Black Family moving to Atlanta (Marietta, Smyrna: sales, real estate, apartment)

[dwilliams143]

Hi everyone, I 'm a black financial sales professional looking to relocate my family to Atlanta in December of this year. My wife's is an admin professional and an event planning entreprenuer. We have three school age kids. We're looking for a diversed area, newer gated community or subdivsion with 3 bedroom houses to rent or lease purchase options. What are the the better schools? How's the job market for New Yorkers moving in?

[Hot Rentals Atlanta]

Hi Dwilliams, you have a lot to look forward to, coming to Atlanta. There are so many factors, mainly your commute to work, schools, and you mention your wife's event planning business, to jump start that, she would need to network w/ others and be accessible to the city. So i think you'll need to be at least 20 mins from downtown close to the interstate. What type of housing would you like for your family? It's so much to cover, let me know if you need me to further assist you with your relo.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Do you know approximately where you will be working? Also, if you don't mind, what's your budget for a home? Those two things will determine a lot.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by dwilliams143

Hi everyone, I 'm a black financial sales professional looking to relocate my family to Atlanta in December of this year. My wife's is an admin professional and an event planning entreprenuer. We have three school age kids. We're looking for a diversed area, newer gated community or subdivsion with 3 bedroom houses to rent or lease purchase options. What are the the better schools? How's the job market for New Yorkers moving in?

If you're an entrepreneur, come to Atlanta. I'll give Atlanta that. If you want a diverse area, Gwinnett County is the way to go(particularly Duluth). Gwinnett County has comparatively good schools for the Atlanta area.

[DesireeM]

My husband and I are planning on moving from San Diego to Atlanta. Any advise? Our reason include living closer to family in SC, black intellectuals, entertainment, culture, and a more affordable way of living. Any advise? I would like to be a middle school principal and my husband is an English Harvard grad that likes to write.

[netdragon]

What's your price range? The most diverse parts of metro Atlanta are Smyrna, Marietta and Norcross. The best schools are in East Cobb. Vinings also has the excellent Teasley Elementary and if you're from NYC and looking for gated communities then you probably can afford Vinings (avg house is $550k). Vinings doesn't have many gated communities because they aren't needed -- the area is extremely safe. It isn't as diverse as Smyrna, but it's right near Smyrna and you'll benefit from your kids being able to go to Teasley Elementary, which is excellent, and then the more diverse Campbell High, which is in Smyrna. Mableton has gated communities such as Providence, which is John Weiland, and they are offering great financing options. The downside to Mableton is you'll probably have to send your kids to private schools.

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

If you're an entrepreneur, come to Atlanta. I'll give Atlanta that. If you want a diverse area, Gwinnett County is the way to go(particularly Duluth). Gwinnett County has comparatively good schools for the Atlanta area.

As I've mentioned before, Duluth and Decatur aren't as diverse as Marietta, Smyrna, and Norcross. I don't know why people have that misconception. Look at the demographics (on City Data). Marietta and Norcross, for instance, have almost equal representation for whites, blacks, and hispanics. Smyrna is close, with only 50% white. Both Decatur and Norcross have over 60% white, and additionally in Decatur the population is segregated, so it isn't mixed. In Marietta, and Smyrna the hispanic population is concentrated but white, black and asian are intermixed.

Originally Posted by DesireeM

My husband and I are planning on moving from San Diego to Atlanta. Any advise? Our reason include living closer to family in SC, black intellectuals, entertainment, culture, and a more affordable way of living. Any advise? I would like to be a middle school principal and my husband is an English Harvard grad that likes to write.

Midtown or Buckhead are the most diverse arts/entertainment areas but you'll probably have to send kids to private schools. Cascade Rd is the wealthy black area ($1 million homes and up down to more affordable homes in outlying areas) and isn't too far from midtown. Cascade is unfortunately not very diverse and I can't recommend it for that reason since I wouldn't want my child to grow up in an area that was all one race.

