Woodstock vs Cumming (Home purchase) (Atlanta, Alpharetta: real estate market, homes, neighborhood)

[JFriday]

After visiting Peachtree City, Tyrone, Woodstock and Buford, we are leaning towards Peachtree City and Exit 13 area of Cumming. It seems to be the best right now either great schools, shopping areas, parks, great libraries and tons of activities for our little one.

The only concern is the better new properties in Cumming are out of our budget at the moment.

We are in no rush though and exploring Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville this weekend.

Thank you all for the great advice.

[ATLForr]

Area south of Exit 13 of 400 in Cumming has a very huge population of Asian Indians. The area has excellent schools and is close to The Avenues which is nice if you like to do a lot of shopping. The neighborhoods with new construction in South and south central Forsyth (exit 13 area) are 70%+ Asian Indian. In some new neighborhoods there might be only one or two Caucasian families. The elementary schools in that area are majority Asian or approaching majority Asian. Daves Creek Elementary this year is 71% Asian. I’m not being racist or saying that Asians are bad, I’m Asian myself but I thought you should know in case of culture shock.

[Jomaark]

With your budget, you can still find homes in Alpharetta, which I would choose over Woodstock or Cumming.
As others have said between Woodstock and Cumming driving wise you have more choices living in Cumming and I would focus on homes near Highway 9 side of GA400.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Jomaark

With your budget, you can still find homes in Alpharetta, which I would choose over Woodstock or Cumming.
As others have said between Woodstock and Cumming driving wise you have more choices living in Cumming and I would focus on homes near Highway 9 side of GA400.

Alpharetta (on the both the Forsyth County and Fulton County sides) is also a good recommendation in addition to Cumming and Woodstock, which, as noted before, are both excellent choices.

Though, if the OP is going to look for housing in Cumming, there will be no reason for him and his family to only focus their search for housing on the Highway 9 side of Georgia 400... That is particularly with the quality of the schools and neighborhoods being so high on both sides of Georgia 400, and with so many high-quality homes being available within the OP's budget range of $500k and less on both sides of Georgia 400.

What likely will best determine where the OP decides to live in an area like Cumming and Forsyth County (or Woodstock and Cherokee County) will be what kind of environment he and his family wants to live in.

If the OP wants to live in a more suburban environment, the OP may likely find the southern part of Forsyth County to be an attractive option.

If the OP wants to live in a more outer-suburban environment, the OP may likely find the western part of Forsyth County to be an attractive option.

If the OP wants to live in a more exurban/semi-rural environment, the OP may likely find the northern part of Forsyth County to be an attractive option.

But by no means does there seem to be any apparent reasoning to encouraging the OP to focus their search for housing only in one particular area of Forsyth County.

[Jomaark]

My reason for choosing being on the Highway 9 side is my experience is the traffic is better than on the other side of 400.
With Avalon Old Milton on the otherside of 400 is also getting pretty crazy as is the exit.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Jomaark

My reason for choosing being on the Highway 9 side is my experience is the traffic is better than on the other side of 400.
With Avalon Old Milton on the otherside of 400 is also getting pretty crazy as is the exit.

You do seem to have kind of a point about traffic appearing to be lighter on the west side (Highway 9 side) of Georgia 400 as the (traffic-generating) development patterns are somewhat lighter on the west side of GA 400 than they are on the east side of GA 400 up to about the GA 20 interchange area.

But in general, the Cumming area and Forsyth County and much of the Georgia 400 North corridor is a very fast-growing and increasingly heavily-developed area where traffic is going to be a concern during peak hours (including morning and afternoon/evening rush hours, and even at times during the Christmas shopping season).

Traffic will particularly be a concern during peak hours on the Georgia 400 freeway and at and around interchanges along the GA 400 North corridor through North Fulton and Forsyth counties up to at least the GA 400/GA 20 interchange.

Traffic will basically be a major concern during peak hours at every interchange along GA 400 up to the GA 20 interchange (Exit 14 off of GA 400).

Traffic will also be an issue during peak hours at and around the GA 400/GA 306 and GA 400/GA 369 junctions.

Generally, the OP needs to be aware that overall traffic be a significant issue during peak hours if they decide to locate into a booming area like Forsyth County or most anywhere along the GA 400 North corridor up to about the GA 369 junction.

The OP should also know that they should not let any potential fears about traffic deter them from locating into great residential communities anywhere in a community of as high of a quality as Cumming and Forsyth County (or even Alpharetta and North Fulton County).

Just the exceptionally high quality of the schools alone (particularly in the clusters of Forsyth County Schools anchored by South Forsyth and Lambert high schools, two of the best clusters of public schools in Georgia and in the entire Southeastern U.S.) will outweigh any concerns about traffic.

[PTC Dad]

Originally Posted by JFriday

After visiting Peachtree City, Tyrone, Woodstock and Buford, we are leaning towards Peachtree City and Exit 13 area of Cumming. It seems to be the best right now either great schools, shopping areas, parks, great libraries and tons of activities for our little one.

The only concern is the better new properties in Cumming are out of our budget at the moment.

We are in no rush though and exploring Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville this weekend.

Thank you all for the great advice.

You can't go wrong with either Peachtree City or Cumming. You can probably find a newer home in Cumming and you'll be close to more shopping and dinning options. Peachtree City will offer you easy access to the airport, the golf cart paths, and probably more stable schools. Since Peachtree City is almost at build out, the schools districts will not change much in PTC, whereas with all the growth in Cumming, you can count on numerous re-zonings. Just something to think about.

[ATLTJL]

How long do you plan to stay in the area?

Probably you'd see more appreciation of your home faster in Cumming because of all the development happening there.

If your horizon is greater than 10 years, it may not matter so much.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

How long do you plan to stay in the area?

Probably you'd see more appreciation of your home faster in Cumming because of all the development happening there.

If your horizon is greater than 10 years, it may not matter so much.

Agreed. Fayette County isn't the best place in South Atlanta Metro if you're looking for more rapid appreciation, since it's a slow growth county.

[JFriday]

Thank you again all. We spent the past weekend checking out Snellville and Lawrenceville. Both cities are nice but have a old city feel to them and the communities we saw in Snellville are quite a drive to our preferred place of shopping.

We still like Cumming and Peachtree City out of all cities we have seen so far. PTC seems to be more in budget than Cumming. We saw a few communities in Cumming (Traditions, Harrington Glen, Paddocks) but these are all out of our budget by atleast 50k. Houses on resale on south of Exit 13 on 141 also seem to be on the more expensive side and are selling out very quickly, guess that's because of the school system there?

PTC - we saw the John Wieland community (Everton) which seems nice and in our budget.

The other poster is right about the concentration of Asians in Cumming. It is still very diverse though and since my wife is from the UK, she will feel right at home as she is used to being in an environment with lots of Asians. So this is not a big concern for us the school system earns many people's high praises. BTW, we also saw quite a few Asians in PTC especially around the John Wieland community.

So we are now set on PTC vs Cumming. Both meet most of our criteria to start our life in GA. We like both cities a lot and this is going to be a very tough decision.

We are still in no rush and will continue exploring through this month and maybe the next.