Moving to Atlanta in 5 months (Sandy Springs, Roswell: 2015, rent, buying a house)

[ralux]

Dear All,
I recently signed a contract and i will be moving to Atlanta in july. I will be working for Emory- and i will have to go to 3 locations :Emory hospital, Emory midtown and Grady (most of my work will be midtown and emory).

I am a single mom- my daughter will start first grade in 2015, and schools are very very important to me. I am considering buying a house - no more than 400-500k (3-4 bdr, newer construction, some yard space, nice safe community), but could rent for one year as well (i would prefer not to move the child from school to school). My salary is around 150k range. I would prefer a max commute of 30-45 min. Access to good children activities (tennis, swimming, music..etc). In terms of schools- i would prefer public, but i am willing to consider private as well. My parents will live with me most of the time- and they don't drive.

Can you please tell me what areas i should look for buying/renting. what schools. Anything that might help me in this process.
Thank you very much!

[Ant131531]

Are you trying to be in the city or suburbs?

[ralux]

whatever will work out in terms of schools and housing. from what i understand housing and schools in suburbs are better and more affordable.

[flyonpa]

Will you be "On-Call IN" or work some type of schedule shift?

[ralux]

mostly schedule shift with on call weeks/weekends - usually 7:30 till 5:30-6:00 (sometimes a little longer when on call- but very rare after 8)

[lastminutemom]

What is your child care plan for when she is out of school (either before or after school and evenings and weekends when you are on call)?

I ask this because many after school programs end at 6 or maybe 630. And many elementary schools don't start until 730 AM or so. It will help me understand what a realistic plan is for you.

[ralux]

my parents will be living with me and help me with my child, plus a nanny to help with some activities (tennis, swimming..etc)-since my parents don't drive.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by ralux

my parents will be living with me and help me with my child, plus a nanny to help with some activities (tennis, swimming..etc)-since my parents don't drive.

I am sorry I missed your note about your parents -- reading too fast never works well.

Check the City of Decatur. I don't think you will find what you are looking for in your price range, but it is worth a look.

Be very, very careful, because there are areas that call themselves Decatur that are really not in incoporated Decatur.

My favorite search engine is harrynorman.com because you can search by school (along with other criteria.)

Property Search | Harry Norman, Realtors®

Search by Renfroe Middle (because there is a Decatur High both in the city of Decatur and the county of Decatur -- don't ask)

Morningside Elementary and Mary Lin elementary schools might work, but again housing might be a challenge.

Since your parents don't drive, you might want to be where they can use MARTA to get around. This limits you to Fulton and DeKalb counties, which encompasses City of Atlanta schools, Decatur City Schools, DeKalb County schools (which are generally a train wreck as a system) and Fulton County Schools.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by ralux

Dear All,
I recently signed a contract and i will be moving to Atlanta in july. I will be working for Emory- and i will have to go to 3 locations :Emory hospital, Emory midtown and Grady (most of my work will be midtown and emory).

I am a single mom- my daughter will start first grade in 2015, and schools are very very important to me. I am considering buying a house - no more than 400-500k (3-4 bdr, newer construction, some yard space, nice safe community), but could rent for one year as well (i would prefer not to move the child from school to school). My salary is around 150k range. I would prefer a max commute of 30-45 min. Access to good children activities (tennis, swimming, music..etc). In terms of schools- i would prefer public, but i am willing to consider private as well. My parents will live with me most of the time- and they don't drive.

Can you please tell me what areas i should look for buying/renting. what schools. Anything that might help me in this process.
Thank you very much!

You are probably going to have to compromise on something. You can get into neigborhoods that will get you your commute and public schools you want, but the homes will not be newish, and will probably need light to extensive renovations. You may find a newer townhome in those neighborhoods, though. lastminutemom mentioned a few of these neighborhoods, there are quite a few more--none are cheap. If you can add 15-40 min to your commute times you can find newer homes with the sort of schools you are looking for in the suburbs (Parkview and Brookwood school zones in Lilburn are a couple you might look at--there are more). If you are willing to consider school zones that there is less of a consensus about, you might want to research Kirkwood--you could probably find something newish there, and it should meet your commute needs. Edit: Maybe parts of the Lakeside, Chamblee, Dunwoody, and Tucker school zones may be worth researching. They may be close to meeting your criteria.

[ralux]

thank you very much. I was thinking about Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, even Roswell, even the southern parts of the Johns Creek. I really want my child to get a good education ("the best" of possible) and be involved in some sort of sport (i think its too early to know what she really likes and/or she's good at..since she likes anything and everything). And since I am a single mom getting a house that needs renovations might be challenging. Is there a rating of the private schools or of all schools in Atlanta? If i will end up paying for private school..is there a consensus of which are the top 5.
And what do you think about the areas i have mentioned?
Thank you in advance!