[dwilliams143]

Thanks everyone for your comments! ok I understand I should work near where I live. I would be willing to live within a 30 to 40 minute commute, by car or public transpotation. Being in a diversified area does not take precedence over a vibrant, safe, community with great schools. Not willing to committ to the south just yet, I would be interested in a three to four bedroom home or apartment to rent. Also I've I need a infomation on headhunters. Relocation date is December of this year! Your help would be deeply appreciated. Also, if can include zipcodes with counties, that will be very helpfull!

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by DesireeM

My husband and I are planning on moving from San Diego to Atlanta. Any advise? Our reason include living closer to family in SC, black intellectuals, entertainment, culture, and a more affordable way of living. Any advise? I would like to be a middle school principal and my husband is an English Harvard grad that likes to write.

Desiree - it's best to start your own thread/topic rather than kick in on someone elses to ask about relocation. That way people can devote their answers just to you instead of having to divide them up between the original poster and yours.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by dwilliams143

Thanks everyone for your comments! ok I understand I should work near where I live. I would be willing to live within a 30 to 40 minute commute, by car or public transpotation.

Yes, but 30 to 40 minutes of where? Do you plan on getting a job in downtown Atlanta? If so, you'll be following tons of commuters into the city each morning. But if let's say, you find a job in Marietta (NW burb), then that would alter where you may wish to find a place.

If you get a job downtown, you would want to focus on areas like Decatur (city, not surrounding area), Vinings, Smyrna, Dunwoody, or Brookhaven. You'll have access to MARTA (our rail/subway) in Decatur and Brookhaven - Vinings and Smyrna are in Cobb and MARTA does not access that area although there is a very limited bus service that way (CCT). HERE (broken link) is a link to MARTA's interactive map viewer. If you figure out how to use it (not intuitive) you can zoom in and out and drag it around to look at a more detailed area around each station than their usual map shows. It might also give you an idea of areas serviced by rail if you want to be near it and use it.

You didn't mention any type of price range for renting, but craigs list of course will give you an idea of the rages in those areas if you look at the listings. For school info there's a school thread at the top of the Atlanta page that may be of help.

[mrtree]

Ethnic diversity may be the hardest thing for you to find. Moving from NY I imagine (although I am assuming here) you will probably be able to afford housing in the nicer parts of the city. Housing here is MUCH more affordable than in the NE. There are several very nice areas where you can locate your family and get your kids in better schools. The schools in GA can really vary. The nicer areas have terrific schools while in other parts of the state the standards can really drop.

However, for whatever reason, Atlanta is a very segregated city in general. Which isn't to say there aren't areas of diversity, but I would say highly diversified areas are the exception not the rule. I live in Woodstock(Zip code 30188 since you asked!), which has wonderful schools (Cherokee county schools are very good.) Also I feel the real estate value is good and the area is proximate to many (but definitely not all) professional areas. However there is ZERO diversity in Woodstock. Woodstock is whiter than wonderbread. Which isn't to say a black family wouldn't be comfortable living there, but you definitely would want to be aware of the demographics.

Also be aware that the urban sprawl in Atlanta is borderlined profound. Where you will work will really dictate what parts of Atlanta you can work in. Driving from the far Southern portion of Atlanta to the Northern subarbs will take you over an hour without traffic. (And traffic in Atlanta is probably the single largest negative I would give the city.) So you would need to have an area where you will work zeroed in on before you start looking at neighborhoods.

On the positive side this is a young growing city that is surprisingly vibrant, and the real estate here still represents decent value unlike a good portion of the country. Also I know that there is a pretty bad misrepresentation in the North, that the South is a range of trailers and Bubbas riding their tractors. While we do have our share of rednecks down here in general the city is populated mostly by urban suburbanites that really are about the same as you would find anywhere else in the country.

Good luck with your search and finding a good fit for your family!