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Dear Decaturish – Looking for a ‘real’ landlord

D'ish Decatur

Dear Decaturish – Looking for a ‘real’ landlord

An artist's rendering of The Place on Ponce project at 315 W. Ponce in Decatur. Image provided by Carter USA.
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An artist's rendering of The Place on Ponce project at 315 W. Ponce in Decatur. Image provided by Carter USA.

An artist’s rendering of The Place on Ponce project at 315 W. Ponce in Decatur. Image provided by Carter USA.

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Dear Decaturish,

I’ve recently started reading your blog and I wanted to say ‘thank you’ for all your hard work! It’s one of the best news sources I’ve found in Atlanta so far.

Please find below an open letter of sorts to Decatur landlords. I’m not sure if this has a place in your blog, or if you might know how I can find an answer to my query:

Dear Landlords Of Decatur,

I am currently apartment hunting in downtown Decatur. I’m looking for a nice place within easy walking distance to the MARTA station. I’m married to Mike, both in our 40’s with no kids or pets. We are open to looking at all kinds of places but would prefer at least one bedroom. We have a healthy budget, good credit, references. Three months remain on our current lease but I’ve started looking early as I saw last year how the rental market dries up in winter: we arrived in Atlanta in December were lucky to find the place we had. So I’m putting feelers out, hoping to get on a few landlord’s radar or maybe line something up ahead of time.

As I search I find that most rentals on offer (even on Craigslist) seem to be rented by, or through, a property agent. Being originally from London (me) and San Francisco (Mike) we are used to renting directly from the building owners. We would much rather have the opportunity to rent from a human being than a leasing ‘entity’. The place we have right now is managed by such a leasing group and our experience has been, let’s say, underwhelming. We’ve both had good living situations in the past where we rented a unit attached to our landlord’s house, as well as in buildings that were family-owned.

Does that type of rental exist here in Decatur? If yes, how do I plug into that community of people? Is there an online listings board that individual landlords favor? Or is there a physical noticeboard somewhere around town that I should look at or leave a ‘wanted’ note on?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Warmly,

Alison Ruth Schmitt

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