Relocating to ATL area - need easy commute to airport (Atlanta: houses, safe neighborhood)

[boxermom2two]

We are not sure when our move will take place but are trying to get ideas of areas to look in now.

My husband travels often for business and so we'd like to be in area with a relatively easy commute to the airport. We hear traffic can be quite awful and the transit system is not quite as great as other cities we've lived in.

In addition, we have 2 young children with one in on the way and are looking for an area with great schools, one that is safe and great for families. Our budget is around 350-500k.

TIA.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by boxermom2two

We are not sure when our move will take place but are trying to get ideas of areas to look in now.

My husband travels often for business and so we'd like to be in area with a relatively easy commute to the airport. We hear traffic can be quite awful and the transit system is not quite as great as other cities we've lived in.

In addition, we have 2 young children with one in on the way and are looking for an area with great schools, one that is safe and great for families. Our budget is around 350-500k.

TIA.

Well, I bought in West Cobb for the budget you mention, and there is a lot here in that range. The schools are good, and I travel on business and commute to the airport. You can take either I-285 or 75 and traffic is usually fine.

Traffic here really depends on where you need to go, at what time, and the route you take. I have had to go to meetings downtown and have taken I-75 southbound (getting on at Delk Rd), expecting the traffic to be horrible, and I wind up arriving 30 minutes early. Most of the bad traffic on I-75 is north of the 120 loop, although you can't ever predict.

You could also look in Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, or Dunwoody and find houses in your budget with MARTA rail close by to get you to the airport or downtown. Some areas south of the city are also good, but my personal opinion is that there is a lot of reason to stay away from the south side of Atlanta. It is hit or miss and many areas are changing or are in close proximity to some of the worst areas.

[rackensack]

MARTA leaves a lot to be desired in general, but it's actually a pretty good way to get to the airport. As long as you can schedule trips so that you don't need to leave earlier than the first trains run in the morning, and so that you return before the last trains run at night, it works pretty well for that. If you can work things out so that you're close to where your husband will be working when he's in town and within an easy drive of a MARTA station, you'll be in pretty good shape. Being relatively close to work is crucial if you're going to avoid being miserable in traffic.

Knowing no more than I do about your situation and preferences, it's tough to recommend specific areas -- you'd be able to find houses in decent school districts that are reasonably safe and within a modest drive of MARTA stations in East Cobb, Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Dunwoody. As you get farther out along GA 400, the prices go down but the distance to MARTA goes up. Going out along the Northeast MARTA line, Chamblee and Doraville have some workable areas with relative safety and acceptable schools, but they're scarcer and with some less appealing areas in between them. The Northeast MARTA line ends at Doraville, so any place in Gwinnett County means a longer drive to a station, and much of western Gwinnett County is facing safety and school quality challenges.

Anyplace closer in than those is going to either be out of your price range or in an area that's either unsafe or has questionable schools. Decatur and most of the areas of DeKalb County between there and I-85 would be fine in most respects but finding places under $350K in good school districts with room for 5 would be a challenge (I know, I looked for 3 years). You could probably still snag something in the way of a fixer-upper in that range in the Ashford Park area (to the east and a little north of Brookhaven), but it'd be small and the elementary schools might not be up to your standard.

I suspect that, depending on work location, you'll probably end up taking a hard look at Peachtree City, Newnan and other spots to the south and west of the airport as offering the best combination of value, safety, school quality, and trip time to the airport. God help you if you have to commute into Downtown or points north, however.

[boxermom2two]

As far as what we are looking for...preferably a 4-5 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house on at least a 1/2 acre of land. We both prefer newer with open floor plans. I'd like to be in a development that has a community pool, etc. I'm assuming we can find something like this for 500k.

If my husband is not traveling, he'll most likely be working from home. I'm sure the closer we are to a transit station, the happier he'll be. I would eventually like to go back to work. I work in biomed research so the CDC or Emory are high on my list....of course this is a long ways off. Good schools are priority, as is a safe neighborhood.

[gapowermike]

We're in the same boat with a smaller budget. The north side seems to be nicer to us with regards to housing, stability and schools. Roswell, Marietta, Alpharetta all seem nice. The drive down 400 isn't bad if you avoid peak times.

Good Luck,

Michael

[Tdiddy0027]

fayette county schools are top notch