[All images via Zillow.com.]
So we've scoured the renting services and tapped our own institutional knowledge of rental trends in Atlanta to formulate what we feel are the top-five neighborhoods for renting in the city right now. As part of this highly scientific process, both apartments and rental homes were taken into consideration, because Atlanta renters have vastly different needs. Sample properties include a duplex, a swanky high-rise unit and a hefty Craftsman-style house in a place you might not have considered renting before. Feel free to vehemently disagree with the list — and to point us toward any rental gems in Atlanta that we may have missed.
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5. Westside
Sample property: Elan Westside, largest units
Vitals: Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, from 1,093 square feet
Rent: $1,975+
The Westside tends to attract renters who prefer a little industrial edge to the pricier, more sylvan neighborhoods on the flipside of town. But its swelling roster of shops and restaurants, combined with still-reasonable rents in many cases, make this a premium destination. Rental properties range from eight-bedroom goliaths near Georgia Tech ($3,600 per month) to fresh apartment complexes and true industrial lofts, which are usually tough to score. True two-bedroom units in mixed-use projects with all the bells and whistles can still be found below the $2,000 threshold.
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4. Grant Park
Sample property: 306 Logan St SE # B (duplex)
Vitals: Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,500 square feet
Rent: $1,850
Grant Park is hardly synonymous with choice rentals, but it's a fine option for apartment and rental-home seekers who like quiet streets and tree canopies, or families new to Atlanta trying to grasp the lay of the land. The recently opened Leonard on Memorial Drive and several condo/townhome lease options thicken the plot. GP has bona fide houses for rent in the $2,000 range, some with three bedrooms, historic detailing and funky charm. The beautiful namesake park and burgeoning restaurant scene pump up the allure here.
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3. Atlantic Station
Sample property: 1294 Atlantic Drive NW (house)
Vitals: Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, 2,196 square feet
Rent: $2,899
Sure, Atlantic Station might not qualify as an Atlanta neighborhood in the most traditional sense — withdraw those pitchforks and hate mail! — but its prominence as a rental haven cannot be discounted. For renters without automobiles, it's like an all-inclusive retort, with complimentary country music. Contrary to what some might think, the leasing options are not limited to apartments; for those willing to venture a couple of blocks from Atlantic Station's core, townhomes and large single-family residences are often available. Like, for instance, this beefy Craftsman from 2005, where for $900 and change, you and two pals could live large in the shadow of Midtown's spires.
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2. Old Fourth Ward
Sample property: AMLI Parkside unit
Vitals: Two bedrooms, one bathroom +, from 929 square feet
Rent: $1,724+
The outcry about ballooning rents in this neck of the woods has grown cacophonous the last couple of years, but demand has a tendency to do that, and at the core of demand is usually something special. And something special this way has come. The Beltline, Ponce City Market hype, the blossoming of Historic Fourth Ward Park and the resurgence of Edgewood Avenue have blended together in O4W for a cocktail called Renters Delight. But two-bedroom units for under $2,000 monthly are still out there. For now.
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1. MIDTOWN
Sample property: 1080 Peachtree unit
Vitals: Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,358 square feet
Rent: $3,100
For city-savvy renters who covet Atlanta's most walkable, cosmopolitan flavor, Midtown has no equal. Top-flight restaurants and drinking oases abound, complimented by one of the country's premier green spaces in Piedmont Park. It's become a hot zone for two-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood of $3,000 montly. Thousands of new rental options have delivered in the last couple of years, with thousands more under construction or proposed. Projections for job growth are so strong in magnetic Midtown that developers, for the most part, don't seem worried.
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0. Buckhead (honorable mention)
For when you've moved from Manhattan and a $1,500 studio qualifies as "almost free."