Old people hoods in East Cobb..... (Atlanta, Roswell: 2013, houses, neighborhoods)

[rtloucks]

Roswell VS. MARIETTA?

SO WE SPENT the weekend house hunting in Marietta east Cobb. But also found some homes in Roswell that fell in Lassiter. We obviously are fond of Pope Walton and Lassiter but read so many reciews on how snobby they all are and how so many kids fall thru the cracks if they aren't beyond over achievers.... our son is very deiven so we dont see that as a problem but we are laid back people. We help out whenever we are needed but we are not the type to hover our son as doing as he is doing well, nor do we enjoy spending all of our time at school events and functions or pta . Roswell high als0 seems to rank high...tboughts?

The other thing we are looking for some clarification on are the age demographics. This may be touchy so I apologize ahead but it is important to us. We love people of all ages and I enjoy having elderly neighbors to an extent but a couple of the neighborhoods we really like seem to have a lack of younger families. The only people we saw out were much older than us. Is this typical of the area or are we simply just not seeing the people our age because they are working, busy, at kids events etc? It just seemed like every time we saw a house we liked we would see neighbors on each side and across and they were much older. We are in our late 30s and would like to meet people and male friends. One issue is that we can afford more house than some people our age and our kids are older than most people have that are our age. and that has always been an issue every where we lived. So we are trying to spend less but then sacrificing things we enjoy. So there is no win-win, but maybe someone that lives in east cobb County of marietta or Roswell can offer some thoughts and maybe share where the larger master plan type neighborhoods are with younger families.

Overall we love it. No complaints, just want to find a neighborhood with other like families with children.

[evannole]

aires4118 knows the East Cobb neighborhoods and school districts better than anyone else on this forum. Hopefully he/she can chime in with some advice.

Given the size and numbers of the schools in East Cobb, I have no doubt that there are plenty of people in your age bracket there, but I would think that aires4118 could help narrow things down a bit for you.

[AtlJan]

aires4118 can specify certain neighborhoods for your budget--do we know your budget?--however a rule of thumb is to look for age-specific sports equipment. I have upper elementary kids so I was looking out for trampolines, bikes, soccer goals, basketball hoops. I bought on a street w/ these hanging out in the front and back yards like other people have azaleas. Sure, enough, my kids walk to friends' houses and every Friday is family happy hour in the middle of the street.

[PTC Dad]

A lot of this is based on economics. Most of the homes in the top East Cobbs districts (Walton, Lassiter, & Pope) sell for over 500K for an older home. Most families in their 20's and 30's with young kids can't afford that, especially when they can buy a newer home for 300K in an adjacent area. We've seen this in Fayette County where High School kids outnumber elementary students. Peachtree City and Fayette County are seen as a move up community which is probably the same as East Cobb.

Also a lot of the older homeowners have stayed in their homes through the housing downturn in Atlanta from 2008-2013, but that's starting to change. A lot of the homes in East Cobb are starting to turn over to younger families. I've seen this in my own neighborhood in Peachtree City where our street has gone from just a couple of families with young kids to a majority.

Finally, East Cobb is home to some of the most desirable schools in Metro Atlanta. I say that because as more and more families relocate here, East Cobb will be high on their list, and whatever neighborhood you chose, it will probably grow younger over the next several years.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Roswell VS. MARIETTA?

SO WE SPENT the weekend house hunting in Marietta east Cobb. But also found some homes in Roswell that fell in Lassiter. We obviously are fond of Pope Walton and Lassiter but read so many reciews on how snobby they all are and how so many kids fall thru the cracks if they aren't beyond over achievers.... our son is very deiven so we dont see that as a problem but we are laid back people. We help out whenever we are needed but we are not the type to hover our son as doing as he is doing well, nor do we enjoy spending all of our time at school events and functions or pta .

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Roswell high als0 seems to rank high...tboughts?

Yes, Roswell High School ranks extremely high and is an excellent school in its own right and is definitely an excellent choice to consider along with the aforementioned East Cobb schools (Walton, Pope and Lassiter).

The only real difference between a school like Roswell High School and the aforementioned East Cobb schools (Walton, Pope and Lassiter) is that the East Cobb schools each have a reputation that carries significantly more prestige (including on the national level) than Roswell High School.

Basically, a school like Roswell HS has the reputation of being about a '9' while the aforementioned East Cobb schools have national reputations of being '10's.

