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There are plenty of good non-religious private schools for you guys, such as High Meadows School & Cliff Valley School and others that are in the suburbs but still close enough for midtown commute. Yes, there are a lot of great schools, public, private, and charter. Look at Northwest Classical Academy which is a new charter school in Kennesaw--it is lottery based and open to all residents of GA, not sure if lottery is still open for next year..
High Meadows is a good school, but it's certainly not for everyone. It's very small.
So My wife took a promotion that requires her be in Atlanta area. Her offices are in Midtown, and I work remote.
We don't know anything about Atlanta, we have 2 kids ages 2 and 4 so we want a good school system, does Georgia do Charter Schools?
Yes.
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Are there any non-religion private schools?
Yes, but they are in the minority amongst private schools
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4 yo is a December baby so he won't be going to Elementary school until 2024, even though his math, reading, writing skills are already at a 1st grade level. So we need a high performing Preschool as well.
You want good schools, got it.
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I have been looking from a distance at the Woodstock area, and Lawrenceville areas.
Uh, no. This not compatible with commuting to midtown unless your wife wants to live in her car for 2+ hours a day. Lawrenceville to midtown is 32+ miles. Google maps puts the commute at anywhere between 40-75 minutes. Woodstock is about 28 miles. Maybe a 10-15 minute shorter commute on the long end and 5 min shorter on the short end.
There are people who do this type of commute, but it is a sacrifice. If she works normal business hours then the family would only see her between 6:30PM - 6:30AM. I don't think that is ideal with two young kids, but your mileage may vary.
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We are hopefully going to plan a trip up in the next few weeks for a weekend to look at the various areas.
We are looking to rent for 6 mo to a year to really get to know the area, though it has been hard to find anyone who is doing 6 month leases.
We like small town feel but with the conveniences of larger towns. Would like to be near a Lifetime Fitness.
Lol, I have some bad news for you then. All of the Lifetime Fitness locations are in the northern metro. The two that are closest to midtown are probably in weaker (relatively speaking) school zones. Either plan to commute to Lifetime or consider switching gyms.
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Not sure how the housing market and mortgage rates are going to pan out in the year. we would like to keep rent less than $2k/mo, which feels impossible, and are looking to buy or build 2500+ sqft 4-5 bd less than $500k.
Suggestions?
I can't speak for home purchase prices. $2k/month will be challenging, but not impossible depending on where you choose to live and whether you'll be content in a 3BR townhome or not.
thoughts on the Acworth area near Woodstock, looks to be Cobb county. New construction, which seems to be non existent or outside my budget $1.2mm+ for a detached single family with 4 or more bedrooms. where as there are some new construction communities in the Acworth area in the High 300s to 500 range.
There are people who do this type of commute, but it is a sacrifice. If she works normal business hours then the family would only see her between 6:30PM - 6:30AM. I don't think that is ideal with two young kids, but your mileage may vary.
She will be Hybrid 2 days office, 3 days home, with occasional additional in office. Her current commute which is only a 22 mile drive is 45 mins on a good day, about 1 hour on a normal day, and upto 3 hours on a really bad day. So we understand commuting. the Tampa Bay area is not great for commuting either.
She will be able to adjust her in office hours to offset commute times.
thoughts on the Acworth area near Woodstock, looks to be Cobb county. New construction, which seems to be non existent or outside my budget $1.2mm+ for a detached single family with 4 or more bedrooms. where as there are some new construction communities in the Acworth area in the High 300s to 500 range.
From a commuting standpoint, the Acworth area is notable because Acworth is where the I-75 reversible tolled express lane begins in the morning heading towards Atlanta and ends in the afternoon/evening heading away from Atlanta.
The reversible tolled express lane (or the Northwest Corridor Express Lane as it is officially called) runs along about 15 miles of Interstate 75 northwest of Atlanta between Hickory Grove Road in Acworth and the I-75/I-285 Cobb Cloverleaf interchange in the Cumberland/Truist Park stadium area.
If your family were to live in Acworth, your wife would be able to use that reversible tolled express lane to bypass congested and gridlocked traffic on I-75 northbound and on most days get home quicker in the afternoon/evening from her job in Midtown Atlanta.
She also might would be able to use that reversible tolled express lane to maybe get to work a little quicker in the morning, but the tolled express lanes often may back-up during normal times as southbound traffic in the lanes slows down going into the I-75/I-285 Cobb Cloverleaf interchange.
The south part of the Acworth area (the 30101 zip code, which includes almost all of the incorporated area of the City of Acworth proper) is in Cobb and Paulding counties.
Most of the north part of the Acworth area (the 30102 zip code) is in Cherokee and Bartow counties.
The Cobb County part of the Acworth area is served by the clusters of the Cobb County School District anchored by Allatoona and North Cobb high schools, which are two clusters of well above-average highly-rated public schools.
The Cherokee County part of the Acworth area is served by the well above-average highly-rated public schools of the Etowah HS cluster of the Cherokee County School District.
The Paulding County part of the Acworth area is served by the at least slightly above-average public schools of the North Paulding HS cluster of the Paulding County School District.
The Bartow County part of the Acworth area is served by the average to just slightly above-average public schools of the Woodland HS cluster of the Bartow County School System.
The Bartow County part of the area is the least-affluent/most working-class part of the Acworth area.
The Cobb County part of the area is the most developed part of the Acworth area, and features the best public schools in the Acworth area along with the Cherokee County part of the area.
The Paulding County part of the area features some the younger housing stock in the Acworth area in the Bentwater and Governor’s Towne Club golf communities.
Acworth also provides great access to some excellent outdoor amenities at Lake Acworth, Lake Allatoona and Red Top Mountain State Park.
