Roswell? commute to Emory area (Atlanta, Alpharetta: houses, neighborhoods, construction)

[Mladyj]

As we are getting closer and looking for a great family area to live. Does anyone do this commute around 7a? or earlier? and again at 5p? Is this a solid 45 or more.
For many reasons we are not able to live inside the perimeter but we are ok with that and there is no other job option...Emory Univ is it....but Just trying to find the right area that fits our large young family and trying not to have my husband married to the road more then 45min each way.

Is roswell closer then alpharetta? Appears to be great schools? Diverse for a interacial and inter-religious family??

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by Mladyj

As we are getting closer and looking for a great family area to live. Does anyone do this commute around 7a? or earlier? and again at 5p? Is this a solid 45 or more.
For many reasons we are not able to live inside the perimeter but we are ok with that and there is no other job option...Emory Univ is it....but Just trying to find the right area that fits our large young family and trying not to have my husband married to the road more then 45min each way.

Is roswell closer then alpharetta? Appears to be great schools? Diverse for a interacial and inter-religious family??

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Roswell's closer than Alpharetta, the schools are excellent in general, and there's plenty of diversity (my kids' class pictures have practically every shade of skin color there is, and the names below the pictures bear out the diverse backgrounds). My kids aren't the only Jewish kids in any of their classes, but they also generally wouldn't be the only Muslim, Catholic, Baptist or Hindu kids either.

The commute to Emory won't be trivial, but it's probably workable. Best route would depend to some extent on where on campus your husband will be working, and where in Roswell you decide to live. Generally speaking, East Roswell (east of GA 400, my neighborhood) will be easier than the older, downtown area. Routes could include Holcomb Bridge to Peachtree Industrial to Clairmont, or HBR to PIB to I-285 and around to LaVista, or to Lawrenceville Hwy, or North Druid Hills. In general traffic on I-285 east/southbound in the morning isn't as bad as going the other way. In the afternoon however, it's likely to be a pain no matter which way you go.

Depending on your price range, there might be some other areas that would be a little more convenient with decent schools and reasonable diversity, but Roswell wouldn't be a terrible compromise.

[Mladyj]

We wouldn't be looking at the downtown area of roswell and he will be heading to emory H. ...if that makes any difference. It just appears to have a lot of things that we desire. We need space (size of home and we are not really fixer-upper people).
Dunwoody is possible...but for our price appears we can only get older homes that need some updating.
THanks for your advice

[rackensack]

Sounds like you're in roughly the same price range we were. You're right about Dunwoody -- it'd be a good option, but anything under about $350K is going to be in an older neighborhood and is going to have some issues, even if it's just being sort of dated. We looked extensively in Dunwoody North, Kingsley, Fontainebleau, etc., but when our house in Tucker finally sold we had to move quickly to be out of it, and there just didn't happen to be anything on the market in our price range in Dunwoody that we could get into quickly, so we went with something in East Roswell and haven't regretted it at all. Of course, I either work from home or (more often) am on the road, so my commute when I have one is to the airport, usually at off hours, so I don't have that to contend with.

You might also consider some of the older neighborhoods at the edges of Dekalb County in the Chamblee/Tucker area -- areas like Embry Hills, the Henderson Mill and Evansdale elementary districts just outside and along the Perimeter near Northlake. The commute would be easier/shorter, and the schools are decent -- particularly the elementary and middle schools (avoid the Pleasantdale Elementary district, however). Livsey Elementary is solid, as is Midvale, but they feed into the new Tucker Middle School and Tucker High -- don't know much about Tucker Middle as it's still pretty new, and folks tend to have mixed feelings about Tucker High. All of these are close to where we used to live (though we were just across the line in Gwinnett) and we considered moving to all of them, but we wanted to be closer to our synagogue in Dunwoody, so Roswell is where we landed.

[sweettea1]

I second the post which advises to look over by Embry Hills, Northlake, Tucker...also Briarcliff and North Druid Hills and Decatur. Roswell is nice but the commute is going to get very old. There are great family friendly/diverse areas much much closer to where you need to be. Make sure your agent knows exactly what you're looking for so s/he can steer you in the right direction. ps. Lots of ranches may not look new on the outside but the insides have been redone and they're really nice!

[lastminutemom]

As a DeKalb parent, let me just say that I am worried about the health of the school system and the impact that is going to have on all schools.

Have you checked out Peachtree Corners?

[Mladyj]

We have been looking at tucker..and have found a few places that either feed to Midvale or Livsey...but no one has to much to say about tucker itself...except that is a bit old. I have gotten the mix reviews about tucker middle school (which is concerning for future). At present our first of 3 will be entering K in 09'.
I know Roswell is further...just want to meet most of our desires and not sure if some of those other areas will do so.
Can I ask why you moved out of tucker? Feel free to PM me for more details. I am starving for more info about this place. I here there is a lot of improvements taking place.
There seems to be a disconnect in continuity of school from elem-middle-high...eg great elem...crappy middle...decent high. or crappy elem...okmiddle...great high
But for us the focus is elem-middl
Thanks for your advice/thoughts

[capoeira]

I suggest looking at Lilburn in the Camp Creek or Mountain Park elementary areas. There you will have good schools,nice newer houses at a moderate price and a semi-reasonable commute to Emory. The downside to this area is that is not close to major retail shopping.

Single Family Home LILBURN, GA, 30047 (http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?zp=30047&ml=3&mnp=25&mxp=29&bd= 6&typ=1&pfbm=10&sid=84e5021a95f6422b9111660e874381 4f&lid=1101232450&lsn=10&srcnt=115#Detail - broken link)

Single Family Home 2 (http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?zp=30047&ml=3&mnp=25&mxp=29&bd= 6&typ=1&pfbm=10&sid=84e5021a95f6422b9111660e874381 4f&pg=7&lid=1101807825&lsn=62&srcnt=115#Detail - broken link)

Yahoo! Maps

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by Mladyj

We have been looking at tucker..and have found a few places that either feed to Midvale or Livsey...but no one has to much to say about tucker itself...except that is a bit old. I have gotten the mix reviews about tucker middle school (which is concerning for future). At present our first of 3 will be entering K in 09'.
I know Roswell is further...just want to meet most of our desires and not sure if some of those other areas will do so.
Can I ask why you moved out of tucker? Feel free to PM me for more details. I am starving for more info about this place. I here there is a lot of improvements taking place.
There seems to be a disconnect in continuity of school from elem-middle-high...eg great elem...crappy middle...decent high. or crappy elem...okmiddle...great high
But for us the focus is elem-middl
Thanks for your advice/thoughts

The construction on the new Tucker high school began this year. I am not certain when the building will be completed. There is an IB program at Tucker High School.

Tucker is more diverse and less affluent than Roswell.