Husband at AJC, wife at GA Tech. Where should we live?

[masonbarge]

Originally Posted by IntownHomes247

I agree with masonbarge and LovinDecatur, your easiest choice would be the westside: Home Park, Loring Heights, Berkeley Park, Underwood Hills, etc. Cutting across town to Tech is nightmarish. You might also want to consider Smyrna/Vinings. Personally, I can't stand the westside (I'm a Decatur native) because it has such an industrial aesthetic for long stretches, but westside people probably love their side of town as much as we eastsiders do.

I try to avoid responding to other posts, but I just don't get the characterization of the "westside" as "industrial". We must have very different areas in mind.

I don't want to get a big discussion started, but gee whiz -- other than Druid Hills, I've always considered the most charming major residential areas (Haynes Manor, Brookhaven, Tuxedo Park) of the city to be on the west side of Peachtree (or adjacent to it, like Ansley and Midtown).

Maybe that's the confusion. When I said "west side" I mean anything west of Peachtree. My primary thought for these people would be something adjacent to Northside Drive. Unless they want a seriously "intown" neighborhood, with the school problems that entails, they'd be crazy not to take advantage of one of the best commutes in the city -- Northside Drive to Tech/downtown.

Unfortunately, most of the homes in the nice but more affordable neighborhoods there (e.g. Collier Hills) are not going to meet their price requirements. Loring Heights would be a great option, if they can find a rental house there (although it's starting to see some tear-downs due to the prime location). Also the Channing Drive area.

[IntownHomes247]

It's just a problem of terminology. I'd say that the "Westside" (as it is commonly used by intown real estate agents and people from the Eastside) is generally considered the area including Tech, Home Park, Howell Station, Adams Crossing, Atlantic Station, Loring Heights, Berkeley Park, Underwood Hills, and the Defoors area. The areas you are talking about, I'd consider "Northwest Atlanta" and "South Buckhead." Westside, to me, centers around the vicinity of Northside Drive, Howell Mill, the Marietta Street Artery, Huff Road, etc. This area is industrial. It's got huge railroad tracks through it and has been in commercial usage for many years. It's just unattractive, and when I drive through there, it feels like I'm in a different city. And driving past water treatment facilities, etc. . . Not pretty. Now the NW Atlanta neighborhoods further up Northside from Collier Road up past Peachtree Battle, Wesley Road, Paces Ferry, etc. are gorgeous -- huge lots, huge trees, winding roads -- but of course they're also some of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city with multi-million dollar homes.

Unfortunately, there's just no real standard for what "Westside" means. We have a serious problem with terminology in Atlanta. Terms like "Downtown", "Midtown", "Buckhead", "Westside", "Decatur", or even "Intown," mean different things to different people, and don't even get me started about "Emory area" (which seems to stretch from Midtown to Tucker and beyond). So it leads to confusion.

[gt6974a]

Originally Posted by dougcriss

I work at the AJC and my wife starts work at Georgia Tech

Wow, that's kind of ironic!

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by masonbarge

I try to avoid responding to other posts, but I just don't get the characterization of the "westside" as "industrial". We must have very different areas in mind.

I don't want to get a big discussion started, but gee whiz -- other than Druid Hills, I've always considered the most charming major residential areas (Haynes Manor, Brookhaven, Tuxedo Park) of the city to be on the west side of Peachtree (or adjacent to it, like Ansley and Midtown).

Maybe that's the confusion. When I said "west side" I mean anything west of Peachtree. My primary thought for these people would be something adjacent to Northside Drive. Unless they want a seriously "intown" neighborhood, with the school problems that entails, they'd be crazy not to take advantage of one of the best commutes in the city -- Northside Drive to Tech/downtown.

Unfortunately, most of the homes in the nice but more affordable neighborhoods there (e.g. Collier Hills) are not going to meet their price requirements. Loring Heights would be a great option, if they can find a rental house there (although it's starting to see some tear-downs due to the prime location). Also the Channing Drive area.

Yes, when I am referring to the 'westside', I'm referring to the area that Intown describes, not Buckhead.
Check out your Atlanta map...Brookhaven is a NE Atlanta neighborhood and is nowhere near the west side of town; it's entirely within DeKalb County, in fact.
Peachtree Rd takes a jog to the NE after crossing W/E Paces Ferry, so at that point everything is north and south of Peachtree, not east or west.