Marietta or Sandy Springs? (Atlanta, Roswell: apartment, buying a house, buying)

[shannabrooke]

Hey guys, we've been living in Marietta for a couple of months and we are thinking about buying a house at the beginning of the year sometime. The only issue is location. I will be starting a new job in Alpharetta close to the Verizon Ampitheater and my girlfriend works off of Cascade in West ATL. What do you think would be a better option for both of us as far as the commute times? I'm still not exactly familiar with the roads and interstates and everything. Right now, from our apartment in Marietta, it take my girlfriend about 45 minutes to get to work. She doesn't want it to take any longer than that.

ALSO

What areas do you guys like the best? We like Marietta, but mostly just the area around the square.

[primaltech]

If you went with Sandy Springs, your commute would be easy, 20 minutes or so (straight shot up 400, reverse commute). Her commute would be all I-285, sort of against traffic and general commuting patterns. I don't think it should take longer than 45.

Sandy Springs is great. Easy to access Atlanta (and has MARTA stations as well), and it's easy to get to the rest of the metro area because of being right on 400 and 285. Pretty centrally located.

Traditionally it's been sort of a suburban area, but Roswell Rd has some unique and interesting stuff, it's not bad. And they're constructing a new city center downtown area on Roswell Rd. (Sandy Springs is a new city.)

Then over on the other side (east side) of Sandy Springs, you have Perimeter Center which is straight up cookie cutter, with a popular shopping mall (Perimeter Mall). And terrible traffic during the week and during holiday shopping season.

If you want a village feel that's sort of like Downtown Marietta (but not as good), from Sandy Springs you have historic Downtown Roswell area a couple exits north on the freeway. It's worth checking out.

Sandy Springs is also near Brookhaven's little village area, and it's really near Buckhead Village. And it's also not far from Vinings, and not terribly far from Marietta and Decatur.

[fieldm]

Sandy springs will be a reverse commute for both of you


The person working in Alpharetta will have to deal with the 75 and 285 traffic going to Alpharetta

[Chilly Gentilly]

We live in Sandy Springs. We chose there because of its central location and close proximity to pretty everywhere we want and/or need to be

[cdw1084]

Marietta. Despite being 40,000 people smaller it has an identity and nice downtown. When you're in Marietta, you can tell you're in a different city in the metro. Sandy Springs on the other hand, feels like an extension of Atlanta. I'm not trying to sound negative about Sandy Springs but other than the commute I've always like Marietta better for that reason.