Help: I'm moving to Atlanta area, guide me! (Sandy Springs, Roswell: apartments, foreclosures)

[ByronicHero]

I am a single male, 23 y/o, recent college graduate. I’m moving to the Atlanta area this summer – my goal is to be moved in by July 4th, giving me a little over 2 months.

About me: I am a huge sports fan (baseball, football, hockey) – I’ve actually liked the Braves since I was a kid. I enjoy outdoors pursuits such as hiking, kayaking, fishing, and shooting. I am an avid photographer. I am also an active motorcyclist... so I'd like to be somewhere near fun roads. I enjoy gardening, home improvement, and working on my car. People say, and I tend to agree, that I act like a 30 or 40 year old man. Take that for what it is worth.

I have a job with a great company, with locations in south Marietta, Roswell, and Norcross. Basically that creates a triangle with 75 on the west, 285 on the south, and 85 on the east. The center is Sandy Springs.

I have never been to Georgia, and I do not know anyone who lives there. I hope you can help me out!!

1. Budget: Between $600-900 per month. Up to $1000 including utilities, taxes, insurance. I can rent OR buy, however I would PREFER to buy. I will be a first-time homeowner, so it is a new and complex process to me... but in the current economic climate it seems prudent to buy instead of rent in Atlanta. If buying, home cost $75,000 to $125,000. I'm honestly not sure if I will qualify for a mortgage, so renting is still on the table.

2. House/Condo/Townhome/Apartment? I'm done with living in apartments, but I don't think I can justify (and afford) a single family house. I've heard many horror stories about condo living, including very strict HOA regs, high fees, and high vacancy rates. A townhome seems to be the best choice for me.

3. Employment Status: Recent college graduate, I will be working in the north Atlanta suburbs, in Marietta, Norcross, or Alpharetta. I will be commuting. I would actually prefer to NOT live right next door to work. I'm comfortable with a commute up to about 30 minutes.

4. Children: None, not a consideration.

5. Suburban or Urban preference? I have only lived in suburbs (Washington, DC metro) and small towns in Pennsylvania. I don't particularly like the big city... I enjoy personal space, quiet, and clean air. However, as a young guy who likes to be around people and have fun, I do want to live somewhat close to an active nightlife scene, outdoor activities, etc. Overall, I definitely lean towards suburban.

6. Easy access to public transportation: Not important. I have a car, bike, and motorcycle. I enjoy driving. I HATE public busses... I will take the occasional train downtown.

7. Preferable Demographics: As I mentioned earlier, I'm a young guy so I want to be close to other young adults. I'll need to make new friends. however, I don't want to live with college students. I have a high standard of living and I expect my neighbors to be responsible, well-to-do, and upwardly mobile. I would rather live in the small house in a nice neighborhood than live in a big house in a poor neighborhood. I don't care what color or religion people are, so long as they are friendly.

8. Neighborhoods: I have been looking in: Vinnings (no luck), Smyrna (no luck), Marietta (lots of leads), Sandy Springs (some leads), Roswell (some leads), Alpharetta (lots of leads), Dunwoody (some leads), and Norcross (some leads). I did briefly entertain Buckhead, but the prices there seem to be outrageously high. I am open to the idea of living ITP - which will give me a reverse commute - but most of the places I'm interested seem to be OTP.


My wishlist for a home is: 1 or 2-car garage, 2 bedrooms, gas appliances, and something of a backyard where I can plant a garden and have a grill. I need to have some grass and trees outside of my window. I plan on getting a cat or dog.

I don't want to live right next to the highway, next to construction, or to be packed like sardines with neighbors. Most of the townhomes I really like are end units near parks.

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I know that is a TON of info, but I wanted to provide as much detail as possible. If there is anything I forgot, or you would like to know, PM, Email, or post here.

I am genuinely interested in your opinion. I'm the type of guy who measures not twice, but twenty times before cutting. I research the heck out of anything I do. Feel free to write whatever you want, direct me to other sites, link to newspaper articles/magazines, offer advice.

I'm all ears.

Thanks for your help!!

[lorilove]

That price range is going to be tight in the Smyrna area. You need to find a townhome that does not have an association fee and the house will likely be a bit outdated that you can eventually renovate.

Here is a property that I know of that will meet your specific needs. Honestly, the house should sell for less than the asking price.

2236 Goodwood Blvd SE, Smyrna, GA 30080 MLS# 4327874 - Zillow

[tonygeorgia]

I recommend living in an apartment first just to make sure you like it here, you like your job, etc. I would say this to anybody in general.

[MathmanMathman]

Step One: Have you read the Stickies at the top of the forum first?

[chalvey]

I second what Tony said. You should be able to find something in Sandy Springs, but it will be older and could be a bit dodgy. Also, there are no good driving roads (this coming from a driving enthusiast). If only we had this...

[cittic10]

Originally Posted by ByronicHero

but in the current economic climate it seems prudent to buy instead of rent in Atlanta. If buying, home cost $75,000 to $125,000. I'm honestly not sure if I will qualify for a mortgage, so renting is still on the table.

+++ Actually buying is not the prudent thing to do. Once you buy a home in atlanta, you pretty much buy for keeps. This is the worst housing market in the country. It's up there with detroit. This is great if you already know where you want to live for a very very very very long time but if not, the prudent thing to do is to rent and find out first where you are certain you want to live.

