East Atlanta, Little 5 Points - Crime in those areas compared to Clayton (Dunwoody: apartments, rental)

[sthig]

Hi,

Recently my wife quit her job in Henry County and we're setting our sites in living in Atlanta. We're looking to live in Decatur but are up for living anywhere "in town" that is hip and trendy.

We've lived in Clayton County for years as well as Henry. Both places we lived contained gun shots, seedy people loitering all over the place and multiple break ins. We'd like to avoid this as much as possible.

We know no place in Atlanta is perfect and I've got reports from friends of mine getting broke into in the nicest of neighborhoods in Decatur, so we know it's there.

We don't want to buy right now, we want to rent. We're just not in the market to buy (we got burned pretty hard and lost thousands on our last place, we'd like not to make this mistake again). We've found that finding a place to rent in a decent area is proving to be difficult. That said, we've found some decent deals in East Atlanta and around Little 5 Points.

I like both these areas and hang out there often. I know there is crime there, but I was wondering...say compared to Clayton County, how bad is it? I've been told I need to be careful as well as it's fine and dandy to live there.

It's just us, no kids, 2 dogs. We just would like no thugs loitering around, no gunshots and minimal on the break ins (I know that can happen anywhere). So does anyone have any information on East Atlanta?

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by sthig

It's just us, no kids, 2 dogs. We just would like no thugs loitering around, no gunshots and minimal on the break ins (I know that can happen anywhere). So does anyone have any information on East Atlanta?

Depends on your definition of "thugs" I guess, but why not Inman Park? Nicer intown area, and you can walk to Little Five Points as well as the MARTA station. An occasional bum here and there visible once you get to the LFP area, but you don't hear stories of "gunshots" around there, either.

[sthig]

bums don't bother me in the least. In fact, I don't mind getting them a burger if they are hungry.

Thugs = Someone who dresses the part, is putting on a face like "I'm going to kill you and I'm tougher than you" and is wearing his pants around his ankles. Also loitering around in areas that he/she shouldn't be hanging out. I know this is part of Atlanta, but it's amplified where we live. When I'm in the L5P/EAV area (and especially Decatur) I rarely see this. But here...it's all over.

Here where I live currently, there are a mass of thugs that come into our townhouse unit that just hang out during the day and then all of the sudden someone reports a break in. Then at night we hear "pow pow pow" from a gun and the police are called. It was worse in clayton, but Henry has it too. I'm not a great gauge of age, but these people look like children and belong in school, not wondering around in people's parking lots and yards.

We're looking at Inman Park but with a nice area comes a nice price tag. We're already flexing what we'd originally said we could afford per month, I don't know if we could handle an Inman Park area (although I would *love* to live there).

[Pcola110]

Have you given Dunwoody, Vinings or Midtown some thought as choice to rent an apartment? You can use Promove's service (which has several offices in Atlanta metro), rentmoney.com, and apartmentguide.com will give you an ideal of rental rates for apartments that's within your budget for the area(s)that you're considering.

Also craigslist is another good source if you want to consider a house w/ yard for dogs. Good luck.

[sthig]

That's where I've been finding all my listings is in Craigslist. Even the agent we are using right now can't cough up what we're finding there. I think it's great but all roads point back to East Atlanta/Grant Park.

FWIW, I like Grant Park, I like the feel of it and I love the Zoo. I know there are bad areas around there (I'm no fool) and the state penitentiary is right around the corner. So I'm cautious of where I live.

Midtown would be cool, but I have a feeling that's too rich for my blood, and I'd like to stay around the Decatur, L5P, Candler Park, EAV, Castleberry Hills area. That suits my taste for a hip/trendy area. But at the same time, we'd prefer to not have to put on bullet proof armor just to walk the dogs. So we'd like somewhere as absent of thugs as possible (but close to indy coffeeshops, trendy bars, 20-30somethings hanging out)

[NYCtotheATL]

I live in East Atlanta and love it. There have been a few break-ins that I've heard of (nobody I know personally) but if you are vigilant... i.e. lock your doors, use an alarm (we don't use one) you should be fine. We go for walks around the neighborhood in the evenings and see other couples out walking their dogs, jogging, etc. A lot of houses have front porches that people have little get-togethers with friends. It's kind of a nice scene at night ... plus the village is close with plenty of food, drinks, coffee, shopping, etc. Every Thursday night there is a farmer's market in the Ace Hardware parking lot, which is pretty cool too.

Good luck on your search!

[sthig]

that Farmer's market may be a big seller for us (as we try to skirt past the big box grocery stores)

[NYCtotheATL]

Originally Posted by sthig

that Farmer's market may be a big seller for us (as we try to skirt past the big box grocery stores)

The farmer's market is nice... small but nice. There was live music the last time I was there. We usually make a weekly trip to the Dekalb Farmer's Market in Decatur... it's really cool. More variety and lower prices than the supermarket.

[sthig]

We actually make our pilgrimage to YDFM every month, we'd go more...but gas, time and money are not our friends. This is another reason we'd like to live "in town"

[Pcola110]

Originally Posted by sthig

That's where I've been finding all my listings is in Craigslist. Even the agent we are using right now can't cough up what we're finding there. I think it's great but all roads point back to East Atlanta/Grant Park.

FWIW, I like Grant Park, I like the feel of it and I love the Zoo. I know there are bad areas around there (I'm no fool) and the state penitentiary is right around the corner. So I'm cautious of where I live.

Midtown would be cool, but I have a feeling that's too rich for my blood, and I'd like to stay around the Decatur, L5P, Candler Park, EAV, Castleberry Hills area. That suits my taste for a hip/trendy area. But at the same time, we'd prefer to not have to put on bullet proof armor just to walk the dogs. So we'd like somewhere as absent of thugs as possible (but close to indy coffeeshops, trendy bars, 20-30somethings hanging out)

Candler Park area, EAV would be your best bets for aparment/house hunting, it puts you close to L5P and all the other happenings in the area. Peidmont Park isn't fall away from that area. Kirkwood (certain parts) is another area, it's experiencing revitalization. Don't take this personal but your paranoia(calm it down) of having to wear a bullet proof vest, imho, it's holding you back b/c of your experiences in Clayton & Henry Counties. Be conscious of your surroundings wherever you are in Atlanta and get out there and have some fun.