Relocation to Georgia in Feb 2008.....so excited (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: lofts, home)

[netdragon]

I assume by your requirements that you are looking for more suburbanish areas, so places like Mechanicsville, Atlantic Station, and Grant Park won't fly.

I live in Smyrna so I can vouch that you can't expect better than a 45 min trip to the airport during peak times. However, if he's flying, he may not be going there during rush hour. Mableton is a bit closer to the airport than Smryna, and still nice but there are more apartments in the Smyrna/Vinings area and except along Oakdale there aren't as many nice apartment complexes in Mableton. There's a new Wieland mixed housing/retail going up at the corner of Oakdale and Veteran's Memorial in Mableton. There's also a lot of condos, townhomes, and apartments near Atlanta Rd and South Cobb Dr in Smyrna.

If he's willing to take the train into work, you may want to look at places along MARTA, such as Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, etc near the North Springs station.

There's also a lot of new apartments or condos (not sure which) off the Camp Creek Parkway (behind the BJ's Wholesale and Lowe's) West of the perimeter in South Fulton.

What's your target monthly rent? That will affect what choices you have.

[Shelovezlaw]

You are very informative in your advice. I will look into the midtown area. Are there any recommendations?

[Shelovezlaw]

Target monthly rent is 700-900. I am very strict with my amenities and I have a few must haves. We currently live in OkC and I love my amenities. I want to either match or upgrade.

[netdragon]

It's going to be tough if not impossible to find anything in midtown in that range. You may want to look at one of the new places in Mechanicsville near Spelman College or one of the new places around Marietta Blvd if you want to be near midtown. In my opinion, you may be better off moving to something slightly outside 285 until you get to know the area better and get to scout areas out a little to figure out what areas you want to target, especially since nice shopping areas around affordable areas are harder to find in-town.

If you increase your range a little over $1000, you'll have a lot more options, such as Atlantic Station, which is in midtown.

[Shelovezlaw]

i really do not like the big city traffic of the ATL. I am looking for something in suburbia. I just want to know what would be closer to the Airport and the heart of Atlanta. i would raise price range if the area is worth it

[staywarm2]

Many airline people in Atlanta live in Peachtree City, south of the airport in Fayette County. It's a lovely planned, family oriented, friendly community. They have apartments, but I don't know the cost. The commute to the airport is about 30 min. on I-85.

[south-to-west]

Originally Posted by Shelovezlaw

i really do not like the big city traffic of the ATL. I am looking for something in suburbia. I just want to know what would be closer to the Airport and the heart of Atlanta. i would raise price range if the area is worth it

That's the irony of Metro Atlanta--you will encounter worse traffic in the suburbs than you will inside of the city. It would really behoove you to live in the city rather than the suburbs when you first move here.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Definitely, there really isn't bad traffic on the surface streets of the city. It's the interstate that's awful.

And for $800 you can probably get a one-bedroom apartment in a duplex or triplex in Midtown. These are usually stand-alone houses that were either original built as a multi-family home in the early part of the last century (my house is like this) or was a single house that was later subdivided.

But seriously, ever since I moved to the city I don't even notice traffic. I'll get to work and everyone is talking about the jackknifed tractor trailor on 400 or 85 or 75 or 78 or whatever and how it took them 2 hours to get to work. And I'm thinking? Wow, there was nothing down Oakdale and North Decatur and Clifton Rd to indicate that - took me the same 12 minutes it always does...

Thing is...Midtown is so far within the city that even when bad things happen on the interstates and people start looking for alternative routes they usually don't get as far as Midtown. So they don't fill up the city streets. The only people who travel on the city streets are the city slickers (little less than 500K). All the metro people (about 4 mil) are on the interstates.

[goozer]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Three other Atlanta pep hints: 1) Buy a decent GPS unit. They're as valuable as gold on our weird streets here. 2) Take time to visit the city ahead of time first to check out the areas you want to live in. Try to get a week off to do it.

This is GREAT advice. When house/apartment hunting in a new city that you have only a limited time to visit, the only way to go is to rent a car that is GPS equipped. That way, you can punch in addresses and neighborhoods and maximize the amount of places you can see in a short time. Several years ago, I traveled to San Diego for a weekend to find a rental apartment and I was able to look at 30+ apartments. Without a GPS, I would have gotten lost and probably looked at no more than 10 places. GPS is a godsend for people visiting new cities.

[atlantaRE]

Most of the airline employees live in the peachtree city area, just south of the airport.