Price-Chopped Buckhead Moderns Battle for Supremacy

Let's say you want to live in Buckhead, but the homes are just so big and bold. You have a healthy budget to work with, but you're tired of the gaudy over-the-top mansions. And there's too much fru-fru in a classical home for you. Well, you're in luck, if you like sleek lines and single stories: Two midcentury homes in Buckhead have been on the market all summer, and while temperatures haven't really fallen lately, the prices on these hip pads have. Let's plop them in a hypothetical cage and see which one prevails. It's time for Real Estate Deathmatch.

880 Somerset Drive

Pricing details: A price chop of $50,000 last month, with a new ask of $799,000

Designed by Jerry Cooper of prominent local firm Cooper Carry in 1959, the home has had only one owner. With four bedrooms and three-and-1/2 bathrooms, there's plenty of space for the family. While the price is low for the neighborhood, a new buyer will likely need to budget for some serious upgrades to the kitchen and bathrooms. But the spaces are big and the 1.3-acre wooded lot can't be beat. The potential, in other words, is huge.

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3196 Rilman Rd

Pricing details: A June price-slice of $24,000, with a new ask of $875,000.

Outside, the home may appear all rambling ranch, but inside a major overhaul has achieved an open floor plan with a contemporary lean. Dark wood floors, walls in white and grey and plenty of natural light make the home feel much newer than its 1940s vintage. With only three bedrooms and three bathrooms, however, it's a bit more of a squeeze than the competition, and priced significantly higher. Still, if you want a bona fide Zen garden, this home is the one.