OT - Atlanta area

[czycropper]

I'm a big time lurker and then I've been offline for a few months BUT.....I have a question - anyone from the Atlanta area, what is the best part to live around Marietta? I also posted this thread in the Scrapbooking Board since I'm a complete scrapbooking fanatic ANYWAY!

My DH has finally decided that I've been right all along and that we should re-locate down South (I grew up in Alabama) and has started actively looking down in the Atlanta area for a position. He has spoken with 3 companies and two of them are based in Marietta. I really don't know much about that area since when I lived in Atlanta back 25 years ago (after college for a few months for graduate work) I lived in Buckhead.

Any and ALL advice will be greatly appreciated! Oh, we have two DDs, ages 8 & 6 so I'm also looking into a good school system, oh! one other thing, we'll be relocating from New Jersey so property taxes don't shock me, heck, even house prices don't shock me

TIA

 

[steph613]

Hi - I don't post much here but I actually live just outside of Marietta, so I thought I could help you. What part of Marietta will he be working in? It can make a big difference in commute time since traffic here can be terrible.

We live in west Cobb County (Marietta is in Cobb County). It is really nice here - great schools, lots of shopping, lots of families. The houses are newer in west Cobb, too. The drawback is that it can be a pretty rotten commute. My husband works close to downtown Atlanta and his commute is usually 1 hr 15 min to 1 hr 30 min in the evenings. Your dh's commute can really depend on which section of Marietta he would be working in. Some of the best elementary schools are Due West, Ford, and Vaughn.

East Cobb in more established, has some of the best schools in the state and is closer to the city but can be really pricey. But coming from New Jersey, it probably won't seem like it to you! It also can be really crowded and well, just not as pretty in some areas. If you stay in Walton High School, Pope High School or Lassiter High School districts, you can't go wrong with any of the schools.

Just as a side note, I grew up in Cobb county, moved away for college and grad school and then came back for the last 6 yrs. You should know that Atlanta is nothing like it was 25 yrs ago. It is getting very big, crowded and people are having to move further and further out to find affordable housing and good schools. We are actually trying to move to Charlotte just because we want something smaller. Actually, I've heard several people say that Charlotte is like Atlanta was 25 yrs ago and it seems to be true. That being said, Atlanta has great jobs, great weather, lots and lots of things to do for families and some really great schools if you research and find the right areas. Like any place, it has it's good and bad.

Okay, I've written a book and will stop know. Let me know if you have any other questions and I will be more than happy to answer them for you. Good luck with your move!

Stephanie

eta: I would stay totally away from south Cobb county because of the schools and north Cobb is more hit or miss.

 

[Ellester]

Just as a side note, I grew up in Cobb county, moved away for college and grad school and then came back for the last 6 yrs. You should know that Atlanta is nothing like it was 25 yrs ago. It is getting very big, crowded and people are having to move further and further out to find affordable housing and good schools. We are actually trying to move to Charlotte just because we want something smaller. Actually, I've heard several people say that Charlotte is like Atlanta was 25 yrs ago and it seems to be true. That being said, Atlanta has great jobs, great weather, lots and lots of things to do for families and some really great schools if you research and find the right areas. Like any place, it has it's good and bad.

I just had to step in to agree. I went to college in Atlanta (GO JACKETS!), graduated and moved away in '93. However, my inlaws still live there and we visit about once a month or so (just got back from a long weekend yesterday). Atlanta has grown so much it's crazy! I just read that they are considering widening part of I-75 in Cobb Cty. to 23 lanes across! And considering making I-285 a double decker highway. I also agree that it totally depends where in Marietta he is working. The city limits cover a huge amount of territory. It's changed alot from the days you could tell someone to turn just past the Big Chicken!

That said, I still think it's a great city. My dh is currently looking for work and we are considering moving back to Atlanta from Charlotte. But, he would have to make quite a bit more money for us to have the same lifestyle as here. Plus we have gotten used to the slower pace of life in Charlotte. Obviously our cost of living is much less than Jersey!

Good luck with your move! Don't forget to sell the snow shovels in the moving sale!

 

[czycropper]

Steph613 & ellester - Thanks so much for the info

I had heard that Atlanta had changed in the past few years. But, I'm still looking forward to living down there (if it all goes according to plan)! We'll know on Tues about the exact part of Marietta and what they are offering. So I'm hoping that everyone wishes us luck! It's hard to believe that my DH is so up for moving finally - I think that getting the latest property tax bill really helped - we're now over $11,000 and it's sure to go up since the school board just passed another increase in their budget.

ellester - that's the one thing I'm going to put out first in a yard sale - the snow shovels & snow blower .

 

[czycropper]

Steph613 - can you give me some of the towns in East Cobb & West Cobb so that I can do some preliminary research regarding houses. We're used to high price houses but let's hope that the taxes down there are lower than up here!

 

[Oceana]

I live in East Cobb, its nice a little pricey most of the time housewise. I live in the POpe HS distrcit which is considered one of the best. It is nice, close enogh to the city, close enough to a mall, close enough to stuff to do like white water and six flags

We have some home issues. Because East Cobb is growing so much our neighborhood is a respectable $160,000 homes but all the houses around us are $600,000 or more.

