Mableton, North Decatur other close-in, affordable areas (Atlanta, Marietta: apartments, to rent)

[dridley]

Hello. I've posted before, but I am getting clearer on what I want as I get closer to moving. I am returning to Atlanta after being away 14 years. I was there a few weeks ago for interviews and meetings and things have really changed! A lot more traffic and very changed neighborhoods.

I will probably work from home, but my daughter will attend a school that is near Peachtree/Peidmont/Pharr Rds in Buckhead. I am trying to get my bearings and determine how/where we want to live before I purchase a house, so I am looking for a rental.

I'm trying to find something to rent in a fairly close-in community, but Buckhead and Vinings are out of my price range. My goals are as follows:

Rent-$1,500 max, though I could stretch to $1,700 for something amazing.

House - Prefer single family, but after 14 years in Washington, DC, a townhouse is fine. 3 bed plus and office or 4 bedrms. I prefer newer construction (20 years old or less).

Commute - I'd like to be no more than 10-12 miles away from the Lenox Mall/Buckhead area. If I could keep my commute to 35 minutes or less, I'd be thrilled.

I have a close friend in Vinings, but again, not in my price range. When I was doing a Vinings search, I discovered Mableton. I put a few addresses in Mapquest and the distance fit my preference. Can anyone share information or insight on the area? I also keep coming back to North Decatur, but the inventory seems a bit older than what I prefer. If there are any other hidden gems I may have overlooked, please feel free to suggest them.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[spacelord75]

Have you considered resale townhomes in the Vinings/Smyrna area? There are a ton you could buy and end up with payments in your rent range...or rent from people struggling to sell their places. The whole area is LOADED with resale townhomes so it's a perfect opportunity to get a great deal. I used to live in Mableton and, while it's come a long way, honestly for what you get there, you could get something close in Smyrna, which is a more desireable area, just my opinion.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by dridley

I have a close friend in Vinings, but again, not in my price range. When I was doing a Vinings search, I discovered Mableton. I put a few addresses in Mapquest and the distance fit my preference. Can anyone share information or insight on the area?

Do a search in the forums here ... there have been a fair number of detailed threads about housing in Mableton. Here's a basic search to get you started:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/searc...rchid=16245827

I've lived in northern Mableton (a mile south of the East/West Connector and Cooper Lake Road) for over four years now, I absolute love the area, and I would recommend the areas along Cooper Lake Road, Nickajack Road, Buckner Road, and anywhere in that general area along the southern Smyrna border. We're only a few hundred yards south of Smyrna ... the nice folks in Chimney Estates, Vinings Estates, and friends were annexed by the City of Smyrna a few years ago.

[dridley]

Thank you both for the feedback--very helpful!

[KevK]

Originally Posted by dridley

Hello. I've posted before, but I am getting clearer on what I want as I get closer to moving. I am returning to Atlanta after being away 14 years. I was there a few weeks ago for interviews and meetings and things have really changed! A lot more traffic and very changed neighborhoods.

I will probably work from home, but my daughter will attend a school that is near Peachtree/Peidmont/Pharr Rds in Buckhead. I am trying to get my bearings and determine how/where we want to live before I purchase a house, so I am looking for a rental.

I'm trying to find something to rent in a fairly close-in community, but Buckhead and Vinings are out of my price range. My goals are as follows:

Rent-$1,500 max, though I could stretch to $1,700 for something amazing.

House - Prefer single family, but after 14 years in Washington, DC, a townhouse is fine. 3 bed plus and office or 4 bedrms. I prefer newer construction (20 years old or less).

Commute - I'd like to be no more than 10-12 miles away from the Lenox Mall/Buckhead area. If I could keep my commute to 35 minutes or less, I'd be thrilled.

I have a close friend in Vinings, but again, not in my price range. When I was doing a Vinings search, I discovered Mableton. I put a few addresses in Mapquest and the distance fit my preference. Can anyone share information or insight on the area? I also keep coming back to North Decatur, but the inventory seems a bit older than what I prefer. If there are any other hidden gems I may have overlooked, please feel free to suggest them.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Smyrna is cheaper than Vinings and much safer than Mableton. Mableton is OK but it borders a very bad part of Atlanta and suffers the spill over from there (if they would close the Hwy 78 bridge at night, crime would fall).

