Boston to Atlanta relo

[BringBackCobain]

Just so the OP knows, Sandy Springs is a great area, but it is not known for having great public schools. In north Sandy Springs (North Springs cluster), a majority of the people use private school. South Sandy Springs has a better cluster with Riverwood High and Heards Ferry Elem being good, but the middle school (ridgeview) has problems.

If you have to do public, go with Dunwoody. The schools are better and the commute would be about the same, especially if you live on the western side of the city. But, if you are looking for the best school district, then East Cobb takes the cake, but the commute would be a lot worse since youd be Outside the Perimeter and west of the river.

[shivtim]

Decatur could be an option. It's 6 miles east of downtown Atlanta, and has easy public transit access (it's on the same line as Philips arena, so you could get to work by taking the subway), good schools, and a lively little city center with lots of restaurants and festivals. It's somewhat suburban, but still urban at the same time. Nice leafy neighborhoods. A variety of housing in the area, from condos to houses.

[shivtim]

This post has a lot of info on Decatur:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/13234162-post4.html

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by shivtim

Decatur could be an option. It's 6 miles east of downtown Atlanta, and has easy public transit access (it's on the same line as Philips arena, so you could get to work by taking the subway), good schools, and a lively little city center with lots of restaurants and festivals. It's somewhat suburban, but still urban at the same time. Nice leafy neighborhoods. A variety of housing in the area, from condos to houses.

You're going to have issues in the city of Decatur that are similar to those I cited with Va-Hi, though. Two-car garages and a spacious yard are hard to come by here, and when you find them, you're probably going to pay upwards of 550K.
I was thinking that a nice alternative for the OP might be the Oak Grove area (Decatur 30033/Atlanta 30345), particularly the areas served by Sagamore and Oak Grove Elementary Schools (Henderson Middle/Lakeside HS cluster).
It's a lovely neighborhood convenient to downtown...and offers plenty within your budgetary constraint.

Vista Grove, Georgia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Just so the OP knows, Sandy Springs is a great area, but it is not known for having great public schools. In north Sandy Springs (North Springs cluster), a majority of the people use private school. South Sandy Springs has a better cluster with Riverwood High and Heards Ferry Elem being good, but the middle school (ridgeview) has problems.

If you have to do public, go with Dunwoody. The schools are better and the commute would be about the same, especially if you live on the western side of the city. But, if you are looking for the best school district, then East Cobb takes the cake, but the commute would be a lot worse since youd be Outside the Perimeter and west of the river.

To the OP, the northern part of Sandy Springs does have good public schools. Sandy Springs would be a great place to live (along with Dunwoody!).

For elementary schools in the northern part of Sandy Springs, look at Woodland Charter Elementary School and Spalding Drive Charter Elementary School.

And North Springs Charter High School is good. It has two good magnet programs--in Arts and Sciences.


For southern Sandy Springs, Riverwood International Charter School (high school) is good. Heards Ferry Elementary is also good. Spalding Drive Elementary also feeds into the Riverwood cluster.

[AnsleyPark]

Commuting from Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, etc. to downtown can be challenging at times. I think you would do yourself well by not only looking in the outlying neighborhoods, but also looking in the Morningside and Virginia Highlands areas. You might discover that intown's advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I recommend you contact an Atlanta real estate agent to assist you.

[RC1981]

I'm from Boston and moved to Atlanta for a while...I thought it was pretty nice overall but the crime down there is out of control, even in the better parts of town...there's a reason why it's so cheap and it's not just because of the low property taxes. If you really want to stay clear of all that crap I'd recommend North, West, or East Cobb (South Cobb is a dump), or Cherokee county. You can easily find something there within your price range with all of your amenities pretty much standard par for the course.

[kayrob]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Commuting from Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, etc. to downtown can be challenging at times. I think you would do yourself well by not only looking in the outlying neighborhoods, but also looking in the Morningside and Virginia Highlands areas. You might discover that intown's advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I recommend you contact an Atlanta real estate agent to assist you.

Not if you take the train as that at least is one of the places here that is convenient for it. Not the case with Marietta for instance. And the traffic driving to and from there would not be good.