Buying a house - yay! But where?? Opinions & Suggestions Please! (Atlanta: short sale, foreclosure)

[Crunchy4582]

Hello! My fiance and I are very excited to be purchasing a home! However, we are completely at a loss as to where we want to live. We currently rent in Brookhaven, and as much as we like this area, probably would not be able to afford to buy here.

We have looked at a few areas - Tucker, Smyrna, Tyrone and want to look at Decatur. We are just not sure about Tucker and Smyrna - are these growing areas or are they on the decline? Tyrone I feel might be too far for us (mainly me lol). Any opinons on these areas would be great.

We would like to stay close-ish to the city, however fiance is a Cannongate member and golfs south of the city. I ride horses north of the city (Alpharetta). Changing stables is not an option at this time.

Right now we are having a hard time deciding on an area. We'd love to be able to have some sort of compromise on our hobbies and work locations (below). Can anyone suggest an area that we might have overlooked? We are trying to keep taxes in mind as some areas are so high it will really eat into our housing budget (we are trying to stay at a certain monthly payment if possible - $12-1400/month mortgage/tax/insurance).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!!

1. Budget - Depends on area taxes, but probably $225k max??
2. House/Condo/Townhome? - House but might consider townhome
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) I work downtown, DF works in Decatur (around 285 & 20)
4. Children(public school vs. private) No children but possibly in future
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two: Mix, kind of open on this bc of budget!
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not too important
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Safe? IDK

[vince217]

have you looked at houses in Ashford Park? Right beside Brookhaven and there are some homes within your price range, last time I looked. Take a look at 30319 and 30341 zip codes.

[Esteban5]

Originally Posted by Crunchy4582

Hello! My fiance and I are very excited to be purchasing a home! However, we are completely at a loss as to where we want to live. We currently rent in Brookhaven, and as much as we like this area, probably would not be able to afford to buy here.

We have looked at a few areas - Tucker, Smyrna, Tyrone and want to look at Decatur. We are just not sure about Tucker and Smyrna - are these growing areas or are they on the decline? Tyrone I feel might be too far for us (mainly me lol). Any opinons on these areas would be great.

We would like to stay close-ish to the city, however fiance is a Cannongate member and golfs south of the city. I ride horses north of the city (Alpharetta). Changing stables is not an option at this time.

Right now we are having a hard time deciding on an area. We'd love to be able to have some sort of compromise on our hobbies and work locations (below). Can anyone suggest an area that we might have overlooked? We are trying to keep taxes in mind as some areas are so high it will really eat into our housing budget (we are trying to stay at a certain monthly payment if possible - $12-1400/month mortgage/tax/insurance).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!!

1. Budget - Depends on area taxes, but probably $225k max??
2. House/Condo/Townhome? - House but might consider townhome
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) I work downtown, DF works in Decatur (around 285 & 20)
4. Children(public school vs. private) No children but possibly in future
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two: Mix, kind of open on this bc of budget!
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not too important
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Safe? IDK

Congratulations! Have fun with the search.

[atlbravo]

Originally Posted by Plokivos

Buy my house - 3/3.5.

I move to DC, and I'm willing to lose money on it. It's in the heart of Kennesaw, near KSU.

Granite tops, modern kitchen, every appliance, wooden blinds, cherry wood floor on the living area, carpet all around, gated community, near KSU, easy access to 75 and 575 (either way), walk to get great pizza or sandwich, or ice cream, or golf clubs, or get your car serviced while you eat lunch at home. Kids friendly - every other townhome has kids in it and they all hang out together.

Super safe.

Contact me. You'll be glad. I'm basically selling everything for cost, since I don't plan on coming back to GA, since I'm in DC.

No sir, people would not touch your house unless you are offering a minimum 50K or 20% of your cost

[IntownHomes247]

Okay, so y'all both work ITP (Downtown & Decatur), but one of you golfs on the southside and the other rides in Alpharetta, right?

Seems to me your least insanity inducing option would be to live as close to the middle of things as possible. Now, with a $225k budget, you'll have some options. If you're willing to buy a condo, you could find one pretty much anywhere intown (at least a 1 bedroom anywhere, plus a 2+ bedroom some places).

