Moving to Atlanta from The Netherlands (Macon, Milledgeville: apartment, school, universities)

[roxyfoxy]

Hi all,

I hope I'm not disturbing the forum's peace and quiet by updating an old thread. My boyfriend and I are going to move to Atlanta next January, and in August we'll visit the city for home-searching purposes. We have no idea where to start looking for nice neighborhoods and what we can expect pricewise.

What we are looking for: a friendly neighborhood, preferably south from the innercity (since we're driving to macon/athens daily), and we'd like to live in 'lively' part of town, where we can have drinks and commit to social activities. We'd have to build up a new social life, so this part is quite important to us.

Is there anyone who can recommend anything to us? Even a name of a real estate agent would be very helpful!

Many thanks in advance

[netdragon]

To the op: I'd also look at Smyrna and Marietta if commuting to airport.

Originally Posted by roxyfoxy

since we're driving to macon/athens daily.

roxyfoxy: May want to start a new thread on this if we get too off topic but I'll answer. If you're driving to Macon/Athens daily, then it may be a tough commute from inside the city for either place. Maybe split the difference and look at Covington square, instead?

[netdragon]

Both of you may also want to check out the Atlanta Holland Club The Atlanta Holland Club

[cwkimbro]

Roxy,

A general layout of Atlanta is it has mostly grown north. The active areas are going to mostly be intown or on the northside.

The southside is generally much quieter, but it is cheaper in parts and has great family areas in other parts.

The aforementioned Peacthree City is a very isolated suburb, but very affluent and great for schools and families.... not so much lively.

The problem you're going to run into is you both will have some extremely long commutes and you might have to decide on what your willing to give up.

You're going to want to skip most of the Atlanta traffic that you can, so you can focus on your long-distance commutes. I would highly reccomend looking at an area that can have you driving Northeast from Conyers towards Athens and South towards I-75.

138 from Conyers will hit US 78 and go into Athens.

The best route into Athens is actually GA316 and it goes through a more populated suburban area with more going on, but it is simply too far away for someone with a Macon commute.

If you have the budget for and you want something more intown, try Decatur. Your ability to quickly go east on US78 and south on I-285 towards I-75 will be important. That will have you going against traffic both ways, but I am warning you... these are long drives. We are talking 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes to both places.

You might need to consider the smaller town of Covington to make this work, but it isn't lively. It is on the edge of the country. (Play around with getting driving directions on google maps)


Is there any hope of making you only need to commute to Athens or Macon and not both?

[illdeezy]

What about Brookhaven on the north side? That has good access to everything and has a direct Marta link to the airport, your budget will also fit in that area too, good schools and very safe.

[roxyfoxy]

Netdragon, we have already contacted the Atlanta Holland Club, thanks for the advice!

Cwkimbro, thank you too for your detailed post! I think you're right in saying that we have to decide on what we're willing to give up. We are now looking at apartments in Conyers, but will keep Decatur in the back of our mind.

To answer your question: there is no hope of making us commute to either Athens or Macon, unfortunately.

[netdragon]

roxy: Are you also looking at Covington?

[roxyfoxy]

Yes we are! Thank you for the reminder ;-)

[aries4118]

Roxyfoxy:

Since y'all will be commuting to Athens and Macon, I recommend looking for a home in the Lake Oconee, Greensboro, Eatonton, Madison, and Reynolds Plantation area.

[roxyfoxy]

Thanks, Aries! Could you tell us more about this places? They seem (on googlemaps) quite small and we're afraid to commit to a place where we cannot find a new social life...