Sandy Springs vs Johns Creek vs Vinings (Atlanta, Roswell: new home, school district)

[SSPD53]

Sandy Springs is a great city for blacks, whites, hispanics, anyone! Second largest Metro City with over 100,000 residence and a day-time population that exceeds 450,000 people. Great police and fire protection. Great city leadership.

[netdragon]

The Cumberland district next to Vinings is about to have a huge amount of new development to make it more walkeable and mixed retail/residential. Vinings has Teasley Elementary which is a very good elementary school. To answer your question, Smyrna is more urban than Vinings. Beyond that, yes, both are bedroom communities and Cumberland is the shopping and entertainment district (Cobb Performing Arts Center, Cumberland Mall, Galleria convention center, AMC Theater, etc). The center of Vinings has some really nice restaurants, though.

Originally Posted by SSPD53

Sandy Springs ... Second largest Metro City with over 100,000 residence and a day-time population that exceeds 450,000 people. Great police and fire protection. Great city leadership.

Sandy Springs is actually the 3rd largest metro city in population (Atlanta is the 1st, Roswell is the 2nd). Sandy Springs has less than 100,000 people, and Vinings is higher in population density believe it or not (and of course so is Smyrna). I would also argue that Sandy Springs (even if you consider the Perimeter, which is Dunwoody) is more boring than the Vinings/Cumberland area and with what's planned in Cumberland, it won't even be worth arguing a few years from now :-)

[rentsto3]

Love your comment about realtors - LOL!

Seriously, many work hard for their money, but some are pretty slippery.

We were looking in the Vinings area recently too (true Vinings, out Paces Ferry Road and on those side/cross streets - not Smyrna), and in a similar price range. Private schools are not an option for us (financially or theoretically), and we really switched directions on areas because it seemed that pretty much everyone was going to private school after elementary school. We didn't want our kids being the only ones on the block not at a private school. Beautiful area though.

We are also coming from the greater DC area, and feel your pain when it comes to finding schools. The school question is much easier to answer in the DC metro area than in Georgia - you just have to ask a lot more hard questions. There are good schools - just harder to find.

Also, keep an eye on the taxes of those properties. I thought DC area had high taxes until we started looking around some Atlanta neighborhoods. Even in this price range (unless you are paying cash and money is no object) a tax bill of $15K per year or more will impact buying options.

I have been told that Atlanta (Dekalb county too) is pretty bad at doing tax reassessments until something "triggers" a reassessment - like a sale. So if the listing of the house you are looking at says something like "$7500 for 2006", you might get hit with a much higher bill. Just FYI...

And good luck!

[Biggiechri]

Living in Johns Creek, it is extremely diverse. Check out the demographics for any of the schools around here...especially Northview High School. The good thing up this way is that you would never have to send your children to private school. The schools are great and Northview is one of the top in metro Atlanta.

[SSPD53]

Sandy Springs is the Second largest Metro City. They surpassed the City of Roswell when we became a City. The city of Sandy Springs has over 10,000 MORE residence then Roswell. Check out the state fact and census.

Originally Posted by netdragon

The Cumberland district next to Vinings is about to have a huge amount of new development to make it more walkeable and mixed retail/residential. Vinings has Teasley Elementary which is a very good elementary school. To answer your question, Smyrna is more urban than Vinings. Beyond that, yes, both are bedroom communities and Cumberland is the shopping and entertainment district (Cobb Performing Arts Center, Cumberland Mall, Galleria convention center, AMC Theater, etc). The center of Vinings has some really nice restaurants, though.



Sandy Springs is actually the 3rd largest metro city in population (Atlanta is the 1st, Roswell is the 2nd). Sandy Springs has less than 100,000 people, and Vinings is higher in population density believe it or not (and of course so is Smyrna). I would also argue that Sandy Springs (even if you consider the Perimeter, which is Dunwoody) is more boring than the Vinings/Cumberland area and with what's planned in Cumberland, it won't even be worth arguing a few years from now :-)

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by SSPD53

Sandy Springs is the Second largest Metro City. They surpassed the City of Roswell when we became a City. The city of Sandy Springs has over 10,000 MORE residence then Roswell. Check out the state fact and census.