For townhouses too, you'll have lots of options all over intown.

For houses, the options become more limited. You'll find the odd foreclosure or short sale throughout intown, but frequently those will be in really bad shape. Close in neighborhoods where you can realistically get a decent house within your price range would be some place like Medlock Park/University Heights (30033), the North Druid Hills area (30329), the Woodland Hills area (30324), Briarcliff Heights (30329), Lindmoor (30033), or even a really small house in Decatur (30030). I'm thinking the closer you get to I-85 the easier it will make your trips to golfing and riding (so the North Druid Hills area), but personally, I'd prefer to live closer to Decatur so I could have access to more stuff during the week and then make the little extra drive to extra-curriculars.

In any case, there's plenty of inventory out there. If you keep your expectations reasonable, you should be able to find lots of options in nice intown areas that will give you a quick commute to work during the week and easy enough access to your weekend activities.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Crunchy4582

Hello! My fiance and I are very excited to be purchasing a home! However, we are completely at a loss as to where we want to live. We currently rent in Brookhaven, and as much as we like this area, probably would not be able to afford to buy here.

We have looked at a few areas - Tucker, Smyrna, Tyrone and want to look at Decatur. We are just not sure about Tucker and Smyrna - are these growing areas or are they on the decline? Tyrone I feel might be too far for us (mainly me lol). Any opinons on these areas would be great.

We would like to stay close-ish to the city, however fiance is a Cannongate member and golfs south of the city. I ride horses north of the city (Alpharetta). Changing stables is not an option at this time.

Right now we are having a hard time deciding on an area. We'd love to be able to have some sort of compromise on our hobbies and work locations (below). Can anyone suggest an area that we might have overlooked? We are trying to keep taxes in mind as some areas are so high it will really eat into our housing budget (we are trying to stay at a certain monthly payment if possible - $12-1400/month mortgage/tax/insurance).

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!!

1. Budget - Depends on area taxes, but probably $225k max??
2. House/Condo/Townhome? - House but might consider townhome
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) I work downtown, DF works in Decatur (around 285 & 20)
4. Children(public school vs. private) No children but possibly in future
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two: Mix, kind of open on this bc of budget!
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not too important
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Safe? IDK

[Crunchy4582]

Thank you all for your help! We are going to research the areas you have suggested.

Any opinions on the Tucker area? We are still thinking about this area as we found a few houses we liked.

Thanks again!!

[criv1]

Take a look at the new townhouses on Oakdale Rd. in Smyrna (Mableton address). We have some friends that live in Oakdale Bluffs. They have brand new ones and are just under $200K.They're built by Ashton Woods Homes. Lots of incentives right now. Real close to 285, about 2 minutes to I20 once you get on 285...

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by criv1

Take a look at the new townhouses on Oakdale Rd. in Smyrna (Mableton address). We have some friends that live in Oakdale Bluffs. They have brand new ones and are just under $200K.They're built by Ashton Woods Homes. Lots of incentives right now. Real close to 285, about 2 minutes to I20 once you get on 285...

Wasn't there some sort of plant generating a funny smell around the intersection of Oakdale and Buckner? Am I remembering correctly?

I love the view of the Atlanta skyline from the ridgeline along Oakdale Road, though. Very pretty!

[JPD]

Originally Posted by Crunchy4582

Thank you all for your help! We are going to research the areas you have suggested.

Any opinions on the Tucker area? We are still thinking about this area as we found a few houses we liked.

Thanks again!!

I live in Tucker and will be happy to answer any questions. I don't have time at the moment to write a general overview of the area, but I will say that it has been a stable community for several decades, and is currently undergoing, or has recently completed, a number of positive improvements, such as a new high school, incredible new library, large scale renovation of the Main Street business district, etc.

[Crunchy4582]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Wasn't there some sort of plant generating a funny smell around the intersection of Oakdale and Buckner? Am I remembering correctly?

I love the view of the Atlanta skyline from the ridgeline along Oakdale Road, though. Very pretty!

Does anyone know about this? I have found a few places to look at off of Oakdale Rd. And I agree about the skyline, looks cool!

Thanks all for your help!