Moving to Atlanta from Tarrytown NY - seeking similar (Sandy Springs: house, transfer)

[jenn6r]

Hi all. Please help as we start to look at towns / neighborhoods in and North of Atlanta. We are looking for a leafy, WALKABLE neighborhood with older homes, neighborhood business districts and a strong community feel. Kids grown so schools not a direct concern. We will be commuting to office near Dunwoody Station. Will be buying in the $750K-900K range. Thanks for any advice.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by jenn6r

Hi all. Please help as we start to look at towns / neighborhoods in and North of Atlanta. We are looking for a leafy, WALKABLE neighborhood with older homes, neighborhood business districts and a strong community feel. Kids grown so schools not a direct concern. We will be commuting to office near Dunwoody Station. Will be buying in the $750K-900K range. Thanks for any advice.

Some good places to look are Roswell, Brookhaven, Smyrna, Marietta, Woodstock, Acworth, Canton, Norcross, Duluth, Buford, Lawrenceville.

...Just take a look amongst those towns with walkable historic downtown village areas and see which ones you like.

[lorilove]

What is your definition of older homes - 10, 30, 50 years +?

[CMMom]

Well, I wouldn't necessarily call most of it walkable, but Dunwoody/North Sandy Springs are extremely leafy with lots of trees. You don't see a lot of cookie cutter/cluster home neighborhoods with no trees here. Look in 30350 along Spalding Dr. Very shaded and lots of greenery, plus very close to where you need to be. There are neighborhoods close to Dunwoody Village where you could walk to Publix and all the restaurants near the Village too. Look at Wynterhall, Redfield, Wyntercreek, Dunwoody Club Forest neighborhoods.

[jenn6r]

Thanks for the suggestions. And I should have been more descriptive - older homes for me would be pre-1950!

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by jenn6r

Hi all. Please help as we start to look at towns / neighborhoods in and North of Atlanta. We are looking for a leafy, WALKABLE neighborhood with older homes, neighborhood business districts and a strong community feel. Kids grown so schools not a direct concern. We will be commuting to office near Dunwoody Station. Will be buying in the $750K-900K range. Thanks for any advice.

downtown decatur. you're basically describing it to a T.

all of the places everyone else is describing are either transit-inaccessible (you mentioned your job was by the dunwoody station, so i'm assuming you're taking the subway) or definitely post 1950 (most of these places are post 1970).

considering your price range is 700k-900k i can't imagine why anyone would think you were talking about a home from 1985.

i would check out the mcdonough-adams-kings historic district in decatur— here's their website:

http://www.mak-decatur.org/index.shtml

and here's a wikipedia article with some pictures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAK_His..._%28Decatur%29

you will be about a half mile away from the decatur MARTA (subway) station. getting to dunwoody station requires you to travel west to five points station, then board a red line train north to the dunwoody station. after 9 PM there is an additional transfer involved at lindbergh station. the trip from decatur to five points takes 14 minutes, and the trip from five points to dunwoody takes 22 minutes.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

downtown decatur. you're basically describing it to a T.

all of the places everyone else is describing are either transit-inaccessible (you mentioned your job was by the dunwoody station, so i'm assuming you're taking the subway) or definitely post 1950 (most of these places are post 1970).

considering your price range is 700k-900k i can't imagine why anyone would think you were talking about a home from 1985.

i would check out the mcdonough-adams-kings historic district in decatur— here's their website:

MAK Historic District - Celebrating a Century of Living

and here's a wikipedia article with some pictures:

MAK Historic District (Decatur) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

you will be about a half mile away from the decatur MARTA (subway) station. getting to dunwoody station requires you to travel west to five points station, then board a red line train north to the dunwoody station. after 9 PM there is an additional transfer involved at lindbergh station. the trip from decatur to five points takes 14 minutes, and the trip from five points to dunwoody takes 22 minutes.

I think this isn't worth it. You are paying a premium both in house price and annual property taxes for City of Decatur and have a difficult commute on MARTA -- one that you will likely discontinue because of the hassle factors.

I might make sacrifices to have an easy commute, there are areas in Dunwoody that might meet some of your criteria and while not a short walk, might even be walkable to work! However, you won't have an older home and it won't be a walk that is beautiful. I do have friends who work in the perimeter area and who walk (on occasion to the office.)

Otherwise, I would look at housing at is accessible on the north/south line of MARTA so that you can easily get to the station and hop on MARTA, if that is a priority.

[lorilove]

I would recommend Morningside or Ansley Park - although most historic homes in Ansley Park start at 1MM. These neighborhoods are approx. 10-11 miles south of the Dunwoody Station. I am not familiar with the weekday traffic - I will let others comment on the commute.

My sister from Boston does not consider a home old unless it is at least 100 years old very much liked the Morningside neighborhood.

This post might help you with identifying historic neighborhoods in Atlanta

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...orhoods-3.html

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by lorilove

I would recommend Morningside or Ansley Park - although most historic homes in Ansley Park start at 1MM. These neighborhoods are approx. 10-11 miles south of the Dunwoody Station. I am not familiar with the weekday traffic - I will let others comment on the commute.

My sister from Boston does not consider a home old unless it is at least 100 years old very much liked the Morningside neighborhood.

This post might help you with identifying historic neighborhoods in Atlanta

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...orhoods-3.html

Intown will generally be a reverse commute (on the interstate) to the perimeter center area (that is where Dunwoody station is located), until you get close to Perimeter Center. Then it doesn't matter which direction you are coming from, it is congested.

The other factor to consider is time to get to the interstate -- because the surface streets can easily be more congested than the interstate, if you are going the opposite way of most commuters once you get to the interstate.

[arjay57]

Peachtree Park or Garden Hills would be great options, too.