Coming from Chicago, Work in Douglasville, Where to live? (Atlanta: condo, townhome)

[moderngnome]

1. Budget - Up to $425,000 - Would prefer to spend less.
2. House/Condo/Townhome - Single Family, 4 bedrooms, prefer a basement, prefer a larger lot (closer to an acre would be great, flat enough for a pool?)
3. Employment Status - commute by car
4. Children - Three, upper elementary, one with mild special needs - great schools are important
5. Suburban - definitely suburban.
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? No
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood = Need access to good schools, Scouting programs, and an Ice Rink? My girls are figure skaters.

I see from previous searches that many Chicagoans have landed in Atlanta. I'd love to hear perspectives on what suburban communities in Atlanta most resemble a Naperville type experience. I don't want to live in an ultra wealthy community - I'd like to be somewhere we could be in the "middle" - and there is a large middle.

From my beginning research - we loved Peachtree City - the golf cart thing is hilarious to us - but I think that might be too far of a commute.

Thanks so much for any input!

[moderngnome]

Okay, I'd like to amend my original post a bit to add that it looks like Cobb County might be our best bet for schools and a reasonable commute?

[westau]

I think Cobb County would probably be your best bet and the commute wouldn't be terrible because you would be reverse commuting most of the way except whatever part of I-75 you would have to drive. I don't know enough about the areas west of Douglasville to know if there are any good/great school districts out that way but that would be the easiest to get more land and an easier commute. Some others may be able to give some insight there. The best schools in Cobb County are generally on the east side of I-75. To get as much land as it sounds like you want in Cobb County you pretty much will have to buy an older house. It could be an updated one, but the newer subdivisions even the nice houses are very close together generally. Keeping in mind where you would be commuting and the generally recognized better/best schools in Cobb County I would recommend starting your search in the Walton High district and parts of Wheeler and Sprayberry High districts that have highly ranked elementary and middle schools(check out a site like greatschools.org for that). Generally Lassiter and Pope are ranked in the top 3 with Walton and Sprayberry/Wheeler/Kell/Kennesaw Mountain are right behind those 3 but your commute would suffer from the Lassiter or Pope districts.

[moderngnome]

Thank you so much westau! This is exactly the kind of info. I needed to keep researching!