 pay stubs.
The first applicant did not provide any of the three i asked for. He provided me his own copy of a credit score. I've also learned never to accept a credit score already made. Common excuse is that i got my credit pulled several times and i don't want my credit score to go down.
I've seen all types of applicants starting from a well known hip hop artist, professional basket ball player, celebrity etc.
Scam #1
The tenant will build out your basement with their own dime, but he wants a 7 year lease and wants to move in couple of days. Wow! that sounds too good to be true. The agent was the wife of the prospective tenant. They were a professional husband/wife scam team. She wanted 7 years co-op up up front and her husband would squat on your property. Tenant provided me with the wrong address when i checked tax record. Credit report shows a lot of inconsistency. Kept calling every hour when i told him i am not interested.
Scam #2 - The Jamaican Scam
Credit score : 785. Moving in from Maryland to relocate to Atlanta. The lady claimed she was a restaurant co-owner of a Jamaican restaurant in Suwanee. I find out that her sister's credit report was pulled, not the prospective tenant. Checked to see if the restaurant existed and does not exist. Fake paystubs generated from the fake restaurant. Fake bank statements generated that were photo shopped.
The third was not a scam, but dealt with a hi pressure agent who told me that she had highly qualified tenants. I asked to pull the credit score and they insisted that i take their pre-made credit report. She pulled out the "racist" card when i turned down her applicants down accusing me that i don't like black people and wanted me to apologize to her clients via three way calling. Young African american couple making $30,000 each. Tried to use her mom's annuity payments to make the ratios work. credit scores were in the 500s and living pay check to pay check. 3 weeks later the agent came back and asked if she take the listing to sell. I don't care if you are green, purple, or orange... 500 credit score, marginal income, and less than $1400 cash reserves is asking for trouble.
By this time, I was very discouraged. I knew I need to carry this home until 2016 to get back the down payment i made 8 years ago. I asked the Lord to help me secure a good 2 year tenant, but i was feeling hopeless. I now listed the home on the market to sell, but knew I would lose close to $100,000 if i sold at today's market value. I was starting to a get a lot calls as the north atlanta real estate market currently has a shortage of inventory.
You can see how a single mistake I made 8 years ago is still with me in 2014.
