Possible New Job in Locust Grove, Family of 5 Relocating... (Atlanta: house, neighborhoods)

[Homer12]

Good Morning Everyone,
As stated above there is a strong possibility I will be relocating to work in Locust Grove. We are in our Mid-High 40’s with Twin 14 year old boys and an 11 year old daughter. We currently live in a Golf Course community with 1+ Acre Lots. We enjoy the community and the privacy that 1 care provides. We live in Western MA and can’t wait to get rid of our Snow Thrower, the winters is really the only downside to our current home. But it’s 4-5 months of the year and brutal. We are attracted to mostly New Construction, but are open to resale if it’s updated. Schools are important, but we also feel the parents play a huge part in kids education, not just the schools. That said we still want very good schools. Neighborhoods with Amenities and other kids is a Huge plus for us, that isn’t something you find in New England as much as the south. My wife likes to be fairly close to grocery shopping and she does a bi-weekly Costco Run. The thought of Peachtree City with the Golf Cart trails really peaks our interest, that would be a great experience for us. My parents live in NC and all the neighbors had golf carts and my kids loved it.

Budget is very flexible, I’m looking between $500K up to $950K or so. We want a really nice yard, this is something we love about our current house (pool/fireplace/hot tub/ect). That would be difficult to add at the higher end of the budget and much easier to do so on the lower. In other words I’m willing to pay up to $950K or so if it has all of this already.

Based on my current research this is where I’m thinking of looking any advice or information you could provide would be appreciated.

Peachtree City- Further then I’d like, but this area seems to check all the boxes.
Fayetteville- Seems to be up and coming, closer then Peachtree City, I’ve read some areas do have access to the Peachtree Golf Trails?
Forsyth Town (Not County)- Specifically the River Forest community. This looks exactly like what we would want, the one negative is shopping doesn’t seem close. We love the Golf, Equestrian, and the river that provides fishing and such. Honestly this has grown to be our favorite the only big obstacle is the lack of shopping and/or the distance you have to drive to get to shopping.

I tried searching Forsyth but all the posts seem to be about the County, not the town.

Thanks so much in advance!!!

[markjames68]

The high school in Monroe County/Forsyth is rated “B”. Not bad, and above the state average, but not as good as say in North Fulton (an area you wouldn’t consider).

I doubt you’d want to commute from PTC to Locust Grove.

The closest Costco would be in Morrow which isn’t very close to any of your choices. Most of them, due to demographics, will be north of Atlanta where the average family income is higher.

[citidata18]

The Costco in Morrow is merely a businese center

There's a full service Costco in Coweta County, just across the border from Peachtree City.

[Homer12]

Originally Posted by markjames68

The high school in Monroe County/Forsyth is rated “B”. Not bad, and above the state average, but not as good as say in North Fulton (an area you wouldn’t consider).

I doubt you’d want to commute from PTC to Locust Grove.

The closest Costco would be in Morrow which isn’t very close to any of your choices. Most of them, due to demographics, will be north of Atlanta where the average family income is higher.

Thank you I am very familiar with North of Atlanta, not familiar at all with South of Atlanta. I’ve come close to moving to North of Atlanta several times. By comparison my favorite area North is Milton, but I also like Canton/Woodstock/Acworth. Funny I loved Milton years ago before it became the hot spot it’s gotten significantly more expensive since then.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Homer12

Thank you I am very familiar with North of Atlanta, not familiar at all with South of Atlanta. I’ve come close to moving to North of Atlanta several times. By comparison my favorite area North is Milton, but I also like Canton/Woodstock/Acworth. Funny I loved Milton years ago before it became the hot spot it’s gotten significantly more expensive since then.

If your work will be in Locust Grove and you need to be at the office often then I think your choice of Forsyth makes sense. While a longer drive to Costco it shouldn’t be that bad. You might have a Sam’s Club that is closer.

[Homer12]

One more point, the job is on the West side of Locust Grove, based on mapquest 30-35 minutes from many areas of Fayetteville and Peachtree City, I’m fine with that commute if traffic on those back roads aren’t bad.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Homer12

One more point, the job is on the West side of Locust Grove, based on mapquest 30-35 minutes from many areas of Fayetteville and Peachtree City, I’m fine with that commute if traffic on those back roads aren’t bad.

I don’t know that side very well, hopefully someone can help with that.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Homer12

One more point, the job is on the West side of Locust Grove, based on mapquest 30-35 minutes from many areas of Fayetteville and Peachtree City, I’m fine with that commute if traffic on those back roads aren’t bad.

I asked a friend that lives in PTC, and he said this sounds reasonable. The idea of a commute that avoids I-75 would personally sway me this way, even if the back roads are congested. Anything to do with 75 on a daily basis would be a total deal breaker for me. Using it to go up into the City occasionally would be okay, but absolutely not on a daily basis. It's a total nightmare in my opinion.

Good luck!

[Born 2 Roll]

The highest-quality public schools down that way (in Henry County in and around the area near where you will be working in Locust Grove on the I-75 side of the Southeast Metro Atlanta far-outer suburbs) will be found in the clusters of the Henry County Schools system that are anchored by Union Grove and Ola high schools.

These two clusters (Union Grove and Ola) offer high-quality housing in areas of highly-rated schools that are located fairly very close to areas of shopping along the I-75 corridor.

There are two large retail clusters located along the I-75 corridor at the Jonesboro Road and Georgia 20-81 interchanges, with some smaller clusters of retail located at the Hudson Bridge Road/Eagles Landing Parkway and Georgia 138 interchanges.

You could also check out some nice Henry County golf course communities like Georgia National Country Club (which is located in the aforementioned Ola school cluster), Heron Bay (a fairly very new golf course community that is on the shore of a large lake at Cole Reservoir) and Eagles Landing Country Club (a community with a 24-hour manned security gate that is widely regarded as one of the nicest, most upscale and most affluent golf course communities in metro Atlanta south of I-20) that each will be located much closer to retail and shopping amenities than the River Forest community that you are currently eyeing in a much more rural and isolated area in Monroe County.

[Homer12]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

The highest-quality public schools down that way (in Henry County in and around the area near where you will be working in Locust Grove on the I-75 side of the Southeast Metro Atlanta far-outer suburbs) will be found in the clusters of the Henry County Schools system that are anchored by Union Grove and Ola high schools.

These two clusters (Union Grove and Ola) offer high-quality housing in areas of highly-rated schools that are located fairly very close to areas of shopping along the I-75 corridor.

There are two large retail clusters located along the I-75 corridor at the Jonesboro Road and Georgia 20-81 interchanges, with some smaller clusters of retail located at the Hudson Bridge Road/Eagles Landing Parkway and Georgia 138 interchanges.

You could also check out some nice Henry County golf course communities like Georgia National Country Club (which is located in the aforementioned Ola school cluster), Heron Bay (a fairly very new golf course community that is on the shore of a large lake at Cole Reservoir) and Eagles Landing Country Club (a community with a 24-hour manned security gate that is widely regarded as one of the nicest, most upscale and most affluent golf course communities in metro Atlanta south of I-20) that each will be located much closer to retail and shopping amenities than the River Forest community that you are currently eyeing in a much more rural and isolated area in Monroe County.

Thank you very helpful