[City Fanatic]

Originally Posted by KevK

Smyrna is cheaper than Vinings and much safer than Mableton. Mableton is OK but it borders a very bad part of Atlanta and suffers the spill over from there (if they would close the Hwy 78 bridge at night, crime would fall).

I agree with what you say about the "spillover". Growing up in the area, it wasn't an issue, as most drug users and crack-house occupiers stayed in Fulton County, across the river. They rarely crossed over into Cobb County. This was in the 80s and early 90s. However, when Veterans Memorial (Bankhead Highway) was widened in the mid-90s, coupled with the loads of new shopping options in nearby Austell (East-West Connector Area), the area became the drive-through for the hood rats of West Atlanta. Unfortunately, many have now decided to settle into South Cobb.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by KevK

Smyrna is cheaper than Vinings and much safer than Mableton. Mableton is OK but it borders a very bad part of Atlanta and suffers the spill over from there (if they would close the Hwy 78 bridge at night, crime would fall).

We haven't seen any impacts from that area at all, and we're only 5.2 miles from the center of the bridge.

Also, the Bankhead Apartments are now closed, so that probably has some (positive) impact on crime levels on the Atlanta side of the river.

If you don't want to live with the potential for drive-by crime along Veterans Memorial Highway, don't live close to the highway. Most of the better areas are a couple miles north of it in any case...

[techugagrad]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

We haven't seen any impacts from that area at all, and we're only 5.2 miles from the center of the bridge.

Also, the Bankhead Apartments are now closed, so that probably has some (positive) impact on crime levels on the Atlanta side of the river.

If you don't want to live with the potential for drive-by crime along Veterans Memorial Highway, don't live close to the highway. Most of the better areas are a couple miles north of it in any case...

I disagree. I've heard of at least two bank robberies in Mableton in the past few weeks. Then there was that home invasion off of Nickajack Rd. some months back.

I don't live very far from you, so I'm not trying to beat up the area, but it seems like south Cobb has more crime than anywhere else in the county, unfortunately.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by techugagrad

I disagree. I've heard of at least two bank robberies in Mableton in the past few weeks. Then there was that home invasion off of Nickajack Rd. some months back.

The one I remember details for was RBC Bank on the corner of Fontaine and Floyd Road (the main North/South artery for the area) just a few blocks north of Vet Mem Hwy (the main E/W artery), so it was literally a few hundred feet from one of the busiest road intersections in Mableton.

That doesn't surprise me at all ... it's part of a busy business district right off Veterans Memorial, and businesses along that road are hit occasionally.

I don't remember where the other one was located, so I can't comment about its location. Do you remember? If it was the man who stole a bank deposit from a women at a bank, and who was chased down and almost caught, it was the exact same bank with the same problematic location: RBC Bank on Fontaine Road near that intersection.

I generally don't recommend that folks live in that immediate area. Go further north in Mableton and probably also east.

The Nickajack Road thing is scary, I admit. That was in the northern part of Mableton in a residential area, and acts like that which are unique events and which don't fit a pattern are a lot harder to predict.

I don't live very far from you, so I'm not trying to beat up the area, but it seems like south Cobb has more crime than anywhere else in the county, unfortunately.

Check out the area between southern/central Marietta and northern Smyrna for something to compare to. I consider that a worse area, and it's in the center of the county.

I certainly agree that south Cobb has bad areas, but most of them are well south of the residential band that runs just south of the E/W Connector. The Nickajack incident you cite is the first one I've heard of since we moved here in 2005 ... hardly a pattern of crime. That's why many folks found it so troubling; the area is not generally known for stuff like that.

[JoeP]

The Nickajack one can't be considered as normal. You can find crazy events like that in any part of town and I recommend exploring options in any of the Nickajack neighborhoods.

It's gets old with a vast area like Mableton being labled by a portion of it. The Nickajack area and Vinings Estates and other areas are perfectly fine.