Family Looking for Community Convenient to Dunwoody (Atlanta, Roswell: sales, foreclosures) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

Gabound1 · 12-16-2011, 09:02 AM

My husband is being transferred to the Atlanta area. He is in sales and travels or works from home, but will occasional have meetings in the Corporate office in Dunwoody. We are relocating from Frederick, Maryland (30 to 50 miles from Metro DC, Northern Virginia and Baltimore). We seek a home with good schools in either Cobb, South Forsyth or possibly Gwinnett county.

My husband is biracial (black and white) and I am black. We have 3 boys, one who comes home occasionally from college, one in 10th grade and our youngest is in 2nd grade. We want a little diversity in our neighborhood as well as our boys’ school. We like newer communities with more of a planned community feel. We are very active. My husband plays basketball and lifts weights at the local Y, bikes and runs. My boys play baseball, basketball, football and soccer. I love taking exercise classes, jogging in the neighborhood, etc. Our current community has pools, tennis, basketball, a soccer field, playground, etc. To give you an idea of what we are used to from a diversity standpoint our current community and the elementary school in it is 79% white, 11% black, 5% Hispanic, 4% Asian and 1% Indian. We want a single family home in the $220 to $300k range.

I found one neighborhood that appeared perfect online…Legacy Park that seemed to offer what we were looking for, but a few things concerned me about it. We heard about the firearm requirement in Kennesaw. Someone also told my husband that Kennesaw is kind of “redneck”. Also, it will probably be a rough commute to Dunwoody. There is a possibility that my husband may have to be in the Perimeter area more often in the future, so I want to keep that in mind.

Any suggestions? We want to get an agent and look at homes within the next 2 weeks.

weyesone7 · 12-17-2011, 08:26 AM

I am excited for you on this new adventure! My family and I are moving from Buffalo, NY to Ga within the next few months. Our only differences are that we have 7 children of various ages and we plan to rent in an area before purchasing. I am more afraid to be financially hooked to a $300,000 home in an area we didn't like. Hgtv has a realtor site that offered foreclosures, rentals and the like. You may want to search there. Blessings on your journey!

mike7586 · 12-17-2011, 08:55 AM

I would not look that far up into Cobb County if your husband is working in Dunwoody... the traffic on 75 and 285 would be an issue... same thing with parts of Gwinnett County (85 and 285)... I'd look into South Forsyth, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Berkeley Lake/Peachtree Corners first...

400 traffic can be bad, but it's better than having to deal with 75/285 or 85/285 everyday.

Iconographer · 12-17-2011, 08:59 AM

Consider Peachtree Corners (Gwinnett). Adjacent to Dunwoody, good school cluster, well-priced.

lorilove · 12-17-2011, 09:30 AM

I agree with mike7586 - Kennesaw to Dunwoody is not the best commute. Don't worry about that gun law (its bark is bigger than its bite). It used to be that more rural areas of Cobb County were considered a bit redneck and compared to Inside the Perimeter that may be true but areas like Kennesaw have really grown up and with large developments that attract families like yours it is a bit over exagerated.

I think you can find similar neighborhoods going up GA400 toward Milton or South Forsyth. This will be a better commute.

RoslynHolcomb · 12-17-2011, 11:41 AM

I was thinking Peachtree Corners as well. I live in Dunwoody and shop there regularly. I don't know the neighborhoods all that well, but the listings seem to be well within your price range and I've heard good things about the schools in Gwinnett County. They just voted to become a city, and best of all your husband can commute from there on surface roads. No need to get on the interstate at all. Forgot to add, there's a brand-new YMCA there that has all the amenities. I'm a member and work out there regularly. Guys play basketball there all the time, though I don't know if it's pick-up game or if they have some type of schedule. The Y is even within walking distance of some of the neighborhoods. I'm not sure about swim/tennis, but some of those subdivisions are very nice, so I'm sure they have it.

Gabound1 · 01-01-2012, 05:40 PM

Thanks for all the tips guys. My husband has to fly down again in two days for meetings. I will have him check out Peachtree Corners and some other parts of Gwinett. We have thought about Alpharetta and South Forsyth, but were a little concerned about diversity. We lived in Smyrna (Galleria Mall area) over 10 years ago and I think probably thought about Cobb County primarily due to knowing a little about that area. Also, I have a cousin (who is married with a son) that we are close to living in Powder Springs. We know that if you live in Alpharetta and Gwinnett we won't see them much. Our concern with S. Forsyth was that there is little diversity in the schools (1 to 3% blacks).

atlanta28 · 01-01-2012, 06:26 PM

We bought a home this summer in Johns Creek, our search criteria was very similar to yours (husband also works in Dunwoody), so here are two high school districts that we strongly considered. You'll find active swim/tennis neighborhoods in both school districts. Avoid both Cobb & S. Forsyth if diversity is important to you. Alpharetta & Johns Creek are more diverse than you may believe. In our neighborhood mixed race couples of all backgrounds are common; we also have families from seven different countries just on our street. BTW... we chose a beautiful 5br/3ba in a swim/tennis community for less than $250 (Chattahoochee H.S). Welcome, and I hope you'll love it here!!!

Great highschools with racial diversity (by no means is this list complete):

Chattahoochee (Johns Creek)
Student Teacher Ratio Chattahoochee High School - Alpharetta, Georgia - GA

Peachtree Ridge (Suwanee)
Student Teacher Ratio Peachtree Ridge High School - Suwanee, Georgia - GA

after opening the links, click on "students" towards the bottom to open student demographics for each school, enjoy!

shotofrhythm · 01-02-2012, 11:03 PM

East Cobb isn't a bad commute to Dunwoody, especially if you take Abernathy Rd. Some areas I would look at are the homes in the Lassiter and Pope High School districts. The Walton district is a bit pricey, but you could find a home within your price range. Sprayberry is more diverse than the others and it's cheaper.

The Roswell area is pretty nice too (Roswell High School).

Good Luck!

grlluvstech · 01-03-2012, 12:12 AM

there are some good areas in Dekalb county. As far as your 2nd grader goes if you look in the Montgomery Elementary district, though alot of the neighborhoods are older, with some new houses mixed in. This is off of Ashford-Dunwoody your in between Brookhaven/chamblee area very close to lots of restaurants, shopping, parks and there is a ymca and private school within minutes. Good luck on your search and Welcome to Atlanta!!