by Parker

The Real Pros and Cons of Decatur Ga | Living in Decatur, Georgia

Decatur is a small town with a classic town square layout – all of the shops and restaurants surround an open plaza that hosts artists and musicians, dogs and families all year long in Atlanta’s mild climate. The DeKalb County courthouse and municipal buildings are close to the square as well. Dekalb county employees bring a bustling lunch business to the downtown Decatur restaurants.

The neighborhoods around the square are mostly single family homes, with some townhomes and a limited number of apartment rentals.

I love Decatur and have lived within the city of Decatur for almost 25 years now. I think the area is great and that Decatur is one of the most charming areas of Atlanta. I’ve created this video to give you a local’s view of the 5 pros and 5 cons of living in the City of Decatur.

 

 

 

I’m here to give you information that you may not not find out until you live in Decatur. Like I said, I love Decatur, but I’m here to give it to you straight, so let’s start with the CONS.

Con #1

Decatur has a cool downtown, and all of the charm of the downtown comes at a price – It’s Expensive to live in Decatur! You will have a very difficult time finding an updated house for less than $700k.

Decatur is a pretty small geographic area within the Metro Atlanta area, and it is in very high demand, which causes the price of homes within the city limits to be much higher than the Atlanta average.

In July 2020, the median home sale price in Decatur was over $600K. That means that half of the homes sell for more than $600k and half are below $600k. When people start looking at moving to Decatur, most people are shocked at how little $600K will buy. These aren’t Manhattan prices, of course, but they are pretty steep compared to the nearby neighborhoods outside of the city. For example, just outside the city limits of Decatur going towards Emory university, you can find an updated 3/2 ranch with a basement for $400k.

Con #2 is property taxes. Not only are the homes more expensive per square foot, the millage rate is higher than the unincorporated Dekalb County areas around Decatur. City of Decatur property taxes are sometimes double what you would pay on a similar house outside the city limits. To be fair, that is part of the price you pay to have a great public school system. City of Decatur Schools are some of the best in the Atlanta metro area. An average private school in Atlanta costs $700 per month at the low end. So, you really could look at the increased taxes as the value of a great school system. One of my next videos will be comparing home prices and property taxes inside and outside the Decatur city limits. If you are considering moving to the Decatur area and would like this information, click the subscribe button so that you will be notified when that video drops! Also, you can call me if you have any questions about Decatur or if you need help finding a home.

So let’s get to Con #3 – Decatur is somewhat isolated from rest of ATL – when you are getting around Atlanta, you are almost guaranteed to add 20 minutes to your drive if you live in Decatur. Most of Atlanta’s shopping and restaurants are in the midtown, Buckhead and Westside areas. Decatur does have many superior restaurants and lots of cute shops, but if you want fine dining or higher end shopping, you will have a drive.

Also, Decatur is not close to any major highways. Many people do still work in Downtown Atlanta and Decatur is convenient to that, but in Atlanta, large companies are shifting north to midtown/buckhead/and further north like Alpharetta – If you work at Emory, the CDC or CHOA, though, Decatur is very convenient. The Emory campus is exactly 2.5 miles from the Decatur Square via Clairmont Road.

 

This brings us to Con #4 of living in Decatur – Traffic!

Atlanta traffic in general is some of the worst in the country, and Decatur is no different. Part of the increased drive time to get to and from Decatur is due to the fact that there are few roads into Decatur. The main road that brings you into Decatur, Clairmont Road, can get very congested. It can take about 10 minutes for the 2 1/2 mile drive from downtown Decatur to Emory, and much much more during heavy commute times.

And the Final Con #5 about the City of Decatur – The Parking. If you move to Decatur and buy a single family home or townhome, you won’t have any trouble parking at your home. The main thing that Decatur residents complain about is the limited parking in the downtown commercial area. some businesses have left due to limited parking and problems they say it has caused their business. There limited on street parking – it can be hard to find a convenient spot, and you have to pay. Residents have complained that the minimum parking fee is $3, whether you are staying an hour or stopping for 10 minutes to pick up takeout. There is a large parking deck near the municipal buildings, though, and the charges there are pretty in line with what you would pay throughout Atlanta.

