Leaving South FL for North Atlanta Suburbs? (Roswell, Alpharetta: home owners insurance, house prices)

[Beachy26]

We are looking into leaving South Florida and move up to the North Atlanta Suburbs. Frankly, the crazy house prices (we'll be looking at spending north of $1m for a newer 5bd ~3300sq ft house in our area), the crazy taxes, forever rising home owners insurance costs, and the overcrowded middle and high schools are driving us away. We'd also like some cooler weather throughout the year and the ability to drive a few hours for mountains. Lastly, working in the tech corporate world, we realize that South FL will never be a tech hub like Austin (lived there), Atlanta, DC area, and the Bay area.

I've done online research and have been looking at Alpharetta and the surrounding suburbs. I don't want to get too north of that as my company does have an office is Bucknell which I'd like the option to commute to when needed a few times per month.

We will have a 6th and 9th grader come next school year so that's top of mind for us, and I'd like to find schools that do not have over 2000 kids in it (huge concern for where we live now as our local HS is 3500+). Any experience with having schools implement and stick to a 504? I also do like the ability for my kids to take specialized career classes in high school. One of my kids struggles academically so having this option would be nice. That's not as common here in South FL.

We'd be looking for a 5bd, ~3500 sq ft house, preferably under 20 years old and would like to spend less than $650k ideally. Having a yard that backs up to trees instead of other houses would also be ideal for us.

Besides the Atlanta traffic, which I know is not great (but we have virtual jobs for the time being), and paying state income tax, what other things that only locals would know should I be looking at when considering our decision?

Thanks!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Beachy26

We are looking into leaving South Florida and move up to the North Atlanta Suburbs. Frankly, the crazy house prices (we'll be looking at spending north of $1m for a newer 5bd ~3300sq ft house in our area), the crazy taxes, forever rising home owners insurance costs, and the overcrowded middle and high schools are driving us away. We'd also like some cooler weather throughout the year and the ability to drive a few hours for mountains. Lastly, working in the tech corporate world, we realize that South FL will never be a tech hub like Austin (lived there), Atlanta, DC area, and the Bay area.

I've done online research and have been looking at Alpharetta and the surrounding suburbs. I don't want to get too north of that as my company does have an office is Bucknell which I'd like the option to commute to when needed a few times per month.

We will have a 6th and 9th grader come next school year so that's top of mind for us, and I'd like to find schools that do not have over 2000 kids in it (huge concern for where we live now as our local HS is 3500+). Any experience with having schools implement and stick to a 504? I also do like the ability for my kids to take specialized career classes in high school. One of my kids struggles academically so having this option would be nice. That's not as common here in South FL.

We'd be looking for a 5bd, ~3500 sq ft house, preferably under 20 years old and would like to spend less than $650k ideally. Having a yard that backs up to trees instead of other houses would also be ideal for us.

Besides the Atlanta traffic, which I know is not great (but we have virtual jobs for the time being), and paying state income tax, what other things that only locals would know should I be looking at when considering our decision?

Thanks!

Are you talking about commuting to work on Bucknell Drive in the Atlanta 30336 zip code in Southwest Fulton County?

That would be kind of a long commute on many days from a Northside suburban area like Alpharetta. But if you were only doing that kind of commute only a few times a month then I guess that you could manage it. Though, I don’t know if I would quite recommend doing an Alpharetta-to-Southwest Fulton County commute on a daily basis.

[Beachy26]

It would definitely be the latter. If I go into the office, it would only be a few times a month at most.

[Born 2 Roll]

Outside of the possible concerns about a somewhat longer-than-desired commute between a Northside suburban area like Alpharetta and an area like Southwest Fulton County, Alpharetta is a good area to target because of all of the numerous suburban metropolitan amenities that the area provides.

Those numerous amenities include numerous high-quality and upscale dining options, upscale retail shopping, excellent public schools, community events and gatherings, great public parks and green spaces, and great access to the popular and beloved scenic foothills and ranges of Blue Ridge and Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia, Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee located north of metro Atlanta.

Most of the Alpharetta mailing area is located in Fulton County but spills over into smaller parts of neighboring Forsyth and Cherokee counties.

The public schools are considered to be stellar in the Fulton County and Forsyth County parts of the Alpharetta mailing area and are considered to be excellent in the Cherokee County portion of the Alpharetta mailing area.

And multiple high schools in the area appear to have enrollments that are smaller than 2,000 students, while some others appear to have enrollments that are not much larger than 2,000 students.

(North Fulton County high schools like Chattahoochee, Cambridge, Johns Creek and Northview each appear to have enrollments of fewer than 2,000 students, while Alpharetta and Roswell high schools each appear to have enrollments of just over 2,100 students...

... Meanwhile, nearby Forsyth County high schools like South Forsyth, Denmark, Lambert, Forsyth Central and West Forsyth each have enrollments of well over 2,000 students... Lambert High School, in particular, has almost 3,000 students...

