Need info on Sandy Springs & Roswell (Atlanta, Alpharetta: real estate market, assessor)

[Poipu]

My husband and I are considering moving to Sandy Springs or Roswell. We have a 3-yr-old so we need a very safe, family friendly community with lots of community activities (Easter Egg hunts, 4th of July events, etc). We would like to send our child to a Catholic school - I saw St. Jude's in Sandy Springs. Any thoughts on that school or any others? We'd like to have shopping and restaurants nearby as well as parks and lots of kid activities. We are looking for a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house, min 2700 sf, larger lot would be nice for between $300K and $350K. We want a newer if not brand new house. My husband's work will most likely be in Sandy Springs. I'd appreciate your help. Thanks!

[lastminutemom]

You won't find the house you are looking for in Sandy Springs and Catholic schools are very difficult to get into in the early grades. The only new (or newer) home built there approach 1 million dollars.

I am not so familiar with Roswell so I am less sure of prices there, but your budget may be a stretch for new or newer.

As to Catholic schools, what part of the country are you coming from? You may need to adjust your expectations.

[RainyRainyDay]

The housing budget would be a stretch in Roswell, too. I think you can find a nice four bedroom home in the OP's price range, but it won't be "new or newer".

In the western part of Roswell there's Queen of Angels elementary school, and Blessed Trinity high school, which share a campus with St. Peter Chanel church. It's pretty hard to get into Queen of Angels, I know - friends of ours are very devout and observant members of the parish, who moved to the area from out of state with a second grader. Their daughter spent three years in public school, on a waiting list for Queen of Angels. The family has been very happy with the school, although they've found it quite expensive.

So ... in western Roswell (that's the only part I know), I think the OP would likely be satisfied with the community amenities. However, she might need to scale back her expectations regarding affordability of housing and ease of access to Catholic school.

[sweettea1]

If you can go into the low 4s for a house, check out North Harbor. It's exactly what you're looking for even though the houses aren't brand new.

[GF72]

Sandy Springs is very expensive and most of the real estate market is aimed towards high income households. There are older houses in Sandy Springs that fit your description, but most are still over your budget. You could find some in your budget, but they'll be pretty old.

Roswell isn't quite as expensive but the city is still over your budget for newer houses. Unless you are willing to settle for an older house, you'll probably want to look at other cities.

On the plus side, the older houses in Sandy Springs and Roswell tend to be quite nice, especially with regard to the lots, which are usually pretty big and have lots of greenery and trees. The structure itself won't be new but there's nothing that can be done about that. It's just a pricey area (according to the census bureau, average family income in 2006 was $123,000 for Roswell and $170,000 for Sandy Springs, which gives you an idea of who the realtors are aiming at with single-family houses).

Catholic schools are pretty hard to get into, and public school education is better anyway in this area.

Roswell has better public schools than Sandy Springs, especially Roswell High which is one of the best schools in the state. The neighboring cities (Alpharetta, Johns Creek, East Cobb) have excellent schools as well. Pretty much all of the best high schools in the state are located in this area, and every high school in Sandy Springs, Roswell, East Cobb, Alpharetta, and Johns Creek is in the top 5% of high schools in the country. Obviously your child isn't high school aged but the elementary and middle schools are the same quality.

Good private schools are very expensive in north Atlanta.

[bayarea-girl]

We live in Roswell and love it and I really like Sandy Springs. Good luck.

[rackensack]

We paid just under $300K for our 4-bed, 3.5-bath house in east Roswell (Centennial cluster) almost 3 years ago. Ours is one of the smallest (and cheapest) houses in our neighborhood (it was originally a 3-bed, 2.5-bath, but the previous owner finished the basement, adding a full kitchen, media room, bedroom, full bath, and closet/laundry room, bringing the original 2200 sq. ft. or so up to nearly 3000 sq. ft. of finished space). We also have a rather large lot even for our area -- nearly a full acre, with the house located very close to the front of the lot, so there's plenty of back yard including 30-40 ft. of woods at the very back. The house was built in 1982, so it's far from new, but it feels newer because of renovations/updates to the upstairs bathrooms/bedrooms and the newly-finished basement.

The house also has a hipped roof with a walk-up attic, so converting part of that to another bedroom at some point would be relatively painless.

We love the area, the schools, etc., and feel like we got a very good deal, albeit one that looks a little less impressive in light of the stagnating property values in the current market.

Just a data point to help calibrate your expectations.

[spacelord75]

First of all, totally remove the notion of a new house from your mind. At that price point, it is impossible anywhere in the remotely close northern suburbs. You will have to get a house built 1985 or earlier and will probably have to do some work on it to make it how you like it. There are some areas of Sandy Springs that are in your range, but they are hit or miss, in terms of quality - most in that range are really close to Roswell Rd and you may get some riff raff. If you look at Roswell, you might have better luck, especially if you are open to the part of "Roswell" that goes into Cobb county, and would feed Pope or Lassiter High Schools. These are pretty cheap areas, and really good school districts. Problem would be commutes, as it takes a while to get to 400 or 75 from here.

If I were you, I would actually be happier targeting an older home....the lots are bigger. Most new homes are on 1/4 an acre, whereas it seems like the standard back in the 70's and early 80's in Atlanta was 18,000-20,000sqft. Also, while I'm thinking about it, don't believe any of the acreage quotes you see on the listing websites...everyone in Atlanta lies about their lot size - I don't think people really understand how big an acre is. The best way to know for sure is to look up the parcel map on the tax assessor website for that particular county and do some simple math using the dimensions to get the true lot size.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by Poipu

My husband's work will most likely be in Sandy Springs.

Originally Posted by spacelord75

If you look at Roswell, you might have better luck, especially if you are open to the part of "Roswell" that goes into Cobb county, and would feed Pope or Lassiter High Schools. These are pretty cheap areas, and really good school districts. Problem would be commutes, as it takes a while to get to 400 or 75 from here.

I actually live in the part of East Cobb described by spacelord, and I agree very much with all his comments, except for the part about commuting.

I work in Sandy Springs myself, and like (I'm pretty sure) the majority of residents of this area that work in Sandy Springs, I don't commute on either 400 or 75. That would be awful! We commute all the way down Johnson Ferry from Shallowford into Sandy Springs. This isn't a nice commute - there's a major bottleneck at the Chattahoochee bridge if your office hours aren't flexible and you have to travel during the peak of the rush - but it's nonetheless less distance, travel time and aggravation than slogging over to the 400.

[spacelord75]

Sorry....missed the part where she said the commute was to Sandy Springs - I was thinking more midtown/downtown. To SS, yes, that commute would be no problem.