Young Couple looking to move from MD to a nice area near ATL...Please help! (Atlanta: real estate)

[PollardRussell]

Hello Where to start....
My fiancee and I are planning on moving to Georgia. His job is in Biotechnology and I work for Hilton so we are hoping to live in a nice area we can commute easily if needed. We plan to rent first while we search for a house to buy. We have lived in Montgomery County, MD most of our lives, so this is a very big jump for us. I have looked into a few cities -Rome, Snellville, Johns Creek, Peach Tree City, and Alpharetta. I googled what I could but is there any places you all would recommend or have any insight on?

I would like to find somewhere that is low crime and not too rural. We live in Germantown, MD and some parts are nice while some aren't. For instance, I don't want to feel scared to walk at night or that the tires will be stolen off my car...it has happened up here in what appeared to be nice areas.

We pay $1200 a month here for rent for a 1br/1ba condo. We are looking to rent somewhere for cheaper than what we pay now so we can save more for the wedding and for our future house.

Also if anyone knows any honest and amazing real estate agents who could help us please recommend!

We are very excited to move to GA. Thank you for any insight and advice you may have!

~Meredith

[Brian_M]

Atlanta and DC have a lot of similarities (I lived in DC 1996~2000 and Atlanta 2000~2004). One of the glaring similarities? The traffic commute. For the first year in ATL, I lived in Acworth/Woodstock (up 75/575) ~ even when there were jumpers on the WW bridge in DC traffic wasn't as tied up and horrible as 75 was on a daily basis. I routinely spent 1+ hour commuting under 20 miles. But that's not to say it's all bad, as I moved 20 miles around the perimeter (beltway) and suddenly I was able to do my 20 mile commute in 25 minutes more often than not.

Anyway, point being you REALLY want to look as close to work as possible. Rome is way out there, akin to commuting from Fredrick to DC, probably Not the best choice. It'd be fantastic if you both worked within a few miles of one another, otherwise I'd say lean on being closer to the job with more stress (no sense in adding even More stress with the commute). So why not post up that business, or just a major cross-street near there. Atlanta is very much like DC in that you have pockets of really great neighborhoods that are bordered by not-so-great.

FWIW, neither my wife nor myself have ever been afraid to walk at night (together or alone), never had any kind of vehicle vandalism (and I ride sportbikes and had a Porsche when in Atlanta), or really saw any violence any worse than just REALLY ignorant and crappy drivers doing dumb things. We lived less than half a mile from a known and established "hood" for 2 of the years in Atlanta (and would have happily stayed there if we were going to stay in Atlanta).

7 years is awhile ago, and rentals are at a premium now, but we were only spending $1100 on a 3 bed, 2 bath house plus utilities. You should have no problems getting down to ~$800 so long as you don't have pets or need a garage. Going private owner over faceless conglomerate will mean you can negotiate. I would very, Very, strongly recommend planning on at least a 1-year rental. You have a couple years still before the housing market starts making an upward trend, and it's WAY cheaper to realize you don't like the area while renting than while owning. My wife and I ignored that advice when we moved to Denver and left there $50,000 poorer, and WAY more miserable than was absolutely necessary because of it.

Good luck

[donniemac30605]

Expect prices to be somewhat lower than what you are used to for housing, although upscale areas like Decatur proper and Buckhead can be quite expensive. Traffic is a nightmare if you are commuting at normal rush hour. Typical south in that bad neighborhoods and good neighborhoods are on top of each other. My wife and I relocated from Williamsburg, VA and settled on Athens as we like the college scene (I am retired). An area we have found since moving to GA is Norcross, specially in town. But the commute could be a little rough Atlanta is easy to get around as long as it is not rush hour and there are plenty of nice areas. BrianM's advice to be close to work is spot on.

[Atlanta-Kid]

vinnigs Georgia is nice, but I don't know about cost

[AdelaidefromLondon]

You would positively LOVE Snellville and the areas in Gwinnett County south of it. Commuting is super EZ as you can go into Atlanta one way and wind up on Ponce De Leon in Druid Hills and can easily hop over to midtown. The loop around Atlanta can also be easily accessed this way. You can also go due south and get on the Interstate by the positively FABULOUS Stonecrest Mall in Lithonia to get to downtown and to go to the airport. The south part of Gwinnett County is a mixture of firm middle classed people and more affluent ones as well as it is due north of the well do to area known as Lithonia. Alot of New Yorkers from NYC and NYS live in the south part of Gwinnett County and there are a number of Europeans who live there as well. Some of the New Yorkers came with the former NYS carpet mills which are now in neighboring Hall County, they came there a couple of decades ago.
For commuting, particularly for a couple which works in different areas of the metro, southern Gwinnett County CANNOT be beat!!!
We have a vacation home there in a community known as Norris Lake and I like the general area as it has a perfect mix of native Atlanta people and newcomers. We chose it (we have a home in Cobb County too which we now rent) as it is very fast to get to Buckhead and midtown but is our of the hustle and bustle for when you want quiet and peace.
Another advantage is in south Gwinnett County they STILL build new houses even now at the height of the housing bust. That evidences you are in a good area. People there tend to move there and stay put too in lieu of moving up to a better house with each job promotion as is very common in other areas of the metro. It is nice NOT to have musical-chairs neighbors which is all too common a problem in the metro. In some areas you can buy a house and have all different neighbors in three years as people transfer with jobs or move up or down in housing. In Gwinnett County people tend to stay put.