MN to ATL

[flamadiddle]

I don't know what the transit system is like in MN, but Marta is a joke so do not base your move on a Marta station. Plan to drive like everyone else and plan to live as close to work as possible. On another note, you may actually miss the snow. We rarely get any and when we do, it's usually only a dusting. You'll laugh at your first few Winters here thinking, that's it, are you kidding me?

[AtlantaMove]

Welcome,

Former Austin and Eagan resident here (only about three or four years total).

Please also give some thought to Gwinnett County, home to our own "Duluth." But you'll also find the quality of life in Suwanee and other other northeast areas appealing too. Gwinnett County schools consistently rank among the best in the metro area on test scores and other school performance measures. You write that rapid transit is important. Gwinnett County Transit can get easily get you downtown. In addition, there's always something free or otherwise affordable to do in this family-friendly county, such as free movies, free concerts, food-truck Fridays, 5Ks, farmer's markets and more.

Again, good luck on the move and welcome to Atlanta.

[MovingFromMN0]

MARTA is NOT a must and I am open to driving. I just assumed like any big city downtown, parking in ATL downtown will be hard to find or expensive or both. So just wanted to keep options open with MARTA in case driving becomes expensive in terms of time and money.

@AtlantaMove
Thanks. I didn't know about Gwinnett Transit. Will look into it for sure. How do you like the move away from Eagan

[fieldm]

Take the express bus into downtown

[AtlantaMove]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Take the express bus into downtown

Well I left Eagan for Chicago during my corporate days. Loved Chicago. Actually enjoyed Eagan, but it is good to be back home in the Southeast.

[MovingFromMN0]

What are some of the upcoming neighborhoods with great schools where $350K will go a little further than say Decatur or Alpharetta. I understand that this will increase commute time.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by MovingFromMN0

What are some of the upcoming neighborhoods with great schools where $350K will go a little further than say Decatur or Alpharetta. I understand that this will increase commute time.

Please define "great schools"...? If your kids are 4 and 1 now, the quality of the high schools in any given area could change drastically in the meantime. It has happened in this metro before.

I would say southern Smyrna and Mableton are ok in the elementary and middle school department, but I don't know which direction Campbell High will go. There is a lot of newer upscale housing in the area along with the older housing, so there it could go either way depending on community interest.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MovingFromMN0

What are some of the upcoming neighborhoods with great schools where $350K will go a little further than say Decatur or Alpharetta. I understand that this will increase commute time.

It depends on what kind of housing options you are willing to accept (whether or not you are willing to live in a newer attached Northeastern-style townhome, a condo or an older detached single-family home) as well as how far away from Downtown Atlanta and how long of a peak-hour commute you are willing to accept to stay within your stated budget of $400k and less and your preferred budget of $350k or less for something newer.

If you are willing to accept living in something that is not a newer detached single-family home to stay within your budget of $350-400k or less, in addition to rcsteiner's suggestion of Smyrna for the rapidly-improving elementary and middle schools in an up-and-coming post-suburban environment, you could also checkout closer-in North Metro suburban areas like Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Chamblee, the Wheeler High School feeder zone/cluster of Marietta/East Cobb, Roswell, the Peachtree Corners/Norcross area, Duluth and the Parkview High School feeder zone/cluster area of Lilburn/Gwinnett County.

If you are willing to accept a longer commute between the North Metro suburbs and Downtown Atlanta, you could look in farther-out areas like Cherokee County, Forsyth County, North Gwinnett County (in the feeder zones for North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge, Lanier, Mountain View, Mill Creek and Collins Hill high schools), South Hall County (in the feeder zone for Flowery Branch High School), Eastern Gwinnett (in the feeder zones for Brookwood, Grayson and Archer high schools), Paulding County (in the feeder zones for North Paulding and East Paulding high schools) and Walton County (in the feeder zones for Loganville and Walnut Grove high schools).

If you are willing to accept living in the less highly-touted but just as high-quality South Metro suburbs (in the area known as the "Southern Crescent"), you could look in areas like Newnan/Coweta County (in the feeder zones for Northgate and East Coweta high schools) or almost anywhere in Fayette County.

(...Coweta and Fayette counties have some of the least-punishing commutes to and from Central Atlanta of any outlying suburban area in the Atlanta metro area.)

If you are willing to accept a longer commute from/to the South Metro suburbs, you could look in Henry County in the feeder zones for Union Grove and Ola high schools.

One thing about the Atlanta area that may be noticeably different from the Twin Cities is that the more affordable homes in areas of high-quality schools may often be located a longer distance and longer peak-hour commute away from the urban core of the Atlanta area than they might be from the urban core(s) of the Twin Cities.

The rush-hour commutes in Atlanta are also a totally different animal from the shorter rush-hour commutes that you might currently enjoy in the Twin Cities area, so be prepared for that new (and jarring) commuting reality after moving to Atlanta, particularly if you are talking about a rush hour commute to and from Downtown Atlanta on a daily basis.