Questions on Lawrenceville GA and surrounding areas - Schools, Commute and other

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by THFC

Again. Thank you all for the advice and information. It is very much appreciated. I guess the main issue with my situation is my insistence on a good school network some decent square footage and to achieve all of this on the budget $75-$80k so from a rental standpoint i shouldn't exceed $1250 or if purchasing i don't really want to go beyond the $200k comfort Zone. This limitation excludes me from alot of the closer area's, If renting - A apartment or townhome just isn't an option.

I take it that regardless of direction ie: coming from the 75 to the 285 or the 92 to the 400, if i looked at places like Kennesaw, Woodstock or north marietta i am going to be faced with the same commuting nightmare? The further out you go it's just gunna get worse? Same issues taking 400 the whole way to somewhere like cummings near the lake?

Get what you pay for right!

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

If you go out to Cumming your morning commute will still be early enough to not worry about delays. The only difference for the afternoon is that as you go from Fulton County to Forsyth County, 400 quickly goes from 4 lanes to just 2. The far right lane is exit only and the far left lane ends about the same time so that area will get backed up. I'm not sure the severity of the backup or the time frame but it's better than dealing with 285 I'm sure. Unfortunately I can't really help with the financial side.

Places like Kennesaw (with good schools in the Kennesaw Mountain HS and North Cobb HS attendance zones), Woodstock (with good schools in the Woodstock HS, Etowah HS and River Ridge HS attendance zones), North Marietta (with good schools in the Sprayberry HS and Kell HS attendance zones), and Cumming (with good schools in the Lambert HS, South Forsyth HS, West Forsyth HS, Forsyth Central HS and North Forsyth HS attendance zones) are good places to look for the price range that you are looking for (under $200k purchase or under $1250/monthly in rent).

Your chances of finding a larger property in that price range will maybe be higher in those areas than in areas closer-in where the only stuff that may be available is smaller detached single-family homes, apartments, condos and townhomes.

Rush hour commutes and near-rush hour commutes between areas like Kennesaw, Woodstock, North Marietta, Cumming and Sandy Springs will also likely be slightly more manageable than commutes between an area like Lawrenceville and Sandy Springs, especially if you can stay off of problematic commuter routes like I-75/I-575/US 41 NW, I-85/GA 316 NE and the I-285 Perimeter.

The rush hour commutes between those areas will still be challenging (very-challenging) at times, but they will be slightly more manageable than rush hour commutes through the I-75 NW, the I-85 NE and the I-285 Top End Perimeter corridors.

From Kennesaw and North Marietta you can stay off of I-75 NW by cutting across the divided 4-lane routes of Barrett Parkway/Piedmont Road/East Piedmont Road to GA 120 Roswell Road to Johnson Ferry Road/Abernathy Road/Perimeter Center West to where you will be working in Sandy Springs (...and yes, metro Atlanta roads really do change names that many times, something which helps to add to the traffic chaos for newcomers and out-of-towners).

From Woodstock you can cut across the divided 4-6 lane GA 92/GA 140 (Old Alabama Road/Woodstock Road/Crossville Road/Holcomb Bridge Road) over to the GA 400 freeway southbound to Perimeter Center West to where you will be working at Perimeter Point.

From the Cumming/Forsyth County area you can basically almost run a 'straight-shot' down GA 400.

All of the aforementioned routes will have their challenges from time-to-time (sometimes major challenges) as all of the aforementioned routes carry much very-heavy traffic during rush hours and peak hours...

...But, like sedimenjerry alluded to, dealing with these routes will likely be slightly more preferable to dealing with even more severely-heavily congested routes like Interstates 75 NW, 85 NE, and 285 across the Top End during morning and evening rush hours.

[THFC]

Fantastic information from you both. Thank You. this has helped more than you know.

[sedimenjerry]

Glad to help! Now that you know some other areas to look at you may want to find other threads on here or start a new one.

[sk45]

Hello. I'll be new to the Atlanta area and I was hoping to get some thoughts on commuting from the NE suburbs to a territory South and SouthEast of Atlanta. Should it even be a consideration to live in Suwanee (Lambert HS) if my accounts for work that I will be visiting are South of Atlanta (ie. Stockbridge, Conyers, Lethonia, Newnan, Covington, Columbus). Because my territory is so large there isn't one great place to be. I thought Suwanee may work because it is a bit East like several of my customers. We really like Suwanee but I'm concerned about the traffic. I'll be driving often times off hours from the commuter hours. Would it be too crazy to consider this area?

[georgiatocity]

I Live in Lawrenceville and Work in Atlanta. If you work 9-5 this can be a problem because Atlanta traffic can be hours if at the wrong time. I work hospital hours (7am-7pm) and it is not that bad of a commute. It is however still a good bit of a drive. I leave my house around 5:40am to miss the big morning traffic of Atlanta which is around 6:30am-9am and I am able to arrive to work around 6:45. The same goes for the ride home. I leave around 7pm which is after the big traffic which in most cases is 4pm-6:30pm. The days I did leave in the hours I got home at the same time that I would have if I had left at 7. I went to Georgia State University and when I had class at 10am I would sit in traffic a good 2+ hours if I left after 7am. The same goes for the ride home from classes ending at 5pm, taking another 2+ hours home. I recommend the Peachpass. It saved me from ripping my hair out many times, even when it is up to $8 it is worth not sitting in traffic an extra hour. The ride is not bad if you are not going during those hours.

[SIZE=3]As for the city itself, Lawrenceville is a good place to live. There are good school districts and the rent prices are fair. Lawrenceville is also a close enough drive for many activities such as the lake, stone mtn., Mall of Georgia (large mall), and far enough from the city that you can have a backyard with pets. [/SIZE]