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I've searched but can't find a specific situation similar to ours. We are relocating to the Atlanta area, anywhere within 50 miles is ok. There is no commute (We work from home), but I need to be within an hour or so from the airport for a few flights a month.
Here's what we are looking for:
Family friendly (we have a 1.5 yo).
Reasonable distance to restaurants and grocery (walkable / bikeable is even better)
Social community with kids - we enjoy having cookouts and wine with neighbors!
Good schools (while ours is still little, its' good for resell. We will be relocated away from the area in 3-4 years, so high school is not a concern.
Need a yard (decent sized), fenced preferred (we have a dog)
Updated house with the basement/ terrace level
Budget is $700k, 3400 sq feet min.
Also want to be semi close to a hockey rink
but having a social neighborhood is probably most important b/c we don't know very many people.
I've looked into what feels like too many suburbs. I can't find an easy description of each in order to begin narrowing my search, and I don't think we have time to look at all of them. I've looked at
East Cobb
Roswell
John's Creek
Milton/ Crabapple.
Cumming
Woodstock
Dunwoody
Smyrna/ Marietta
Can someone give me a short description of these or even say yay/ nay for a few. Within the towns, are there certain neighborhoods we should look in?
I have flexibility on booking flight times, so I don't think traffic to the airport is a concern?
If you're willing to consider areas south of Atlanta, I would suggest looking into Peachtree City. It's located in Fayette County, which has some of the top schools in the state.
A ton of airport / Delta employees live there because it's so much closer to the airport than the northern suburbs you listed. It has the golf cart paths too that you can use to get to/from different restaurants and grocery stores.
I would also suggest the Summergrove community in neighboring Newnan as well, which shares much of the same perks with Peachtree City minus the golf cart paths (although a multi-putpose trail is currently under construction), plus it also feeds into an above average and improving school district (Coweta County).
Other communities to consider too would be Tyrone (also in Fayette County) and Senoia (also in Coweta County).
Most of the cities you've narrowed it down to fit the criteria. Alpharetta has an ice rink called The Cooler, with hockey leagues. Our son played hockey for years before we moved to GA it was one of the "must-haves" on our own list. This area puts you about 34 miles from the airport. We're in Milton, and have made it to Hartsfield-Jackson in less than an hour, but time of day makes a huge difference.
Any of the above will be fine.
I'm going to write-up a few sentences on each. These sentences are born out of comparative amongst this list only. I'm not trying to sum up every detail as it might seem.
East Cobb
East Cobb is considered a desirable area, especially among those who are from the Atlanta and multi-generational residents. It is a large swath of single-family only housing that is mostly upper-middle income in nature. There is very little retail/industrial in the area and it is mostly full of quieter roads, suburban lots that maintain the area's hills and tree canopy. You will find many 2 story brick colonial revivals from the 70s-80s. There are small intersection areas with grocery stores and the like.
The area is between 3 critical areas that make the area desirable. The GA400 North corridor (Alpharetta), I-285/GA400 (Perimeter), and I-285/I-75 (Cumberland). These are all large edge cities or developing edge cities with a high amount of white collar, tech jobs, and Fortune 500 headquarters. These areas are worth looking on a map, because they directly affect the costs and desirability of most the areas you're looking at
Roswell
Roswell has easy access Alpharetta and Perimeter. It is similar to east Cobb, but there are some areas with apartments and more commercial growth and some quieter areas with country clubs and premium Chattahoochee Riverfront neighborhoods. It's development patterns have a great deal of of 70s-80s era housing. Roswell and Johns Creek also have easy access to Gwinnett, which is a healthy mix of industrial and higher white collar jobs. Gwinnett has 2 or 3 locations that aren't edge cities, but they are like half edge cities. The largest of which is Peacthree Corners along Peacthree Industrial/pkwy that leads directly into Roswell and John's Creek.
John's Creek
John's Creek is similar to Roswell, but far newer. It has housing from the 80s - through today. It is a solid upper-middle income area with many country clubs, commercial strips. There are some enclaves in this area that get wealthier than most, largely due to a high amount of Chattahoochee riverfront properties and Country Club/Golf Courses. This area also have a large Asian Population, which it shares with neighboring Duluth in Gwinnett County.
Milton/ Crabapple.
This area is going further out of town and is easy access to Alpharetta. It maintains the upper-middle income wealth, but is more dispersed and they take pride at trying to remain a rural image built into their suburban landscape. There are also more horse stables in the area making is a popular place for people who own and ride horses. Crabapple is an area at the very southern/intown portion of Milton. They built this as a denser suburban area, in part as a development program to leave other areas of the city more open-field/spread out.
Cumming
This is further out of town. It is where the upper middle-middle class and the upper middle class meet. It is getting further from Perimeter and intown, but still has relatively good access to jobs in Alpharetta and Gwinnett County. It is a bit cheaper than Milton or John's Creek, but further out and has some of the best schools in the area. Forsyth County has the highest median household income in the state. It is very homogenous. It doesn't have the extreme highs or lows found in larger counties closer to town.
Woodstock
Woodstock is very nice, but it is more middle-middle class... comparing to your list. There are some nice properties that are hillier the areas further South and they have a nice, small town center. It has good access to Alpharetta and decent access to Cumberland, but it is getting further from intown jobs and Perimeter. The area is also relatively newer and is mostly built post 2000 with some 90s-era neighborhoods.
