Moving from south florida to atlanta (Smyrna, Duluth: rent to own, high crime, house)

[lilhamp]

I am looking to move to the atlanta area in mid july 2007. I just wanted to get some information from those of you who already live there.

I am a teacher and am looking to work in the atlanta public school system. I currently work at an inner city school in miami and am looking for something similar in the atl area. I teach elementary school and am looking for a 1st grade position for the 2007-08 school year. Any help with that would be great.

As far as where to live. I just started researching and right now I'm looking at Decatur, Norcross, and Riverdale.

I'm a young woman and am looking for a safe, gated community. Right now I'm just looking to rent or rent to own. If you know of any nice developments I would greatly appreciate it.

I know of the traffic in atlanta and am willing to deal with it for the time being. I just want a diverse, progressive area to live in and still be about 45 minutes from the city.

Thank you for your time.

[jeweloflight]

Originally Posted by lilhamp

I am looking to move to the atlanta area in mid july 2007. I just wanted to get some information from those of you who already live there.

I am a teacher and am looking to work in the atlanta public school system. I currently work at an inner city school in miami and am looking for something similar in the atl area. I teach elementary school and am looking for a 1st grade position for the 2007-08 school year. Any help with that would be great.

As far as where to live. I just started researching and right now I'm looking at Decatur, Norcross, and Riverdale.

I'm a young woman and am looking for a safe, gated community. Right now I'm just looking to rent or rent to own. If you know of any nice developments I would greatly appreciate it.

I know of the traffic in atlanta and am willing to deal with it for the time being. I just want a diverse, progressive area to live in and still be about 45 minutes from the city.

Thank you for your time.

I'm not sure what kind of research you've been doing, but forget about Riverdale and Norcross. Norcross is heavily saturated with illegal mexicans and the property values are low, and safety is iffy. Riverdale is predominately black, and a high crime area. Now Decatur is nice in parts, the nicest part being north Decatur around Emory University. But that doesn't come cheap, so I don't know what you're looking to spend.

Do you already have a job that you're coming to, or are you coming here and then looking for a job? I was trying to get an idea of what part of town to direct you too. I'm not up on all the good schools, but I can suggest some nice living areas.

Nice progressive areas are here for sure. I would say the most progressive would be Midtown (heavy gay population) Virgina Highlands, East Atlanta, Grant Park, Inman Park, Cabbagetown, Parts of Decatur, Atlantic Station, Gwinnett County, Snellville, Smyrna, Vinings and around North Druid Hills. Start with Gwinnett County, it seems good for you. Good Luck!

[lilhamp]

Thanks for your help. I'm definately going to start looking around those areas in Gwinnet County. Also, what about Stone Mountain? Is that a nice area? I want to be in an area with young, diverse, progessive people. Any suggestions?

As far as the job goes, I hope to have one by the time I get there.

[krash]

perhaps you should consider the job first and then communities near that job. the commute can be absolutely overbearing. throughout atlanta, there are great neighborhoods right around elementary schools. if you're looking for progressive with school systems that are growing, i would suggest the west side of atlanta in smyrna/vinings, mableton, austell, and marietta. marietta is more established, but smryna, mabelton, and austell are all newer growth communities.

[Jreday]

Originally Posted by jeweloflight

I'm not sure what kind of research you've been doing, but forget about Riverdale and Norcross. Norcross is heavily saturated with illegal mexicans and the property values are low, and safety is iffy. Riverdale is predominately black, and a high crime area. Now Decatur is nice in parts, the nicest part being north Decatur around Emory University. But that doesn't come cheap, so I don't know what you're looking to spend.

Do you already have a job that you're coming to, or are you coming here and then looking for a job? I was trying to get an idea of what part of town to direct you too. I'm not up on all the good schools, but I can suggest some nice living areas.

Nice progressive areas are here for sure. I would say the most progressive would be Midtown (heavy gay population) Virgina Highlands, East Atlanta, Grant Park, Inman Park, Cabbagetown, Parts of Decatur, Atlantic Station, Gwinnett County, Snellville, Smyrna, Vinings and around North Druid Hills. Start with Gwinnett County, it seems good for you. Good Luck!

You should really be careful making general inaccurate comments like that to uninformed people. All of "Norcross" (as in the Norcross area, everywhere with its address/zip) is definitely not high crime and illegal immigrant saturated. That's your unfortunate assumption. The Norcross area(s) that I know well (Peachtree Corners, west Norcross, etc) are actually very nice. The "bad" areas of Norcross are actually generally not located in the city of Norcross, as is the case with most of the Norcross area and most/many Gwinnett County and Atlanta Metro cities.

The Riverdale area also has some very very nice, quiet neighborhoods. Riverdale and Clayton County as a whole has been struggling with a rise in violent crime though that's been riling many of the residents because it's relatively high for a suburban area where it didn't previously exist (even while it was still predominately [but not so overwhelmingly] black).

[Derrick_TheRiskTaker]

Originally Posted by jeweloflight

Norcross is heavily saturated with illegal mexicans and the property values are low, and safety is iffy. Riverdale is predominately black, and a high crime area.

Nice progressive areas are here for sure. I would say the most progressive would be Midtown (heavy gay population...)

JEWEL:

Thanks for scaring the sh*t out of me!

[jxu66]

I agree with Jreday. That's strange dynamic in Gwinnett. If you stay within city limit (whether it is city of Suwanee, city of Duluth or city of Norcross), you got better neighborhood and better service. If not, you depends on County police which is understaff, IMO. For example, it may takes up to 20 minutes for Gwinnett police after you called 911. It takes less than 5 minutes for city police. Also, city police can even check up on your house if you are on vacation.

[Ryan Ward]

I hope you enjoy Atlanta. I am from Miami myself and enjoy Atlanta. If you would like to teach in the same sort of areas, you should look at East Lake/East Atlanta. There are lots of ways to search for homes online, but, you will need to come up and see for yourself.

[lilhamp]

Thanks so much for, you all have been really helpful. I'm going up in March so now I have a better idea of where to look.

[jeweloflight]

Originally Posted by Derrick_TheRiskTaker

JEWEL:

Thanks for scaring the sh*t out of me!

I don't know EXACTLY what that's suppose to mean, but you're demonstrating a very poor communication ability, and quite defensive. I'm sorry, I'm confused, did you say you were Adventist?