As for the mortgage, if you're not sure you'll qualify for a mortgage, why not skip the mortgage altogether? You sound like a smart person. There's a lot of homes that be had for less than $75k here or many people that don't want a mortgage build their own homes. Mortgages are nothing but a way to keep you a slave to your 9-5 indefinitely. "Mortgage" from Old French meaning "Death Pledge".

I wish someone told me when I was your age to just save up every penny I could and build my own small place, cutting out all the middlemen. That was long before the flood of foreclosures.

2. House/Condo/Townhome/Apartment?[/b] I'm done with living in apartments, but I don't think I can justify (and afford) a single family house. I've heard many horror stories about condo living, including very strict HOA regs, high fees, and high vacancy rates. A townhome seems to be the best choice for me.

+++
townhomes are still going to have HOAs rules and restrictions and if they don't or they aren't being enforced, you don't want to live there.

A bigger concern, frankly, is when the HOAs rules and restrictions are not enforced. Chances are you will not do anything to break the rules but other people will, and they will do stuff like never mow their lawn or keep junk cars parked in the street or all over their lawn or other things that will keep you from ever selling. Remember, a lot of those properties are going to be rentals. And people move in and they are not aware of the rules or simply don't care.

5. Suburban or Urban preference? [/b] I have only lived in suburbs (Washington, DC metro) and small towns in Pennsylvania. I don't particularly like the big city... I enjoy personal space, quiet, and clean air. However, as a young guy who likes to be around people and have fun, I do want to live somewhat close to an active nightlife scene, outdoor activities, etc. Overall, I definitely lean towards suburban.

+++ The problem with atlanta is the outdoor activities, which I love are far away from the in-town areas where most of the chic young people live. Other cities I have lived the suburbs seem very diverse in terms of social status and age but Atlanta just seems like the suburbs are zillions of very young children and all family oriented stuff.

I'm into a lot of the same outdoor activities you are. I live in north gwinnett in a town called buford. It's easy access to lake lanier, mountains and camping. But I don't commute to atlanta or even norcross. And if you choose to work in the alpharetta office then I would definitely live close to GA 400. But I wouldn't recommend alpharetta. It's children, married people and minivans everywhere you look.

7. Preferable Demographics: [/b] As I mentioned earlier, I'm a young guy so I want to be close to other young adults. I'll need to make new friends. however, I don't want to live with college students. I have a high standard of living and I expect my neighbors to be responsible, well-to-do, and upwardly mobile. I would rather live in the small house in a nice neighborhood than live in a big house in a poor neighborhood. I don't care what color or religion people are, so long as they are friendly.

+++ Forget about the easy access to outdoor activities then and find someplace in town.

I am open to the idea of living ITP - which will give me a reverse commute - but most of the places I'm interested seem to be OTP.

+++ Hence the worst sprawl in the country. It takes some effort to find comfortable accommodations ITP. Come down and look at it.

My wishlist for a home is: 1 or 2-car garage, 2 bedrooms, gas appliances, and something of a backyard where I can plant a garden and have a grill. I need to have some grass and trees outside of my window. I plan on getting a cat or dog.

I don't want to live right next to the highway, next to construction, or to be packed like sardines with neighbors. Most of the townhomes I really like are end units near parks.

+++ You can find small homes like that to buy or rent or like I suggested before once you have the money saved up and know exactly where you want to plop down for a while, you can build your own place.
Townhomes, by definition are packing people in like sardines but that's what you find a lot of ITP in your price range.

You need to come down here and visit for a week or two and check out all of the areas near your offices. If you want to know of some nice campgrounds to stay at, send me a PM.

[pit2atl]

Originally Posted by lorilove

that price range is going to be tight in the smyrna area. You need to find a townhome that does not have an association fee and the house will likely be a bit outdated that you can eventually renovate.

Here is a property that i know of that will meet your specific needs. Honestly, the house should sell for less than the asking price.

2236 goodwood blvd se, smyrna, ga 30080 mls# 4327874 - zillow

+1

[cqholt]

Live in an apartment to better get used to the metro area.

[atlvagirl]

I agree that you should rent first!!! really get to know the atlanta areas. we can try to explain on this message board, but you really have to live here a few months to actually see how things are. I think the dunwoody area might suit you. Perhaps you can rent a house or townhouse there. your rent will be a little higher than your budget, and your commute to alpharetta might be long, but it is a very nice area with things to do close by.

but speaking from experience...Rent First! :-)

[researchnerd]

I agree with everyone who advises that you rent first. This will give you a chance to look around, and if you haven't landed in exactly the right spot, you can shuffle around a little until you find it. For example, something that has all the amenities you want might have a super noisy neighbor you hadn't counted on (I just learned that one recently).

One problem with townhomes is that condo associations often limit the percentage of units that can be rented out at any given time, so many of them have waiting lists, and the nice ones go fast. You might consider looking for a single-family rental home instead of a townhome. There are quite a few out there in your price range, especially OTP, and this would give you the yard/trees/grass you want, a little patch to garden, and maybe even a garage to park your motorcycle in.

In the Norcross/Peachtree Corners area, a lot of the rental homes are 1-story brick ranches that were built as VA housing in the 1970s. They are small but fine for 1-2 people, many have been updated, and some are in really pretty established neighborhoods. In Alpharetta you are more likely to find newer construction and more subdivisions than neighborhoods, but it may be less affordable. If you can go a bit further north from Alpharetta, you will find some amazing deals on rental homes in Cherokee County and South Forsyth.