Moving to ATL from Savannah. Best areas for young families? (Atlanta: foreclosures, for rent)

[elars]

We're moving to ATL this summer from a small town just outside of Savannah. My husband will be working in the heart of downtown. We plan to rent for about a year until we decide where to purchase a house. We are very conservative and have young children. We plan to send them to a Classical Christian School or homeschool, so public schools are a non-issue. We're looking for a very friendly area that has a commute time of less than 30 minutes. Nightlife and shopping are not important to us. What would you suggest?

[nature's message]

I would recommend Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Dunwoody, and Johns Creek. All are very nice areas. What is your price range for rent??

[lastminutemom]

If you live close-in, your access to conservative Christian schools with like minded families is more limited than if you live further out. Most of those schools are further out. There are some Christian schools in town, but I wouldn't describe them as conservative.

What do you think your final purchase price will be when you are ready to buy a home?

Would your husband consider taking MARTA in for his commute?

[CMMom]

There is a Classical Christian school in Midtown called Heritage Preparatory School. I get the impression it's pretty conservative. It's been around for 10 years or so and has only about 150 students up to 8th grade.

Home - Heritage Preparatory School

[lastminutemom]

CM Mom

You are right.

I also forgot about the Heiskall School -- which is in Bucheadish and is very conservative, I think.

[elars]

Thanks everyone for responding. Our rent price range is up to $1200. We'd like to rent a townhome or small house while we take in the area. Our home purchase price will be up to $300K, but we'd like to take advantage of all the foreclosures and get something for much, much less. No need to spend all that $$$ if we don't have to.

As far as schools go, we have looked at Heritage, but it is out of our price range for tuition. Atlanta Classical Christian Academy in Smyrna is a contender as is Dominion in Lawrenceville. Home prices seem to be very good in either the Douglasville and Lithonia areas, but I don't know if that's realistic for a commute. My husband's job requires him to be on call 24-7 and he has a gvmt vehicle that he has to drive in daily, so unfortunately, a Marta commute is not feasible for the day-to-day plans.

I wrote that nightlife and shopping were not important, but I would like easy access to nice grocery stores and Target. We have some distant family that lives in Acworth. What is that commute like at 5 pm?

[CMMom]

Honestly, a commute from downtown to either Acworth, Douglasville, Lithonia, or Lawrenceville at 5 PM would be a complete nightmare. Probably an hour home assuming no accidents. Smyrna is more workable from downtown.