moving to Covington, GA (Stone Mountain, Mountain Park: transplants, 2009, houses)

[sterlingseas]

is Mountain view estates 30016 a safe place to live?

[cnchvac]

Covington is a nice area. The commute to Atlanta is not bad at all. Real estate cost is priced well. It is a good location for a jump off point to Atlanta and Gwinnett county as well.

[btrfly414]

Covington is a rural area undergoing quite a bit of growth. Like most rural areas, farmers are selling land to builders to make way for more cookie cutter subdivisions. The area that you asked about is off of Hwy 81 and in my opinion in the middle of nowhere. However, many developers in the area are building strip malls. The main strip in Covington is Hwy 278. There are many eating establishments and more strip malls. The Historic square of Covington is quite charming. They have movies in the square and other art events. The square reminds me, on a smaller scale, of a John Gresham novel, with many law offices and "southern gentlemen" who walk the square with fedoras and cane offering a tip of their hat. These fedoras are unlike the ones the lovely city of Atlanta detectives sport during thier investigations Anyhoo, Covington is a nice city. There are some terrible areas such as Salem Road. Just keep in mind that it is rural but shopping is close by in conyers and or covington. I am not sure about the schools. Those that I know lived there sent their kids to private school.

[niky]

we are also looking into legacy communities. We will be moving next summer 08. Could you give me any information about legacy communites. Are they as resonable as they seem? Are they good builders?

[campbell19]

Let me describe Covington, not as a real estate agent who wants to sell you a house, but as a person who spent 2 years of high school in Covington.
If you have kids there is nothing. There are no youth centers, no bowling ally, no movie theater, no organized sports organizations (other than the YMCA), I personally was bored ALL the time. Although, the library does have reading circles and I think movies, but they are aimed to younger children. I think Rockdale, Conyers has much more to do. My friends and I always went to Rockdale to play pool, go to the movies, or go bowling.
I lived went to school in many schools around the United States, seeing as how my parents were in the military. My schooling in Newton county was less than satisfactory and I tool Advanced Placement classes. There was also a lot of racial problems in my school, it was deeply divided and quite shocking. I personally didn't understand why there was a division, but I didn't grow up in Covington. I always wanted to go to the Rockdale County schools because they ave magnet programs and my best friend was in the Technology Magnet school as Rockdale County High School and some of his teachers were teachers from Georgia Tech.
Also when a person earlier said that there were a lot of eating establishments, they meant Longhorns and Applebee's. There are a lot of fast food shops and run down strip malls. There are a few diners on the square, but they are grossly overpriced. The rest of the square has overpriced antique shops and small clothing shops. Rockdale has a lot of really nice restaurants and plethoria of chain restaurants.
My only positive response is that the YMCA is amazing, but it does cost a lot of money per month. However, the YMCA is the only place that has anything youth related.
I think your choice would really depend on the opportunies you find important. If you want to be involved in the Church, well then Covington is your place, but if you want more cultural opportunties then Rockdale is a much better choice.
Oh the person who said the commute is 45 minutes to Atlanta...they were talking without traffic. Sometimes in the morning, if you live outside of town, it can take you 45 minutes just to get to the highway because so many sub divisions are on county roads that just have stop signs. My dad and aunt commute to Atlanta and they leave about 1 1/2 hours before they need to get to work.
Hope this helps...any one feel free to ask me any questions and I will happily answer honestly!

[skymom1]

We moved to Covington from FL as well....the area is beautiful/ the people are gracious and NOT racist / the schools, sad to say, are overcrowded --- the teachers are EXCELLENT, but the overcrowding does cause alot of class disruption -- I sub and I see it. The ATL commute is not bad, but consider when you want to get there....you would be taking I20, if you don't leave by 6:30am, you may hit a parking lot by the mall exits and on forward....lovely antebellum homes in the "square" ; alot of upscale neighborhoods, some with a good amount of property, I live in a subdivision and I have 15 acres ---- selling, personal NOT community reasons. You get alot for your money in this area - but I think if you are concerned about schools, you will probably go the private schooling route. Best of luck to all the newcomers!

[Selmarg51]

I am a 56 year old male African-American community college music professor in Californina who is retiring in December and moving to Covington. At least Covington is the plan right now.

I have a sister and her daughter who live there and from my visits every summer and Christmas for the past 7 years it seems to me to be an area worth looking into. The commute along Salem road to get to I-20 can be a nightmare, but since I will be retired I won't have to get on that road until I'm ready.

I've looked into some very nice new home subdivisons and from what I've seen they are quite reasonable.

[Selmarg51]

Originally Posted by sterlingseas

is Mountain view estates 30016 a safe place to live?

My niece lives in Mountainview Estates and it's an OK subdivision. It does not have a homeowners assoication and that can be good or bad depending on your temperament.

I've noticed that some people leave junk in their driveways, some leave their trashcans at the curb for the entire week and not everyone keeps their lawn in the best of shape.

There are a lot of homes for sale there. Some are foreclosures. My realtor told me that the home prices are about $105,000 on average there. It's a bit far from everything but as others have said there are malls and shopping areas going up.

There is absolutely NO public transport other than taxis. And Salem Road can be rough if you commute. But my coming from Los Angeles, it seems like child's play to me.

[georgia123]

Hey. Atlanta is packed like most large citys and oh yea they are running out of water. Georgia is going through a drought. The lakes around Atlanta are going dry. From what we've been told here...North Georgia is going to get pretty thirsty in 3-5 months if we dont get some rain. You may want to consider right now.

[TGIRL6]

I moved from a home in Covington in June 2007. My children and I lived in Covington for 6 years and never experienced a problem with racism there. Although there were only 2 African American families in my neighborhood, my family and another family, all of the kids in the area got along very well. I loved living in Covington because it's a very quiet area and you get a lot of house and land for your money. The only thing I did not love was my commute to work every morning 1hr 25mins to Atlanta. Other than the commute which is a problem just about everywhere in Atlanta, I think you will love living in Covington.