Possibly moving BACK to Atlanta metro, could use some help. (Sandy Springs: 2015, apartments)

[Redlionjr]

How's it going? Me and my Wife are planning to make a move or stay in Houston in the year 2020. Just to give a little background on our situation, me and my wife moved to Atlanta back in 2015 to pursue our careers.(Me=music/film, Wife=journalism/ p.r./marketing). We lived in Atlanta for 2 years and for the most part enjoyed our stay there. Eventually we planned on staying in Atlanta for 3 to 5 years max and would plan on moving back to Houston. Well, while we were living in Atlanta we ended up having our first child. Being that this was our first child, we decided to move back to Houston so our daughter could be closer to her immediate family aka Babysitters.

We moved back to Houston in November of 2017 and settled in with my In-laws to save some money till we get our own place. Since the move back I haven't been in the best situations.(longer commute to work and lower pay compared to what I was making in Atlanta) Not to mention the flooding, infrastructure in certain areas, traffic and raising prices for homes in the city. Because of these factors we've decided to expand our options as far as a permanent home.

We've narrowed our search down to 5 cities.
-Houston
-Atlanta
-Dallas
-Austin
-Raleigh

What me and my wife are looking for are suburban areas in the metro that are fairly safe, have great public and private schools, diversity, and a good amount of amenities. When we lived in Atlanta we lived in some apartments in the Chamblee area right next to Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. Than since it was just me and my wife we didn't really pay attention to schools and things of that nature. So i'm not too familiar when it comes to picking the right areas for school districts. I've done some research of course but nothing beats asking the people. Our budget is 250K-350K.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

How's it going? Me and my Wife are planning to make a move or stay in Houston in the year 2020. Just to give a little background on our situation, me and my wife moved to Atlanta back in 2015 to pursue our careers.(Me=music/film, Wife=journalism/ p.r./marketing). We lived in Atlanta for 2 years and for the most part enjoyed our stay there. Eventually we planned on staying in Atlanta for 3 to 5 years max and would plan on moving back to Houston. Well, while we were living in Atlanta we ended up having our first child. Being that this was our first child, we decided to move back to Houston so our daughter could be closer to her immediate family aka Babysitters.

We moved back to Houston in November of 2017 and settled in with my In-laws to save some money till we get our own place. Since the move back I haven't been in the best situations.(longer commute to work and lower pay compared to what I was making in Atlanta) Not to mention the flooding, infrastructure in certain areas, traffic and raising prices for homes in the city. Because of these factors we've decided to expand our options as far as a permanent home.

We've narrowed our search down to 5 cities.
-Houston
-Atlanta
-Dallas
-Austin
-Raleigh

What me and my wife are looking for are suburban areas in the metro that are fairly safe, have great public and private schools, diversity, and a good amount of amenities. When we lived in Atlanta we lived in some apartments in the Chamblee area right next to Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. Than since it was just me and my wife we didn't really pay attention to schools and things of that nature. So i'm not too familiar when it comes to picking the right areas for school districts. I've done some research of course but nothing beats asking the people. Our budget is 250K-350K.

Speaking of you having a longer commute in Houston than you had in Atlanta...

If and/or when you do eventually return to Atlanta, your best course of action will be first know where you will be commuting to and from for work, and then find housing in a location that will be geographically convenient to where you work... This is so that you may attempt to have as short of a commute as possible after returning to Atlanta from Houston.

Otherwise, the type of areas that you desire (with great public and private schools, diversity, and lots of amenities) will be found in Northern Crescent (Northside) suburban areas like Cobb, North Fulton, North DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, and in Southern Crescent (Southside) suburban areas like Douglas, Coweta, Fayette and Henry counties.

Just pick the suburban area that will be most geographically convenient to where you will be commuting to and from for work each day, so that you can try to avoid having the same problem with long commutes that you are currently experiencing in Houston.

[Citykid3785]

Woodstock
Kennesaw
Smyrna

Kell/sprayberry/wheeler areas of Marietta/East cobb

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

How's it going? Me and my Wife are planning to make a move or stay in Houston in the year 2020. Just to give a little background on our situation, me and my wife moved to Atlanta back in 2015 to pursue our careers.(Me=music/film, Wife=journalism/ p.r./marketing). We lived in Atlanta for 2 years and for the most part enjoyed our stay there. Eventually we planned on staying in Atlanta for 3 to 5 years max and would plan on moving back to Houston. Well, while we were living in Atlanta we ended up having our first child. Being that this was our first child, we decided to move back to Houston so our daughter could be closer to her immediate family aka Babysitters.

