Good places to live in/around ATL

H46Bubba

H46Bubba

Well-Known Member
Where are some good places on or around the ATL metro area to raise family? Possibly moving down there soon. Any assistance is greatly appreciated!
 
Newnan, Sharpsburg and Peachtree City are all good places. PTC is more expensive but has better schools. PM me if you want more info, I have lived in Newnan for 5 years.
 
I like the north side of town myself but I am from the mountains in NE GA so I am bias. It really depends on what your looking for. Paulding and Walton counties have some of the lowest home prices due to over building before the economy went. If you want to actually live in ATL I would stay away from the Georgia Dome, Turner Field, and ATL Airport areas as they can be pretty rough.
 
Inside the perimeter (I-285) Virginia Highlands is really nice, but pricey. Druid Hills (and North D.H.) is nice and a little more reasonably priced. Inman Park is cool, but has pockets of "less revitalized" areas - on the plus side they have a really nice community pool. Decatur is neat and has a town square with lots of pubs and restaurants. I'm not too sure about the quality of public schools around town...

Hope this helps!
 
H46Bubba said:
Thanks for all the info. That will give us a direction to start looking in.
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I live NE of Atlanta on Lake Lanier...there area a good many pilots that live in this area and over towards Alpharetta. NE and NW of Atlanta are the way to go if you're going to be looking.
 
Really it kind of depends on what you want. Do you have kids? What kind of neighborhood do you want? Do you want to drive to the airport or take the train? I lived in a few places on the south side and used my cousin's basement on the north side near Roswell as a crash pad when I commuted.
One of the things to watch for if you kids like the outdoors are neighborhoods with sidewalks. There are not many in the Atlanta area. As a matter of fact when I lived on the south side in Hampton we quickly found out that our neighborhood was a slam/click neighborhood. People went into their houses, slammed their doors, clicked the locks, and you never saw them. When I asked at a town hall meeting about bike paths and side walks they made it clear they did not want them. As a matter of fact, if you lived in a neighborhood across from a school you were expected to drive you kids to school as there were no cross walks.
Peachtree City was the opposite. The city decided years ago to make it pedestrian friendly and built golf cart paths connecting all the neighborhoods, schools and shopping areas. There are tunnels or bridges over the major roads. When we lived there we would ride our bikes all the time, go to the parks, walk/ride to the pizza place. In one year there we made more friends than in 3 years in Hampton. Disadvantage (in my eyes), was the metro did not go to the south side so you had to drive to the airport. Driving in Atlanta... the traffic can be really bad. It's a hub for commercial traffic traveling inland from ports and visa versa. It seemed like a family was whiped out by a tractor trailer rig once a month. The city was not too smart about stuff as well- such as sending a street cleaner onto GA-400 during rush hour. I mean you've GOT to be kidding me.
North side was also pretty nice.
As you've probably gathered there are a number of nice areas in the ATL area to live and it all depends on what you like. I liked Peachtree City, but I know others who did not like having so many people around and prefered living in the country. You might want to see if you can rent a place for a year, maybe a townhouse, then spend the year looking around and talking to people. See what you like.
 
Blackhawk said:
Really it kind of depends on what you want. Do you have kids? What kind of neighborhood do you want? Do you want to drive to the airport or take the train? I lived in a few places on the south side and used my cousin's basement on the north side near Roswell as a crash pad when I commuted.
One of the things to watch for if you kids like the outdoors are neighborhoods with sidewalks. There are not many in the Atlanta area. As a matter of fact when I lived on the south side in Hampton we quickly found out that our neighborhood was a slam/click neighborhood. People went into their houses, slammed their doors, clicked the locks, and you never saw them. When I asked at a town hall meeting about bike paths and side walks they made it clear they did not want them. As a matter of fact, if you lived in a neighborhood across from a school you were expected to drive you kids to school as there were no cross walks.
Peachtree City was the opposite. The city decided years ago to make it pedestrian friendly and built golf cart paths connecting all the neighborhoods, schools and shopping areas. There are tunnels or bridges over the major roads. When we lived there we would ride our bikes all the time, go to the parks, walk/ride to the pizza place. In one year there we made more friends than in 3 years in Hampton. Disadvantage (in my eyes), was the metro did not go to the south side so you had to drive to the airport. Driving in Atlanta... the traffic can be really bad. It's a hub for commercial traffic traveling inland from ports and visa versa. It seemed like a family was whiped out by a tractor trailer rig once a month. The city was not too smart about stuff as well- such as sending a street cleaner onto GA-400 during rush hour. I mean you've GOT to be kidding me.
North side was also pretty nice.
As you've probably gathered there are a number of nice areas in the ATL area to live and it all depends on what you like. I liked Peachtree City, but I know others who did not like having so many people around and prefered living in the country. You might want to see if you can rent a place for a year, maybe a townhouse, then spend the year looking around and talking to people. See what you like.
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That's pretty much what we're thinking. We're lookig to rent for 6 months to a year while we look for a place to buy. I'm going to commute from Cincinnati for awhile till our kids are out of school.
 
I live in Grayson which is sandwiched in between Snellville and Lawrenceville. I like the area, and the drive to the airport is slightly under an hour.. the major plus is you dont have to deal with the career shortening commute that is the north perimeter.

I would highly recommend renting and getting to know the areas. If you start on the south side you'll prob end up there. I grew up in Stone Mountain, and when I moved back ended up more or less in a similar locale.

Welcome to Mecca. ;)
 
I was born and raised (still live) about 70 miles NW of ATL in a small town. I recently was hired by Pinnacle and hope to get ATL as my base (haven't started training yet). Lots of new folks are going to JFK. Anyways, Douglasville, Bremen, and Carrollton are all on the West side and offer a fairly easy drive to the airport. The rent should be cheap. These are SMALL towns so if you want to live in the big city (not sure why anyone would..LOL!) then they won't be for you. McDonough, on the soutside, is a good choice as is Stockbridge. On the East side Conyers wouldn't be bad. When you start going north you bring the Atlanta traffic into play and the fun to be had on I-285. Up until recently, I drove 3-4K miles per month in and around Atlanta for my job in sales and I-75 south up in Marietta and I-285 (most anywhere) can be like parking lots during rush hours. Hope this helps. If you'd like more details you can PM me anytime.
 
How's Union City? Finding Rentals in PTC is not going well. Newnan is looking like the best option right now.
 
H46Bubba said:
How's Union City? Finding Rentals in PTC is not going well. Newnan is looking like the best option right now.
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Union City and Newnan aren't bad...I have family that lives in Senoia and have spent time down there. For me personally, I prefer the north side of town. You'll have to let us know when you get settled and we'll have a beer night. (Assuming I'm not on my way back to the PacNW)
 
An aunt and uncle of mine and their grown daughters have enjoyed Lawrenceville for the last 20 years.
 
I may be heading up there soon myself. I would like to live out in the country on the south side of town within 45 minutes of the airport, don't know if this is possible or not. Reason I want to be on the south side is due to my hunting lease in south central Georgia. Gotta have priorities!
 
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