Young Couple with Questions. Please Help!! (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: real estate, condos, townhome)

[sc05474]

Hi All,

My husband and I are in our mid twenties and are ready to relocate and buy a home. We currently live in New York but the housing prices out here are too expenisve for our budget. Our household income is about 75,000 a year and we have a savings of 15,000 (in New York you can't get much more than a cardboard box for that) Both of our jobs will be in the Permieter Center area. We are looking for a decent neighboorhood, that won't be more than a 35-40 minute commute to work in the mornings (including taffic). As of now we can't afford anything above 200,000. Any suggestions??

Thank you all in advance for taking the time to reply.

[stvincent]

The area you will be working in is one of the most upscale parts of the Metro area. Therefore the home prices in the general vicinity are no where near $200,000. I would suggest checking out Tucker. It's in North Dekalb County and about a 30-40 minute commute to the Perimeter area with traffic. Even then, $200,000 would only afford you an older townhome. Affordable homes in that price range tend to be in the outter suburbs, like Dacula, Loganville, parts of Lawenceville. These three cities are all in Gwinett County. With traffic you would be facing about a 45 minute to an hour commute time to work, at least. But, if you all could deal with that, there are still new homes in those areas with prices starting in the mid 100s to low 200s. The best school clusters in Gwinnett are Peachtree Ridge, Parkview, and Brookwood. I think homes start in the 250K to 300K range though. If you don't have kids and don't plan on having children for a while then I doubt that will really affect your decision.

[atlantagreg30127]

You may want to check out condos in the "Vinings" or "Smyrna" area as well (just West in Cobb County). While the prices in those areas have gone up a bit, there are still deals to be found if you have a good agent looking for you. Plus you can get to the Perimeter Center area in 20-30 minutes.

[sugarloafing]

You could find starter homes in Roswell or Duluth. 32 homes in Roswell(zip 30076) came up on a search on Realtor for single familey homes 175-200K 3+ BR.

An example of one of these for 195K would be in the Terramont subdivison across from Martin's Landing. These are mid 1970's ranch homes,about 1700 sq. ft.,with nice wooded lots. They are in Centennial high school district so they should maintain their value. Terramont is low end for Roswell. This is about 12 miles to the Perimeter either on the 400 or the river back roads to hwy 9. There is a lot of traffic on this route.

A search for Duluth-30096 zip code found 129 3br single family homes in the 175K to 200k range. These are mostly homes from 1970's to late 1990's, probably under 2000 sq. ft. Some of them may be swim tennis communities.

[fil]

I agree with Duluth and Roswell and add Sandy Springs.

Forget the 15 min drive. Inherintly, the Perimeter Center area is the worst East-to-West and North-to-South in the mornings since many folks commute from Gwinnett and Dekalb towards that location.

[noah]

My wife and I are relocating to Atlanta and purchasing a 2/bd condo in midtown for under $200k (our income is also similar to yours). While certain pockets may be expensive, depending on what you want in a home I am sure you can find one a nice home in your price range. If condos are a possibility for you, I think that would open up more choices in the perimeter area.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by stvincent

I would suggest checking out Tucker. It's in North Dekalb County and about a 30-40 minute commute to the Perimeter area with traffic. Even then, $200,000 would only afford you an older townhome.

I agree that Tucker is a good option. I disagree with the bold portion, though. You can definitely get a lot more than just an older townhome in Tucker for $200,000. You can search real estate listings for 30084 zip code to see what's available.