Would like some thoughts on Johns Creek and Alpharetta... (Duluth: appointed, sales)

[noah]

Also agree. I would restate it to say that traffic in the Atlanta suburbs is some of the worst in the country. Make sure your ok with 1.5hrs-2hrs each way before you buy your house. Yikes, I can't imagine commuting 3-4 hours per day. Thats 15-20hrs per week.

Originally Posted by Tresninas

Agreed. I would investigate some in-town neighborhoods before you exclusively look at Alpharetta/Johns Creek. There are wonderful areas with great schools within the perimeter. Traffic in Atlanta is some of the worst in the country.

[SW30303]

John's Creek and Alpharetta are pretty similar. I have family who live in the area and as an outsider with school-aged kids, they both would be at the top of my list. Your best bet is to visit the areas that interest you. If your number one concern is public schools, then these are the places that should consider. Your commute will be rough if it is during rush hour, but it is doable.

With housing prices being about 20-25% lower in the area than just a few years ago, you should find a decent deal on a house. Personally, I would rent first before buying just to see if I like a new area that I don't know much about. There are plenty of existing threads in this forum that cover this question, too with more information.

[mrpanda]

I have decided to move my family to Johns Creek end of this year and we are mostly looking at subdivisions that feed into Wilson Creek, Shakerag, and Findley Oaks elementary. We are looking for new developments or homes that are 0-5 years old. Do these type of homes exist in Johns Creek? I check the home listings quite often for Johns Creek and it does not seem like there are too many options to choose from. What subdivisions would you recommend in JC for a young family. My budget for a home is between $550,000 - $700,000, although i don't mind $400,000 in a good location.

Does John Creek Technology Park have many startup industial units for rent? I have a small tech company and was wondering which city has a good commercial base for small tech companies?: Would it be best to base my small business in Duluth, Suwanee, Alpharetta or Johns Creek?

[Tresninas]

Your budget will buy you just about anything in Johns Creek. My friends live in Tavistock, which is walking distance from Shakerag Elementary and River Trail Middle School. (Both feed into Northview.) It's a very small subdivision, the lot sizes are really nice, and the subdivision is off a very quiet road. They're still building homes, and have a few nice ones already built. Two of my kids go to Shakerag. It's a fabulous school.

Have you looked at harrynorman.com while searching for homes? You can look at homes for sale via schools (either elementary, middle, or high).

Can't comment on your business question, but perhaps someone else can.

If you can, I would try to avoid buying into a subdivision off of McGinnis Ferry. There's nothing wrong with the subdivisions there, but the traffic is horrible.

[mrpanda]

Thanks Tresninas,
I remember seeing Travistock off of Bell/Rogers Circle 2 years ago. At the time i thought the homes were a bit overpriced. Is your friend happy with the subdivision and quality of homes? Some of the subdivisions off of McGinnis Ferry that i saw were Blackstone and Jaden Woods. I guess you saying to stay away from them. Would you say that the subdivisions on the east side of Medlock Bridge Road is more desirable than the subdivisions on the west side of that road?

Shakerag Elementary seems like an awesome school. It is ranked #3 among 1079 elementary schools according to school digger. Can you comment a little bit about Shakerag?

[FromGA]

mrpanda -- look into Sugar Mill (Abbotts Bridge and Medlock Br), right across from Northview High. Nice homes without huge prices. Price range 400+. It feeds into Wilson Creek.

The only difference I would make out in those 3 schools is that Wilson Creek has a better location (closer to city. closer to State Bridge shopping. closer to Alpharetta than Shakerag.). And since you seem to be an entrepreneur, you might want to consider that. Other than that all 3 schools are great, and they generally feed into Rivertail, Northview, so no need to be too concerned.

Probably Alpharetta and Johns Creek might have an edge over Duluth/Suwanee for tech companies? If you can live in Johns Creek and work in JC Tech park, I think that would probably be a great thing. I am an independent software consultant, work from home a lot so commute is not a big issue for me, but always wondered how nice it would be to work in JC Tech Park! I think there is a fair bit of available space there. There are some big companies anchored there (SIAS ? CIBA ?), so it is a pretty decent place.

Just one thing, if your interest is Northview High -- some subdivisions on the west side of Medlock (that feed into Wilson creek or Findley Oaks) do not feed into Northview. Some subdivisions south of Wilson Creek (that feed into Wilson Creek St Ives etc.) do not feed into Northview.

[mrpanda]

FromGA,

I consider Johns Creek High, Chattahoochee, and Northview to be all competitive schools and wouldn't mind a home that would feed into any of these schools. I was a bit suprised to see the 2010 High School ranking in Newsweek America's Best High Schools: The List - Newsweek. The ranking shows that North Gwinnett High School ranks 161 whereas Northview ranks 424. Are schools in Duluth/Suwanee better than JC/Suwanee or did Newsweek do a poor job ranking these schools?

