Decatur for Newlywed Couple Looking to Buy First Home? (Atlanta: to rent, townhouse)

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

Are you recommending Southeast Atlanta? Will you please clarify for the OP what area you are recommended? I ask for my own information too bc I see much daily/violent crime on the news in SE Atlanta, Dekalb County and I'm trying to zero in on where you are recommending.

Not all southeast Atlanta is "bad". For example, Grant Park and Ormewood Park are both in southeast Atlanta, and are both relatively safe (as cq said, the occasional break in, car window smashed, but nothing out of the ordinary for an urban environment). They are also both highly sought after neighborhoods, especially for the charter schools. The public school are also improving rather quickly in these areas. Yes, there are less desirable areas of SE Atlanta, but the same can be said for every other quadrant of Atlanta. Some parts are good, a few blocks away may be more sketchy. Just do your research before you pick a house, just like anywhere else, and make sure YOU are comfortable - it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about a place if you aren't comfortable there. This was a helpful site to use when I was looking at houses to get the facts straight from the APD:

APD Find My Zone

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by red92s

likely he is referring to 30316 and 30317, but within that there is a lot of block-to-block variance.

I would also add 30312 and 30315 to those zipcodes.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by CCATL

I would also add 30312 and 30315 to those zipcodes.

I had no idea 30312 was that big. Always figured Grant Park was 30316, like Oremwood.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by red92s

I had no idea 30312 was that big. Always figured Grant Park was 30316, like Oremwood.

Yeah, it covers a wide area. Grant Park is 30312 AND 30315. 30315 covers an even larger area, and much more of which is not gentrified like the northern extents of the zipcode. I think for COA, it's more beneficial to focus on particular neighborhoods rather than zipcodes, because as you said earlier, in a matter of blocks things can change quickly.

[LovelySummer]

Thanks for clarifying CQ. When you said SE Atlanta, I did not know that you were moreso talking about Kirkwood and the OP, not being from here, mat not have known either. Good info to have. I know very little about Kirkwood. Thanks again.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by cqholt

No area is crime free.
Media lives on doom and gloom.
There is a huge difference in Decatur city limits and unincorporated DeKalb County.
The neighborhood I live in, Kirkwood, is nice and quiet. We have the occasionally break in and car window smashing, but no violent crimes.

A friends of mine lives in Kirkwood. Her house was broken into yesterday.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

A friends of mine lives in Kirkwood. Her house was broken into yesterday.

A friend of mine lives in Alpharetta. They were broken into last week.

[lmw315]

Originally Posted by red92s

This is the wall a lot of first time homebuyers hit (including myself in that group). They may not know the area well and are here searching for some sage advice or hot hints on where to find all the cute freestanding 3/2's, in safe neighborhoods, among other young families, with good public schools, for $250k. They just don't really exist without getting pretty far outside the perimeter. People will search for months looking for that hidden gem of a neighborhood that is fully matured, but still affordable. Eventually, they (myself included) just realize they need to add at least 50% to their budget, or compromise on location and buy in an improving, but not nearly perfect, area.

Yep, we're right out of some HGTV show! You're absolutely right - we don't know the area well at all, which is why I wanted to get a sense from locals about some possible alternatives given what we're looking for (however idealistic). The good news is we have (some) time to think about whether we're willing to pay a premium for location or if we're OK with settling on an up-and-coming area. The fun begins!

[cqholt]

A friends of mine lives in Kirkwood. Her house was broken into yesterday.

Petty crime can happen anywhere. There are steps to prevent crime like this. Did they have an alarm? Did they have a dog?

[MilkMachine]

We moved here 11 years ago so my husband could teach language arts. He was fresh off of a MA in Creative Writing and we also grew up in Florida and were looking for a more liberal place to land. Atlanta/Decatur has been great for us, although mybhusband's teaching career was a lot more short-lived than he expected it to be. I recommend renting for a few years to get a feel for the area. I know all the blah de blah about how these rates won't last forever, but I stand by my opinion. We got burned pretty badly in the housing market crash and will probably always be conservative about real estate because of that.

As far as neighborhoods go, we're really happy in 30033--North Decatur/North Druid Hills area. We lived in city of Atlanta for several years and then on the south side of Decatur before moving here.

Good luck!