Moving w/o a clue (Atlanta, Roswell: apartments, foreclosure, condominium)

[toots1]

Just found out hubby and I are being transferred to the Alpharetta area.
Where do we look? E,W or N of the city?
Kids are out of the house and finishing college, so school district isn't a concern---except for potential resale value down the road.

Have been directed toward Woodstock, Aceworth, Grayson,Suawnee, Lawrenceville, Cumming awwwwwwwwwww going nuts.
Naturally he would like to be close to a golf course---big dream --don't know if a reality ($$.)
His commute will be into Alpharetta and mine, well, somewhere in the medical community.
I've heard traffic is really a fun thing to negotiate, ugh.

Need a positive growing area, under 300K, not out in the boonies.
Thanks for any help and directions.
toots1

[NE2SE]

I would live close to 400 and South of Alpharetta. Thereby your commute would be the reverse of traffic! There are plenty of golf communities around that area for sure. To name a few...

Atlanta National
White Columns
Crooked Creek
Trophy Club

I would attempt to not live east or west unless you are really close to your work. There are no major freeways going east or west in that area, so you will just sit in two lane road traffic and be frustrated. From Acworth it's can be faster to go to down to 285 and then back up 400 to get to Alpharetta. I once took highway 92 between the two. I left Alpharetta at 4pm and got to Acworth around 6:30pm...painful. If you go north up 400, you will battle traffic too. Grayson? Whoa, WAY to far away in terms of traffic.

If you are working in Alpharetta, I would scratch all the cities you mentioned except maybe Cumming. But you will still have traffic on 400 South. If you work in Alpharetta, why not live in Alpharetta? Or pick Roswell? Don't let the "more house for your money" get you in to a rediculous commute. You will only exist and not live.

Aside of the commutes here is my take on each place you mentioned:

Acworth - Pretty little town on the shores of lake Allatoona. If you live in the old part of town you can wak to a public beach.

Suwanee - Close to Lake Lanier, a better lake than Allatoona. Received an award recently for a good place to live.

Lawrenceville - Neat little downtown area, but rather boring otherwise.

Grayson - You have got to be kidding me. OK it's affordable, no thanks if you ask me.

Cumming - This is in Forsyth county, so you get cheaper taxes than in Fulton where Alpharetta and Roswell are, and your close to Lake Lanier. And closer to the Mountains. I've heard that Forsyth county has the largeest collection of wealth in the state.

Good luck!

[moving123]

It's all in what you are looking for. All of the areas mentioned are OK for the right person. It's like NE2SE says, they are not for him. I love the Lawrenceville, Grayson areas. You can find a golf area for around $300K. The key is to keep down your commute time.

[BillWagner]

Toots, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Suwanee, or Grayson all would be good relocation points. His commute with Alpharetta probably Duluth. There are great golf communities there, but with your price range living in Alpharetta would be a challenge unless you wanted a townhouse or condo in the area. Duluth has those price ranges so does Suwanee, Lawrenceville, or Grayson.
All these cities are west to east as listed and all are north/northeast of Atlanta and all these cities are good for what you want. Grayson is about a 45 minute commute, Lawrenceville is about 30 going thru Duluth, and Duluth is next to Alpharetta, traffic some days is OK and some days sre not. Depends on what hour you leave and are in traffic, the earlier the better. As far as your medical job goes there are plenty of hospitals and medical clinics on the northside of Atlanta. There are literally hundreds of homes available in these areas. Suwanee is a great city about 30 minutes north of Atlanta. and close to Alpharetta with good commutes to where he works an kind of a small town community feel, but growing and has a lot of commercial development going on also. Good area to think about, but they all are as long as you move into the right neighborhoods. You need a Realtor to point you in the right direction if you can't decide by looking online. You need a representative on your side that will represent you. Being a buyer you pay no commisions, they are usually paid by the seller or builder. You get services for free. Let me know if I can help...Bill

[OhioNative]

It takes my wife 30 to 45 minutes to get to downtown Alpharetta (near North Point Mall) from Suwanee. I can't imagine how bad your commute would be from Grayson!!!

[toots1]

Thanks for the heads up.
Hubby will be working in Alpharetta and is a bit more familiar with the traffic patterns/grid locks than I. Sounds like Cummins maybe the target area, since we both just LOVE sitting in traffic and watching the grass grow.
toots1

[rackensack]

For your reference, I've created a Google Map of the areas mentioned below, at Google Maps -- click on a shaded area to see the name/info.

