Looking to move to ATL metro area

[MAE1226]

Originally Posted by JC84

I would suggest Newnan in Coweta County, on the south side. It has easy access to 85 which goes right thru Atlanta, and has good schools. So you won't have to deal with the nightmarish traffic on the north side. Also, real estate is more affordable. My fiancé and I are actually looking at houses there too.

I'm not sure what part of the north you're from, but let me assure you, the traffic here on the north side is AWFUL.

We're from CT, right in between NYC and Boston, it took my husband 2.5 hours to get home Friday night when it should have been an hour

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MAE1226

Thanks for all your input! So the cities on the south are worth looking into as well?

Yes, even though they are often overlooked in favor of the domineering Northern suburbs, there are some nice suburban communities to be found on the Southside in Coweta, Fayette and Henry counties.

Originally Posted by MAE1226

I saw online that the median family income for peachtree city was $96k a year, why so much higher than the other towns I've looked at?

The median income is so high because Peachtree City is an affluent planned community with tough code and law enforcement, good schools, a high quality-of-life, parks, golf courses, a series of popular citywide golf cart trails.

Originally Posted by MAE1226

Are the schools good here?

The schools in Peachtree City are excellent with the schools in the feeder zones for McIntosh and Starr's Mill high schools being amongst the absolute highest-ranked and absolute most highly-regarded schools in the state of Georgia and in the entire Southeastern U.S.

Originally Posted by MAE1226

Also how far is peachtree from downtown?

Peachtree City is roughly about 35 miles (or about a 45-50 minute drive if traffic conditions are good) one-way from Downtown Atlanta.

[JC84]

I went to Starr's Mill around 2002 and it was a very good school, academically and athletically. Peachtree City is about 35 minutes away from the airport, and probably about 45-60 min from downtown, if you're a careful driver .Peachtree City has been a relatively well kept secret, because most incomers navigate to the more well-known northern suburbs. Everything Born2Roll said about PTC is true. It's definitely worth a look. If I were raising kids, I would definitely want to do it in PTC.

Welcome to ATL, I'm a transplant from Boston myself

[caragitana]

If you are looking for a safe area with excellent schools and close-in access to great shopping and amenities then I would recommend East Cobb (Marietta East 30062, 30067, 30068), West Cobb 30152 or North Fulton.
If you want a taste of it all and still be in the suburbs these are the areas to consider.

Newnan, Fayetteville and Peachtree City are very nice areas south of Atlanta but the access to shopping and venues is limited.

[MAE1226]

Thanks everyone. My husband is definitely going to check out both the north and south areas when he heads down there in a few weeks. Again we're going to rent for 6months to a year so we will have time to get to know the area before moving. Right now it is 10 degrees out and he will be working on a roof all day outside. We can't wait to move! I really like PTC because of the planned community idea, it is very different than anything we have up here so I'm excited to check these areas out.

[JipC]

We moved to PTC area after researching it and reading all the "buzz" about it. We've lived here for a little over a year and we are just really disappointed with it. I know I'll get a lot of backlash from people who live here and love it, but my honest opinion is that it's not that great. Most of what enticed us to move here was the high reviews of the MUP's. We are an active family (at least we used to be before moving to Georgia). If you have small children like I do, you'll want to stay off of the golf cart paths. It is dangerous and the paths allow golf carts, were built for golf carts, and golf carts/small children/roller skaters/ bicyclists don't mix. A true MUP should be motor vehicle free. The golf carts are driven by young teenagers who have no regard for safety and drive at topped out speeds. Even if there were NO golf carts, you still can't ride your bikes or skate on these paths. The pavement is all cracked and rising from tree roots, and young kids can't ride up all of the super steep hills. The paths are great if you have a golf cart, but they are useless for what we wanted to use them for (biking, roller skating, enjoying). So, we thought we would take the kids to parks instead. But, all of the parks are pretty run down and neglected. The play equipment is decades old and there is only the bare minimum play equipment installed (one set of swings, one slide, etc). There were even plastic slides that were cracked at the bottom so that if your child slid down them, their little bottoms would get cut open (blue hole park?) The only park worth going to is "all children's park"... but EVERYONE knows that this is the only nice park in the area, and so it is always overcrowded. Basically the parks are old and neglected, the trails can't be used how we want to use them... and all the hype about them was a huge let down (to me). That's not to say someone else might find them extremely enjoyable and perfect. The homes in PTC are awful (again in my opinion). All the ones I've seen (from either house searching or friends that have invited us over) are all older, smell like they are molding from lack of sunlight (everything is covered in trees), and badly in need of updating. We had a 300K budget and all we could find in our home search were homes that needed structural repair, serious upgrades, new carpet throughout (think 70's orange shag), new windows, new flooring, new appliances, weird wyland layouts etc. This area might be great to the people who live here and have never been anywhere else, but I've lived in lots of areas in lots of different states, and my opinion is that this place is not the greatest place I've lived. The pluses about living here are that the schools rank highly on schooldigger... but we now know that there are test cheating scandals... so who knows, truly? Anyway, these are all my opinions and there are plenty of people who live here that think PTC is paradise, so it may just be me? No offense to all of you who love it here.

[MAE1226]

Thanks for your response JipC! My husband was actually in PTC today. He LOVED it he said. He looked at Marietta, PTC, Fayetteville, Newnan, and Douglasville. He said Marietta was nice but houses were very close together. He thought Fayetteville was nice and Newnan was okay too. He told me all the building were aesthetically pleasing in PTC and the houses looked good and were spread apart. He said he wants to live in the south suburbs, rather than the north. Newnan seems to have affordable houses and he says he heard it is up and coming. Is that true? How are the schools in Newnan? I think it's safe to say we are definitely going to move down to Georgia, will probably rent first - maybe Fayetteville? My daughter will be 4 this summer so we sill have a year before I want to be in a house in a good school district. I am just confused as to where.

[Zmbrown]

Hi MAE1226,
So I would like to know did you ever make the move? If so what area? And mainly how is the pay as a RN in the area? I am looking to move and I am a RN coming from PA.
Thanks in advance