We have fantastic parks

The mailing addresses are Marietta its the zipcode that will make a difference in which parts of Cobb 30062 is ours

Goodluck and let me know if you have any other specific questions

 

[steph613]

Sure - the towns in East Cobb are Marietta and part of Roswell. In West Cobb its Acworth, Kennesaw and some of Powder Springs. Be sure to look closely at the schools, though, as they can really vary in each town. Here's some websites I've used in the past to find out about schools (I can't post links as I don't have enough posts):

greatschools
schoolmatters

Good luck! I hope you really like living here!

 

[minkydog]

Welcome to Georgia Cobb County is a great place to raise your family. We live in east Cobb, have been here for 18yrs. The only real good reason for moving out of Cobb County is the traffic But it's probably not any worse than living in Jersey...Cant wait to hear what part of Cobb you're looking at.

 

[tabrizia]

Honestly I won't even look for a house in Atlanta until you know where you are going to be working. The comutes there are nasty. I lived there for 10 years (moved to DC metro 4 years ago) and my parents, sister and brother in law, and grandparent(well are in the middle of moving there for grandparents) live there now. My parents sold their old house about 2 years ago and moved closer into the city because my mom couldn't deal with the traffic anymore. If you live more then about 15 miles from your office you are looking at an hour to 2 hour commute.

We grew up in North Fulton county and my parents and sister both live there still, it is also a great area to live in, and if you are in Marietta near Roswell it is also somewhere to look (since much of Roswell is in North Fulton). The schools there are high quality and it is a nice area to be in.

Honestly though, until you know exactly where the job is I won't make any definate plans because the traffic in Atlanta is horrible (either 3rd or 4th worst in the nation) and moving from there to DC which suposidly has worse traffic, I have to say that DC metro feels like it has better traffic then Atlanta even during rush hour(s).

 

[Ellester]

It's hard to believe that my DH is so up for moving finally - I think that getting the latest property tax bill really helped - we're now over $11,000 and it's sure to go up since the school board just passed another increase in their budget..

Last year our property taxes were $1800. I don't know what Atlanta taxes are running now, but I think you'll definitely have a substantial drop. I think income tax is about the same as here, 5% or so. Hope you get good news on Tuesday, maybe both our dh's will get their dream jobs this week!

 

[Oceana]

Commute is so different for everyone, we live in east cobb and my husband works downtown across from the olympic park. His long day commutes only take 45min to an hour and is better most of time ending up closer to 30min

Rarely does his commute take more than an hour even on the worst days.

We live 22miles from his work he works 9-5

Yes though do get a job before coming here!

 

[sha_lyn]

Sorry to hijack the thread for a minute

Oceana... hey woman. what a small world LOL


As for the OP.... I really like the area Oceana lives in
Where you end up really depends on what you want. If I were to move into cobb county I would probably move to the very north end near 75, around the south end of Acworth.

 

[czycropper]

Y'all have been so helpful I can't wait till tomorrow to hear what they have to say.

Regarding traffic - I lived in DC, my DH worked in downtown DC (actually my formal wedding pics were taken at the Jefferson Memorial) and now live in the most congested state in the US so we're used to traffic! But I have heard that Atlanta traffic has gotten bad so we're prepared for that.

My main concern now is the school systems so we won't have to put the DDs in private school.

I'll be posting again once we find out something positive!

 

[1princessX2princes]

I live in Cobb County and have since 1989 (except for a 4 year break to go to UGA). Personally I would vote for east Cobb (look at zip codes 30066,30062). Therer are a lot of great schools but "Marietta" actually is a pretty wide area (so I would second the people who said it depends where you are working in Marietta). There are lots of long standing neighborhoods that are beautiful and of course great new construction. If you look at high schools Lassiter and Walton are at the top along with Pope and Sprayberry. My kids will go to Kell which is a pretty new HS. In my opinion it would be ideal to be in the Lassiter or Walton school district. Good luck!!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Friends of ours moved from the Northwest to GA when he went back to school for his doctorate. They lived in Athens during school, and after he graduated they lived nearer Atlanta in Snellville - They LOVED this town!

They recently moved back to Seattle to be closer to both sets of grandparents, but they dearly miss the South.

 

[lovebuzz]

Hi!! we live in east Cobb County. Our zip is 30075. My children attend Tritt elementary. We live in the Tritt, Hightower, and Pope school district. I love Tritt. They have a very strong parent envolvement. we also hold a auction in the spring that helps fund extra things like a spanish teacher. Where I live you could buy a modest home for about $240,000. On up to a million. As for Elementary schools there all are great in East Cobb. The only one that I have heard bad things about is Eastside. Ones that you should look for are Tritt, Sope Creek, Mt. Bethel, and Shallowford Falls. The best middle schools are Dickerson and Hightower. The best High Schools are Walton, Pope, and Lassister. I'm sure I forgot some schools in there. I just cant think of them right now. Good Luck if you decide to move down here. If you kids like sports Upward has a really good program at Johnson Ferry Babtist Church.

 

[czycropper]

Lovebuzz-thanks for the info. Roswell is where I lived back when I was in Graduate school - I'm going to check out houses in your zip code.

Everyone keep fingers crossed & prayers out - today is the day!!!!!!