We moved back to Houston in November of 2017 and settled in with my In-laws to save some money till we get our own place. Since the move back I haven't been in the best situations.(longer commute to work and lower pay compared to what I was making in Atlanta) Not to mention the flooding, infrastructure in certain areas, traffic and raising prices for homes in the city. Because of these factors we've decided to expand our options as far as a permanent home.

We've narrowed our search down to 5 cities.
-Houston
-Atlanta
-Dallas
-Austin
-Raleigh

What me and my wife are looking for are suburban areas in the metro that are fairly safe, have great public and private schools, diversity, and a good amount of amenities. When we lived in Atlanta we lived in some apartments in the Chamblee area right next to Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. Than since it was just me and my wife we didn't really pay attention to schools and things of that nature. So i'm not too familiar when it comes to picking the right areas for school districts. I've done some research of course but nothing beats asking the people. Our budget is 250K-350K.

$250-350k? Move to a far-flung suburb of Raleigh (Fuquay, Wendell, Knightdale, New Hill). If commuting to downtown it's your only chance at a commute < 1 hour. In Atlanta, you'll be living out in Powder Springs, Mableton, or Austell and will NOT be in a good school district.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by ddm2k

$250-350k? Move to a far-flung suburb of Raleigh (Fuquay, Wendell, Knightdale, New Hill). If commuting to downtown it's your only chance at a commute < 1 hour. In Atlanta, you'll be living out in Powder Springs, Mableton, or Austell and will NOT be in a good school district.

In my experience, you can get from Newnan (a good school district) to downtown Atlanta in 30-45 minutes.

Tons of new construction homes in that price range.

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by citidata18

In my experience, you can get from Newnan (a good school district) to downtown Atlanta in 30-45 minutes.

Tons of new construction homes in that price range.

Forgot all about Newnan

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by ddm2k

$250-350k? Move to a far-flung suburb of Raleigh (Fuquay, Wendell, Knightdale, New Hill). If commuting to downtown it's your only chance at a commute < 1 hour. In Atlanta, you'll be living out in Powder Springs, Mableton, or Austell and will NOT be in a good school district.

It probably should be noted that the OP and his wife do not yet know where they will be commuting to and from for work yet after possibly moving back to Atlanta.

While the OP and/or his wife most assuredly should first find out and know where they will be commuting to and from work before choosing a neighborhood to live in any city/metro that they decide to, there is no guarantee that the OP and/or his wife will be commuting to work in Downtown Atlanta, especially with so many major and significant hubs of employment spread throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area/region.

Wherever the OP and his wife may end up commuting to and from for work in the Atlanta metro area/region, they will have some type of reasonable access to quality housing within their price range of $350k and less in outlying areas.

A $350k housing budget will not by any means condemn the OP and his family to a subpar school district.

There are plenty of areas with quality schools that the OP and his wife will be able to buy into with a $350k housing budget, including many parts of Gwinnett County, Coweta County, Fayette County, Douglas County, Paulding County and Henry County, as well in the City of Marietta proper and Cherokee County.

If the OP and his wife desire to live in an urban environment in Intown Atlanta, a $350k housing budget also potentially might be able to get them into a new or newer home in the rapidly improving Jackson High School cluster of the Atlanta Public Schools system.

Adding townhomes and condominiums to their search gives the OP options to buy into areas of some of the best schools in metro Atlanta, Georgia and the Southeastern U.S. in parts of areas like Cobb County (East Cobb and North Cobb); North Fulton County (Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Milton); and the Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Suwanee and Lawrenceville areas of Gwinnett County.

Adding townhomes and condos to their housing search also potentially gives the OP access to hot/in-demand closer-in areas with improving public schools like Smyrna/Vinings.

The OP and his wife have an abundance of high-quality options for housing with a $350k budget.

The OP and his wife should just know where in the Atlanta metro area/region they will be commuting to and from for work before committing to a long-term housing purchase.