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First off, I really appreciate any and all help here. Thank you! My family is planning to move to Atlanta at the end of the month. I actually grew up in Duluth, but went out of state for college and haven't lived there since. Now, my husband and I along with our one year old daughter are moving back! The purpose is to be closer to family, so proximity to Duluth is important to us. However, we are crazy about our home/neighborhood/community in Dallas. I'd love to try to find something similar to where we live now in the Atlanta area.
In Dallas, we currently rent in a neighborhood called the M Streets. It is very charming with older homes that have mostly been renovated but still retain all the character you want to see in older homes. People are always out walking around in our neighborhood with babies and dogs and there is a strong "front porch" culture. It's not unusual to be out on a walk and see groups of people, families and couples sitting outside in their yard, enjoying a drink and pausing to talk to neighbors as they walk by. It is a very safe area and has an excellent elementary school nearby. (This doesn't totally matter to us since our little lady is still young, and we may consider a private school when it's time) But I do love the "homey" community vibe of having a neighborhood garden and kids walking to school. We have several restaurants and parks within walking distance and we take full advantage both!
That being said, we probably couldn't afford to buy the size house we would need in this exact neighborhood. If we were staying here, we would probably try to buy in the Lake Highlands area. I've never lived there but we would choose it because of great schools, very involved community, front porch culture, charm, and proximity to all the things the city has to offer while still feeling residential. The homes are a little bit larger than in our current neighborhood.
We have heard that the Crabapple area might suit our personalities well. Or possibly some of the "suburban" town squares that are walkable and community oriented? Downtown Duluth? Suwannee Town Center? New Johns Creek City Center?
I've also been looking in Decatur, Virginia Highlands, Roswell, Brookwood Hills, Ansley Park, Brookhaven. Seems not much comes up for sale in our price range. Is there even a possibility of finding something in that neighborhood at that price point? We aren't opposed to a home that needs work.
1. Budget $400K
2. House/Condo/Townhome? House
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) Work from home, starting out.
4. Children(public school vs. private) Considering private, but if we were in a great community where the neighborhood revolved around a great school, we would take that route.
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two. We would love some urban lifestyle with slighter larger homes/lots than typically found there. We really don't like the suburbs, mostly for the lack of "front porch culture."
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not really.
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Young families and couples
Summary: Great neighborhood with charm, personality and front porch culture. Safe with other young families living nearby. Parks/playgrounds, restaurants, walkability and good schools are a plus! Can anyone help?
If you will be working from home then I would agree with the suburbs you listed around Suwannee, Duluth, Johns Creek. But I would also consider Roswell, Lilburn, and Lawrenceville.
The houses in most of the intown areas you listed around going to be rough at that price point and the neighborhoods are not necessarily going to have the same front porch/family atmosphere as the suburbs.
That is really good and interesting to know, I assumed the suburbs would be LESS front porchy, because that's how it is in Dallas and in the neighborhood I grew up in (Duluth). Maybe it's just finding the right NEIGHBORHOOD in the suburbs? Thank you so much!
The historic downtowns of Marietta, Decatur and Roswell would check most of your boxes. As you've seen, Decatur is pricey, but Roswell might be more attainable and certainly there are homes within walking distance of the Square in Marietta at your price point.
Good luck in your search, and feel free to ask additional questions.
Unfortunately, you just happen to have the luck of moving into a real estate market in the Atlanta metropolitan area that has been RED-HOT as of late (since about the start of 2016) and where there often has been very little housing inventory on the market at times.
I don't know what the pricing is like in the Dallas area for the type of home that you are looking for in the Atlanta area, but for the desirable areas on the north side of the Atlanta area that you seem to be most interested in, a purchasing budget of $400k potentially might be kind of modest at the moment.
I am currently looking at the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) listings for the Atlanta area and the bad news is that the pickings appear to be really slim at the moment, with there being virtually almost absolutely nothing on the market at the $400k and under price point that you are desiring in four of the most desirable areas you cited (Decatur, Virginia Highland, Brookwood Hills and Ansley Park).
There are a few houses available at your price point of $400k and under in Roswell and Brookhaven, but many of the houses appear to be older and possibly in need of some upgrades and/or repairs with one or two exceptions.
There are also a few $400k and under quality single-family houses available in the OTP (Outside the I-285 Perimeter loop highway) suburbs that you cited of Duluth, Suwanee and Johns Creek. But in this current market, those houses likely will not be on the market for long.
Detached single-family homes of any kind at the $400k and under price point that you are desiring are relatively very scarce right now throughout much of the Atlanta metropolitan area (particularly on the north side of the Atlanta area north of Interstate 20) because of the area's market conditions in which there have been a slew of major corporate relocations into the area from other parts of the U.S. (particularly from the Northeastern and West Coast parts of the U.S.), the area's technology sector is on fire, and cash-paying real estate investors from the Northeast, the West Coast and out of the country have been on an escalating home-buying binge over the last 5-6 years since the bottom of the Great Recession.
