Good areas to live near Atlanta....

[DMickey28]

In case you have followed any of my posts, DH and I are always up in the air as far as where we are going to live. He has a very 'moveable' job and oppurtunities come up often for new positions.

So now the latest is outside Atlanta.

We are TTC our first, so we are a young family. schools and cost of living are very important, as is safety b/c DH travels alot!!

 

[Lanshark]

Cobb County is great. It has some of the best public schools.

 

[Robinrs]

The closest place I like to Atlanta is Orlando....

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Buckhead!

 

[ugadog99]

Coweta County is also excellent. We are just 20 minutes south of the airport. Our school system is wonderful and housing is affordable. We are quickly growing and becoming a real suburb of Atlanta. I highly recommend the area. If you have any specific questions, please let me know. By the way, I am a 21 year veteran teacher with Coweta County, so I can answer your school questions.

 

[torismom]

I really love Hall county. Flowery Branch and Gainesville are wonderful places to live. I lived there most of my life until we moved to Florida this past summer. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[rileyroosmom]

We moved from Long Island to South Forsyth County. My son's teacher told us this district is in the top 3 of all of Georgia. I find the schools to be tough! Housing isn't expensive to us, but maybe it because of the prices I was used to in NY. I think the area if very upscale and extremely safe.
I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

 

[mchames]

A few questions:
Does your DH have a job prospect in mind? If so, where is the job located? How far/ how long would he be willing to commute? This would really help us in recommending areas to live.

The areas that people consider the "Atlanta suburbs" can be very spread out. That being said, the traffic here is horrible and what may sound like a nice area with great schools may be completely impractical depending on where his job is located. Personally, depending on where the job is, I would rent temporarilly until I got my bearings and found the area I really wanted to settle in. Since you don't have children just yet, you have the luxury of time to find the right neighborhood, with the right schools.

All this being said, we live "intown" and love it, but know that it's not for everyone. Our DD6 and DD8 go to an Atlanta public school which is one of the best in the state. (There are a handfull of excellent public schools inside the Atlanta city limits, but they are the exception not the rule. If you're interested I can tell you which one's they are.) My DH's commute to work is 5-10 minutes in traffic. I walk my DD's to school. There are stores and restaurants we can walk to from our house.

Another thing to keep in mind, is the further "outside the perimeter" you are the less expensive the housing is. Houses in good school districts "inside the perimeter" can be very pricey.

If you have any other questions I can answer just let me know.

Mary

 

[DMickey28]

Thanks for the ideas so far. DH primarily works out of the house but location within 30 minutes the airport is important. There is an actual office on Concourse Parkway in Atlanta.

If I were to transfer my office would be in Norcross, so i suppose that is a consideration, but we would prefer that I be a SAHM, which is financially possible.

Keep the ideas coming... I appreciate it. Thanks!!

 

[gravymom]

Concourse is near the Dunwoody area. You could get something in that area (it is pricey) and still be near Norcross and around 30 mins from the airport. Depending on where in Dunwoody, you would be either in DeKalb or Fulton County. Schools in the area are hit or miss. However, there are several excellent private schools in that area.

If you go north, up GA 400, then you are getting into North Fulton schools (most very good) or Forsyth (also good.) Forsyth co. is cheaper to live in, but you can forget about the airport being 30 mins away.

You can go up 85N into Gwinnett. Again, schools are good in areas like Suwanee, Buford, Dacula (Norcross is now a transitional area and there are a lot of schools filled with ESOL students, which brings down the test scores at those schools.) Drive time to airport is not great, depending on time of day, but this is the area I live in and many of our friends are pilots or executives who travel frequently and it is not that much of a problem.

You could consider Peachtree City (very near the airport and very upscale) but that would totally DQ your job in Norcross.

If you are serious about moving here, PM me and I can put you in touch with some good realtors to help you figure out yours needs.

Amy