Possibly transplanting from Chicago...appreciate some feedback on neighborhoods! (Atlanta: rent, condo)

[kaipoman]

Been lurking/reading/searching here for the better part of 2 weeks. Very much appreciate the wealth of information.

The wife may be offered a good promotion which would require us moving to Atlanta (she works for Turner). We are both 30 years old, 6 months pregnant with our first child, and were considering a move outside the city so this couldnt have come at a better time.

I have the ability to open an office with my firm in Atlanta and hire a person or two there to work with me.

Per the sticky:

1. Budget Would prefer $1,800 or below.
2. House/Condo/Townhome? House or townhome preferable.
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) Wife and I both work.
4. Children(public school vs. private) Good public schools are a must.
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two Mix would be super, wouldnt mind either on its own.
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Important as we will have only one car.
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. As long as they are kind and welcoming! If I had to choose, young professionals and new parents would be great.

Wife's office is located in Midtown. I will probably push to have our office located there as well. Having never lived in a subdivision, something like the following is appealing to me:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/apa/2952082657.html (broken link)

Just to give you sort of where our head is at. We dont need 5 bedrooms (looking at 3), but you get the point.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

[ATLTJL]

If you want a house like that for the money you are talking about, you're definitely not going to be able to do it intown.

Here are a couple of questions:

Will your wife have the option to work any type of flex hours to make a commute more bearable? I don't know what she does, but a lot of people at Turner seem to work hours outside of 9 to 5.

If she can work non-traditional hours and avoid traffic, that opens her up to a lot of areas as you can commute to midtown from places like Alpharetta and Suwanee in 30 minutes if there is no traffic, where you can definitely get what you are looking for. If she can do that, I would advise you to locate your office close to wherever you end up so you don't have to commute.

There are a lot of people here familiar with Chicago. Why don't you post the names of some areas of Chicago that fit what you are looking for and I bet these people can chime in with what the closest Atlanta equivalents are.

[kaipoman]

Thanks for the reply.

I doubt she will have flexible hours...she has a pretty standard 9-5. For my business, I would want an office in a business-centric area. I would have the ability to work from home 2 days a week, but that doesnt make much of a difference.

Doing some research, Marietta seems nice. According to Google maps, were talking 30 mins outside of Midtown without traffic and 50 minutes with. Is that in any way credible or is Google guesstimating while smoking crack?

[lorilove]

The home in your example is in Mableton (Smyrna next door would also be an option). These neighborhoods would be an easy commute to Midtown but you would definitely want a second car - public transportation from any where in Cobb County is limited.

Mableton and Smyrna schools are in the good but not great category. I live in Smyrna and love it. Schools have been improving and likely will continue by the time your not yet new born is in entering (there are already a few excellent elem. schools)

30 minute commute for Marietta is a bit optimistic. If you start looking at Marietta be very specific as to what you are looking at the City of Marietta and the City Schools is not the same as Cobb County Schools and East Cobb which often referred to as Marietta. East Cobb Schools are great but the price and commute is going to be much higher.

I would definitely put Mableton/Smyrna on a list of places to consider if price/location is important.

[bryantm3]

considering you see public transit as an important thing, you need to realize that mableton has zero public transit, not even buses. marietta and smyrna have a thing called CCT that is only for cobb county and doesn't connect up to the city of atlanta without some sort of transfer— and even then, it's only buses.

if you want to live anywhere near decent public transit, you're most likely going to want to look in fulton or dekalb, the areas served by marta.

i would strongly consider you look at intown neighbourhoods that are near midtown. at your budget, living in a more ritzy neighbourhood like buckhead or virginia-highland is not going to be likely, but you could easily live in a home in oakhurst, lake claire, kirkwood or edgewood, all of which are very accessible to the subway. in addition, these neighbourhoods are full of homes built from the 1910s to the 1940s that are fairly large, many of them craftsman style.

if public schools are a concern, i would definitely recommend living in oakhurst since it's inside the city limits of decatur, and the public schools are very nice there.

here's a house in oakhurst:

424 Ansley St, Decatur, GA 30030 MLS# 4339979 - Zillow

[lorilove]

I would seriously consider buying a second car - the additonal cost if you don't buy brand new is not going to be that much compared to the flexibility it will offer you in where you can buy or rent a home

[kaipoman]

Thanks for the helpful feedback - exactly the kind of stuff I needed to hear.

[cqholt]

I live in Kirkwood, my wife and I both use MARTA and have 1 car that never gets driven. The schools are good and improving. The area is safe and you can find lots of updated homes for the price listed. The neighborhood is full of young professionals and new parents. The neighborhood association is very strong and works hard to constantly improve the area.

[cittic10]

Dunwoody or sandy springs.

[spacelord75]

Originally Posted by lorilove

Mableton and Smyrna schools are in the good but not great category. I live in Smyrna and love it. Schools have been improving and likely will continue by the time your not yet new born is in entering (there are already a few excellent elem. schools)

.

While I would agree on Smyrna, I don't think I could ever say Mableton schools are anywhere near good unless things have drastically changed in the 5 years since I lived there.