Need Advice on Johns Creek and Peachtree City (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: best suburbs, for sale)

[montekrysto]

Hi Everyone,

We are considering a move to GA during this year from Long Island, NY. We have heard that Johns Creek and Peachtree City are very nice areas however we do not know much about them and can use some advice.

Some information about us: we are an interracial couple (white and latino/black) with a 9 year old daughter in third grade. I work from home and my wife could, potentially, have to do a commute to Atlanta, most likely by public transportation, if, and when, she finds a job. Our top wishes are to have an excellent school as our daughter is on the above average side and needs to be challenged and guided with good, caring teachers. Close proximity to top hospitals (especially in cardiology) is important, close to a good swim team for daughter, preferably a team associated with USA Swimming. We could spend up to $650k for a house.

We are coming down to Atlanta next week for a few days and would like to checkout both Johns Creek and Peachtree City. Does anyone have advice? And can anyone recommend a knowledgeable realtor to show us a bunch of houses in either area?

Thank you!

[evannole]

Given your reference to your wife potentially needing to commute to Atlanta via public transportation, neither Johns Creek nor Peachtree City is a good option. According to Google Maps, you'd be looking at a morning commute of 1:42 from Johns Creek to Midtown Atlanta via MARTA (bus with transfer to MARTA rail at Doraville station). Peachtree City has no transit service, so you'd have to drive her to Newnan (15-20 minutes) and then have her catch a Georgia Xpress bus, which would take around an hour to reach Midtown.

Both Peachtree City and Johns Creek are difficult drives to central Atlanta during rush hour. Peachtree City is good for the airport (several miles south of Downtown) but the slog becomes more difficult just past the airport. Johns Creek would be hell all the way in.

If she really must take transit AND her job really is in downtown or Midtown Atlanta, I would look at Sandy Springs or Dunwoody, with a slight preference for Sandy Springs. There's not much desirable housing right by their MARTA stations, but there is within just a few minutes' drive. City of Decatur would also be a good option.

[lorilove]

I agree that Sandy Springs is a better fit.

Dynamo Swim Club would be your best for the North Atlanta area
DYNAMO

Metro Atlanta Aquatic if you consider Decatur
https://www.teamunify.com/Home.jsp?team=gamaac

Sandy Springs just made the list for the top 30 diverse cities in the US
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-diverse-cities/12690/

[flamadiddle]

Peachtree Corners is another possibility although you'd need to drive about 7 miles to the Doraville MARTA station. However, that 7 miles may take a while in rush hour!

[onesip]

Johns Creek has the best schools for children for sure, but they all run like Asian schools now. They focus way too much on test scores, to me that is the biggest drawback. Johns Creek is also the next Beijing, yep, soon it will be Chinese only with dirty grass and nice cars in the driveway. Go shop in areas like Alpharetta or Milton or Suwanee.

Peachtree City is great, just a far out in the South. Where will you be working at? Commuting from PC is definitely something you want to consider.

[montekrysto]

Thanks everyone. Barring my wife working in Atlanta, we don't know if that's going to happen or if it will be necessary, can you recommend good areas of Johns Creek or Peachtree City?

@onesip I do work remotely.

Do the other areas, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Peachtree Corners, Alpharetta, Milton, Suwanee also offer really good schools, shopping, good community feel, close proximity to excellent health care as well?

[lorilove]

Sandy Springs has excellent shopping and health care

It includes Pill Hill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pill_Hill_(Atlanta)
St Josephs is top notch for Orthopedic and Cardiology

Shopping is clustered around Perimeter Mall which for many of us is our favorite mall in the area

I will let others comment as to schools. There are some very good schools in the area. Perhaps not as high ranking as Johns Creek but I believe competitive to PTC

As for Johns Creek - my sister raised her children there and she was very happy but we were just talking last week how competitive Northview was due to the high Asian population. Many of those students did not have a balanced life. My niece and nephew went on to very competitive colleges and post-graduate programs and yet they finished between the top 30-50% of those schools if all you take into account is grades. My niece fell in with a great group of friends and as a result, the competitive nature of the school rolled off her shoulders. My nephew struggled in that environment. Test scores alone do not determine whether a school is the best fit your children

[PTC Dad]

John's Creek and PTC are two of the best suburbs in Atlanta, but there are many others as well. Also these 2 suburbs are on opposite ends of Atlanta; JC-North, PTC-South. Atlanta is a north centric city, so most of the retail, shopping, dinning, and TRAFFIC is on the Northside.

As far as Peachtree City, there really isn't a bad area. You should be able to find a nice house at that price point in Peachtree City, you also may be able to get slightly more home for your money in PTC than John's Creek. The current average list price in John's Creek is 485K vs. 440K in Peachtree City, but there is a lot less inventory in Peachtree City vs. JC. There are currently only 163 homes for sell in PTC vs. 2,086 in John's Creek. John's Creek has twice the population as Peachtree City, but almost 13 times the number of homes for sale. For that reason, homes probably sell much faster in PTC and usually sell before they are listed.

