Moving to ATL from Ft Lauderdale, renting 1st year (Atlanta: rentals, house)

[FLrenwench]

My job is relocating me from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta, the office will be in the Cumberland Mall area - that being said, my spouse's office will be in McDonough, which is 43 miles southeast of my office. In addition I have my 77 year old mom living with us and she is in a wheelchair most of the time (she can walk a little). We want to rent a single family home for the first year until we can find the right area to buy in (we would eventually like to buy a small 5-10 acre farm property).

Rental needs - 1/2 way between Cumberland Mall and McDonough
$1000 - $1500 month rent for single family home
4/2, w/2 car garage and family room (TV room for Mom, so not sunken),
(an office can substitute for 1 of the bedrooms)
fireplace - you have fireplaces, the way florida homes have pools
At least 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom on main level (for Mom)

We do not know the neighborhoods or area at all, we are a white middle-age couple in our 40's/50's.
We do not care about the school district other than better schools = better neighbothoods.
Suburban lifestyle, close to medical center/hospital for Mom
we both drive so public transport not an issue

Since we do not know the areas at all, that is where our weakness is.

[LovelySummer]

I would start with a loc that puts you on the reverse commute, if that is possible. For example, I think that 285 north in the morning is really busy but 285 south is not. So, if that is right, I'd go with a place closer to Cumberland than a place closer to McDonough b/c with a place closer to McDonough, you'll be going up 285 and with a place closer to Cumberland, she'll be on the reverse commute, at least on 285.

I guess you already know that Cumberland and McDonough are really far from one another ...

Does your mother in law need a specialty hospital/clinic/practice or just a general hospital/clinic? That could affect what hospital you'll want to be near.

People, is that right?

[tonygeorgia]

Check out the Downtown Decatur area. That is the half way point. You will have a reverse commute so that should help a little

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Check out the Downtown Decatur area. That is the half way point. You will have a reverse commute so that should help a little

Tony

The price point is too low for city of Decatur rentals of that size. The original poster needs to be careful of rentals that list Decatur. There are many parts of unincorporated DeKalb that have Decatur mailing addresses that aren't very nice. There are also some that are nice but I am not sure the price point for a 4 bedroom house is realistic for those areas.

[testa50]

The two locations being 45 miles apart is a huge hurdle; it puts living close to either office out of the question. Trust me: you don't want to commute from McDonough to Cumberland, and around Cumberland finding appropriate housing would be difficult. The budget precludes any nice intown area, which make up a lot of the nice areas that are equidistant between the two offices (basically anything along 75 itself seems out of the question).

You're basically going to have to look for something along the west/south side of I-285. I see that as the only option. Preferably further south than west for commuting reasons and those are the nicer areas (around the I-285/I-20 interchange is a rough area). These areas aren't typically recommended to people with families and need good schools, but the housing is much more affordable and if you choose carefully they can be nice places to live.

My suggestions:

- For a country sort of atmosphere, the area along South Fulton Parkway might have some nice options. These areas aren't dangerous, but have lacking schools which is why suburbanization largely passed the area by.
- For a more city vibe, Hapeville would actually be pretty nice. Mostly older housing stock with a pleasant if small downtown. Should fit within your price range. Again schools are not so good, but it's a small city (population 6000) with its own police department and stuff so actually the community is pretty close-knit. Hapeville is basically a tiny city that was swallowed whole by south Atlanta and the airport (although it's not under any flight path, so there's minimal airplane noise).
- If you're fine with a lot of driving, the north part of Fayette County might work. But that's going to be a lot of commuting for one/both of you (even though Fayette is southside, getting over to McDonough is no easy task).

[FLrenwench]

Is there a decent website for rentals, where I can narrow down what we are looking for? Realtor.com does not have that much.