Interesting. It's kinda disheartening to hear how much prices have risen over the last few years. What factors have contributed to this in the Decatur area?
Many Millennials have decided it's cool to live closer in to the city, but lots of them (especially in a city like Atlanta) aren't quite ready for the full-on "high-rise condo" lifestyle, so they pick an inner suburb. (Many of them also want to do things like vegetable gardening or raising chickens, which can't be done in a Midtown condo.) They also want to be near trendy shops, bars and restaurants, and can't afford super-expensive properties.
Between the good transit access (on the MARTA east line), the large number of trendy restaurants etc. in places like Decatur, Little Five Points and East Atlanta Village, and the relatively-affordable property values, the Decatur area has been the part of Atlanta that best fulfills that criteria. (Places like Virginia-Highland, Buckhead and Brookhaven are too expensive, anything OTP isn't urban enough, and everywhere South or West of downtown is, in most people's perception, on the wrong side of the (figurative and literal) tracks (even though some of it is actually pretty nice).
What areas would people say are 'hot' to buy in right now? Areas where you would be quick to snatch up a home if you could get a fair deal that you think would pretty much guarantee a rise in home value over the next ~5 years?
IMO, the hot areas now are the ones I just mentioned: the relatively-nice parts of Southwest Atlanta, along the Beltline. It might be more of a 10-year play, though. I can't think of anywhere that's a "guarantee" within 5 years that isn't already at least half-gentrified.
We're actually going to try to move in the next year to year 1/2. Looking at the John's Creek area. Close to Sandy Springs, but not as expensive. I see that area going up in the next few years.
I'm not a big fan of Johns Creek for Mustachians (or Millennials, for that matter). It may be "near" Sandy Springs in a suburban car-clown kind of way, but it's in exactly the wrong direction (i.e. further out) such that traffic is terrible. There are also hardly any bicycle facilities and to get anywhere requires taking high-speed four-lane (or worse) roads. Access to transit is limited to buses, and therefore likely inadequate. I suspect it's also not really all that cheap, either.
For someone who wants good access to Sandy Springs (e.g. because they work in the Perimeter Mall area), I'd say there are many better choices. Doraville and Chamblee are closer (by car), have half-decent transit access by taking the train south to Lindbergh and then back north again, and are cheaper. East Cobb or Sandy Springs itself would be expensive, but probably still worth it compared to commuting from Johns Creek. Even some cheaper parts of Atlanta would be a reasonable choice because of MARTA rail access.
If I worked in Sandy Springs and were buying a house now, I'd be seriously considering a condo in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Buckhead or Midtown, or a single-family house in Chamblee, Doraville, Reynoldstown, Edgewood, or West End / Adair Park (near MARTA rail).
