Finally gonna move to Georgia!!

[chellewashere]

I have been trying to convince my hubby to move to the south for about 3 years so far and since my job has decided to permanently lay me off now is the time.
We are looking for an Atlanta suburb that has great subdivisions with lots of younger children. Would love someplace with a community pool and lots of community activities.
We have a soon to be 5 year old daughter and she is happy just to be closer to Disney but I would like a good school system to enroll her in.
We havent looked into jobs yet since we will not be able to move until around spring..we have to sell our house first and lets say our market is not great; school system stinks and neighborhood is going downhill FAST!!
1. Budget - would like to stay 175-190,002. House/Condo/Townhome? - House
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) - Commute Im sure
4. Children(public school vs. private) - Public
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two - Suburban (think Wisteria Lane )
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Not important
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Mainly families with young children, nice community activities
Also any information on taxes would be very helpful. Our taxes here with property and realestate are very very high (for very very little)
Thanks to everyone for your help.

Also if anyone knows a GREAT realtor in this area who is good with relocation information that would be a great help too!

 

[pilesoflaundry]

The market, schools and job market aren't so great out here in GA either.

Atlanta probably still has a decent job market but there are huge pockets I would not want to live in. North of the city is better than south as far as jobs and housing market.

Henry county schools are better but that is on the south end of Atlanta where there are not many jobs right now.

We are dying to get out of GA but everyone is different.

 

[tadamom]

If Atlanta is your target then definitely the north side of Atlanta.

What are your professions?

 

[chellewashere]

North side is where we have been trying to concentrate my house hunting. But my goodness the houses are so beautiful compared to up here that I fall in love with each one I see I just get so confused cause there seems to be so many counties and each one has so many town names. We just want to live some place safe and allow my daughter to have a much better upbringing that what Philly has to offer.
My husband is a fleet mechanic manager for a major landscaping company here and I was an editor for an advertising company.
We are just in need for a change and hoping the old adage the grass is greener holds true.

 

[ead79]

I've lived in metro-Atlanta my whole life, and I think it's a great place to live! Do be prepared that our traffic stinks, so a long commute is a distinct possibility.

As far as suburban areas go, I would recommend Cobb county, specifically east Cobb county. Some zip codes to do a home search on would be 30068, 30067, 30066, 30062. East Cobb county has excellent public schools, and is a very active suburban area with tons of activities for kids. It's a "soccer mom" type of place, and I mean that as a positive, LOL.

It might be tough to find a house in east Cobb in the 175 to 190 price range, but you can probably find something close to that range. Many neighborhoods offer swim/tennis, and those that don't often have agreeements with nearby neighborhoods where you can become members at the nearby neighborhood's pool.

Do you attend church? The reason I ask is that there are quite a few large churches around here that have many, many kids activities from camps to sports leagues, etc.

Feel free to ask me any questions you might have--I'm happy to help!

 

[minkydog]

Welcome to metro-Atlanta. We've been most of the last 29 years and we love it here. We're about an hour from the mountains, 6 hours to the Gulf, 8 hours to WDW. We have some great hospitals, including 3 children's hospitals that are among the most respected in the U.S. Have you all got jobs yet? If so, you'll want to be on the same side of town. The traffic is terrible during rush hour, which incidently, goes from 6am-8:30am and starts again at 3:30pm and goes to about 6:30pm. It is not uncommon for people to have a 45-60 min commute. We mark distance not in miles, but in time. We don't say, "I commute miles to work." We say, "I have a 45 minute commute." My own commute is 25 min. I work 6 miles from home,in the opposite direction of most traffic.

I live in Cobb County, East Cobb to be exact. Cobb County is divided diagonally by I-75. Everything north of I-75 is pretty nice, great schools, great services, great neighborhoods with lots of amenities. South of I-75 is spotty at best. The schools in that area have a LOT more problems and I would not send my kids to any of them.

 

[natenapril]

Hey!! We might be moving to Georgia this fall too!! We will find out in a few weeks if my DH gets the transfer. We will be close to Macon though.

 

[dsilva51]

We almost moved there last year, (actually it's still on the table) from NJ and we looked in Suwanee, rated one of the top areas to live in Georgia. It was very nice.

 

[amyren]

I'm from Cobb County too! It's a great place to live. Unlike EAD79 (hey Elisabeth!) and minkydog I live in West Cobb. West Cobb is a little less crowded than East Cobb but also a little further from the interstate. Some good West Cobb zip codes to search would be 30064 & 30152. We live in Kennesaw (30152). I love our area because we have a nice big yard (about 3/4 of an acre) but we are still close to everything. There tons of restuarants and shopping areas close to us plus we are about 5 - 10 minutes from a huge national park. Let me know if you have any questions! I'd be happy to help.

 

[minkydog]

I'm from Cobb County too! It's a great place to live. Unlike EAD79 (hey Elisabeth!) and minkydog I live in West Cobb. West Cobb is a little less crowded than East Cobb but also a little further from the interstate. Some good West Cobb zip codes to search would be 30064 & 30152. We live in Kennesaw (30152). I love our area because we have a nice big yard (about 3/4 of an acre) but we are still close to everything. There tons of restuarants and shopping areas close to us plus we are about 5 - 10 minutes from a huge national park. Let me know if you have any questions! I'd be happy to help.

Good points. Kennesaw is a great location (sorry I forgot about them.)And the Kennesaw schools are pretty good, too.

