Need help deciding where to live in Canton/Holly Springs (Atlanta: violent crime, new home)

[nicnac]

Originally Posted by clawson26

there are some issues in the older downtown areas of Canton.

Can you expand on the downtown area of Canton?

[clawson26]

Originally Posted by nicnac

Can you expand on the downtown area of Canton?

We knew we wanted to live in the Canton or Holly Springs area. Harmony where we bought is actually in Holly Springs. We have a Canton mailing address because the Holly Springs post office can't deal with all of the new customers. Harmony is actually in Holly Springs city limits. What I was referring to about downtown and older areas of Canton is that although some areas have been revitalized, other areas have also seen an influx of illegal immigrants. Regardless of how you feel about immigration issues, we were looking for resale value, low crime, stable property value, good schools etc. If you drive through downtown areas and older areas of Canton you can see houses that have several immigrant families living in one house, workers standing in parking lots, and the typical taco stands etc. The crime rates for those areas are also much higher than in Holly Springs. Having recently moved from Texas where we have been dealing with illegal immigration for a long time, I have seen the negative effects that it can have on an area and since we have to worry about resale...That area was not for us.

[jeffp40]

I bought a house in GP a year ago and love it. Brumby is a good builder. Very nice and quiet subdivision.

[anothermom]

Hi Bill,

I've appreciated all of your info on Canton and surrounding area. My husband and I are also looking into moving to Cherokee County. I was wondering what you're impression of the schools are? We were looking into Cherokee High School, but then read some neg. comments on greatschools.net. which were rather frightening. So now we're considering looking into other Cherokee County School clusters.

[kimindetroit]

Hey, Jeff P.

I am glad to hear you like Brumby. Our favorite house in GP is a Brumby...still waiting to sell our house here, though and the Motown market is dreadful! At any rate....you mentioned it is quiet....but is it still lively...kids, etc? I have a 5 and 2 year old...both boys and want them to be able to grow up w/ lots of other kids around. Let me know...thanks!

[Billdemartini]

Originally Posted by kimindetroit

Hey, Jeff P.

I am glad to hear you like Brumby. Our favorite house in GP is a Brumby...still waiting to sell our house here, though and the Motown market is dreadful! At any rate....you mentioned it is quiet....but is it still lively...kids, etc? I have a 5 and 2 year old...both boys and want them to be able to grow up w/ lots of other kids around. Let me know...thanks!

Hey Kim,

The main reason we decided on Bridgemill over GP is because of our 5 year old and 2 year old boys. There are kids everywhere in Bridgemill.

GP is beautiful but we have been there about 5 or 6 times and don't think we ever saw 1 kid.

Good luck selling your house up there. How long has it been on the market?

[Billdemartini]

Originally Posted by anothermom

Hi Bill,

I've appreciated all of your info on Canton and surrounding area. My husband and I are also looking into moving to Cherokee County. I was wondering what you're impression of the schools are? We were looking into Cherokee High School, but then read some neg. comments on greatschools.net. which were rather frightening. So now we're considering looking into other Cherokee County School clusters.

Hi anothermom,

Glad I could be of help. I just read those same reviews... Some of them are pretty disturbing. I just looked at Sequoyah and Woodstock as well. The reviews of Woodstock were just as bad, but many of them offered their reason for hating the school being that their child was getting poor grades. I can't help but wonder if that is the only reason and if it's even valid in this ever-increasing enabling society we live in where no one takes responsibility for their own actions or even worse don't allow their kids to take responsibility for theirs.

Ok, stepping down off my pulpit now

For me I like looking at the test scores overall and take the personal reviews with a grain of salt. I can remember back to when my mom used to blame everything bad that happened to me and my siblings in high school on everyone but us and often wonder what she would have said if they had the internet back then.

Several people mentioned Sequoyah being ranked several times in Newsweeks top 1000 schools in the country.

I will do some more research and see what I can find.

[kimindetroit]

Hey Bill...thanks. We are taking a trip up there in a couple of weeks to check it out. We did look at Bridgemill and it is nice, but we wanted a little more personal space than what we saw there...we have 1/3 of an acre now and feel cramped with that....kind of looking for the best of both worlds......also new construction is our dream....way to really be lofty, huh? I looked at Great Sky and River Green, too, but read some crazy things about the elementary school for them....Hasty. I am hoping to get really involved in the school as we don't know a soul in GA and school will be our main friend-making outlet in the beginning.....sounded like we may not fit in with the folks at Hasty...I could be wrong, but the blogs on Greatschools freaked me out.

So now I am back to square one. I won't rule out Bridgemill just yet. Are there any new construction phases going in there???? Our price range is 350-450K or so. We are still checking out Harmony on the Lakes, too...but again...not lots of personal space. I have been in contact w/ a lady who lives in Gov. Preserve who says there are kids...but want to see for myself. I'll probably end up on the evening news as a stalker or something b/c I plan to scope it out when we are in town!

House here has been up for 5 weeks. Feels like 5 months. We have had lots of looking, but nothing serious. It is a sad, sad market in Motown right now. We are in Farmington Hills...an awesome Detroit 'burb if you know anyone looking to move this way (I am not holding my breath, of course due to our lovely Mich. Economy)

Thanks for the help! Maybe we will see you in the park one day, since my boys are the same ages as yours

[Billdemartini]

Originally Posted by kimindetroit

Hey Bill...thanks. We are taking a trip up there in a couple of weeks to check it out. We did look at Bridgemill and it is nice, but we wanted a little more personal space than what we saw there...we have 1/3 of an acre now and feel cramped with that....kind of looking for the best of both worlds......also new construction is our dream....way to really be lofty, huh? I looked at Great Sky and River Green, too, but read some crazy things about the elementary school for them....Hasty. I am hoping to get really involved in the school as we don't know a soul in GA and school will be our main friend-making outlet in the beginning.....sounded like we may not fit in with the folks at Hasty...I could be wrong, but the blogs on Greatschools freaked me out.

So now I am back to square one. I won't rule out Bridgemill just yet. Are there any new construction phases going in there???? Our price range is 350-450K or so. We are still checking out Harmony on the Lakes, too...but again...not lots of personal space. I have been in contact w/ a lady who lives in Gov. Preserve who says there are kids...but want to see for myself. I'll probably end up on the evening news as a stalker or something b/c I plan to scope it out when we are in town!

House here has been up for 5 weeks. Feels like 5 months. We have had lots of looking, but nothing serious. It is a sad, sad market in Motown right now. We are in Farmington Hills...an awesome Detroit 'burb if you know anyone looking to move this way (I am not holding my breath, of course due to our lovely Mich. Economy)

Thanks for the help! Maybe we will see you in the park one day, since my boys are the same ages as yours

Hey Kim,

I really wish you guys luck getting that house sold up there. Are you guys priced aggressively?

There are new construction phases in Bridgemill and there is new construction in Governor's.

I don't know if they have the lot sizes you are looking for but I'll check it out. Are you looking for 1 acre+?

[kimindetroit]

Thanks, Bill.

Let me know what you find out about New Const. in Bridgemill. I am in contact w/ the folks at G.P. already and have all of the floor plans, etc.

The house here is priced to move. We are going to lose our shirt and won't even get what we paid for it only 3 years ago (not even counting the upgrades....it makes us sick!)

Keep those fingers crossed. We already planted St. Joseph, but if you know any other voodoo tricks we'd love to hear them...haha!

Thanks for the input!

Kim