Atlanta Travel Answers

http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1048546541 Hi again.. For example, I found this home on realtor.com. It looks great to me, but seems almost too good to be true. Where is Woodstock?? Thanks!

First, don't worry and don't panic. You will almost certainly be able to get a decent to very nice place for that price and have a reasonable commute. Second, where will your husband be working? Without that information is it impossible to give recomendations on where to live without a bad commute. Your other post mentioned Woodstock. That can be a nice place (personally I would pick others) but it is totally dependant on where you need to commute to. If he is working in Woodstock, then great. If he needs to go downtown, then Woodstock is a poor choice. If you can post where the job will be we can give you some intelligent (most of the time!) advice.

Hey thanks for the don't panic advice, I needed that. I'll find out the location of my husband's employment. It's downtown, I know that.

Ok, if it is downtown forget about Woodstock, too far and no good public transit from there. Decatur could be an option for you, family friendly and close to downtown. Hopefully Rex will chime in, but I think you can still get something there for300k? You mentioned your husband's company will help with the train costs? You could also try to sneak into Sandy Springs and perhaps Dunwoody. Check www.itsmarta.com for a map of the train system, and then see if you can get something relatively close to the northernmost train stations so the commute will be tolerable. You might be a little pressed on the budget though, and could be forced deeper out into Roswell. It's a good area (generally) for kids, probably better than Sandy Springs, but worse for commuting to the train and downtown. Good luck, hopefully others will give their opinions.

I really appreciate that, THANK YOU!! I'm off to check out the areas you suggested online.

Decatur is always a good suggestion and has great schools. The key is to find a place that allows you to get downtown without getting on the interstates. I live on the northwest side of the city in Smyrna. I work in Midtown and my husband used to work downtown - we can both get into the city in 20 minutes without sitting in traffic. Atlanta Rd is a main thoroughfare and is a direct shot into the city. Here's the website http://www.ci.smyrna.ga.us. Also, the website for Decatur is http://www.decaturga.com.

Of course I would recommend Decatur too as I have lived here for 30 years and came because of the schools which are still top rated. I think you can find something for under300. Also it is a short commute to downtown and there is good public transportation as well. If you want to look in Decatur, contact a real estate agent who lives in this area. I can recommend some if you wish.

There are a number of good places in the city that would be in the price range you have mentioned. As you have kids, though, I would recommend NOT living in Atlanta as the schools are typically not the best in the area (not that I have kids, but have heard enough people talking about the schools to get a general idea about them.) East Point might not be a bad choice either. It is on the upward swing, so you can still find pretty good deals on houses there. I don't know if they are part of the Atlanta school system though. I know the town I live in, Hapeville, has it's own elementary school, but Jr. and Sr. high are part of the Atlanta schools.

I just moved to Decatur. You should be able to get a decent place for around 300K. You could just drive around ... there's lots of For Sale signs. And driving around will give you a good idea of what kind of neighborhood it is. I don't know much about the schools here, as I don't have kids. The Marta station is very close (actually where we live, it's the Avondale station that's closer to us and it has free parking for commuters). Larissa

I think your best bet would be to go exploring. I do not think it is necessatry to live so far out at that price range. The West End area has some beautiful older homes and a lot of quite family oriented neighorhoods. Most of the urban areas that are not completely over priced are going to be predominately african american. Be careful buying new homes in a subdivision. There are a lot of problems with the new construction they look good but do not last and are built with cheap materials.