So, I’ve given you a local’s view of 5 Cons of the City of Decatur, so stick around and we will get into the 5 Cons of the City of Decatur.

Pro #1 of the City of the Decatur is that it has some of the most charming houses and neighborhoods anywhere in Atlanta. If you love a Craftsman bungalow or Farmhouse style home, Decatur is the place for you. The local historic preservation committee also ensures that new construction conforms to the surrounding neighborhoods. Just a side note, the permit office can be both a positive and a negative, since Renovations/remodels/builds can be difficult – permitting office is tougher than unincorporated Dekalb.

Pro #2 of the City of Decatur is the Community.

What people love most about Decatur is the community feel. As I mentioned before, if you’ve ever been to Asheville NC or Austin TX, Decatur has that same kind of creative vibe. Decatur is full of excellent farm to table restaurants, music and art festivals and community events sponsored by the city.

Decatur hosts the Decatur Arts Festival in the Spring. It is one of Atlanta’s largest arts festivals, and draws people from all over the city. It’s held on the square and several of the surrounding streets are closed off for 3 days. There are tons of arts and crafts vendors, food tents and trucks, live music on the square and family and kids activities.

In the fall, Decatur hosts the Decatur Book Festival. It’s a large multi-day festival on the square – there are tons of activities for families, and authors from all around the country come to give talks and sign books.

Pro #3 of the City of Decatur is the great selection of independent stores and restaurants.

Like I said earlier, there are tons of great restaurants in Decatur. The Brick Store Pub is a beer lover’s delight, possibly the best selection of beers anywhere in Atlanta. They really set Decatur off in 1997 when they opened. There was literally nothing in Downtown Decatur and then all of the sudden this great community pub opened and everything blossomed form there. It was really quite incredible to witness the rebirth of this city. I lived in nearby Avondale Estates in 1997, and it’s hard to believe now when you see how much Decatur has to offer, but back then there wasn’t much to do on a Friday night before the Brick Store came in!!!

Now, in downtown Decatur, you can eat some of Atlanta’s best tacos at Taqueria del Sol. My wife’s favorite tacos are the fried fish tacos that have spicy creamy sauce and pickled jalapeños – I love the carnitas.  In Decatur, you can sample Indian street food at a restaurant called Chai Patti..

Decatur also has a rich music scene. Eddies Attic is one of Atlanta’s oldest live music venues, right on Decatur square since 1991, they have hosted thousands of great artists like the Indigo Girls, The Black Crowes, Sugarland and John Mayer.

Pro #4 is that the City of Decatur is very walkable. Most of the neighborhoods in Decatur were built in the late 1800’s to the early 20th century, when people walked everywhere. Most neighborhoods have sidewalks and many are walking distance to neighborhood shops and restaurants. The downtown Decatur area is very walkable – once you park you car, you will not need it again for a day of shopping and dining.

One other quick thing to note is that Decatur square sits right on top of the MARTA station. MARTA is Atlanta’s subway system. It’s nice that it’s in Decatur, particularly if you need to get to the airport.

This takes us to the final Pro – #5 – The Schools! The City of Decatur is it’s own independent school system, and it is the best overall in the intown Atlanta area. It is small – there is just one high school, one middle school and 7 elementary schools. The elementary schools have heavily involved parents, high community involvement and excellent test scores. The excellent city schools is an enormous part of why the City of Decatur is such a desirable place to live. There are also several great private schools such as St. Thomas More, The Friends School, a Waldorf School and a Montessori School.

So there you have it – the straight talk about the pros and cons of living in the City of Decatur.