On top of that, the real estate market has benefitted from the growing buzz that is being created by Atlanta's exploding film and television production sector.
Needless to say, this is a challenging time to be a homebuyer (particularly a cash-challenged homebuyer) at the $400k and under price point on the north side of the Atlanta metro area.
The only advice that I can give to a prospective homebuyer such as yourself is to either:
A) Consider renting in an area in which you are most interested until market conditions might become more favorable (...consider renting anything that might be available in this highly-competitive near-peak real estate market, whether that be a single-family home, apartment or townhome)...
B) Consider adding condominiums and townhomes to your home buying search...
C) Consider looking in to building a new home on any lots that may be available anywhere remotely near the desirable areas where you are most interested in living...
...OR...
D) Consider increasing your home buying budget (if financially possible) while being prepared to act fast when the right opportunity may present itself in a highly-competitive and extremely hot Atlanta metro real estate market.
If you will be paying cash for a home, be prepared to act fast.
If you need financing, see if you can get pre-approved so that you will be able to move faster in a hot Atlanta metro real estate market where houses often don't stay on sale all that long after coming onto the market.
(...There have been many instances over the past couple of years where houses have been put under contract within a matter of minutes after coming onto the metro Atlanta real estate market, particularly in the most desirable areas....Yes, the metro Atlanta real estate market is THAT competitive right now.)
If you can find a really good real estate agent (or agents), that will be something that can only help your cause in the current highly-competitive metro Atlanta real estate market.
Last edited by Born 2 Roll; 03-10-2017 at 12:26 AM..
I am familiar with the M Streets (my daughter lives in University Park and has friends in that neighborhood. I would suggest looking in Roswell in the area surrounding Canton St. It is walkable as far as restaurants and shops and growing rapidly. Also very close to Roswell Area Park with lots of activities, kid's camps, pool, gymnastic center, art center, tennis courts.
The Roswell schools (Fulton County) are quite good.
What is the general feel towards Edgewood/Kirkwood/East Atlanta/Ormewood Park? Is it still too "up and coming" for what I'm looking for? The school structure there seems a little unstable with the draw to Drew and rezoning and closing schools etc. Maybe even a little too urban compared to what I'm used to? Seems like the houses are pretty small & expensive for what they are. Would it be a solid investment to buy a larger fixer upper and renovate slowly? My husband is super handy and we could do quite a bit ourselves.
I ADORE downtown Marietta, but it's a little too far from my parents in Duluth. Wish I could go for it though!
This is SO helpful! I am really thankful for someone who knows a little bit about the Dallas area. It's hard to describe. But it's such a special little corner of the city. I am in love with it and will miss it so much!
I will definitely hone in on Roswell and see what I can find. Especially appreciate the tip on looking around Canton street! We will be renting in Suwannee until we have a chance to get our feet on the ground and see some of these places in person. And we will have the flexibility to wait for something we really love to come available!
Again, the advice combined with insight into Dallas is so helpful!
Another suggestion is to make purchase offers on any affordable quality detached single-family homes that may be for rent in the areas in which you may be interested.
Aside from that, there appear to be some key differences in the real estate markets in Dallas and Atlanta that could make your housing search more challenging than you might have originally thought.
In addition to the shortage of housing inventory in a highly-competitive metro Atlanta real estate market, attached dwellings like condominiums and townhomes appear to be a bigger part of the real estate market in Atlanta than they might be in Dallas where there appears that there might be a larger inventory of detached single-family homes available than in Atlanta.
The seeming lack of detached single-family homes on the market in Atlanta (particularly in North metro Atlanta) is something that is different for Atlanta because historically, the metro Atlanta real estate market has been flush with detached single-family homes for much of the period from the late 1940's through the end of the Great Recession when the metro Atlanta real estate market was seemingly overrun with foreclosures.
Rental listings (particularly affordable detached single-family home rentals) also seem to be significantly more limited in their availability in metro Atlanta than they might have been in previous eras.
Last edited by Born 2 Roll; 03-10-2017 at 02:56 PM..
In regards to Crabapple (Milton area north of Roswell, west of Alpharetta)- the schools are excellent and you would certainly not need to look into private unless you want a religious education. The area is very pretty with lots of horse farms, small medium and large subdivisions and some downright massive private estates.
The walkable part of Crabapple is growing with some new retail/restaurant developments being built. There is already a core of restaurants and a few shops. Miltons is housed in an old farmhouse and has a large garden where they grow a lot of their vegetables and have frequent farm dinners held in the field. There is a wonderful new library that has a lot of activities. Traffic in the area can get quite congested so I try to avoid during morning/afternoon commute times.
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