Not looking for perfection

Jennifer Bickley, 23, and Kyle Sewell, 24, thought long-term during their first home search. Bickley had quit her job, turning down a transfer to Austin, Texas, at the same time they were looking for a place to buy this spring in Atlanta.

Bickley was concerned that would affect their ability to qualify for a loan, but she quickly found a new job with Triage Consulting Group, a health care consultant. The Atlanta natives and University of Georgia graduates had been renting an apartment in Virginia-Highland.

“We loved it, but with the economy the way it is, we’re extremely interested in real estate and making that part of our future goals to invest in real estate,” Bickley said. “We were paying $1,250 a month in rent, and we could find something less than that (to buy).”

Assisted by Rebecca Jacobs, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Intown Atlanta, the couple looked at a variety of neighborhoods, including Reynoldstown, Old Fourth Ward, Kirkwood, Grant Park and Ormewood Park.

“Our must-haves was it had to be a bungalow and it had to have something to it where we could do some sort of renovations to increase the value,” she said.

Kyle Sewell and Jennifer Bickley

Choice No. 1: Kirkwood classic on the corner

This three-bedroom, one-bath home on a corner lot in Kirkwood had great curb appeal, Bickley said, boasting a porch that wrapped from the front to one side of the house and a fenced-in backyard, a priority for the couple. The Woodbine Avenue home, built in 1921, retained some of the original oak hardwoods and had an updated kitchen with new white cabinets and gray countertops, which gave it an expensive feel, Bickley said. But the house had issues, including rotted wood, electrical problems and a roof that partly needed to be replaced.

Choice No. 2: Reynoldstown renovation

This three-bedroom, two-bath home on Stovall Street had a brick exterior that didn’t have as much character as the other homes, but Bickley said the interior was “gorgeous.” The kitchen in the home, built in 1965, had been redone with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. It was a great deal because it was a short sale situation, she said. The couple also saw the potential for the home’s value to grow over the years as the neighborhood improves.

Choice No. 3: Precious in Ormewood Park

This two-bedroom, one-bath home on Gilbert Street, which was built in 1925, boasted a deck and fenced-in back yard for their dog, Munson, a goldendoodle. The renovated home had a “quaint and cute” kitchen, Bickley said, with granite countertops and yellow walls. The front porch deck had been extended. “It had a laundry room that was off the master that wasn’t air-conditioned. We thought we could get heating and air into it and turn that into a bathroom,” she said. But they were concerned that the low $200,000s price might be too high.

What did they choose?

No. 1, after their bid on No. 2 wasn’t accepted. The home in Kirkwood was originally priced at $250,000, but after they saw it drop to $189,000, they put in an offer. The bank accepted it after another buyer’s financing didn’t go through. In the meantime, an inspection found several problems, so they negotiated further to get the home as-is for $168,000. They closed in July and have taken out a wall to open the living room and spent about $6,000 on renovations and repairs. They plan to add another bathroom, too. “Our search wasn’t about a house that we fell in love with,” she said. “It was about a house that was a great deal in an up-and-coming neighborhood, and this was our first house, so it didn’t have to be perfect.”