But one really cannot go wrong by picking a school like Roswell instead of one of the aforementioned East Cobb schools.

Originally Posted by rtloucks

The other thing we are looking for some clarification on are the age demographics. This may be touchy so I apologize ahead but it is important to us. We love people of all ages and I enjoy having elderly neighbors to an extent but a couple of the neighborhoods we really like seem to have a lack of younger families. The only people we saw out were much older than us. Is this typical of the area or are we simply just not seeing the people our age because they are working, busy, at kids events etc? It just seemed like every time we saw a house we liked we would see neighbors on each side and across and they were much older. We are in our late 30s and would like to meet people and male friends. One issue is that we can afford more house than some people our age and our kids are older than most people have that are our age. and that has always been an issue every where we lived. So we are trying to spend less but then sacrificing things we enjoy. So there is no win-win, but maybe someone that lives in east cobb County of marietta or Roswell can offer some thoughts and maybe share where the larger master plan type neighborhoods are with younger families.

Overall we love it. No complaints, just want to find a neighborhood with other like families with children.

One good way to find an area or neighborhood that might have more younger families might be to consider swim-tennis communities with active youth swimming clubs and an active community events calendar.

Hopefully other posters like aries4118 and others who are very intimately familiar with the East Cobb area might be able to point you in the best direction to look in terms of particular East Cobb swim-tennis communities with good active youth swimming clubs and active community events calendars.

Other good ways to meet people and make friends after moving to a new city/metro like Atlanta might be to:

> Become active with the PTSA (Parent-Teachers-Students Association) at your son's school...

> Become active with the athletic booster clubs at your son's school (particularly the FOOTBALL booster clubs where a good broad cross-section of the community (from parents to teachers to administrators to community business leaders and local, state and federal politicians) often actively participate in this high school and college football-crazed part of the country)...

> Become active with the local chapter of your college/university alma mater's alumni club where a broad cross-section of the community is also likely to participate...

> Become active with a local place of worship if you and/or your family is religiously active...

> Volunteer in the community.

A website like Meetup.com is also a good place to find other community members who might share your social, political and cultural interests, meet new people and make new friends after moving to a new city/metro like Atlanta.

[stoxdiamond]

I believe the reason why there are a lot of old people in Cobb County is because they are exempt from paying the school's portion of property taxes after a certain age, which makes their taxes really low.

For example, City of Decatur doesn't have this and it's driving out a lot of elderly empty nesters because they pay the full share of school taxes even though they're seniors and obviously don't have any school aged children. As a result, residents living within the city limits are full of young families.

I do think that CoD is implementing this tax exemption for seniors though to stop them from being pretty much forced to leave.

[Saintmarks]

I would say the median age of residents of any neighborhood will reflect the time it was built out. These things go thru cycles. Older empty nesters will downsize or pass on, homes in desirable districts will re-sell to folks with school age children. I don't think there is anything static about any East Cobb neighborhood as far as it being elderly only. You are simply seeing a lot of first time buyers in the 80s when this area went through it's biggest boom turning into empty nesters.

[rtloucks]

I see. I appreciate the input. I can't say I'm excited about it though lol.

I understand what is going on. I was wondering of that is a common theme around the 400k -500k range on the East cob area. We looked at several neighborhoods and all were beautiful and well kept. I have to give to the residents, the keep their ship tight. I almpst felt like we may not be good enough to live in any of them. It was nice to see though. A lot of pride in ownership shows around those parts.

I just want to see kods running around and other families out that we may have some things in common.

There must be a few younger areas around there.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

I see. I appreciate the input. I can't say I'm excited about it though lol.

I understand what is going on. I was wondering of that is a common theme around the 400k -500k range on the East cob area. We looked at several neighborhoods and all were beautiful and well kept. I have to give to the residents, the keep their ship tight. I almpst felt like we may not be good enough to live in any of them. It was nice to see though. A lot of pride in ownership shows around those parts.

I just want to see kods running around and other families out that we may have some things in common.

There must be a few younger areas around there.

I think it is a normal pattern in most cities with maturing neighborhoods. Newer neighborhoods at a lower price point seem to attract younger families with school age kids in tow. Meaning you will still have homes with school age kids, but the day when it was 90% home to families with school age kids was when it was brand new. Probably won't see that type of mix again. I am sure someone has done studies on this somewhere.

[rtloucks]

So is that the general consensus in that area then? That is is mostly older residents beginning to transition?