Ideally I am looking to live in JC and work in JC Technology Park. Most of the office spaces I have seen are not starts up spaces as the sizes are quite large. I was able to find only one area for start up units between 4000 - 5000 sq/ft office space. Perhaps Alpharetta has more selections when it comes to smaller sized incubator office spaces.

I have been scoping this area out for about 3 years now and feel that real estate in the area should bottom around May 2011. Why does JC have an edge over Duluth while the location is closer to the city? Are Peactree Ridge and North Gwinnett up and coming schools to rival Northview & Johns Creek High in the near future? It appears that there are much more newer homes (0-5 years) in Duluth area than there are in Johns Creek. Are the demographics of Duluth much different than that of Johns Ceek?

[OhioNative]

Originally Posted by mrpanda

I have been scoping this area out for about 3 years now and feel that real estate in the area should bottom around May 2011. Why does JC have an edge over Duluth while the location is closer to the city? Are Peactree Ridge and North Gwinnett up and coming schools to rival Northview & Johns Creek High in the near future? It appears that there are much more newer homes (0-5 years) in Duluth area than there are in Johns Creek. Are the demographics of Duluth much different than that of Johns Ceek?

You can't really lump "Duluth" together into one entity. The Duluth zip codes include parts of what are actually the city of Johns Creek, the affluent Sugarloaf Country club area, the actual city of Duluth which has lots of older homes, and the Gwinnett Place area which has many apartments and less expensive houses. You also can't consider "Duluth/Suwanee" to be any kind of cohesive entity for the same reason, as the Suwanee zip code includes the actual city of Suwanee in Gwinnett, the south end of Forsyth County just north of Johns Creek, the Morningview area, and a less expensive area on the east side of I-85, distinct areas from much of what is called Duluth. BTW, North Gwinnett HS is about to become much more affluent when Lanier High School opens this fall and skims off the many of the lower end neighborhoods from the cluster - there was actually quite a lot of controversy about that when the district lines were re-drawn.

[Tresninas]

Originally Posted by mrpanda

Thanks Tresninas,
I remember seeing Travistock off of Bell/Rogers Circle 2 years ago. At the time i thought the homes were a bit overpriced. Is your friend happy with the subdivision and quality of homes? Some of the subdivisions off of McGinnis Ferry that i saw were Blackstone and Jaden Woods. I guess you saying to stay away from them. Would you say that the subdivisions on the east side of Medlock Bridge Road is more desirable than the subdivisions on the west side of that road?

Shakerag Elementary seems like an awesome school. It is ranked #3 among 1079 elementary schools according to school digger. Can you comment a little bit about Shakerag?

The homes in Tavistock are now starting in the $500K-$600K range. Don't know if those were the same prices when you looked at it.

My friend loves her home and the subdivision.

I have good friends in both Blackstone and Jaden Woods. Blackstone is a very nice subdivision, which has the advantage of having a traffic light and being right at the corner of Bell and McGinnis Ferry. So you don't have to stay on McGinnis Ferry for long. Still, my one friend has said that if her child misses the school bus, it can take her 40 minutes to drop her off by car to Shakerag! McGinnis Ferry construction supposedly ends in April, so this should be better next year.

Jaden Woods has some of the prettiest houses I've seen, construction-wise. But it's further east on McGinnis Ferry, and you can't avoid traveling on McGinnis Ferry to get anywhere. My other friend likes the subdivision, but the school bus doesn't come into it, so the bus stop is right on McGinnis Ferry. (The county claims that the bus can't fit on the subdivision roads.) It's just a lot of kids getting off the bus stop onto a very busy road.

Shakerag is very international yet has a strong knit community. There are people from all over the world. Most of the kids speak more than one language, and were born in another country. There is a huge South and East Asian population, and many people who look "white" are actually Russian or German. What's nice, too, though is that despite the fact that people come from so many different places, there is such a strong community at the school. The PTA is very active. There are family events planned throughout the year. We couldn't be happier with the school.

A friend of mine sends her child to Wilson Creek. Her only complaint is that the PTA is not as active. They do not have an Accelerated Reader Program, which is a reading enrichment program that is organized by the PTA. (Don't know if that's important to you or not.) But otherwise, she loves Wilson Creek.

Subdivisions that are west of Medlock Bridge Road can be just as clogged up by traffic as subdivisions east of Medlock Bridge. The best thing would be for you to drive down here and drive around during rush hour. There are a lot of backroads, so if you figure out where your office is, then you can kind of map out how to get there to avoid traffic.

[mrpanda]

Ohio Native, that is very interesting. I did not know about Lanier High School and how North Gwinnett was ranked the 3rd best high school in the state. Is the location of Lanier High located in Duluth or Suwanee? I can see how there would be a big controversy as Lanier takes the lower end neighborhoods from Gwinnett. What is the exact district line of North Gwinnett High? I am assuming that it part Suwanee and Duluth. Schools are extremely important to me when making a home purchase decisions. Thanks.