Rivermont is a planned development dating back to the 1970s in the far southeastern corner of Alpharetta -- it's actually now part of the city of John's Creek, but has and will have an Alpharetta address/zip code until the USPS recognizes John's Creek. If you asked most people about it, they'd probably tell you it's in Roswell, and it is right up against the boundary. It's actually a complex of subdivisions and condominium developments that occupies pretty much the whole area between Holcomb Bridge Road on the south, Nesbit Ferry Road on the west, Brumbelow Road on the north, and Barnwell Road on the east. It includes Rivermont Golf and Country Club, and is also located just across Barnwell Road from the Country Club of the South (home to many pro athletes, entertainers, etc.) and the Jones Bridge unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. Rivermont also maintains a club property along the river for use by members/residents. The downside is probably that most of the homes (though not all) are contemporary-style, instead of the more popular traditional styles. This has kept the neighborhood more affordable that most of those that surround it.

A mile or two away is Country Club of Roswell . I doubt you'd find much in the Willow Springs neighborhood that surrounds it, but there's a neighborhood without direct access to it in between the golf course and the Newtown area at Haynes Bridge and Old Alabama called Ivey Oaks that might have something sub-$300K. There's more options in the sub-$300K range in the neighborhoods along Old Alabama Road between Nesbit Ferry and Holcomb Bridge, and you'd have reasonable access to Country Club of Roswell (Country Club of Roswell) and would be quite convenient to Alpharetta, and to GA 400 for access to the rest of the Atlanta area. One is Spring Ridge -- there are a couple of others.

There's also the Horseshoe Bend development, including the Horseshoe Bend Country Club. This is between Holcomb Bridge Road and the Chattahoochee River on the east edge of Roswell (within Roswell city limits). The houses are more expensive -- nothing under about $325, with most considerably more -- and the Club has been in difficult financial straights (last I heard they were narrowly avoiding foreclosure). It's a huge development, with over 1200 homes.

A little bit west of Horseshoe Bend, southwest of Country Club of Roswell, is Martin's Landing (About Martin's Landing), an even bigger development than Horseshoe Bend, with nearly 2000 homes (including a mix of townhomes and apartments), two pools, a lake, parks, and its own elementary school. The neighborhood also maintains a River Club across Riverside Drive adjacent to the Chattahoochee River. What it doesn't have is a golf course.

In between Martin's Landing and Horseshoe Bend are a few smaller neighborhoods that may have something in your price range -- River Terrace usually does.

These are mostly mature, stable neighborhoods -- you're not going to see the appreciation in value you might in a newer neighborhood farther out. If your primary concern is appreciation, you might want to look elsewhere. But your "not out in the boonies" criteria makes me wonder how much you'd like Cumming -- it's developing rapidly, but it was the boonies not so long ago. East Roswell also has the advantage of being midway (roughly) between Alpharetta and the concentration of hospitals along Johnson Ferry/Glenridge/Peachtree-Dunwoody just inside I-285 commonly known as "Pill Hill".

If your price range stretched a bit higher, I might suggest looking at Windward -- another huge development, this one on the eastern side of Alpharetta. Golf course, tons of other amenities, somewhat newer houses than the neighborhoods mentioned above, private lake, etc. You're probably looking at a floor for prices of about $350K, however.

Oh, and about Grayson -- Google Maps says it's 48 minutes from Grayson to Alpharetta. Google Maps doesn't have to sit in traffic on any of the roads involved. You could probably drive it in that amount of time at 2 am. Any normal commuting time, however, I'm betting it's well over an hour, probably closer to an hour and a half. And you'd definitely be sitting there watching the grass grow for a lot of that.

[Philagirl]

you want a long commute. My husband's commute from Suwanee to Alpharetta is at least 45 minutes. Some days it's an hour. Even from the eastern parts of Johns Creek you are looking at at least 30 minutes. Driving east/west from or to Alpharetta-Johns Creek-Suwanee can be a complete nightmare. It is often totally gridlocked during rush hour.

I would live as close as possible to work that you can afford. If you can live in Cumming in an area very close to 400, it wouldn't be too bad. Or if you live in Alpharetta, make sure you live in the part of Alpharetta on the side of 400 where you work.