Please cite your data. There was no census after Sandy Springs became a city. There are only estimates and most I've seen places Roswell higher. For example, look at the 2006 data for City-data itself:
Roswell, Georgia (GA) Detailed Profile
Sandy Springs, Georgia (GA) Detailed Profile

I see the same trend on Wikipedia. On the latest estimates on gadata.org, I don't see anything on Sandy Springs Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places in Georgia, Listed Alphabetically: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2003 (SUB-

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by rentsto3

Love your comment about realtors - LOL!

Seriously, many work hard for their money, but some are pretty slippery.

We were looking in the Vinings area recently too (true Vinings, out Paces Ferry Road and on those side/cross streets - not Smyrna), and in a similar price range. Private schools are not an option for us (financially or theoretically), and we really switched directions on areas because it seemed that pretty much everyone was going to private school after elementary school. We didn't want our kids being the only ones on the block not at a private school. Beautiful area though.

Personally, I'd live in Vinings until your children graduate from Teasley, then I'd move to Smyrna where you can get a more affordable house since Vinings and much of Smyrna share the same middle/high school, which is Campbell and is a good school (Cobb County School District Home Page (http://www.cobbk12.org/schools/zonemaps.htm - broken link)). Although some people from Vinings are concerned about Campbell because of the demographics of the school (There are some lower income areas in Smyrna near Windy Hill), it's unfounded and the educational programs are very good there. It's mostly that most people from Vinings can afford private school which offers better education but I know for a fact many still send their kids to Campbell because I know some parents. If you head up Paces Ferry to the Vinings neighborhoods around Teasley up near the Home Depot Headquarters, like Spring Hill Rd (between Spring Hill Parkway and Atlanta Rd), you'll find a lot more people that send their kids to public middle and high school because those are more affordable homes up there (start in the $300s for the older homes) with more modest upper middle class families. Additionally, I would be surprised if 5 years from now more from Vinings aren't sending their children to Campbell because of the increase in wealth in Smyrna.

Vinings is unincorporated Cobb County so tax rates are almost the lowest in the metro. The downside about lower taxes is that unlike Smyrna, Vinings isn't seeing the same amount of public funded redevelopment projects, sidewalk installation and road improvements as Smyrna is.

[SSPD53]

Please check out the following,

US CENSUS BUREAU "Fact Sheets"

2006 latest stats:

Sandy Springs = 97,898
Roswell= 88,465

A few more facts, the City of Sandy Springs has the Largest part of the perimeter Center area (Check out the perimeter Center Improvement District website) click on the map. Sandy springs is double Dunwoody/Dekalb area.

Sandy Springs daytime population exceeds 400,000 people. Roswell daytime population is less then 200,000. Keep in mind the City of Sandy Springs has more Hospitals then anywhere in the entire South Eastern part of the United States. Check out the city of Sandy Springs website. Sandy Springs

City rank by size (Metro-Area)

1. Atlanta (443,000) 152 Sq miles
2. Sandy Springs (98,000) 40 sq miles
3. Roswell (88,000) 40 sq miles
4. Johns Creek (63,000) 23 sq miles
5. Marietta (60,000) 23 sq miles

Originally Posted by netdragon

Please cite your data. There was no census after Sandy Springs became a city. There are only estimates and most I've seen places Roswell higher. For example, look at the 2006 data for City-data itself:
Roswell, Georgia (GA) Detailed Profile
Sandy Springs, Georgia (GA) Detailed Profile

I see the same trend on Wikipedia. On the latest estimates on gadata.org, I don't see anything on Sandy Springs Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places in Georgia, Listed Alphabetically: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2003 (SUB-

[NyIINC]

I would definitely recommend Sandy Springs, but closer to the border of Roswell, where Woodland Elementary is the zone school. My 2 kids went to Woodland Elementary and it was one of the greatest experiences in dealing with a school. They focus on learning, the arts and the social needs of the children, molding them to be well rounded adults. Me and my family had to relocate from Sandy Springs, and I honestly regret it because of Woodland Elementary. It is a very diverse school, and this is something that all students need, being that we live in a diverse world.

[SSPD53]

Sandy Springs is the 7th weathest community in the Nation of City over 50,000 residence. The City is undergoing a major redevelopment from one end of Roswell Road to the other end. The City just appoved a very large development in the Glenridge Area. Two new 16 Story buildings, new hotel, and 300 unit upscale apartment community. They are building a large development at Abernathy and Barfield Road a new hotel, new homes, and new office buildings. In the next 5 years we are going to see a lot of change in the City of Sandy Springs. All the north fulton cities are nice. I like Roswell, Alpharetta, Milton, Johns Creek, and Sandy Springs.