Relocating from FL - looking for best area, for family of 4 with young kids (Atlanta: real estate market, leases)

[thtguyuknw]

Hello All,

So My wife took a promotion that requires her be in Atlanta area. Her offices are in Midtown, and I work remote.

We don't know anything about Atlanta, we have 2 kids ages 2 and 4 so we want a good school system, does Georgia do Charter Schools? Are there any non-religion private schools? 4 yo is a December baby so he won't be going to Elementary school until 2024, even though his math, reading, writing skills are already at a 1st grade level. So we need a high performing Preschool as well.

I have been looking from a distance at the Woodstock area, and Lawrenceville areas.
We are hopefully going to plan a trip up in the next few weeks for a weekend to look at the various areas.

We are looking to rent for 6 mo to a year to really get to know the area, though it has been hard to find anyone who is doing 6 month leases.

We like small town feel but with the conveniences of larger towns. Would like to be near a Lifetime Fitness.

Not sure how the housing market and mortgage rates are going to pan out in the year. we would like to keep rent less than $2k/mo, which feels impossible, and are looking to buy or build 2500+ sqft 4-5 bd less than $500k.

Suggestions?

[Citykid3785]

My wife works at Lifetime in Woodstock, and I’m from MN (their HQ), so that’s a must for us too, haha!

Lawrenceville is going to be a commute to midtown you don’t want to do.

I’d suggest:

Alpharetta
West Roswell
East Cobb
Woodstock

If you just need a good education, basically everything north of 285, inside of 75 & 85 fits the bill as a rule of thumb.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by thtguyuknw

Hello All,

So My wife took a promotion that requires her be in Atlanta area. Her offices are in Midtown, and I work remote.

We don't know anything about Atlanta, we have 2 kids ages 2 and 4 so we want a good school system, does Georgia do Charter Schools? Are there any non-religion private schools? 4 yo is a December baby so he won't be going to Elementary school until 2024, even though his math, reading, writing skills are already at a 1st grade level. So we need a high performing Preschool as well.

I have been looking from a distance at the Woodstock area, and Lawrenceville areas.
We are hopefully going to plan a trip up in the next few weeks for a weekend to look at the various areas.

We are looking to rent for 6 mo to a year to really get to know the area, though it has been hard to find anyone who is doing 6 month leases.

We like small town feel but with the conveniences of larger towns. Would like to be near a Lifetime Fitness.

Not sure how the housing market and mortgage rates are going to pan out in the year. we would like to keep rent less than $2k/mo, which feels impossible, and are looking to buy or build 2500+ sqft 4-5 bd less than $500k.

Suggestions?

Though not necessarily the most ideal from a commuting standpoint (largely because of the high amount of traffic on the I-75/I-575 Northwest and I-85 Northeast roadways during peak traffic hours), Woodstock and Lawrenceville are good areas to look in because of their high-quality of life (generally highly-rated schools, generally low crime, lots of retail and outdoor recreational amenities, etc).

Woodstock might be at least just slightly more preferable than Lawrenceville, because Woodstock is just slightly closer to Midtown Atlanta than Lawrenceville and the I-75/I-575 reversible tolled express lanes may be at least slightly more likely to provide a quicker ride during rush hour (particularly on the drive home during evening rush hour) than the single non-reversible tolled express lane on each direction of I-85.

Woodstock and Lawrenceville also seem to be good locations to target because of the intense (and sometimes even stunningly extreme) competitiveness of the housing market in other parts of the North Atlanta suburbs.

You probably may be significantly more likely to find a larger detached single-family home within your budget in suburban communities like Woodstock and Lawrenceville than you would in other suburban North Atlanta communities (including in extremely high-demand North Atlanta suburban communities like East Cobb, Alpharetta/Roswell, Milton, Johns Creek and Suwanee).

Also, both Woodstock and Lawrenceville feature Lifetime Fitness locations.

[cparker73]

If your wife is commuting to Midtown on a daily basis and you're intent on going the private-school route, I'd cross the river from Alpharetta and Roswell to include Sandy Springs and parts of Dunwoody into the calculation. All of the highly-rated private schools like Pace, Galloway, Westminster, Lovett, Trinity, Atlanta International School, etc. are in Buckhead, which would be about 20 minutes from those areas with an additional 20 minutes to Midtown. Those areas also make Marta rail a possible alternative to driving into Midtown.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by thtguyuknw

We don't know anything about Atlanta, we have 2 kids ages 2 and 4 so we want a good school system, does Georgia do Charter Schools? Are there any non-religion private schools? 4 yo is a December baby so he won't be going to Elementary school until 2024, even though his math, reading, writing skills are already at a 1st grade level. So we need a high performing Preschool as well.

While maybe not necessarily quite to the extent of some other states, Georgia does have charter schools.

