having a heck of a time finding a decent place to live... moving back from california. (Atlanta: crime)

[gratuitousviolins]

my husband wants to live in an area that has easy access to the airport, since he'll need to go back to california and ottawa. this limits us to atlanta-ish areas. i think shuttles are okay as long as they don't get into the ridiculous range. my mother lives around the north georgia area... think ellijay/jasper/dahlonegha.

i obviously want to be able to see her, too. lots. we don't have any kids now, but we also aren't club-going sorts. want to get away from crime as much as possible. our doable range for housing is around 300,000.

i lived in atlanta proper for quite a while. i'm not familiar with dunwoody enough, but my husband seems to like that area. HOWEVER, he also wants some land. in dunwoody, i'd find this nearly impossible. we also want to have a place bigger than our current. as you can imagine, it's like... 1,000 feet 2br 2ba. we need more space.

i'm interested in dallas although i think this might not do well for him. unless there are some beautiful places there. he might sacrifice convenience for beauty/tons of space. what areas would you all suggest? it's been a while since i've lived there.

[cwkimbro]

Sounds very doable to me. If you want to be near the airport, you want a decent size house with some land... I would look around Coweta county/Newnan or Fayette County just outside of Peacthree City.

Peachtree City will get you into an entry level house, so look in Fayette outside of Peacthree City for more land. They are a very easy drive to the airport.

If you want to be closer to the city for the sake of being closer to the action that will change this advice, but I'm going off of your comment on wanting land.

If you want to be further north, want land, and want to be closer to Jasper and Ellijay, then I would look at Cherokee or West Cobb. There will be more things to do nearby too, however the airport is a bit more of a trek and rush hour would not be fun. I think the northwest suburbs have better access to the airport than the northeast suburbs, because its just a short trek down the westside of I-285 to Camp Creek Pkwy

I'm not big on the shuttles, despite flying all the time. I take the long trek to the airport from Gwinnett County and I park in the off-site parking lots. Rates are usually $6~$7.50/day. My favorite is the Parking Spot 2 right at I-285 and Camp Creek Pkwy.

[jetgraphics]

If ever they restored interurban passenger rail service, it would make the distant communities more accessible.
There are five or more major rail lines radiating from Atlanta.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by gratuitousviolins

my husband wants to live in an area that has easy access to the airport, since he'll need to go back to california and ottawa. this limits us to atlanta-ish areas. i think shuttles are okay as long as they don't get into the ridiculous range. my mother lives around the north georgia area... think ellijay/jasper/dahlonegha.

i obviously want to be able to see her, too. lots. we don't have any kids now, but we also aren't club-going sorts. want to get away from crime as much as possible. our doable range for housing is around 300,000.

i lived in atlanta proper for quite a while. i'm not familiar with dunwoody enough, but my husband seems to like that area. HOWEVER, he also wants some land. in dunwoody, i'd find this nearly impossible. we also want to have a place bigger than our current. as you can imagine, it's like... 1,000 feet 2br 2ba. we need more space.

i'm interested in dallas although i think this might not do well for him. unless there are some beautiful places there. he might sacrifice convenience for beauty/tons of space. what areas would you all suggest? it's been a while since i've lived there.

How often will your husband be commuting to and from the Atlanta Airport?

Also, what times of day mainly will your husband be commuting to and from the ATL Airport?

If your husband will be commuting to the Atlanta Airport to catch early morning departing flights then his commutes to the ATL Airport, while they would still be relatively long in distance, would not have anywhere near as many traffic delays as they would if he were catching mid-morning, late-morning and/or midday departing flights when he might have to contend with much worse rush hour traffic if you were to live closer to your mother in the North Georgia Mountains, which is just simply a FANTASTIC area to live in because of the beautiful scenery.

If your husband will be commuting to and from the Atlanta Airport mainly outside of morning and evening rush hours and peak traffic hours, you MIGHT be able to give more consideration to moving to the North Georgia Mountains to be closer to your mother, if that is what you might desire most.

Since you mentioned the Ellijay/Jasper/Dahlonega area, you could look for (and likely find quite a few) housing options in your price range in Pickens, Dawson, Lumpkin and Gilmer counties in the North Georgia Mountains north of Atlanta.

If you decide to look north of Atlanta, some areas in particular in those counties where you might want to look are in the Big Canoe and Bent Tree communities (two gated swim-tennis-golf course communities with manned security built on a series of very heavily wooded low mountains around mountain lakes) in Pickens and Dawson counties.

Link to Big Canoe Community website:
Official Big Canoe & Big Canoe Realty | Search Homes & Home Sites in North Georgia Mountain Community

Link to Bent Tree Community website:
Bent Tree Community - Home Page

Cherokee County is also a good place to look as cwkimbro suggested where you could look in communities like Lake Arrowhead in the Waleska area (a gated swim-tennis-golf community built on a series of heavily wooded hills around a lake).

Link to Lake Arrowhead Community website:
http://www.lakearrowheadga.com/

You could also look around in other spots within Cherokee County in the Canton, Holly Springs and Woodstock areas.

Dallas in Paulding County (as you mentioned) and West Cobb County (as cwkimbro mentioned) are also good areas to look in because they would give your husband a straight shot to the Atlanta Airport by way of Georgia Highway 6 (Jimmy Campbell Parkway/C.H. James Parkway/Thornton Road/Camp Creek Parkway).

Georgia Highway 6 is a roadway that while it has its own traffic congestion problems during peak traffic hours, can also serve as a decent alternative to the very busy Interstate 20 and 285 West roadways during peak traffic hours.

Like cwkimbro mentioned, living in the I-75/I-575/GA 515 Northwest Corridor would likely be the better option if you were to choose to move north of Atlanta and your husband had to commute to and from the Atlanta Airport during peak traffic hours because he could use the West Wall of the I-285 Perimeter between I-75 Northwest and Camp Creek Parkway.....A route that would be a much better option to and from the ATL Airport during peak hours than taking Interstates 75 and 85 through Central Atlanta.

If you would want to live closer to the Atlanta Airport to give your husband much more direct access to the ATL Airport, cwkimbro's suggestions of Coweta and/or Fayette counties would be the best options.