Moving to Atlanta Soon - Any Advice Appreciated! (Sandy Springs, Roswell: apartments, rentals)

[SeaTacJack]

My wife and I are relocating to Atlanta to Seattle soon due to a job transfer and were wondering if anyone had advice for safe neighborhoods relatively near or with quick travel to downtown Atlanta?

Here are our needs:

Budget: $1000 would be best (that's what we pay here in Seattle) but we could move up $100-$200 if the situation was right. Less than $1000 would be even better.

Type of home: Ideally we would love to rent a small home (2-3 bedrooms tops) since I work at home and would like a home office and we want to get 1-2 dogs eventually. We're open to condos, townhomes or apartments though as long as dogs are allowed.

Employment: She will need to commute downtown, I work at home.

Children: None

Lifestyle: City. We would prefer to be in or near the city and near stuff that we like to do (concerts, festivals, etc.) Right now in Seattle we live in a walkable area, but we've been told to expect very different in Atlanta.

Public Transportation: Essential. We're looking and it seems Marta to work would be the best/easiest and least stressful option for her. The closer the better. Being I work from home, I am able to drop her off at the Marta station if need be so the place doesn't have to be across the street from the station.

Demographics: Diverse and young professionals. We're a young mixed race couple and we would prefer a diverse area.

We've been looking at different places and aren't sure about anything so far.

The Decatur area looks to offer better prices, but it seems that certain parts can be sketchy. We were also looking in the Sandy Springs area and near the Chattahoochee since we're used to hiking and outdoors stuff here so being near a big park or outdoors area is appealing.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[MattCW]

You'll want to look at the communities along MARTA's Blue and Red Lines such as Inman Park, Reynolds Town, Edgewood, Candler Park, Decatur, Avondale Estates (Blue) and Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody (Red). If you don't mind a bus transfer, you could look further up GA-400 into Roswell and Alpharetta.

Yes parts of Decatur can be a tad sketchy, but many parts are be very nice, especially within the Decatur city limits. Not sure how it is in Washington State, but down here a lot of places even with city mailing addresses are actually outside the city limits in unincorporated areas of which there are several sketchy ones with Decatur addresses but outside its city limits. I've come to understand that such a setup isn't so common elsewhere.

[SeaTacJack]

MattCW,
Thanks so much for the info! Looks like we have some good places to look into. Those are also some encouraging words about Decatur. It actually falls pretty close to my wife's job on the MARTA so it would be a good spot to look into. We're still focused on finishing our packing here, but we've been checking out Craig's List for listings to get a feel on prices. Are there any other places you guys would recommend to find listings?

[elbow4419]

Please visit for help with affordable housing in great areas (Decatur is great.. Esp. The closer you are to Emory area. Stay away from the northern suburbs area of Decatur (traffic into town will beat u down)

www. Rentals.com

[elbow4419]

And ....."go Diversity!"

[DaBurgh]

East Point, College Park. Very short MARTA ride to Downtown and airport. Have to avoid some areas, so post an address if you see something you like and someone here can advise if its a safe area.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by MattCW

You'll want to look at the communities along MARTA's Blue and Red Lines such as Inman Park, Reynolds Town, Edgewood, Candler Park, Decatur, Avondale Estates (Blue) and Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody (Red). If you don't mind a bus transfer, you could look further up GA-400 into Roswell and Alpharetta.

Yes parts of Decatur can be a tad sketchy, but many parts are be very nice, especially within the Decatur city limits. Not sure how it is in Washington State, but down here a lot of places even with city mailing addresses are actually outside the city limits in unincorporated areas of which there are several sketchy ones with Decatur addresses but outside its city limits. I've come to understand that such a setup isn't so common elsewhere.

Originally Posted by SeaTacJack

MattCW,
Thanks so much for the info! Looks like we have some good places to look into. Those are also some encouraging words about Decatur. It actually falls pretty close to my wife's job on the MARTA so it would be a good spot to look into. We're still focused on finishing our packing here, but we've been checking out Craig's List for listings to get a feel on prices. Are there any other places you guys would recommend to find listings?

I can't imagine that his price range will allow him anything in the nicer parts of Decatur, incorporated or not. You need to be very careful, there are places with a Decatur mailing address that are pretty bad.

[DaBurgh]

Have you considered reaching out to a property management company or realtor who specializes in rentals? I don't know any that I can refer, but that may be the way to go.

[a2t]

$1000 is gonna be tough in any sort of desirable area. You might get a small apt, definitely not a house unless you are either living in the Fight Club house next to the georgia dome, or 50 miles out on some rednecks land. neither seem to be good matches for you.

Try to find a 1 bdrm apt in city of decatur, or maybe a duplex renting the smaller half? anything along dekalb ave between decatur and town is right where you want to be. Oakhurst, Lake Claire, Little 5, East Atlanta, Grant Park, Old 4th Ward, Emory, VA Hi. Keep in mind the closer to I20 and/or Memorial drive you get, the more sketchy it becomes. Dont live south of 20 if you can avoid it. (careful with east atlanta and blvd heights, its hit or miss)

I know you want to be close to Marta but I rarely use it since its so slow. If you can be close to Dekalb ave, its an expressway in the morning and you can get from decatur to downtown in 5 min (sometimes at speeds over 60-70 mph). reminds me of northern NJ. Sometimes longer but dekalb usually moves fast and eventually you will figure out where all the 3' deep pot holes are. all that to say, dont invest too much in proximity to marta

do some digging, post some leads, we prob know the background on it, have lived there since 98

[MattCW]

Let me correct something a2t said, MARTA rail isn't slow. It's faster than driving during rush hour, and for the most part, faster than driving any other time, including waiting. The trains also reach 70mph. The buses are slow, but might can serve as a decent last-mile connection if your train connects to it, especially the more frequent routes like 110.