If you’d like more information and insider info about moving to and living in the areas around Emory University, please subscribe and watch my other videos.

in Uncategorized
 by Parker

Where to live in Atlanta near Emory University? North Druid Hills

Hey this is Parker Smith with Palmer House Properties in Atlanta. If you’re moving to Atlanta and you’ve been checking out the area around Emory University stick around because we’re going to talk about North Decatur.

 

So what’s so great about the North Decatur area?

 

Well number one we talked about the proximity to some of Atlanta’s largest employers: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is currently moving all of their buildings along the I-85 corridor between North Druid Hills and Clairmont Road and the Centers for Disease Control has a campus at Emory University, and also one over off Burford Highway, both of which are very close to the area.

 

So where is the North Decatur area? North Decatur is comprised of three zip codes:  it’s 30329 3033 and 30345. It’s roughly the area that you see on the map – it is north of Emory University, slightly east of the Toco Hills shopping center, to the east of I-85 and south of i-285. Atlanta has three major highways: you have 75 and 85,which make an x through the city, and then you have I-285, which is called the perimeter which makes a ring around the city. In Atlanta, people refer to locations as either being ITP, which is inside the perimeter, or OTP, which is outside the perimeter. North Decatur is all – ITP inside the perimeter and it’s located in the northeast part of town – that’s a very desirable location for the reasons we’ve always already talked about: it’s close to employers and it’s very easy to get around to all the great spots in Atlanta.

So let’s take a little tour of the zip codes in North Decatur which again are 30329, 30033 and 30345. We’ll start at Toco Hills shopping center, which is located on the westernmost edge of North Decatur. Toco Hills was recently renovated and has attracted boutique shopping and high-end chain restaurants. There are also two large grocery stores: Publix and Kroger, which are at the shopping center and Toco Hills is just north of Emory University. Toco Hills is in the 30329 zip code and just east of there is Sagamore Hills. Sagamore Hills is full of larger ranches on large lots. There are two swim tennis clubs: Briarcliff Beach Club and the Sagamore Hills pool.

 

The neighborhood swim tennis clubs are a big part of the social life in North Decatur. All the clubs have very active swim teams, year-round tennis teams and most clubs have a lot of very fun social events during the year. Okay our next stop is going to be the Oak Grove area located at Oak Grove road and LaVista Road. The Oak Grove plaza is kind of the crossroads of the North Decatur community – it’s where all the locally owned shops and restaurants are, and it’s the place everyone knows about – even the people who don’t live here. If someone asks you where you live you can say you know where the Oak Grove Market is, and they say oh yeah that’s a great neighborhood. Even people who live a mile down the road in briar lake say they live in Oak Grove. It’s a convenient landmark that represents the whole community and the Oak Grove Market is really the center of the the area it originally started as a meat market has evolved into a great little 1950s style diner. The Oak Grove Market is a great place to grab lunch – they grill chicken and burgers every day, you can also pick up pre-made dinners there which is very popular. Just down from there is a fine dining and cocktails restaurant called Kitchen Six and a great Mexican food restaurant called Taqueria el Vesino and out front is a terrific sports bar known as The Grove –  all these restaurants stay very very busy.

Continuing east down LaVista Road takes you to Briarlake Elementary – it is a wonderful school. It has a hearing impaired inclusion program, so many of the teachers there use sign language. Right next to Briarlake Elementary is a true local treasure which is David’s Produce. David’s has been in business since 1933 –  they have fresh boiled peanuts, fresh produce, all sorts of hot sauces and relishes and the best variety of gourmet sodas in the area. We love to get our peaches from David’s during peach season. They’re very picky about what they sell and the peaches are always fantastic. The North Decatur area is full of fun things to do, whether it’s eating out or just getting outside. Like i said before tennis is huge – if you don’t belong to a swim tennis club don’t worry right in the area is the Dekalb tennis center. The Dekalb tennis center is part of the Mason Mill complex which has the Avis G Williams library, a senior center, a large playground as well as the boardwalk trail called The Path that goes directly to Emory University and Medlock Park. I think what makes the North Decatur area so special is that it just has a great small town feel. It has a really incredible diverse and vibrant community of people that all really care. It’s just a really special place to live it really does feel like living in a small town in a big city. If you need more information about the area feel free to call me text me send me an email i’m here to help!

in Uncategorized
 by Parker

The Best Place to Live in Georgia

Our local newspaper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, recently ran an article about the best place to live in the state of Georgia.