Acworth also features access to some large clusters of retail amenities in North Cobb and South Cherokee counties, including:
> Along a 3-mile stretch of US-41 North Cobb Parkway through the Acworth area in North Cobb County, a stretch which includes a Lowe’s, a Home Depot, a Kohl’s, a Kroger grocery store, a Target and a Best Buy between 2 Walmart Supercenters at each end of the strip. There’s also an Aldi grocery store about 0.3 miles beyond the Walmart Supercenter on the south end of the retail/commercial strip...
> Along about a 3.5 to 4-mile stretch of Barrett Parkway through the Town Center Mall retail commercial district roughly around and between where Barrett Pkwy intersects major north-south roads like US-41, I-75 and I-575. This stretch is bookended by 2 Publix grocery stores and includes a Walmart Supercenter, several big-box stores (including a Costco, Target, Best Buy, a brand new Whole Foods, etc.) amidst the aforementioned aging Town Center Mall...
> The Woodstock area, which includes a new outlet mall (The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta) at the Ridgewalk Parkway exit off of I-575 and multiple big-box stores (including Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Kohl’s and Sam’s Club) at the I-575/GA-92 interchange.
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Originally Posted by thtguyuknw
She will be Hybrid 2 days office, 3 days home, with occasional additional in office. Her current commute which is only a 22 mile drive is 45 mins on a good day, about 1 hour on a normal day, and upto 3 hours on a really bad day. So we understand commuting. the Tampa Bay area is not great for commuting either.
She will be able to adjust her in office hours to offset commute times.
About 45 minutes each way on good days and up to 1 hour each way on normal days will be what your wife will be looking at during a commute between Midtown Atlanta and outer-suburban Northwest metro Atlanta areas like Acworth and Woodstock on most (though definitely not all) days.
The Northwest Corridor toll lanes should help tremendously with her rush hour commutes along I-75, particularly during afternoon/evening rush hour when the lanes typically flow much faster northbound.
Though, your wife’s peak-hour commutes between her job in Midtown Atlanta and an outlying Northeast metro Atlanta outer-suburban area like Lawrenceville could be subject to more delays than a peak-hour commute along I-75 Northwest via the I-75 Northwest Corridor toll lanes.
That’s because the I-85 Northeast corridor does not feature the barrier-separated toll lanes that the I-75/I-575 Northwest corridor features.
The I-85 NE toll lanes feature no physical barrier, are only differentiated from the untolled lanes by a double-striped lane marking and can be subject to experience delays that the other lanes on the I-85 highway often can experience during peak traffic hours.
The I-85 toll lanes may be subject to experience disruption when crashes, debris, spills, etc. may spillover from the untolled lanes into the toll lanes because of the lack of a physical barrier between the tolled and untolled lanes on I-85 northeast of Atlanta.
It probably should also be noted that the barrier-separated I-75 toll lanes may be subject to closure during periods of inclement winter weather (ice, snow, frozen mist & fog) because some fairly lengthy sections of the I-75 toll lanes are elevated off of the ground may be subject to freeze quicker than non-elevated sections of roadway.
Some sections of the I-75 NW Corridor toll lanes are kind of hilly and curvy (nicknamed “The Tollercoaster” by some because of the hills and curves along the reversible tollway) and might not seem like the safest to traverse during periods of inclement winter weather when the roads are slippery...
... Which the elevated, hilly and curvy sections of the roadway is a major reason why GDOT (Georgia Department of Transportation) sometimes may close the I-75 NW Corridor toll lanes during periods of frozen precipitation during the winter season... Which may force most of traffic that typically may use the toll lanes into the regular lanes with the rest of the I-75 traffic, increasing traffic and causing longer delays in the regular lanes on those occasions.
So another partner at the Firm my wife works for, is telling her Newnan is the place to be... He said they love it there and the Cowetta schools are on par with any of the north counties... There is no Lifetime down that way, and it is technically a longer distance commute, but he said it is shorter timewise. and looking at housing prices, your money seems to go further.
I know most members on this forum seem to be in the north, but does anyone have any really good reasons why say Acworth/Woodstock area would be better?
So another partner at the Firm my wife works for, is telling her Newnan is the place to be... He said they love it there and the Cowetta schools are on par with any of the north counties... There is no Lifetime down that way, and it is technically a longer distance commute, but he said it is shorter timewise. and looking at housing prices, your money seems to go further.
I know most members on this forum seem to be in the north, but does anyone have any really good reasons why say Acworth/Woodstock area would be better?
Whether one chooses to live in Northside outer suburbs like Acworth or Woodstock, or in a Southside outer suburb like Newnan may often depend on what amenities one may most desire to live near.
If one really desires to live near more and/or higher-rated and/or the most upscale amenities, and is willing to pay higher housing prices and contend with increased traffic to do so, the Northside is the place to live.
But if one must frequently use Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and/or really desires to live in an area of (sometimes very significantly) lower housing costs and significantly less traffic congestion and is willing to accept having fewer upscale amenities nearby, than the Southside is the place to live.
People who really desire to live near an increased amount of outdoor recreational amenities (including Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Red Top Mountain State Park, Lake Allatoona, the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, the Blue Ridge Mountains, etc.) and increased upscale retail amenities (including Lifetime Fitness, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, etc.) often will find the Northside to be most appealing.
People who really desire to either live near the Airport and/or in an area of less traffic with more affordable housing prices in an area with a reasonable amount of good quality amenities often will find a Southside outer suburb like Newnan and Coweta County to be most appealing.
The schools on the Northside are much more highly touted. But the schools in a Southside outer suburban community like Coweta County are of high (above-average) quality and are highly serviceable and are something to take much pride in.
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