... Nearby Cherokee County high schools like Sequoyah and Creekview each have slightly just over 2,000 students.)

Though finding a 5-bedroom home that is less than 20 years old for less than $650k potentially could be a challenge because of often intense competitiveness of the housing market in an extremely high-demand suburban community like Alpharetta in recent months and years.

To find the kind of home that you are looking for in your price range, you possibly may have to go further north away from Alpharetta than you might be comfortable with.

[ShenardL]

For $650K it might be hard in Alpharetta. You'll probably have to look into Suwanee, Cumming, Buford, Sugar Hill.

[Citykid3785]

I don't know all the nuances around high school size, other than to say most of the big suburban schools range from 1,600 - 2,500 at the high school level, with outliers for sure.

In general, the desireable northern suburban communities are:

Alpharetta
Roswell
East Cobb
Woodstock
Milton
John's Creek
Suwanee
portions of duluth

The watchouts that only Atlantan's might know:
-it's hard to find a flat back yard, so be on the lookout for this
-perhaps maybe only 40% of homes have basements, and only a portion of those are finished.
-you don't want a house on a path to an local school. Many of these roads are only 2 lanes, and the traffic is terrible and pick up and drop off time, you want to avoid them.
-you have your pick of nice homes in good swim/tennis communities. the homes that are under 5 years old, many tend to be on undesireable lots. If I had kids, I'd for sure want to be in a swim/tennis community.

[AtlantaRising]

Originally Posted by Beachy26

We are looking into leaving South Florida and move up to the North Atlanta Suburbs. Frankly, the crazy house prices (we'll be looking at spending north of $1m for a newer 5bd ~3300sq ft house in our area), the crazy taxes, forever rising home owners insurance costs, and the overcrowded middle and high schools are driving us away. We'd also like some cooler weather throughout the year and the ability to drive a few hours for mountains. Lastly, working in the tech corporate world, we realize that South FL will never be a tech hub like Austin (lived there), Atlanta, DC area, and the Bay area.

I've done online research and have been looking at Alpharetta and the surrounding suburbs. I don't want to get too north of that as my company does have an office is Bucknell which I'd like the option to commute to when needed a few times per month.

We will have a 6th and 9th grader come next school year so that's top of mind for us, and I'd like to find schools that do not have over 2000 kids in it (huge concern for where we live now as our local HS is 3500+). Any experience with having schools implement and stick to a 504? I also do like the ability for my kids to take specialized career classes in high school. One of my kids struggles academically so having this option would be nice. That's not as common here in South FL.

We'd be looking for a 5bd, ~3500 sq ft house, preferably under 20 years old and would like to spend less than $650k ideally. Having a yard that backs up to trees instead of other houses would also be ideal for us.

Besides the Atlanta traffic, which I know is not great (but we have virtual jobs for the time being), and paying state income tax, what other things that only locals would know should I be looking at when considering our decision?

Thanks!

I moved here from Los Angeles about 12 years ago. You will love the weather. When people outside of Georgia think of Georgia weather, most think of the humidity along the coast and the heat in the southern part of the state. Few know that the Atlanta metro is about 1000 feet above sea level. This allows for four distinct seasons. You will not get much snow in Winter, but it is delightfully cold enough to snuggle up in front of a fireplace.


I wish you the best in Atlanta!

[Beachy26]

Thank you all! Curious - is the housing market there just as crazy as it is down here? Values have gone up ~50% in the area I'm in and people are saying it's not a bubble, but rather the new normal. Thoughts for up there?

[ShenardL]

Originally Posted by Beachy26

Thank you all! Curious - is the housing market there just as crazy as it is down here? Values have gone up ~50% in the area I'm in and people are saying it's not a bubble, but rather the new normal. Thoughts for up there?

A lot of homes are going over asking price. A new construction neighborhood in Sugar Hill where houses started off at $400k in February 2020 are now starting at $600K for the same models in the same neighborhood. So everywhere where it's considered desirable you see these housing price increases. Only in the rustbelt-type area will you see housing prices being relatively the same.

[AtlantaRising]

Originally Posted by Beachy26

Thank you all! Curious - is the housing market there just as crazy as it is down here? Values have gone up ~50% in the area I'm in and people are saying it's not a bubble, but rather the new normal. Thoughts for up there?

We have two properties here. Both have increased by about 20% year over year. Rents have increased by about 25% since last year. Atlanta is a top performing metro and has been for 30+ years. If you are looking across the Sunbelt, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and Atlanta regularly oscillate between the top five spots. There are no indicators pointing to a change any time soon. There has been a steady stream of tech and tech arms of companies moving into the city (Google, Twitter, AirBnB, Microsoft, Cisco, etc.). On one hand, it's expensive compared to a couple of years ago. On the other, you can probably count on a decent amount of equity built on whatever you buy 5 years from now.

However, you will be working virtually and there are no shortage of great neighborhoods in the outer suburban rings.