The commute to downtown is about 45 minutes from the north side of Peachtree City and probably an hour from the southern outskirts of Peachtree City, but there isn't direct access to mass transit from PTC.

From a hospital perspective, Peachtree City is mainly served by Piedmont Fayette Hospital.
Piedmont Fayette Named 2016 Large Hospital of the Year - News Article

Some neighborhoods to look at in PTC are: Maple Shade, Kedron Hills, North Cove, Interlochen, Sutton's Cove, The point on Kedron, Southern Shore, The Gates, Wilshire, High Grove, Whitewater Country Club, Wood Creek.

BHHS Georgia Properties - The Gates

Peachtree City is truly unique. There really isn't anything like the 100 miles of golf cart paths that PTC has. The paths connect retail areas, schools, churches, restaurants, and parks. The schools are also highly rated. McIntosh usually ranks in the top 10-15 High Schools in the State and Starr's Mill is not far behind.

Lastly, the only competitive swim team on the southside is SCAT (Southern Crescent Aquatic Team) in Peachtree City. They practice at the Peachtree City Aquatic Center and are affiliated with USA Swimming.

https://www.teamunify.com/Home.jsp?team=gsscat

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by montekrysto

Hi Everyone,

We are considering a move to GA during this year from Long Island, NY. We have heard that Johns Creek and Peachtree City are very nice areas however we do not know much about them and can use some advice.

Some information about us: we are an interracial couple (white and latino/black) with a 9 year old daughter in third grade. I work from home and my wife could, potentially, have to do a commute to Atlanta, most likely by public transportation, if, and when, she finds a job. Our top wishes are to have an excellent school as our daughter is on the above average side and needs to be challenged and guided with good, caring teachers. Close proximity to top hospitals (especially in cardiology) is important, close to a good swim team for daughter, preferably a team associated with USA Swimming. We could spend up to $650k for a house.

We are coming down to Atlanta next week for a few days and would like to checkout both Johns Creek and Peachtree City. Does anyone have advice? And can anyone recommend a knowledgeable realtor to show us a bunch of houses in either area?

Thank you!

Originally Posted by montekrysto

Thanks everyone. Barring my wife working in Atlanta, we don't know if that's going to happen or if it will be necessary, can you recommend good areas of Johns Creek or Peachtree City?

@onesip I do work remotely.

Do the other areas, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Peachtree Corners, Alpharetta, Milton, Suwanee also offer really good schools, shopping, good community feel, close proximity to excellent health care as well?

There is a big difference (particularly geographically) between Johns Creek (on the far-north side of the Atlanta metro area) and Peachtree City (on the far-south side of the Atlanta metro area).

The difference between Johns Creek in the far-northern suburbs and Peachtree City in the far-southern suburbs is about 60 miles or so through some extremely heavy peak-hour traffic on major roads like the I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector, the I-285 East Leg and the I-285 West Wall and Top End.

With there being such a significant distance and major geographical difference between the these two very different suburban communities (the difference between Johns Creek and the Northern suburbs and Peachtree City and the Southern suburbs is almost literally like night and day), your best course of action might be to wait and learn exactly where in the Atlanta metro area/region your wife will be commuting to for work before making a final decision on which suburb and side of town to move to.

Atlanta-area rush hour and peak-hour commutes can very often (though not always) be pure hell (particularly on the north side but many times on the south side also). And the areas with an Atlanta address do not just include areas in the center of the city (like Downtown Atlanta and Midtown Atlanta) but also include outlying areas that either may be closer to the Northside/northern suburbs (like Cumberland, Perimeter Center, Buckhead, Northlake, etc) or closer to the southern suburbs (like the Airport, etc).

With relatively so much variation in business districts with an Atlanta address and with severe traffic congestion being such a concern in the Atlanta metropolitan area, your best course of action at this time would most likely be to wait until you know where your wife will be commuting to for work before deciding on whether to live in such divergent areas like Johns Creek on the north side or Peachtree City on the south side.

[fzx]

If JC and PTC are the only choices, I would recommend JC. Unless your wife's job is in downtown, the traffic would be even more brutal from PTC to Atlanta.


How flexible is your job? If your wife has to commute between JC and midtown, she may have long hours away from home. Therefore, you may need to take more responsibilities of the kid. On the other hand, inter-racial is not a problem in JC. I moved to the area one year ago and had never seen so many inter-racial couples before.


IMO, the only school district rivals with JC is East Cobb. Given your budget, you should be able to find a place in Walton HS district. It is closer to the city. However, the houses are old in general and usually on hilly lots(problems with basement).