I used to live in Nesbit Lakes for 9 years and just loved it. The neighborhood childrem could walk to the elementary school which was excellent, AND the high school which was excellent also. N Fulton has some of the best schools in the state. Nesbit Lakes is very close to 400, the main artery into the city. Nesbit Lakes is also a swim and tennis club of which there are a lot of in the Atlanta area. Uesd to love my ALTA league tennis games. You will love ATL IMO. Judy

Re 'With all due respect, I disagree with the statement " you'll probably consider private no matter where you live in Georgia"'

I'm not saying that one should send ones children to private school, nor am I saying that traceynt will, in fact, even consider doing so. But chances are excellent that if she can afford it she will consider it.

For the record, I could easily afford private schools for my children but choose to send them to public school.

I've been in the Atlanta area for nearly twenty years now. We've owned a home in the Norcross-Tucker-Lilburn area of Gwinnett County for the last nine years, and we currently have it on the market and are looking to move to Dunwoody or East Roswell. Part of the reason is proximity to our synagogue and the Jewish Community Center, but part of it is to get out of the Gwinnett County school system. Basically, Gwinnett has had explosive population growth for the last twenty years, fueled by the development of residential properties everywhere, and by apartment complexes in the older areas. In the older parts of the county, where I live now, the population of most of the public schools is heavily transient, as a result of the enormous number of apartment units relative to single-family homes in those areas. That's also meant a decline in average household income, and given the demographic shifts, schools like my neighborhood elementary school where there are 1200 students in K-5, 80% are eligible for free/reduced student lunches, etc. Farther out in Gwinnett County, including the Dacula area, the demographic shift hasn't happened yet, but the population explosiion has. The only way the Gwinnett County School System (now the state's largest at around 120,000 students) can keep up is by building mega-schools, leading to places like Dacula Middle School, with 2,900 kids in grades 6-8, or Collins Hill High School, with about 3,500 in 9-12, down from 5,000 a couple of years ago thanks to the opening of the new Peachtree Ridge High. That's just way too big, in my opinion. And the same problems that have swamped the schools in the older parts of the county are headed toward the newer ones, so that in a few years they'll have all the problems we have in addition to being overcrowded.

If I were in your position with the amount of equity I suspect you'll be bringing to the table, I'd be looking at intown neighborhoods like Ansley Park, Morningside, Garden Hills, and Brookhaven, as well as close-in suburban areas in DeKalb and Fulton Counties like Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. I have a real bias against the southern suburbs, but if your husband has to travel a lot and likes golf, Peachtree City is quite convenient to the airport and it might be just the ticket (though your Target/Costco comment suggests otherwise to me). Dacula and the Hamilton Mill area are just barely within the one-hour-drive radius from the airport (and more like two hours if traffic's at all heavy). If suburban Gwinnett County sounds like just the ticket for you except for the schools, the city of Buford has maintained its own school district, unlike the rest of the county, and is small enough and academically strong enough that it might be worth considering -- the area around Buford, including the new Mall of Georgia area seems to be booming these days, and it's not quite as far out as Dacula, though it's still a long way from most of Atlanta's cultural life.

Yeah, but...
Collins Hill girls basketball rocks!

#7 in country ranked by USAToday!

I second (or third? or fourth?) the Druid Hills area - and emphasize North Druid Hills (further up Briarcliff and LaVista) for investment. Sagamore Hills, Oak Grove, Briarlake elementaries are great schools, Lakeside HS is great too. Aging population which means younger families are moving in, and property values are rising, but are still low enough where you can get in on it. . .

We just moved here (after selling our home in LA, Hollywood Hills) and are THRILLED. . .

My kids go to Collins Hill in Gwinnett County. The enrollment is about 3,500, down from 4,000 (not 5,000) a couple of years ago. There are lots of Advanced Placement and gifted classes available there, and overall we've been very satisfied with the school. However, there are several schools in the southern part of Gwinnett County that I don't think I'd want my kids to attend.

so, tracey?

did you move here? where did you decide on?

holly in alpharetta, ga

What are some of the safest places to rent an apartment in the Dunwoody/Sandy Springs area? Looking to relocate for a job in Decatur, is that a safe place as well?

I've lived in Decatur for seven years and love it. Beware, though, that, as we like to say, Decatur is a city of 17,000 with a zip code of 300,000. The city of Decatur, proper, is a fun and charming place to live, with a great downtown, a quick transit connection to downtown Atlanta and the airport and wonderful housing options. The area that uses the Decatur mailing address outside the city ranges from attractive neighborhoods (see Medlock Park) to downright mangy. When searching real estate and apartment ads, look for "Decatur city," "North Decatur" or "Emory area." Those are your best bets. Is is safe? A lot safer than the apartment complexes I've seen in Dunwoody.

If you're job is in Decatur, you should look to live in the areas posted above- Emory, North Druid Hills, Decatur- city. You don't want to deal with the commute from Dunwoody/Sandy Springs (and a lot of the apts in the Dun/SS area are pretty marginal).