Relocating to Southern/Eastern Atlanta... HELP!!

RachelKD

Hey everyone,

My husband, my two dogs (teacup chihuahua who will be thankful for the temperature change and a beautiful rhodesian ridgeback mutt), and I are looking to relocate to the Atlanta area.  Since we are going to own two houses, our budget to buy a home is approx $60,000 but we want to stay under that (around $45,000 or below).  We really want to move into a safe, nice area but have no idea where that is.  One realtor told us to "stay the hell away from Stone Mountain and Lithonia" and my husband has been told to stay away from Decatur but then someone else told us that is a great neighborhood nowadays.  We are looking for more space and country/land than center city can offer but we don't need to be in the boonies.  I know this is a stretch but I really just want some direction!    Anything you guys can offer would be great.  We are looking in the Southern/Eastern area but are willing to go West-ish.  My husband will eventually end up working in sales near downtown Atlanta (I assume...he says thats where the sales jobs are).  What neighborhoods should we shoot for?

So far we have looked into Stone Mountain, Riverdale, Clayton County suburbs like Ellenwood, Jonesboro, College Park, Forest Park, Conley, etc.  Are we headed in the right direction??

Thanks!!

armandos_girl

I don't have much to add since it has been 8 years since we lived in Atlanta and we were in Duluth, which is on the northeast side, but traffic in Atlanta is terrible.  If you want to be far enough out to have a bit of land, your husband should count on an hour plus commute downtown.

My recollection of the College Park, Forest Park, Conley areas are that they are pretty rough, and I don't think you'll get much of a space/country feel there or really anywhere inside of 285.  The east side of Atlanta near Decatur and out to Stone Mountain were improving when we were there. 

englishtrish1

Tucker is pretty nice, not sure about prices

BooLilly25

I haven't logged on to the Nest in forever and just happened to see your post. Good timing. I am currently living in ATL in the Brookhaven area. Its expensive and once we buy (hopefully next year) we will have to move out of the area. ATL is very very hit and miss. Decatur is adorable. It used to be rough but is now the hippy-ish side of town with lots of cafe's and art shops. Im not sure how far out of the city you are looking for but when we do move, we will move to the northern area (about 20-30 minutes from downtown) since you really do get more bang for your buck, not to mention the amazing school systems. We will be looking at Milton, Roswell, and Cumming. We also used to live in Suwanee and loved it, but its just a little harder commute to my job. 

The biggest piece of advice that I can give you is make sure you are close to the right interstate. I try and locate myself around 400 since that is where my office is.