Dunwoody
Dunwoody is very nice and sought after, largely due to proximity to Perimeter Center. Make no doubts about it, perimeter is Atlanta's largest edge city and it rivals Downtown in numbers of well paying white-collar jobs. It has many 70s-80s suburban neighborhoods on large lots from before Perimeter really developed, but also a high amount of condos, apartments, and townhomes. The Schools are decent, but not quite as homogeneous as other areas on your list.
Smyrna/ Marietta
Smyrna developed closer to the 50s-70s, which is older than most your list. It also was a bit more middle/working-class. The area's first growth was in strong part of the Dobbins/Lockheed Plant. It was one of Lockheed's larger plants before they merged with Martin. The area has sense been getting nicer and is rebuilding with more upper-middle income properties being closer to intown and closer to Cumberland.
Marietta... use some caution here. There is the city of and half of Cobb County that is unincorporated and carries a Marietta mailing address. You will find large parts of East Cobb are unincorporated an have a Marietta address. Marietta (city) is a bit more working class and it has its own independent school system, which isn't bad... but it is isn't a stand out like many of the county school districts in the other areas you're looking in. It houses many apartments, commercial strips, and industrial areas within its borders.
If you're willing to consider areas south of Atlanta, I would suggest looking into Peachtree City. It's located in Fayette County, which has some of the top schools in the state.
A ton of airport / Delta employees live there because it's so much closer to the airport than the northern suburbs you listed. It has the golf cart paths too that you can use to get to/from different restaurants and grocery stores.
I would also suggest the Summergrove community in neighboring Newnan as well, which shares much of the same perks with Peachtree City minus the golf cart paths (although a multi-putpose trail is currently under construction), plus it also feeds into an above average and improving school district (Coweta County).
Other communities to consider too would be Tyrone (also in Fayette County) and Senoia (also in Coweta County).
I've searched but can't find a specific situation similar to ours. We are relocating to the Atlanta area, anywhere within 50 miles is ok. There is no commute (We work from home), but I need to be within an hour or so from the airport for a few flights a month.
Here's what we are looking for:
Family friendly (we have a 1.5 yo).
Reasonable distance to restaurants and grocery (walkable / bikeable is even better)
Social community with kids - we enjoy having cookouts and wine with neighbors!
Good schools (while ours is still little, its' good for resell. We will be relocated away from the area in 3-4 years, so high school is not a concern.
Need a yard (decent sized), fenced preferred (we have a dog)
Updated house with the basement/ terrace level
Budget is $700k, 3400 sq feet min.
Also want to be semi close to a hockey rink
but having a social neighborhood is probably most important b/c we don't know very many people.
I've looked into what feels like too many suburbs. I can't find an easy description of each in order to begin narrowing my search, and I don't think we have time to look at all of them. I've looked at
East Cobb
Roswell
John's Creek
Milton/ Crabapple.
Cumming
Woodstock
Dunwoody
Smyrna/ Marietta
Can someone give me a short description of these or even say yay/ nay for a few. Within the towns, are there certain neighborhoods we should look in?
I have flexibility on booking flight times, so I don't think traffic to the airport is a concern?
Quote:
Originally Posted by citidata18
If you're willing to consider areas south of Atlanta, I would suggest looking into Peachtree City. It's located in Fayette County, which has some of the top schools in the state.
A ton of airport / Delta employees live there because it's so much closer to the airport than the northern suburbs you listed. It has the golf cart paths too that you can use to get to/from different restaurants and grocery stores.
I would also suggest the Summergrove community in neighboring Newnan as well, which shares much of the same perks with Peachtree City minus the golf cart paths (although a multi-putpose trail is currently under construction), plus it also feeds into an above average and improving school district (Coweta County).
Other communities to consider too would be Tyrone (also in Fayette County) and Senoia (also in Coweta County).
Interesting - we are open to Peachtree City but everyone I have talked to lives North of metro area. I will keep it open. Thanks for the feedback so far!
Interesting - we are open to Peachtree City but everyone I have talked to lives North of metro area. I will keep it open. Thanks for the feedback so far!
No problem.
Given that Hartsfield-Jackson is in the southern part of the metro and you're going to be flying out of the airport semi-frequently, I would at least give Peachtree City and its surrounding area a look. I think you would like it.
Between all of the Japanese auto suppliers / manufacturers in that part of the metro area and the merger of Delta with Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines, there are a ton of transplants there such as yourself which should make it easier to settle in and meet people.
The main reason you hear so much more about the northern suburbs is because that's where all of the tech/finance jobs are, not necessarily because the southern suburbs don't offer a high quality of life. But in your case, if you're working from home, I assume proximity to those tech / finance jobs isn't a priority.
That being said, even without traffic, it's an extremely long distance between the northern suburbs and the airport, whereas you're only 15-20 minutes away from the airport in Peachtree City.
You will be MUCH happier on the south side of Atlanta, and Peachtree City is one of the gems of the Southside. The northern suburbs have ridiculous traffic, and most people who relocate go there to be closer to their job (not a problem for you.) While the southside traffic isn't "good", it is MUCH better than what you will encounter in the northern suburbs. You will also find it MUCH, MUCH EASIER to access the airport and Central Atlanta.
I will also give an honorable mention to my own Lake Spivey Community (upscale community built around a 400 plus acre lake with all the perks that go with the lake life style) Your budget could get you a very nice lake front home here and it is very accessible o both the airport and the City of Atlanta. The elementary schools around here are decent (though not nearly as highly rated as Fayette County/Peachtree City) and since your children are young, the somewhat problematic middle and high school are not an issue. Good luck on your home search and for your sanity, please give the Southside a closer look.
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