Schools in the city are run by the Griffin-Spalding County School District and include eleven elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools, including Griffin High School. The Griffin Technical College was founded in 1963 and is today known as the Southern Crescent Technical College. There is also a branch campus of the University of Georgia in the city.

Griffin has been the location where a number of television shows and movies were filmed, including The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead, Driving Miss Daisy and Mississippi Burning. The city also offers outdoor recreation at the 200-acre City Park, with five pavilions, two playgrounds, six tennis court, a city golf course and a public pool.

Buying a Home in Griffin

With small-town charm yet a strong connection to the Atlanta metropolitan area, Griffin may be a great place for you to make your family home. Within the city, the median value of a home is $92,800. Of the homes currently listed for sale in the city, the median price is $89,900. Home values have been on a strong upward trend in the city since 2013 and are expected to continue along that trend in the coming period. There is a diverse array of homes available in the city, from smaller or older homes, many of which have large lawns and land area, to larger, new-construction builds.

Popular Neighborhoods in Griffin

Griffin’s historic downtown, the setting for a number of Georgia-based films and television shows, is attractive and bustling, with a growing number of shops, small businesses, bookstores, cafes and restaurants. The downtown is part of the America’s Main Street program, encouraging walkability, accessibility and community events and togetherness. The city has a small-town, close-knit feel. For a more spacious style of living, the areas south and southwest of the center of town have well-sized homes with lawns with plenty of room to play.

Buying vs. Rent to Own Homes

You may be certain that it’s time for you to establish your family home in Griffin. However, you may also want some additional time to save up more for your down payment or to improve your credit for better mortgage rates or approvals. If this is your situation, a rent to own home can be an excellent choice. You’ll decide on your home, negotiate a price and move in; however, you’ll rent the home for the first period of time while you save for your down payment or work on your credit. When the lease period is over, you’ll buy the home, with credit from a portion of your rental payments. This can be a great way to ease into homeownership.

Cost of Living in Griffin

In Griffin, you’ll save in comparison to the United States national average in almost all areas of life. The overall cost of living in Griffin is 15 percent below the national midpoint. A good portion of that savings comes from the affordable housing prices in the city, as housing costs in Griffin are only half of the national average costs. You’ll also save on utilities, groceries and miscellaneous costs, while health and transportation costs are about four points above the average.

Summary

The city of Griffin provides a close-knit, small-town feel with a growing downtown and developing Main Street, with lots of recreational options for families, couples and individuals. Part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, Griffin has family-friendly neighborhoods, outdoor activities and a strong historical legacy.

Rent to Own Realtors

Rent to own is beneficial to both buyers and sellers, but that’s not common knowledge. A lot of people look to realtors as a credible source of information for their counterpart in a rent to own deal about the benefits of the program.

However, you likely won’t find a realtor who is interested in helping you. There’s not a lot of profit for realtors in rent to own deals.

Instead, you’ll have to become a credible expert on the process yourself. Honestly, that’s not a bad thing. It’s better that you know everything you need to about the process you’re investing so much time and money into.

About Our Listings

Whether you’re interested in purchasing a condo or a townhouse, or if you’ve been touring apartments and houses, rent to own can be a good option for buyers – often with no credit check.

Just because the seller isn’t checking your credit score doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry about it. You’ll need to have a credit score high enough to qualify for financing if you want to succeed in a rent to buy deal.

In rent to own by owner programs, sellers want to make a profit off of their properties. They will earn rent money from you whether you successfully buy the house or not. So, they don’t really worry about whether you have the credit score to buy it at the end of the lease.

Lease to purchase deals from a company are often less successful than from an owner because companies tend to snatch up cheap foreclosed homes and lease-option them on an “as is” basis.

Owners who are eager to sell their property may ask you to sign a lease-purchase agreement, which is very different from a lease-option because instead of having the option to buy the property before the end of the lease, you legally have to buy it. That can be difficult if you start the deal with bad credit and cannot bring it up high enough to qualify for a mortgage.

Looking for rent to own listings near me? Start your search on the Rent to Own Labs database.