East Cobb/Vinings/Buckhead/Decatur etc dilemma (Marietta: lease, condo)

[Rcooley2]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a dilemma we have. We are currently renting in East Cobb and had planned to rent here for a couple of years. But this week, 6 months into our lease, the landlord has decided to sell the house. Since we only want to make one more move, we're looking for a house to buy. Here lies the dilemma.

My husband currently works near 75/285, so a relatively easy commute. However within the next 2-3 years his company is planning to move to the old Sears building in midtown on Ponce. We're just not sure if we want to buy in East Cobb (looking specifically at neighborhoods off of Paper Mill. Sibley Forest is my fav) or if we should try for the Vinings, Buckhead, Ashford Park area or Decatur.

Does anyone have an accurate idea of what his commute would be from Sibley Forest to Ponce? The other part of our dilemma is that we'd like to keep our kids in their current private school in Marietta (Eastside Christian). So if we were in Decatur, I'd have a reverse commute to East Cobb.

Any opinions?

1. Budget $650 max
2. House/Condo/Townhome? House
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) commute to Midtown (see above)
4. Children(public school vs. private) We are at a private school in East Cobb (see above)
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two - We like suburban living, but aren't opposed to a neighborhood ITP.
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not really
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. We're pretty conservative, so a liberal neighborhood isn't necessary.

[cqholt]

Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. We're pretty conservative, so a liberal neighborhood isn't necessary.

Don't move to Decatur then.

[carrot]

I live in Decatur, consider myself conservative, and couldn’t care less if most folks around me are liberal. Why does it matter?

[westau]

Originally Posted by carrot

I live in Decatur, consider myself conservative, and couldn’t care less if most folks around me are liberal. Why does it matter?

It matters in the political decisions made by the city/county.

[noah]

I agree. I love Decatur and would easily choose to live there but would not call myself liberal. I do love the vibe though and if you were to take away fiscal issues suppose I would fall more inline with many in the area. For some politcal leanings seem to drive where they want to live and I get it but remember a majority of people are independents.

Originally Posted by carrot

I live in Decatur, consider myself conservative, and couldn’t care less if most folks around me are liberal. Why does it matter?

[lastminutemom]

Decatur is irrelevant if you want to leave your children at Eastside Christian. It is simply too far. I can't imagine there are families at Eastside who live towards Decatur. And actually, no your commute would not be reverse. Traffic going I 285 west in the mornings is pretty bad. And playdates would add a whole other issue.

If you are willing to change schools, you need to look and find like schools before making a housing decision. Eastside will be hard to replicate inside the perimeter at least in areas like Brookhaven (Ashford Park). If you move to the City of Decatur, you are paying a huge housing premium (and big property taxes) for a school system you won't be using if you are committed to private.

I can't help you with the commute issue, sorry, but I know that folks from East Cobb commute downtown all the time...

[red92s]

A) Decatur to your current school on a daily basis would get old, real fast. I just can't see why it would be worth swapping a long job commute for a long school drop off commute.
B) There is little sense in buying inside the City of Decatur if you don't plan to use the schools. You'd be paying a hefty premium in purchase price and taxes, compared to an equivalent house a couple hundred feet across the city line.
C) I wouldn't make these decisions based on what a company is "planning" to do in 3 years. Plans change quickly. Maybe they see huge growth and can't find enough space in PCM. Maybe PCM is so popular there isn't vacancy in 3 years. I understand wanting to find a "forever" solution, but companies are fickle beasts when it comes to strategic planning like that.

[jeoff]

2-3 years is a long time. I would think long and hard before I would endure 2-3 years of weird commutes based off of where you expect to be working in 2-3 years. Personally, I would rent near the current work and school (maybe for much less than you can afford, so you can partially compensate for any increase in housing prices in the future). Moving stinks, but a lousy commute for 2-3 years seems much worse (heck, you might not want to even stay married after 2-3 years of commuting between Decatur and Marietta-just kidding (well mostly)).

[Cameron H]

Based on school, current job location, and possible future job location, Vinings seems like a perfect fit.

[10 feet tall]

Originally Posted by Rcooley2

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a dilemma we have. We are currently renting in East Cobb and had planned to rent here for a couple of years. But this week, 6 months into our lease, the landlord has decided to sell the house. Since we only want to make one more move, we're looking for a house to buy. Here lies the dilemma.

My husband currently works near 75/285, so a relatively easy commute. However within the next 2-3 years his company is planning to move to the old Sears building in midtown on Ponce. We're just not sure if we want to buy in East Cobb (looking specifically at neighborhoods off of Paper Mill. Sibley Forest is my fav) or if we should try for the Vinings, Buckhead, Ashford Park area or Decatur.

Does anyone have an accurate idea of what his commute would be from Sibley Forest to Ponce? The other part of our dilemma is that we'd like to keep our kids in their current private school in Marietta (Eastside Christian). So if we were in Decatur, I'd have a reverse commute to East Cobb.

Any opinions?

1. Budget $650 max
2. House/Condo/Townhome? House
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) commute to Midtown (see above)
4. Children(public school vs. private) We are at a private school in East Cobb (see above)
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two - We like suburban living, but aren't opposed to a neighborhood ITP.
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not really
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. We're pretty conservative, so a liberal neighborhood isn't necessary.

Question: What is making you consider Decatur. It is a total outlier in this conversation.