Help us narrow down where we should live (No love for Smyrna?) (Atlanta: for sale, condo)

[cellista]

Hello All, This is a great forum. I am learning a lot from reading posts here. One of the scariest parts about moving halfway across the country sight unseen is choosing where to live. My husband is being considered for a position in the Smyrna area. The first thing that I noticed when searching the threads is that...1. this area seems to get no love and 2. I have absolutely no understanding of the commuter patterns or traffic. It all seems to be so area specific. So here goes...help us out (commute times from recommended areas would be ESPECIALLY appreciated).

1. Budget: Single income of 120K range thinking 250-270K for a home. I'd like to remain a stay at home mom for the next few years.
2. House/Condo/Townhome? House
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home): Commute to Smyrna, frequent travel to airport (the latter less important factor)
4. Children(public school vs. private) prefer public. This is an important one for us... I'd like to go back to teaching in 4-5 years. We'd like great schools, especially those that have great art and music programs (I'm a classical cellist and music teacher)
5. Lifestyle: Suburban or Mixed with plenty of access for activity.
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not of the greatest importance, although from my marginal understanding of the area this can be beneficial in getting to the airport from some areas, no?
7. Demographics- we're pretty liberal. Open to anything, as long as the amenities are right.

Thanks so much in advance!

[lorilove]

Not sure where you got the idea there is no love for Smyrna. I live there and there is quite alot of good comments. There are one or two individuals that are not fans and can be very vocal but overall the comments are mostly positive.

You noted that great schools are important and Smyrna schools I would call good and improving but not great compared to other areas of Atlanta so that may be where you got the negative vibe, but as for location, affordability and community involvement it is a wonderful community.

I will find some of the recent threads and post them here.

[jane078]

You might look into Marietta or West Cobb. Super easy and pretty short commute to Smyrna and good schools, depending on where you settle. Housing prices are pretty low right now.

Public transportation won't be very good unless you live really close to a MARTA station, but that requires moving intown. Atlanta public transport is terrible.

For what it's worth, I lived in Smyrna for five years and consider it ideal, really. So close to I-75 and I-285, easy access to the city. Plus lots of nice shopping and restaurants. The only thing about it is that the schools can be hit or miss.

[ATLTJL]

If you want great schools, East Cobb is going to be your closest choice to Smyrna.

Or Sandy Springs. Or perhaps your budget is big enough to forget about schools and just do private.

[cellista]

Thanks, all. Lorilove, I think I was mostly referring to this thread:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...ghlight=smyrna

I will definitely check out East Cobb and look more into the specifics of the elementary schools within Smyrna itself. My son is only a toddler now, so we would probably only be in the area for the elementary school years realistically.

As a general idea, how is this area for selling homes right now? We have been relocated for work a few times over the past 8 years. Do homes tend to sit on the market in this area, or is it an overall safe bet for resale? We'd be willing to pay more for an area that would be more likely to sell in the event of another relocation.

Thank you

[cellista]

Also, very silly question...but East Cobb is a school district and not an actual location? If you type that into realtor.com nothing comes up. Is this a specific zip code of Marietta?

[lorilove]

East Cobb is unincorporated Cobb County - the high schools would be Pope, Lassiter, Walton

[lorilove]

Thanks, all. Lorilove, I think I was mostly referring to this thread:

Solve the Smyrna mystery

I don't read that thread as overall negative to Smyrna - there are only two posters that clearly don't like Smyrna. There are many honest comments about what improvements are still needed but they are alll positive.

There are many nice areas in Atlanta that you could live and commute to Smyrna. You should definitely consider Smyrna in your search if you can find a school that meets your needs. Smyrna will offer you great value for your home and easy commute.

Resale values in Atlanta are best near the top schools and certain in town neighborhoods.

[ATLTJL]

This isn't my part of town, but just a few general comments to keep in mind. If I've made any mistakes, I'm sure people from the area will correct me.

First off, all of Atlanta is in the crapper right now. No matter what area you show interest in, your realtor is going to try to tell you, "Oh, you're wise to choose this area! It's going to bounce back fastest, and is already starting to show signs of life!" That's because realtors are liers. Nothing is showing signs of life yet. (at least nothing you are looking at...MAYBE certain parts of Virginia Highland or Buckhead) That's the first thing to remember.

The second thing is that even with the generalized move to be closer to town, the school is still king. You will likely do better with a house that is in a great school district. Think about it like this: One thing Atlanta does not have a premium on is space. Even space close to town. There is just sooooooooooooo much space that could be developed if being close to town really became the MOST important thing to people. Cruise around I-285 and you'll see tons of undeveloped space all along the west and south sides. What is much more rare in Atlanta are good school districts. Once schools get reputations, the district quickly gets built up and then it's full, nothing new can be built there. I believe East Cobb has seen this. Therefore, if you have a house for sale in the Walton school district, you are in a better position to sell because it's not like you're competing with a ton of inventory. Walton is basically built out (I think).

Contrast that with people who have expensive homes close to 285 in Smyrna. The only thing that is keeping those values up is proximity to the city, but there's not too much of a limit to how that development could progress down 285 to areas equally close to the city. Sure, they'd be in crappy school districts, but so is Smyrna pretty much. So you could devalue those homes by building more just like them.

Much more difficult is devaluing homes by creating more great schools. They just aren't very easy to create.

Now, things do change over time, but if you've already got kids, you can't wait for that to happen. For elementary school, you probably don't need the very best schools if you are an attentive parent, but you also don't want to be sending them to a warzone every day nor do you want them learning English skills from a teacher who struggles with the language herself (this is common!)

Long story short, people can argue back and forth all day long and there are all kinds of charter schools and magnet programs, etc., but most people agree that the best schools in Atlanta are concentrated in East Cobb, North Fulton, and west Gwinnett. Fulton and Gwinnett probably aren't realistic for someone commuting to Smyrna, so that leaves you with East Cobb. East Cobb is older and the schools have been good longer. It's an area that used to be referred to simply as Marietta, but it's technically not in the incorporated city of Marietta and is unincorporated Cobb county and the East Cobb designation was born.

The one thing you give up in East Cobb is diversity. Unlike North Fulton and Gwinnett, it's extremely white. It's also probably the most conservative area of the metro (think the people who elected Newt Gingrich to Congress, this is his district).

If you don't like that, you could consider Sandy Springs. It's more diverse and more liberal and has a significant Jewish population. It's also more expensive. I think you could still get in at your price point, but you would get less house. The high school doesn't have a great reputation, but I imagine there are probably some good elementary schools there. Personally, I'd probably shoot for Sandy Springs because I like the area better. It would also be easier to get to the airport because you can get to MARTA. It's more centrally located geographically and it's easy to get to Buckhead, Alpharetta, pretty much everywhere.

You'll have to decide what kind of feel you like, but East Cobb and Sandy Springs are reasonable places to start your search. I would imagine moving a house in Sandy Springs would be as easy as possible in metro because it has been a good area for a very long time and is unlikely to ever go down. If you want to teach, it would also be easier to commute to some of the North Fulton schools from there.

[cellista]

Thank you so much. Exactly what I was looking for, and I appreciate your candor.