Retiree couple wants to move south of I20 :) (Atlanta, Smyrna: lofts, condos)

[tville]

My husband and I, both on our late 50s are moving from California to Atlanta to be closer to our children that live on the east coast, NYC, Washington DC. a junior at Vanderbilt and our youngest started at Agnes Scott this year . Since we want to pay cash for our new home, Duluth and all surroundings are out; we know we can afford some of the nice homes south of I20. We don't care about night life, or fancy restaurants (after all, we can always drive ) but safety is a big issue . We are white but coming from the diversity of LA we get along well with everybody Any recommendations to where to look? any. place to avoid? TIA!

[lorilove]

What price range are you looking for?

What type of house - how many bedrooms, how new of a kitchen etc. Please describe what this ideal house is like.

There are all type of price ranges available both south and north of the I-20, location alone does not tell us enough

[ncoflin]

I hear a lot of positive things about Conyers and Covington. Fairly quiet rurual area within 45 mins of Atlanta. I also personally like the town of Locust Grove near Griffin and Atlanta Motor Speedway. Newnan and Peachtree City are also possibilities...but in general I think may be a bit pricier. Particularly Peachtree.

Metro Atlanta has some affordable suburbs but with your kids in NYC and DC why Georgia? It is certainly closer to either of those places than California but not really all that close. There are affordable cities that are hundreds of miles closer. At the risk of getting crucified for saying this on the Atlanta board...have you looked into the Charlotte area?

[tville]

Thanks for your responses.
We like the diversity of Atlanta, and the convenience of having an international airport in our backyard as we love to travel .Our two older kids are married without children, and our son at Vanderbilt is just few hours away from Atlanta, but we want to be close to our only girl at Agnes Scott.
Our maximum will be around 200K for a 3/2 townhouse preferable with a 1 car garage and a little patio/balcony . We loved the lofts on downtown that our broker showed us, but they were out of our price range, he was so adamant about which areas are "good for people like us" that we decided to look on our own.

[LovelySummer]

Wow. Phooey on that agent.

There are lots of nice places south of I-20 and posters will be on shortly to comment now that you have posted you are searching for a townhome for 200. I believe Peachtree City could be in your price range. It's a super nice place that we considered but decided to be a bit closer to city center. It was a tough choice.

Originally Posted by tville

Thanks for your responses.
We like the diversity of Atlanta, and the convenience of having an international airport in our backyard as we love to travel .Our two older kids are married without children, and our son at Vanderbilt is just few hours away from Atlanta, but we want to be close to our only girl at Agnes Scott.
Our maximum will be around 200K for a 3/2 townhouse preferable with a 1 car garage and a little patio/balcony . We loved the lofts on downtown that our broker showed us, but they were out of our price range, he was so adamant about which areas are "good for people like us" that we decided to look on our own.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by tville

Thanks for your responses.
We like the diversity of Atlanta, and the convenience of having an international airport in our backyard as we love to travel .Our two older kids are married without children, and our son at Vanderbilt is just few hours away from Atlanta, but we want to be close to our only girl at Agnes Scott.
Our maximum will be around 200K for a 3/2 townhouse preferable with a 1 car garage and a little patio/balcony . We loved the lofts on downtown that our broker showed us, but they were out of our price range, he was so adamant about which areas are "good for people like us" that we decided to look on our own.

I am not familiar with properties offered south of I-20 but you can still find 200K townhomes in the Smyrna area - these are older properties that may or may not have been recently updated.

[GA5mom]

I would also add McDonough to the list of places to check out on the southside. I think near the downtown square or northeast/east of the square would be where you would want to look. There are some nice neighborhoods near the downtown square where I think you could find something in your price range. I'm not sure there is much of a selection of town homes, but I would bet there are small homes in your range that are in neighborhoods that have HOA's that take care of all landscaping etc. I can direct message you names of a couple of southside realtors if you're interested. Good luck!

[Fubarbundy]

Originally Posted by lorilove

I am not familiar with properties offered south of I-20 but you can still find 200K townhomes in the Smyrna area - these are older properties that may or may not have been recently updated.

Since this is suggested, let's add Mableton as well.

Unless OP is dead set against being north of I-20?

[Tryska]

I can tell you that the Tri-Cities (East Point, College Park and Hapeville) have plenty of homes that are in your price-range. Unfortunately they would be Single Families on City Lots (typically 50x100 - so not a whole lot of maintenance), and many are in quiet low-crime neighborhoods.

I am not sure on the availability of 3/2 townhomes - most of our townhome stock is older, and has devolved to very seedy, or is brand new and out of your pricerange, in Atlanta in general. Condos might be available in some areas.

[caragitana]

Try the Smyrna and Mableton areas. They are very close to I-20 and you can be at the airport in 25 minutes.
There are plenty of shortcuts and you have access without getting on the freeway if need be.
I know you can find a home in your price range in these areas and be reasonably safe. Smyrna has many townhomes and condos. Look near the city center or near King Springs Elementary, Tolleson Park and Atlanta Rd. There are plenty of walking trails and the city of Smyrna is well managed. They have a great community center with a public library, gym and restaurants & shops and they are building a live, work & play community nearby.
In Mableton there is the Mableton Walk area with an array of stores, banks, Publix & Kroger, pharmacies and other
shopping. I don't know of any condos near Mableton walk but there are smaller bungalow type homes which would be low maintenance.