According to the article, each year, data research website Niche ranks the best places to live in the United States.

The ranking provides a comprehensive assessment of the overall livability of an area, taking into account location, quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities. In an attempt to measure the overall quality of an area in Georgia, Decatur came out on top with an A+ overall rating.

 

 

 

The city of Decatur was originally incorporated in 1823, and it’s about six miles east of downtown Atlanta. It’s a great place to live if you work in downtown Atlanta, because you never have to get on the highway to get downtown, and you can just take Dekalb Avenue.

The city of Decatur is a very charming area of Atlanta. It has beautiful architecture. Most of the homes are Craftsman bungalow style – a lot of Victorian houses as well.

It’s close to Agnes Scott University and there’s a beautiful little downtown filled with restaurants and shops, and access to Marta, which is our local subway. And another plus for the city of Decatur is it’s got terrific schools. They’re actually some of the best in Atlanta.

Due to the high demand for the city of Decatur, and the relatively small geographic area that it covers, prices are quite high for the Atlanta area. To move into the city of Decatur in this current market, you’re looking at spending about $500,000 on maybe about a 1,000 square feet, and that house is probably not going to be updated.

The demand is extremely high there. Most houses in Decatur are going to be $500k+. Many of them are going to go for over $1 million.

Many of the people who want to live in the city of Decatur (people who work at children’s healthcare or Emory or the cdc) find that they’re actually priced out of that market. They can’t buy as much houses they need, given those current prices.

Many people who are priced out of the city of Decatur area start looking in the North Decatur area, which is obviously right next to that and they find much better home values.

North Decatur, which includes the 30329, 3003 and 30345 zip codes, has a lot of the positives of the city of Decatur, with a more accessible price point.

Also, speaking about accessibility, the North Decatur area is actually more accessible to the rest of Atlanta. It’s right off a major highway: I-85, but you can get to areas like Buckhead, Virginia Highlands and Midtown without ever getting on the highway.

One of the negatives about city of Decatur is that due to its location, it adds about 20 minutes onto any trip within the city (Atlanta), other than going into downtown Atlanta.

Now, North Decatur does not have the charming bungalows and Victorian homes like the city of Decatur, but it does have some spectacular mid-century modern homes. There are many straightforward brick ranches, but there are a lot of pockets of really cool high style mid-century homes.

In fact there’s a whole neighborhood called Amberwood that is the best example of mid-century architecture in Atlanta. When the neighborhood was built, it was required that each home be unique and designed by an architect. Robert Green, who was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed several Amberwood homes.

Okay, so let’s talk about the North Decatur home market right now. The median sales price is around $460k which means that half of the homes are below $460k and half of them are above $460k. A one bedroom one bath condo will run you anywhere from about $150 to $180k. A typical three bedroom two bath 1960s ranch or split level type home, you can find for as low as $400k. A very nicely renovated ranch or split level home is going to be anywhere from $500,000 and up. The most expensive home on the market right now in this area is a $2.3 million dollar home, which is seven bedrooms and five baths and it’s a brand new build.

I live in North Decatur because I think it’s great and I think you will too! So if you’re thinking about moving to Atlanta and you’re going to be working for Emory University, Emory Hospital Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta or the CDC you really need to take a look at the North Decatur area it’s extremely convenient to all those locations we’ve got some some of the best restaurants in Atlanta. We have fantastic schools – it’s just a great community filled with great people and I think you’re going to love it!

So if you’re considering moving to Atlanta think about moving to the best place in Georgia.

in News