possible relo to Sandy Springs area (Atlanta, Roswell: real estate, low crime, chapel)

[mich2fla]

(Sorry for the lengthy post.)

Earlier in the summer, my wife and I came down to Atlanta to scout possible places to relocate. We checked out the Peachtree City/Newnan area, Marieatta area and Alpharetta/Roswell. So we are somewhat familar with Atlanta. It's a huge metro area!

I'm coming down sometimes in the next few weeks for a face to face interview at Newell Rubbermaid in Sandy Springs. While in town, I'd like to check out some areas nearby and hope to hear some suggestions on where to look for our family. This position involves some overseas travel, about 1-2 times a year. I will probably just take the MARTA to the airport (if I could). I'm going to assume that it's a 8-5 job, not sure if the company offers alternate start/end times.

We have 4 girls (freshman in HS to 1st grader). We would like to find a good public school dsitrict with plenty of parents/teachers/community involvement. The schools should have an excellent marching band and music programs (middle school and high school), and some intramural activities after school. Our family is active, we like to go for walks with the dog, ride bikes around town, and check out the parks, zoo, museums, etc. My wife is a stay home mom, usually helps out with the schools during the day and shuttle the girls around to various activities after school.

Our current school is somewhat diversed, probably 75% white and the rest mixed. We'd like to find similar set up at school and at home.

I do not want to spend my life on the roads commuting to/from work...I would like to live within 20-30 minutes of work (rush hour). Our budget on the house, probably up to 300-325K. We are open to older homes or newer cookie cutter style homes. It would be ideal to have a pool but we can join a pool club. We currently have just under 3,000 sq ft, 4 bed and 4 baths house. Similar house size would be nice. We have thought about downsizing a little by going down to a 3 bedroom.

Some of the areas we looked at briefly online are: Sandy Springs, Roswell, and Dunwoody. Any zip codes, neighborhoods or schools districts we should focus on? Are there areas we should not look into? Are there any areas that we overlooked?

Right now we live a suburban lifestyle with plenty of land and we are within driving distances away from the services (shops, restaurants, etc sveral miles away). In the past we have lived in the city with walkability to services nearby.

TIA for any replies.

[CMMom]

Can you give an idea of your budget for a home?

[Mattie]

He did. 300-325K.

[CMMom]

oops, I missed that. Depending on which school district you're looking at in Sandy Springs, that's going to be a tough budget for a home. The best school district in Sandy Springs is the Riverwood cluster, and you'd probably only get a real fixer-upper for that price. Average price for that district is probably 400K and above.

[ATL Golfer]

Unfortunately, 300-325 wouldn't get you much of anything in Sandy Springs. Its one of the more expensive places in Atlanta, and the country for that matter.

On that budget I think Roswell would be a good start. You should be able to find a nice 3bd or a fixer upper 4bd for that price range. I wouldn't expect a large lot, but you may get lucky (Roswell typically has larger lots, but at higher price points).

I grew up in Sandy Springs and am currently priced out. Hope to get back there one day. Great place for kids. Roswell is too, just too far from friends for me.

One of the larger real estate companies in the area is Harry Norman. You can search their website to gauge what you might find (not just Harry Norman listings, but all listing on FMLS). Harry Norman, Realtors® - Harry Norman, Realtors

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by ATL Golfer

Unfortunately, 300-325 wouldn't get you much of anything in Sandy Springs. Its one of the more expensive places in Atlanta, and the country for that matter.

Just pulled up a random real estate site based on a Google search, did a search for Sandy Springs, 100k-325k, and 3+ bedrooms, and received 121 results.

Some viable options may exist.

[stvincent]

Check out the far east side of Dunwoody like Tilly Mill and Winters Chapel Road area. Still Dunwoody, which is very affluent, but the cheaper side of it. Still very nice though with great housing options, though older options. Your kids would still be zoned to the great Dunwoody public schools and the commute to Newell Rubermaid would be virtually traffic free along Spalding Drive over to Glenridge and down to Abernathy, less than 20 minutes. Do a search on Atlanta Realtors | Atlanta Real Estate | Dorsey Alston and type in 30338 for the zip code. Most of the homes that pop up in your price range would be in the area I mentioned most likely. Demographics: lots of educated people, young families, older empty nesters, low crime.

[ATL Golfer]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Just pulled up a random real estate site based on a Google search, did a search for Sandy Springs, 100k-325k, and 3+ bedrooms, and received 121 results.

Some viable options may exist.

There may be.

I just did a search on Harry Norman 3/2s in Sandy Springs. You want to be in the Heards Ferry Elementary district. High Point is decent as well, and I've heard it has recently gotten a lot better.

There are 14 houses in the $275-325k range. Only 4 of them were Heards Ferry.

Maybe one of those would work, but I'm guessing they will come with their fair share of issues.

[cwkimbro]

I think you are looking in the right areas. North Fulton county, north of Sandy springs is your best bet if you want a large affordable house in a nice area. (north Fulton has the following cities to look into: Alpharetta, Milton, John's Creek)Traffic is thick, but your drive is relatively short compared to driving downtown. Peachtree City is kind of far away from Sandy Springs. That would be a long commute. East Cobb (east of Marietta) is both close to Sandy Springs and a nice area.

[rackensack]

If a strong marching band program is essential for your current high schooler, you may want to avoid the Centennial district in east Roswell. It's been decent in the past, but budget cuts to staffing for music programs in the Fulton schools have taken their toll -- the band currently is only about 40 strong, in a school of nearly 2000 students. They have a new director this year with a band background (they were stop-gapping with the choir director for a while) and the new principal this year is a big advocate of bands (he's taken to playing trumpet with the band during football games), so it should get better over the next few years. Here's a link to the web site for the band booster organization: | CHS Knights Bands |

Otherwise, the Roswell area would work well for you (I have no idea what the band program is like at Roswell High). Particularly in east Roswell, there will definitely be houses in your price range of the size you're looking for -- they'll be older (15-25 years old in most cases) and may not have all of the extras that have become expected parts of new construction, but they're in well-established areas with lots of families, plenty of recreation and cultural opportunities, and excellent schools.

Roswell's the only Georgia community certified by the League of American Bicyclists as a "Bike Friendly Community", with extensive trails and street rides. It has a more well-defined historic district downtown than most metro Atlanta towns, with several antebellum houses operated as museums. The Roswell Recreation and Parks Department is outstanding, with a vast range of programs for both kids and adults (cultural and educational programs in addition to sports/recreation).

I've commuted to a customer location on Perimeter Center West, just across 400 from the Newell Rubbermaid location, for projects in the past; typically it's between 20 and 45 minutes from my home off Holcomb Bridge in east Roswell; a lot depends on the time of day (any time between about 7 am and 8:30 am is bad, before or after not so much) and how far you are from GA 400 (getting to 400 on Holcomb Bridge was often half or more of that 45 minutes at bad times).