Where is the best place to live near 75/285 V? (Atlanta: credit, buying a house)

[kntk]

My family will be moving to Atlanta very soon. I have a job in the Windy Hill/Windy Ridge area just north of the V where 75 and 285 meet (exit 260 area). We have never been to Atlanta thus are not at all familiar with any of the areas. We will be looking for a 3-4 bedroom home in nice condition. We are unsure of what housing costs are there but know we could afford at least a $200,000 home. What is important is having a safe neighborhood and excellent schools. We have 3 children all in elementary school and thus will need good schools for many years. Our children are all advanced and thus a school for the academically talented would be ideal. Where would be good areas to begin searching for homes? What schools are near those areas? What would the commute be like to my area of employment? Please advise. Thank you!

[wxjay]

The best schools in that area are in East Cobb, but a $200K budget won't cut it for homes in that area. You'll need a $300K+ budget for that.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by wxjay

The best schools in that area are in East Cobb, but a $200K budget won't cut it for homes in that area. You'll need a $300K+ budget for that.

More like 400K+ unless you want a smaller, older, "fixer upper" or something that's not in one of the 3 very good school districts (Walton, Pope, Lassiter). We ended up buying in West Cobb because the prices were just too high for us in East Cobb, and anything in our price range wasn't what we needed/wanted. Our range was anything up to $400K. We found a great 2 year old 5BR/3.5BA off Burnt Hickory in West Cobb for $380K. The Kennesaw Mountain and Harrison districts aren't quite as good as the East Cobb schools, but very close.

[GF72]

East Cobb is very close to 75/285 and has top-class schools from elementary to high school level. Walton High is the best school in the state and was ranked by Newsweek as one of the top 10 schools in the country. Lassiter High and Pope High are the other two high schools in East Cobb and they are both among the best in the state. All of the middle and elementary schools under those three high schools are best-in-state level of quality.

The Walton area is closest to the Windy Hill/Ridge area, followed by the Pope area and the Lassiter area.

A new house is completely out of the question though - new houses in the area are over a million dollars minimum. This is because of the school districts and complete lack of undeveloped space.

Older houses can be found in the lower ranges, but they are rare and they will be very old and may need work.

200k I think is pushing it to the limit. You fill find a few houses in that range, but they'll be old. But most likely the yard and lot will be nice and the neighborhood will be nice. The area has always been upper-middle class, even 50 years ago.

The poster above mentioned buying a 2 year old 5 bedroom in West Cobb for 380k. This is absolutely impossible in East Cobb, however it is completely possible to find a 5 bedroom house from the 70's or perhaps 80's on a nice lot in an established neighborhood for the same price in East Cobb, even in the Walton district.


The other option is the West Cobb/Kennesaw areas. The Kennesaw Mountain and Harrison High districts are pretty good, though not nearly as exceptional as the East Cobb schools. The commute will also probably be worse; East Cobb has main roads that lead straight to Windy Hill/Windy Ridge area but from Kennesaw you are going to have to take I-75 south and the segment of I-75 north of 285 (which is 16 lanes wide in some places) has absolutely nightmarish traffic during rush hour. You could take regular roads but it wouldn't be as quick as the East Cobb commute, unless you go all the way up to the Lassiter area of East Cobb in which case the commute will be long.

There are two high school districts that are located between I-75 and East Cobb - the Sprayberry and Wheeler districts. Both of these are completely average school districts, but Wheeler High has a science and math magnet program for gifted students. But it's still not as good as the regular Walton/Pope/Lassiter programs.

Walton High is tailor-made for gifted students - 100% of the school's 2600 students take the SAT every single year and the school's SAT average is over 200 points above the national average. The top 10% of Walton students (that's 260 students) have an SAT average of 1510 out of 1600 which is the 99.9th percentile (meaning 99.9% of people taking the SAT scored lower than them). Walton offers 35 or so college-level classes (and that's for everyone, there is no special magnet or IB program, and their normal classes include classes that are above AP level) and the majority of students take one or more college level classes before graduating (which actually give them college credit). Walton students take almost 2000 AP exams per year.

If you can find a way to afford it, I would definitely recommend buying a house in the Walton High district, which not only has the best schools but is also very convenient to the Windy Hill area. The Walton district is broken up into four elementary school districts, all of which are exceptional:
Mt. Bethel - east part
Sope Creek - south part
East Side - west part
Timber Ridge - northeast part

The part of Sope Creek elementary district that feeds into Walton High is very rich and expensive so finding a house in that range will be hard. Mt. Bethel and Timber Ridge areas are mostly upper middle class and it will still be difficult to find houses in that range but it's very possible. You just won't have too many choices. East Side elementary possibly has the most houses in that range, but still not too common.

All 4 are excellent and have incredible test scores. Mt. Bethel is probably the best by a slight bit.

Dickerson and Dodgen are the two middle schools in the Walton area. Most Walton High area students go to Dickerson and all Dickerson students go to Walton. Dickerson is a little better but both are excellent.

[sweettea1]

You can get a cluster home in the low 4s in Smyrna, Teasley Elem District, which is very good.