Town home/Condo in Vinings ARea (Atlanta, Smyrna: for sale, apartments, condos)

[propertybuyer2008]

I am currently looking at a town home or condo in Vinings area. I like the Waterford Place condos but would love to buy a 2bed/2 bath town home in a safe vinings/smyrna area for around 150. Any suggestions? I also like the East Cobb area but am frustrated from looking

[wxjay]

For $150K, getting a 2 bed/2 bath townhome in Vinings will be nearly impossible. The only place around that price range will be Stonewall Townhomes, which are right behind Cumberland Mall. The homes were built in the 70s and need some upkeep and updating. Some of the lots lie on the lake which is nice. The only problem is that the Vinings Train drives DIRECTLY BY the complex. Trust me, it's loud.

Your best bet will be a condo (i.e., "flat"). However, in Vinings Run (Spring Hill Rd), there are some two story units (you enter on ground floor and then climb stairs to the main living level). There, 2 bed/2 bath condos start at $130K and go all the way up to $155K. Waterford Place is another great option (I actually considered buying there). You get a lot of place for your money.

[momof2kids]

It is going to be difficult to find a 2 bd /2 bath in the Vinings area for 150K.
I am not sure about the condo / townhouse pricing in East Cobb.

[atlantagreg30127]

Well, here is one link with some results for one place that you get when you Google "vinings condo essex house". Please note that I do not work for these people - it's just the first link that comes up: Essex House Vinings Atlanta Condos And Townhomes For Sale in Fulton County 30339 (http://citihomesmetro.com/essexhouse/ - broken link) . There are other links under it with more info too.

I used to live at Essex House when they were apartments. They later converted to condos. Now, normally on here I advise people to AVOID "conversions" - that is, apartments that have been converted to condos. The reason being that typically in Atlanta, apartments are not built very well, and noise insulation is extremely poor.

Essex House however, is an older community and all brick - built before standards seemed to go lax. Some of the units start in the $155,000 range and that's a very good price for the Vinings area, and they're in a great location - just down the hill from the Vinings "village" area, behind a grocery store complex, down the Road from Cumberland Mall without being right in the traffic area of it, and, across the street from one of the Chattahoochee River Rec areas with trails, the river, etc.

I lived there for a couple of years and liked the complex and area. Had a roughly 1100 square foot 2BR/2BA unit and found the construction to be better than other apartments, and noise insulation to be reasonable for an apartment as well. As condos from pics, the kitchens and carpenting are updated in them - top floor units have fireplaces, bottoms do not. They also have townhomes (again, all brick), but those will probably hit in the $200k range.

[momof2kids]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I used to live at Essex House when they were apartments. They later converted to condos. Now, normally on here I advise people to AVOID "conversions" - that is, apartments that have been converted to condos. The reason being that typically in Atlanta, apartments are not built very well, and noise insulation is extremely poor.

My husband and I lived in Essex for years while we were in college! We moved, because of the conversion, to the Gables apartments behind Home Depot. We are now in Kennesaw.

I will agree that Essex House was well built and they were nice sized.

[wxjay]

I currently live in Essex House in a 2/2 condo. I really like the place. The condos don't have the high ceilings like the newer condos in the area, but they are still nice. With some decent upgrades, I would argue that they are even better than some of the newer buildings in Smyrna/Vinings. Plus the location is simply unbeatable.

[jwa215]

This may be a bit off subject, but is the Vinings area in need of a good cigar shop? I'm looking to open one somewhere in metro Atlanta and the west side seems underserved, once you get west of Buckhead.

[movinginatl]

There is a cigar shop in downtown Vinings.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by jwa215

This may be a bit off subject, but is the Vinings area in need of a good cigar shop? I'm looking to open one somewhere in metro Atlanta and the west side seems underserved, once you get west of Buckhead.

There is on at the Avenues of West Cobb, as well as one on the corner of the East/West Connector (Barrett Parkway South) and Powder Springs Road. Just FYI before you plop one down near them.

P.S. - I have seen people on the paulding.com board ask if there are any around Paulding. Other than the one on Powder Springs Road, to my knowledge, no. So if you don't mind going WAY West, to let's say, Dallas, Georgia, there might be a completely nonserved nitch there. I would suggest visiting paulding.com and asking the local residents of that county if they're interested. (For future reference though, it's best to start a new thread for something like this instead of in the middle of an existing thread)

[Mom52]

Do any of you know if the Essex House condo association is in any financial difficulty? How about Stonewall? If you were going to buy in one vs. the other on the strength of the HOA's and future resale, which would you buy?