 

[chellewashere]

Thank you all so much for all your help. This is great information. Does anyone know anything about Canton, Ga? I have viewed quite a few houses in The falls at Mill creek and Fox Hollow and to say the least I am in love I also looked up the HS (I know my DD is only 5 but I wanted to get an idea early on) and they are Creekview and Sequoya both seem great. The neighborhoods seem to be exactly what I want. Especially The Falls one seems to remind me very much of Desperate Housewives type suburbia which is what I want - not what the DH wants but well this is my choice for a change - I love the whole neighborly feel. If anyone knows about these places please let tme know. THANKS again to everyone this has been great!!

 

[simba20]

I'm from Cobb County too! It's a great place to live. Unlike EAD79 (hey Elisabeth!) and minkydog I live in West Cobb. West Cobb is a little less crowded than East Cobb but also a little further from the interstate. Some good West Cobb zip codes to search would be 30064 & 30152. We live in Kennesaw (30152). I love our area because we have a nice big yard (about 3/4 of an acre) but we are still close to everything. There tons of restuarants and shopping areas close to us plus we are about 5 - 10 minutes from a huge national park. Let me know if you have any questions! I'd be happy to help.

Powder Springs is also a good area. That's where my in-laws live and the rest of my extended family lives in Marietta.

Certain areas of Cobb cycle in and out.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Have you tried the city data forums or zip skinny?

 

[ead79]

I'm from Cobb County too! It's a great place to live. Unlike EAD79 (hey Elisabeth!) and minkydog I live in West Cobb. West Cobb is a little less crowded than East Cobb but also a little further from the interstate. Some good West Cobb zip codes to search would be 30064 & 30152. We live in Kennesaw (30152). I love our area because we have a nice big yard (about 3/4 of an acre) but we are still close to everything. There tons of restuarants and shopping areas close to us plus we are about 5 - 10 minutes from a huge national park. Let me know if you have any questions! I'd be happy to help.

Hey! I grew up in 30064, and Amy is right that it's a good place to live as well. Kennesaw is a bir further from the freeways, but it might not matter if you don't have to commute to downtown. It's got a lot of historic character.

As far as Canton goes, the schools aren't as great out there. I'm not saying they are horrible or anything, just not as good as most of the Cobb Co. schools. Also, the commute from the Canton area to downtown is super long due to the congestion that far up the interstate.

 

[chellewashere]

Have you tried the city data forums or zip skinny?

City data isnt helpful at all. Its mainly old information from what I have read on there. There search engine is as bad as this one is

Never heard of zip skinny Im about to check that out now.

There are ALOT of counties in GA makes it very confusing for me. But thankfully I did figure out the taxes and WOW what a big savings over what Im paying here.

You are all so awesome thank you so much for all the responses. I just really want to move out of the Philly burbs in the worst way and with all our recent turn of events this is def. the time to actually for once make it happen.

 

[minkydog]

It is confusing. When we moved here we decided not to buy a house right away. Instead, we moved into an apt in an area we thought we'd like. Over the next 6 months, we found our way around and got used to the area. We decided we liked it, so we found a church home and found a house. I'm glad we did it that way because it gave us a chance to go slow and find exactly what we wanted. We have lived in our current home for 19 years,so we must have done something right.

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

I definitely think you should rent before you buy. Atlanta is so spread out---you really need to know where you are working before picking a neighborhood.

 

[amyren]

Thank you all so much for all your help. This is great information. Does anyone know anything about Canton, Ga? I have viewed quite a few houses in The falls at Mill creek and Fox Hollow and to say the least I am in love I also looked up the HS (I know my DD is only 5 but I wanted to get an idea early on) and they are Creekview and Sequoya both seem great. The neighborhoods seem to be exactly what I want. Especially The Falls one seems to remind me very much of Desperate Housewives type suburbia which is what I want - not what the DH wants but well this is my choice for a change - I love the whole neighborly feel. If anyone knows about these places please let tme know. THANKS again to everyone this has been great!!

I have both friends & family that live in Canton. You can get a great deal on a house "up there". It can be a little um... "country" and be prepared for the commute. Canton is in Cherokee county, just north of Cobb County.

 

[chellewashere]

The renting first is a good idea. Im thinking that might be an idea of something to do.
I love the "country" feel. When I did a street view of a house in Canton is looked just like Wisteria Lane and I got excited
2 more questions...how is the weather in this part of Ga? I know the summers are hot, Im mainly concerned with winter because I hate snow with a passion. If I want/need to see it I want to be able to go to the mountains to view it so im hoping for nice warmer winters. 2nd question is how much trouble will I get into wearing my EAGLES or PHILLIES jersey to games in Atlanta We cant afford tickets here so we are hoping maybe we can afford tickets there
You guys are so awesome giving me great ideas and things to plan for!!

 

[minkydog]

Usually our winters are fairly mild. We get 1 or 2 snows each winter, usually not more than 3 inches. Of course, none of the cities or counties has massive snow removal equipment, so when it snows everybody gets the day off. Cheaper than buying all that equipment. We do get some icing occasionally, but most of the time the temps are in the 40-50s during the day.

Now, last winter was kinda tough because we had some of the coldest weather we've ever had. Not a lot of snow, but it seemed like it stayed cold from November to May. I'm sure it wasn't *that* bad, but I thought I'd never warm up. BUt like I said, I've lived here nearly 29 years and most years our winters are unremarkable.

Oh, and we *do* have 4 distinct seasons here. One of the perks.