Looking to move back to GA.... (Alpharetta, Buford: real estate, apartment, to rent)

[fbernard]

A little over 4 years ago, my wife and I moved (with 2 daughters) to Fl (palm bay) to be closer to family. Prior to that, we lived in Alpharetta for 3 years. I lucked out, because I work from home, so I can move around.

In the 4 years we've been in FL, we could never shake the feeling that we made a huge mistake and have always planned on moving back once we were no longer under water. Now, we are no longer underwater, and are looking to move back to GA this coming summer once school lets out (we refuse to allow our oldest start highschool out here).

I loved Alpharetta, but I know it's a bit more expensive for us, so we're looking to move to either Dacula or Buford.
Our main concern, more than anything else, is making sure we get our daughters into good public schools (oldest is going into highschool and the youngest is 5).

Can I get the pros and cons to the different schools in those areas (currently more concerned with the high schools)?

[fbernard]

bump

[gerrythesnake]

1. Budget
2. House/Condo/Townhome?
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home)
4. Children(public school vs. private)
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not?
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood.

[Lodepelw]

I just left Florida... Something is wrong with that state but I can't quite put my finger on it. It's certainly NOT a good place to be rasing children and that statement includes almost the entire state.

Anyway, Gwinnett county has some schools firing on all cylinders, and Hall county has some charters that seem to be doing well.

[lastminutemom]

The areas you are interested in both have good schools. I recommend two things:

First, you or your wife come for a visit while school is in session and actually visit the schools you are interested in. Check school system calendars to avoid testing times but otherwise schools will generally give tours. Given that you have a child ready for high school, you should know enough to get a sense of whether a school is a good fit for your children and your family.

Second, study the high schools webpages, especially those pages that deal with academics and extracurricular activities. Try and make sure the school has the things that your rising 9th grader is or will be interested in.

Most importantly though, visit and tour.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by fbernard

I loved Alpharetta, but I know it's a bit more expensive for us, so we're looking to move to either Dacula or Buford.
Our main concern, more than anything else, is making sure we get our daughters into good public schools (oldest is going into highschool and the youngest is 5).

Can I get the pros and cons to the different schools in those areas (currently more concerned with the high schools)?

Dacula High School: Not as highly-touted as some other schools in Gwinnett County and throughout the Northern suburbs, but still a highly-rated well-established high school and feeder zone (elementary, middle and high schools) with high-quality schools.

Mill Creek High School: Very highly-rated high school that has had problems with overcrowding in the past before the creation and opening of Mountain View High School as a reliever school.

With about 3,700 students, Mill Creek High School is still one of the largest schools (if not the largest school) in the state of Georgia (Mill Creek HS had over 4,200 students before Mountain View HS opened to relieve the overcrowding), but Mill Creek HS still has a good reputation as being a good school academically.

Buford High School: As the anchor of the excellent independent small city Buford City Schools system, Buford High School and its small enrollment of under 900 students has a reputation as being one of the best public high schools in the entire Southeastern U.S., definitely worth a closer look into if you can find any available real estate within the small Buford City Schools district.

Mountain View High School: Young high school with a rapidly-growing enrollment of about 2,000 students that opened in Fall 2009, highly-rated, but not as established or as much of a well-known commodity as some of the other high schools in the area.

Lanier High School: Very-young high school with a rapidly-growing enrollment of about 1,600 students that opened in Fall 2010. Highly-rated high school early-on, but like nearby Mountain View HS, Lanier is nowhere near as established and nowhere near as well-known of a commodity as the other high schools in the area.

[fbernard]

Originally Posted by gerrythesnake

1. Budget - I currently pay about 1200 for my mortgage, but am willing to go up to 1400-1500. Hopefully less, but I can do that.

2. House/Condo/Townhome? - Looking to rent, but not rent an apartment. We're looking to rent a home. Possibly 4-5 bedrooms (it's me and my wife, 2 children, and my mother)

3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) - work from home, so no commute.

4. Children(public school vs. private) - 2 girls. The oldest is 13 (14 when school starts again, and she'll be starting highschool). The youngest is 5 (will be 6 when starting 1st grade)

5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two - Suburban

6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? - Not important.

7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. - Good safe area.

Thanks.

[fbernard]

By the way, as far as quality if life is concerned, how is dacula, or buford? I think coming from palm bay, fl, I'm really concerned with being in an area where the schools have a questionable gen pop element.

I hate to use that term (gen pop), and it's one that I never really heard of until putting my daughter into school out here in fl....and now I understand why.

Our FL home goes up on the market in about 6 weeks....and I just want to make sure I'll be looking into good areas of GA that are not expensive. We loved alpharetta when we lived there, but it's too expensive for us.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by fbernard

By the way, as far as quality if life is concerned, how is dacula, or buford? I think coming from palm bay, fl, I'm really concerned with being in an area where the schools have a questionable gen pop element.

I hate to use that term (gen pop), and it's one that I never really heard of until putting my daughter into school out here in fl....and now I understand why.

Our FL home goes up on the market in about 6 weeks....and I just want to make sure I'll be looking into good areas of GA that are not expensive. We loved alpharetta when we lived there, but it's too expensive for us.

Both Dacula and Buford have a pretty high quality-of-life.

But with Buford being home to the popular Lake Lanier park and resort area, a growing historic downtown village area and the mega-regional shopping cluster centered on the Mall of Georgia, Buford unquestionably has many more amenities than Dacula.

Though Dacula does have a couple of nice course golf-tennis-swim communities at Hamilton Mill Golf Club and the Trophy Club of Apalachee.