Though, one may not necessarily find an over-abundance of charter schools in Atlanta’s in-demand northern suburbs because of the generally very high quality of the public schools there and because of the political power that the very proud supporters of those highly-rated North Atlanta suburban public school systems may wield in the Georgia General Assembly.

But here is a link to a state-sanctioned locator/list of charter schools in the state of Georgia, many (if not most) of which seem to be located in the Atlanta metropolitan area:

School Locator - Georgia Charter Schools Association

There do not seem to be many non religiously-affiliated private schools located outside of the I-285 Perimeter loop highway in the expansive North Atlanta suburbs.

One highly-regarded apparently secular private school outside of I-285 in suburban Northwest metro Atlanta that might be worth looking into is The Walker School in Marietta, which started as an Episcopal school in 1957 but has been independent since 1972.

There are some excellent secular private schools located within the I-285 Perimeter, with Woodward Academy, the Lovett School, Paideia and AIS (Atlanta International School) being the schools to come to mind.

Woodward Academy also has a North Campus in Johns Creek that serves students in grades Pre-K through 6 who move on to the main campus in College Park in South Atlanta near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for grades 7-12.

But those schools obviously are expensive and can be challenging to gain admission into.

Otherwise, many (if not most) top private schools in the Atlanta region (an Atlanta region that historically is a Bible Belt metro area/region) are religiously affiliated and oriented, including the top private schools located north outside of the I-285 Perimeter.

But because the public schools generally are very highly rated throughout much of Atlanta’s northern suburbs in a crescent from West Cobb County, to parts of Cherokee County, to North Fulton County, to Forsyth County, to parts of Gwinnett County, public schools very often are a viable option for many families.

[thtguyuknw]

Thanks @Cparker73 and @Born 2 Roll I did read that about the northen county school systems and that is why I was focused in that area. I would rather not spend money on tuition if we don't need to.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by thtguyuknw

Thanks @Cparker73 and @Born 2 Roll I did read that about the northen county school systems and that is why I was focused in that area. I would rather not spend money on tuition if we don't need to.

Yes, at $20k-$30K/year, save your money for private school for the craziness that is middle school or high school if at all. We got on this train in 1st grade, and it's hard to pull back once you get in because of how difficult it is to get admission into these schools. Private school applications are up 30-40% since Covid lockdown two years ago.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by thtguyuknw

Thanks @Cparker73 and @Born 2 Roll I did read that about the northen county school systems and that is why I was focused in that area. I would rather not spend money on tuition if we don't need to.

Well, it’s not just a matter of spending tuition on a Pre-K through 12 education at the aforementioned private schools.

Many (if not all) of the private schools mentioned can be decidedly (and even highly) selective in their admissions process, meaning that there’s often no guarantee that a family may get their children into those schools, even if a family seemingly may have the financial resources to pay the tuition at those schools.

In addition to being attracted to the high quality of the public schools across the aforementioned swath of the North Atlanta suburbs, many families may move into those areas with highly rated and regarded public schools because the admissions process can be highly competitive and selective at many of the top private schools in the area, including (and ESPECIALLY) at the aforementioned secular private schools.

So if you have the resources and desire for your children to be in a secular private school, contact the private schools that appeal to you as soon as possible and see what moves you may need to make to have a good shot at potentially making that happen...

But also move into a home in a highly-rated public school district and system that your family finds most appealing in the (unfortunately relatively fairly high likelihood) that the admissions process to the private school (or schools) of your choice does not work out as planned.

[Born 2 Roll]

Also, speaking of searching for housing in areas of the best and highest rated public schools...

The areas with the highest-rated public schools currently seem to have the most competitive (sometimes seemingly surprisingly and insanely competitive) real estate markets, with bidding wars often breaking out over houses that often may be purchased within days or sometimes even hours of hitting the market in the most desirable areas with the most desirable schools.

The particularly seems to be the case in areas that feature the highest-rated and most highly-regarded public schools like East Cobb, Alpharetta/Roswell, Milton, Johns Creek, Suwanee and parts of Cumming.

Even though they may not necessarily always provide your wife with the most pleasant commutes to and from her job in Midtown (particularly along I-85 Northeast), suburban communities like Woodstock and Lawrenceville are good places to target because the pressure on the detached single-family housing market in those areas may not be quite as intense as it often seems to be in areas like East Cobb, North Fulton and South Forsyth counties and the Suwanee part of Gwinnett County.

Your chances of finding a 2500+ square-foot, 4-5 bedroom home for less than $500k seems to be significantly greater in areas like Woodstock and Lawrenceville than in the aforementioned other areas of the North Atlanta suburbs.

[AtlJan]

There are plenty of good non-religious private schools for you guys, such as High Meadows School & Cliff Valley School and others that are in the suburbs but still close enough for midtown commute. Yes, there are a lot of great schools, public, private, and charter. Look at Northwest Classical Academy which is a new charter school in Kennesaw--it is lottery based and open to all residents of GA, not sure if lottery is still open for next year..