Moving to Atlanta, October 2009 (Vinings, Buckhead: apartments, foreclosed, for rent)

[tammiefaye]

Hello all.
My boyfriend and I are moving to Atlanta (by way of Seattle) in October! We are interested in living in Buckhead (near his work) and looking for a nice place to rent.
2BR, parking spaces, cats, and safety.
We currently pay $1400 in Seattle, but are looking for something a little less...as I am a teacher and am going to have a hard time finding work in the middle of the school year.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. There are a lot of options, and I am not aware of the good/bad/safe/unsafe areas.
We are 27 and 28. Enjoy walking and being close to the market, coffee, etc.
Thank you for your help!

[BobKovacs]

$1,400 in Buckhead is probably about right if you want a decent 2br with 2 parking spots.

[tammiefaye]

Thanks. any suggestions? It seems like a pretty big area when looking for "buckhead" online. Any areas to stay away from? Main roads to look into living nearby?
Thanks again!

[johnnyboy2008]

There are not really any bad/unsafe areas of buckhead, but north buckhead seems to be safest. East buckhead near buford highway/sidney marcus has some riff raff and south buckhead which borders midtown has more riff raff/crime. The lindbergh area also has many car breakins etc.

Having moved from buckhead 5 years ago I am not familar with the current apt market, but I would strongly suggest living near a subway station in case gas prices go up again. Peachtree road has a bus that runs every 8 minutes along the buckhead corridor which is great cause you don't have to worry about expensive parking.

www.buckhead.net/apts has some good info. There are many new places I am not familar with but here are a few places I would consider a good location in the middle of buckhead with easy access to everything: (i am not familar with the quality of the apts, only the location)
Alexan East Village Place
Alhambra
Bennington Towers

I would use these intersections as a starting point: peachtree road and piedmont, peachtree road and roswell road
What street is he working on, i might know of a place very close?

Also, there are many brand new condo buildings that are vacant and you might be able to get a fantastic deal on one, but I would make sure that the person renting is acutally the owner and they are current on their mortgage...there are many scams with people posing as the owner and getting rent and/or people renting out their condo just days before it is foreclosed on.

[sweettea1]

First I'd contact promove (Apartments for Rent - Apartment Locator Service | PROMOVE.com). It's a free resource and will give you a wealth of information. If you come down for a scouting trip, I'd also drive around Peachtree Hills and Peachtree Street. You may also want to check out Vinings which is a fabulous area 10 minutes from Buckhead.

[johnnyboy2008]

Promove might be good for some neighborhood information, but I would not rent via them. They get huge referral fee and will steer you to the places which pay them them the most, and they won't even tell you about nice places cause they won't pay them a fee. They are only interested in making money, not seeing you find the best place to rent.

[noah]

Coming from another washingtonian who moved to Atlanta, welcome to Atlanta.

If you want a very walkable neighborhood you may want to consider Midtown (It would be a short commute for your husband to Buckhead and he could even take the train)as I think it is much more walker friendly. Plus midtown has Piedmont Park (The biggest park in Atlanta and as some call it the Central Park of Atlanta).

[dlgoss777]

Originally Posted by johnnyboy2008

Promove might be good for some neighborhood information, but I would not rent via them. They get huge referral fee and will steer you to the places which pay them them the most, and they won't even tell you about nice places cause they won't pay them a fee. They are only interested in making money, not seeing you find the best place to rent.

Absolutely accurate. Visited ProMove a few weeks ago while scouting out apts in the Atlanta area. Despite a previous conversation with my contact at ProMove, she relentlessly pushed for the local area, even going as far as stating how superior the schools were, etc. She didn't seem to understand that I have two sibs (one a teacher with a PhD, numerous relatives, have visited Atlanta and the surrounding areas on nearly twenty occasions over the past decade and was sitting in her office with a 16-year resident. She even went as far as to disregard HUGE sections of the wall map! The area she spoke so highly about I found less than impressive. Hit and miss, too much foot traffic, and resembling my first apartment after undergrad. There was CLEARLY an incentive in it for her to push the area that we were unaware of.

[sweettea1]

wow, had no idea! I had a great experience with them...oh well...