Atlanta Newcomer Questions (Sandy Springs, Roswell, Smyrna: appointed, 2010, apartment complex)

[johnnyboy2008]

Originally Posted by ck26

I believe someone mentioned this already, but Sandy Springs is another great location. Sandy Springs has some great high schools and you will only be about 15 mins from Buckhead!

Yes, but in the last 20 years there has been a lot of crime on roswell road due to all the apartment complexes.

[noah]

I was commenting on a general trend in this country that has popped up in the last few years and I am not referring to the close suburbs with expensive homes but the really far out, brand new suburbs with entry level new construction homes (some developments never even were completed before going broke). Hopefully as things improve and houses are not empty anymore this trend will disappear.

Originally Posted by johnnyboy2008

Sorry noah, these communities are usually very upper income people who generally have stable jobs and sizeable assests to help them survive tough economic times. Unlike intown living, there are no low rent places and abandonded buildings that provide cover for the thousands of homeless and crackhead thugs that roam the intown area.

I doubt very seriously that these areas will ever see the type of crime that flood the intown area.

If you would like some proof via offical crime stats, just go to the online crime maps from the city of atlanta, dekalb county, and the city of dunwoody. You will notice that the intown area is always infested with crime and the dunwoody area I mentioned very rarely has crime except for a few car breakins/shoplifting charges around peremiter mall.

[CToGA]

Thanks to everyone that chimed in! I'm going to spend a week down here next month so I have the following places on my itinerary. I'm also listing the schools I hope to visit so please feel free to add in additional suggestions.

1. Dunwoody (Dunwoody High)
2. East Cobb (most likely focusing on southern part for commute so Walton, Wheeler, Pope HS)
3. Sandy Springs, Roswell (North Fulton) (North Springs, Roswell HS)
4. Buckhead (Smith, Jackson, Brandon elementary)
5. Morningside (Morningside ES, Grady HS)

I don't really mind living in either a "liberal" or "conservative" area. The area we're coming from is very Republican by registration (in CT we have to declare a party when we register) but went for Obama in the last election. So, I'm hoping people down in Atlanta aren't so partisan that they are up in arms when a neighbor isn't as passionate about an issue as they are.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by johnnyboy2008

not really, it is kind of a no man's land when it comes to labels.

jb, from what I gather you're referring to to North Buckhead area, which stops at the Sandy Springs line. That is a good neighborhood.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by ck26

I believe someone mentioned this already, but Sandy Springs is another great location. Sandy Springs has some great high schools and you will only be about 15 mins from Buckhead!

If I were focusing on SS, I would look at houses in the Riverwood HS cluster over North Springs. JMO.

[kaday]

Originally Posted by IntownHomes247

CTtoGA, if you're happy with living outside of the city, it does sound like the East Cobb area might be good for you (and your ambitious child ). It's certainly not politically liberal (the intown neighborhoods are). Quite the opposite, and some will shove it down your throat, but you'll get a LOT more house for the money than you'd get intown, have access to excellent public schools and lots of amenities. In Atlanta there is very much a dichotomy between people who live inside the perimeter (ITP) and outside the perimeter (OTP) [I-285 is the perimeter]. Generally speaking, it's hard to find people with a really firm grasp on the realities of both the intown neighborhoods and the outlying surburbs because if you live outside of the city you generally only come intown to go to work or do things not available out in the 'burbs, and if you live intown there's really no reason to go outside the perimeter. So ITPers tend to think the suburbs are filled with right-wing extremists who have a phobia about cultural diversity and OTPers tend to over-exaggerate the amount of crime and the state of the schools intown. Both areas have lots of good things (and some bad things) to their credit and plenty of homes available. So when you come down, you should take a drive around some of the neighborhoods you're interested in and see what feels right to you. You can also test the commute to see what you're willing to live with. Hopefully you can make a trip down to Atlanta soon (the weather is phenomenal right now) so you can narrow down your neighborhoods before starting to focus too specifically on homes. Whichever area you choose, you should have a large choice of good homes because your budget is generous for the Atlanta market.

I agree East Cobb is conservative but also chock full of Northeastern transplants (myself included). It will be easy to find a niche to fit into. In my neighborhood in East Cobb there very very few people actually from Georgia. I do have to say people from here are very friendly and helpful here. Now when I visit the Northeast I am almost ataken back by the difference.

[jym626]

CT-
Read this thread http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...y-springs.html for a lot of good info. Another area for you to consider is the area right around 285/Riverside Dr. The elementary school would be Heards Ferry and HS would be Riverwood (dont recall the MS off the top of my head). Riverwood is a very good school, as LD mentioned. It used to allow families form other counties to pay a few thousand dollars to place their kids there because of its Magnet and IB programs About Riverwood but I think it may be limiting if not discontinuing that offer to students out of the district. The houses in the area range from charming smaller older homes to new mega mansions.

[speeddemonz]

Originally Posted by CToGA

Hi guys, I'm relocating from Greenwich, CT to metro Atlanta in two months with my wife and two children and I was hoping some of you guys could help me out by giving me a sense of commute times, schools and housing options around town. In a nutshell, my wife will be working at Northside Hospital and I'm not too far away in Buckhead. Ideally, we'd like an older established area with good public schools, housing in the 650-750k range with commutes not exceeding 30 minutes. From what I've read so far, East Cobb and possibly North Fulton seem like good choices. In particular, I've heard great things about schools in those areas. Can anyone chip in their thoughts here?

Good luck on your move! You are right east cobb is great and the N. Fulton area is awesome you might want to look at Johns creek/Alpharetta and Roswell, as well as the crabapple area located in Alpharetta.

[speeddemonz]

Originally Posted by johnnyboy2008

Yes, but in the last 20 years there has been a lot of crime on roswell road due to all the apartment complexes.

Roswell road and Roswell, Ga N/ Fulton section are totally different.

[CMMom]

I live in the "panhandle" section of Sandy Springs that borders Dunwoody (you were asking about earlier); zip code 30350. Dunwoody Springs, Sandy Springs Middle, North Springs cluster. My neighborhood has probably 40-50 school aged kids, and I know of only one or two families that go Public. It's pretty similar in most of the single-family, non-renter neighborhoods in the 30350 zip code. Although the zoning shifted this year, and the new Ison Road school drew a lot of the apartment dweller kids away from Dunwoody Springs, that trend has not changed yet. I suppose it's possible that more families might go public if Dunwoody Springs' stats change in the next few years.

My impression (I know a few teacher insiders) of Sandy Springs Middle is that it's a pretty rough school. Again, just hearsay, but I hear a lot of talk about girl catfights, etc... in the hallways. I actually haven't heard much about North Springs lately, although one friend said "it got better for a while, but it's going downhill again." Again, I claim no first-hand knowledge, so don't flame me!