Any Information on Decatur, GA _Please! (Atlanta, Peachtree City: property taxes, condo, travel)

[StephArden]

Hi,
We are moving to the Atlanta area and we need to find something within commuting distance to my husband's new job, in McDonough. We want to be close to Atlanta and we also want to be able to enjoy our immediate neighborhood if we don't feel like driving into Atlanta. We have kids so we want good schools. We want to spend around $200,000 on a house, give or take a few dollars. Can anyone give me some good insider information on Decatur? Nice? Crime? Shopping? Restaurants? Schools?
Thanks!

[TakeAhike]

Go>>
North Atlanta - Emory

In this thread--look for the post by SuMiller--she really knows a lot about Decatur. You could PM her.

You can click 'Search' at the top of the page and enter 'Decatur' to find previous threads and there are many. Also try 'Emory' as a keyword.

Honestly--finding a home in this area for $200,000 might be a challenge.

You might do better in Tucker.

hth

sls

[sumiller2000]

As long as you are within the Decatur city limits, Decatur has fantastic, innovative schools and is a great, funky, family oriented community. They have their own very small city school system (City Schools of Decatur) with about 2500 kids total in the whole system.

There are a lot of "Decatur" addresses that are outside of the city limits. For the most part, these areas do not have good schools. One exception in Fernbank Elementary. It is an excellent DeKalb County school but it is also in an expensive area. Fernbank feeds into Shamrock Middle and Druid Hills High. I have heard good and bad about these schools, so you would need to check them out thoroughly.

You could probably find a condo in the City of Decatur for $200,000, but it is virtually impossible to get even a small family house in the Decatur city limits for less that upper $300,000s. Large houses and new construction are in the $600,000s and up throughout the city.

The other thing is that Decatur is quite a ways from McDonough. You might want to check out schools around the McDonough area. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about McDonough, though I have heard that it is a nice community. Check out schools in the McDonough area on greatschools.net. I would think that there must be some good schools around there.

Good luck!

[sumiller2000]

I checked on Henry County Schools (where McDonough is) and the best elementary in the county appears to be East Lake Elementary. I'd really investigate though because Henry County Schools shows a fairly rapid increase in the percentage of kids in poverty enrolled in their schools over the last few years. I would imagine that they may be getting some bleed over from Clayton County - and that can't be good!

I wonder how far Fayette County is from McDonough? We met some folks at the beach from Peachtree City and they are very happy with their schools and thrilled with their community. Peachtree City is probably further from Atlanta that you would like ideally, but it is apparently a tight community and is very family oriented with a wide range of housing prices. It's a lot more suburban and "planned " than Decatur but it might be worth a look.

[lastminutemom]

I don't think that the good parts of Decatur are in your price range -- doubtful that a condo will satisfy you since you said "kids."

If you are finding, on the internet, homes that say Decatur, in the low 200s -- they are most certainly not in the nicest parts of DeKalb and certainly outside of the city limits.

I agree with investigating both Henry County and Fayette County schools.

Good luck.

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

I don't think that the good parts of Decatur are in your price range -- doubtful that a condo will satisfy you since you said "kids."

If you are finding, on the internet, homes that say Decatur, in the low 200s -- they are most certainly not in the nicest parts of DeKalb and certainly outside of the city limits.

I agree with investigating both Henry County and Fayette County schools.

Good luck.

Wondering if the area around Covington Hwy is 'Decatur'? Panthersville Rd?

Both a long way, imo, from the city of Decatur.

[ATLienGirl]

Originally Posted by sumiller2000

I checked on Henry County Schools (where McDonough is) and the best elementary in the county appears to be East Lake Elementary. I'd really investigate though because Henry County Schools shows a fairly rapid increase in the percentage of kids in poverty enrolled in their schools over the last few years. I would imagine that they may be getting some bleed over from Clayton County - and that can't be good!

I wonder how far Fayette County is from McDonough? We met some folks at the beach from Peachtree City and they are very happy with their schools and thrilled with their community. Peachtree City is probably further from Atlanta that you would like ideally, but it is apparently a tight community and is very family oriented with a wide range of housing prices. It's a lot more suburban and "planned " than Decatur but it might be worth a look.

I had to comment on this one. Just because there is a rapid increase of "kids in poverty" has NOTHING to do with achievement. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I can't believe you had the nerve to put that on here. First of all, what is this "poverty" you are speaking of? Are you speaking poverty as far as "money" or poverty as far as "black?" Henry County schools overall go above and beyond for their students ALL of them. There are plenty of great schools in Henry besides "East Lake" and I know why "East Lake" was probably mentioned. There are other good schools in McDonough too, Ola Elementary, McDonough Elementary, Flippen Elementary, Hickory Flat Elementary and they are opening up three new schools next year because of the rapidly growing population? And by the way, there is NOTHING wrong with Clayton County. Believe that.

Poverty has NOTHING to do with achievement. Look at some of the schools in Atlanta, 90% or more meet or exceed and most of their kids are in "poverty." I have said time and time again that the information about these schools from the DOE site is not always accurate. Sometimes it's not what we say but how we say it. Let's quit sugar coating things and cut to the chase.

In any event, McDonough is about 45 minutes from Decatur (and that's without traffic assuming you travel all the way up HWY 155 which runs from Decatur to McDonough) so, you might want to look closer. Peachtree City is out because it is a little over an hour to Decatur. Why not look in Tucker? It's farely close to Decatur it's pretty nice.

[xxman777]

Originally Posted by ATLienGirl

In any event, McDonough is about 45 minutes from Decatur (and that's without traffic assuming you travel all the way up HWY 155 which runs from Decatur to McDonough) so, you might want to look closer. Peachtree City is out because it is a little over an hour to Decatur. Why not look in Tucker? It's farely close to Decatur it's pretty nice.

The jobs in McDonough, not Decatur. Now that we are back on topic Henry or Fayette Counties would be your best bets. They are both becoming largely bedroom communities so most of the entertainment and shopping is going to be of the chain variety but there is stuff to do around there. Most of the "culture" is going to be in Atlanta.

[mtnpk]

Originally Posted by StephArden

Hi,
We are moving to the Atlanta area and we need to find something within commuting distance to my husband's new job, in McDonough. We want to be close to Atlanta and we also want to be able to enjoy our immediate neighborhood if we don't feel like driving into Atlanta. We have kids so we want good schools. We want to spend around $200,000 on a house, give or take a few dollars. Can anyone give me some good insider information on Decatur? Nice? Crime? Shopping? Restaurants? Schools?
Thanks!

I think the best way to evaluate an area is by the schools. The City of Decatur is pricey, and $200K would buy a condo but probably not a single family home. You could have a Decatur address and be in unincorporated DeKalb County. A quick place to check schools is at the AJC school guide:
The Ultimate Atlanta School Guide | ajc.com

You may also want to compare property taxes for various counties and cities. DeKalb is fairly high, and the City of Decatur is very high. Charming town, though, and close to Atlanta.

[ATLienGirl]

Oh, Well EXCUSE me for getting a little mixed up! Since your husband's job will be in McDonough, Henry, and Fayette would be good; you can even check out Rockdale (Conyers and even Stockbridge), Rockdale is adjacent to Henry County.