Info on communities outside Atlanta... (Peachtree City, Lawrenceville: transplants, real estate, renting)

[thewalrus62]

...specifically, areas like Newnan, Villa Rica, Temple, and Bremen. From what I've been able to gather after extensive Google-ing, all these areas seem to boast low crime, low housing prices, and top rated schools. It almost sems to good to be true! We're living in financially strapped South FL, where taxes, insurance, crime, etc. are all running rampant with no end in sight. We're hoping that a simpler, quieter, and certainly less costly lifetyle may be awaiting us somewhere outside ATL, about 45 minutes give or take. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by thewalrus62

...specifically, areas like Newnan, Villa Rica, Temple, and Bremen. From what I've been able to gather after extensive Google-ing, all these areas seem to boast low crime, low housing prices, and top rated schools. It almost sems to good to be true! We're living in financially strapped South FL, where taxes, insurance, crime, etc. are all running rampant with no end in sight. We're hoping that a simpler, quieter, and certainly less costly lifetyle may be awaiting us somewhere outside ATL, about 45 minutes give or take. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

A. Post in the Atlanta forum.
B. Those areas you are looking at aren't that great. In fact some of them have high crime and poor schools, they are just rural. Look into Kennesaw in Cobb County. The traffic is madness, but you will certainly find a quieter and less costly lifestyle depending on where you currently live. Woodstock, Fayetteville, Peachtree City also are peaceful areas that actually have good schools and fairly low crime. Depending on where you live in South Florida you also might not find the crime rate to be much of a relief in and around Atlanta. It's actually a few notches worse. Look into a smaller metro if you want relief on that part.

Looks like they moved the thread. You should get a lot of good advice on here, the posters on this forum are great.

[thewalrus62]

Thanks much for the quick reply. I've also heard a lot of good things about Cobb county, in fact a former co-worker who recently moved to Lawrenceville (in Gwinnet co.) recommended the Kennesaw area as well.

Just noticed you're out in Weston land...I'm in Central Palm Beach county, only about 25 miles to the north. The market is brutal up here! People are practically giving their homes away.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by thewalrus62

Thanks much for the quick reply. I've also heard a lot of good things about Cobb county, in fact a former co-worker who recently moved to Lawrenceville (in Gwinnet co.) recommended the Kennesaw area as well.

Just noticed you're out in Weston land...I'm in Central Palm Beach county, only about 25 miles to the north. The market is brutal up here! People are practically giving their homes away.

Compared to central PBC the crime rate will be a relief. You see, I could picture a family moving from Sunrise or Lake Worth to somewhere outside of Atlanta to find a higher quality of life. I couldn't picture somebody moving in from Jupiter or Weston seeking a higher quality of life (although a few here swear it's way better in Atlanta even with total disregard to COL, that's their opinion, mine is different).

People are all around friendlier around Atlanta. And I mean way friendlier. Yet some ways it feels more like a "real city" than Miami/South Florida. They have more funky urban type neighborhoods around Atlanta and more mass transit, but the traffic is still unbelievable (compared to PBC for sure, even compared to Broward it's bad, it's about the same as Dade at it's best). The air pollution in the summer is also another thing to consider if you are an asthmatic.

I'm honestly happy the market is correcting itself, as that's part of whats leading the other problems down here.

Definitely look into how GA's state income tax will affect you, check which bracket you fall under. I deeply considered a move to ATL in the past and ended up not doing it because I found out in my personal situation (young single dude, renting), my cost of living would have been about the same and when I weighed out the factors, MY personal quality of life was higher. For families and homeowners, the income tax won't be enough to make up for the much higher property taxes and homeowners insurance rates (as well as higher real estate prices) here in Florida.

All and all, I would say the Atlanta is a very good area to build a career and find an opportunity to seek a better quality of life for your money. However, if I made over 100,000 a year (even with kids), I would probably rather live in South Florida (somewhere in Martin County, or even in my current location, assuming they do something about our overcrowded, albeit well run local high school).

Also, (this is my opinion) I tend to prefer Charlotte to Atlanta. It feels less "Stressful" as a whole due to there being less traffic and seems to be better on the air quality front. Check out Union County, NC. Crime is also high around Charlotte but I find it easier to escape the "Bad" areas there. North Carolina also has much better schools than Georgia, which on a ranking scale are worse than Florida compared to Atlanta where there tend to be bad areas scattered throughout the metro. It's not like South Florida where in PBC you can stay west of Jog and in Broward you can stay west of University.

[cool_mommy]

I don't know much about the area you are coming from but we just moved to Newnan ourselves. Our key areas of interest were pretty much the same as yours. We were considering Newnan, Peachtree City and Bremen.

I really LOVED Bremen. The only thing that kept us from buying there is that we were looking for a new home on a fair amount of acreage, at least a couple of acres. Most new homes built in Bremen seem to be on smaller lots, if you don't mind that then that's great! The homes we looked at were beautiful and seemed to be of quality construction. The schools in "Bremen City" as its called seem to be wonderful. I did the research and the numbers looked great. We toured the schools and they seemed to live up to their reputation. A great small town feel within driving distance to some wonderful shopping in Carrollton. Little to no crime.

Peachtree City is wonderful. Gotta love the fact that they travel by golf carts! There doesn't seem to be much new building going on (at least when we were looking last year) but you can find a beautiful re-sale. They are more pricey than other bordering towns. In the end the commute seemed to be too long for my husband due to the fact that you can't access the highway in Peachtree City (you have to drive to Newnan) and there are a LOT of lights to get through on the way. School seem great and crime appears to be low.

We fell in love with Newnan. We did the research and found a school district with great scores, great teachers, a lot of parent involvement and our kids love it! We live in a rural area on over 2 acres yet any store or restaurant you can think of is only a few miles away, with more being built. Therefore, our tax basis is pretty decent as well. We came from a very small town where crime was non-existent and I worried about the crime here but it is not so bad at all. It seems to be mostly petty stuff unless I'm missing something. We are only about a half an hour from the airport (speaking in terms of light to no traffic of course). A lot of my neighbors work for Delta or at the airport in some capacity. There seems to be an awful lot of transplants here in Newnan. My neighbors have come from all over the country. So we definately didn't feel like the new kids on the block.

I hope some of the info I have shared was helpful. If I can answer any questions for you, feel free to send me an email.

No matter where you choose to look I have found some great sites to do research on. You can find them in my older posts.

Good luck and welcome to Georgia!

[BakerStation]

[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3]We want to take this opportunity to introduce you to Baker Station , a premier Venture Homes Community located in Kennesaw, GA priced from the 150’s. Venture Homes has a local homebuilder in the Atlanta area for over 24 years![/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3]Baker Station is a town home community consisting of 53 homesites with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Our floor plans range from approximately 1500 to 1800 square feet. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3]Most homes include:[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Spacious master bedroom[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Double vanity in the master bath with a separate garden tub & shower[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Walk in closet in master bedroom[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Spacious kitchens with lots of cabinet space[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] 2-car garages[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Large family room with fireplace[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Powder room with pedestal sink[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3] Hardwoods and much more...[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3]Please visit our website at [URL="http://www.venturehomes.com"]www.venturehomes.com[/URL] to download a full brochure and view floorplans. You can also e-mail us with any questions about the area community at [EMAIL="bakerstation@venturehomes.com"]bakerstation@venturehomes.com[/EMAIL] . [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT='Baskerville Old Face'][SIZE=3]Good luck with your move to Georgia![/SIZE][/FONT]

[Tdiddy0027]

cool mommy, what part of Newnan do you live in?