In this article
Key Takeaways:
- Roswell, Decatur, and Sandy Springs are ideal for families, professionals, and retirees alike.
- A pre approved home loan or upfront approval guarantee are a must for these competitive markets.
- Each of these communities has excellent schools, parks, and local amenities.
- Mortgage rates in Georgia are favorable, making these areas accessible to buyers.
- Various loan options, including VA and FHA loans, are available.
Just outside Atlanta’s 285 Perimeter lie the charming suburbs of Roswell, Decatur, and Sandy Springs. Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or an experienced homeowner looking to upgrade, downsize, or relocate, each is more than worth considering for suburban amenities with distinct town vibes and convenient access to all of Metro Atlanta. Mortgage rates in Georgia will form some of your decisions, making the Moreira Team’s calculator a great tool to get an idea of how much money you could get a pre approved home loan for. Homes in these in-demand communities tend to sell quickly, and the firm’s Upfront Guaranteed Approval service positions qualified buyers ahead of those with a traditional pre approved home loan.
Recreational Roswell
While these three suburbs all offer some of the best in neighborhood charm, recreation, and other amenities, each has its own advantages.
Roswell is the northernmost of the three cities, lying between Sandy Springs and Alpharetta. With its waterfront location on the Chattahoochee River, an extensive trail network for hikers and cyclists, and several hundred acres of parks, the city offers so many ways to enjoy the outdoors. The city’s Recreation, Parks, Historic and Cultural Affairs Department won a 2017 Gold Medal for excellence from the National Recreation and Park Association. Kayakers can launch into the river and fishers can try its waters at several riverside parks, and a waterfall marking a Civil War-era mill site is a popular spot for photographs. Recreation and Parks sponsors more than 100 sports programs, classes, and cultural and entertainment events each year.
Roswell’s economy is geared toward corporate headquarters and high-tech industry that offer lucrative careers and low environmental impact for residents. The city began in the 1830s as a river-powered textile mill settlement. Its origins are reflected in the historical district’s Greek Revival homes, including several maintained as museums. Other reflections on the past include the Roswell History Museum and the Computer Museum of America.
Cultural and arts offerings abound in Roswell. Riverside Sounds is a free outdoor concert series on first Saturdays, May through October. Roswell Arts Festival in May features live music, food vendors, and over 100 artists and their varied media works.
Roswell residents can access the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) bus system for both intracity and intercity travel, with several major highways adding to commuter choices. The city also boasts crime rates well below average for the nation, the state, and the metro area.
Served by the A-minus-rated Fulton County School District, students can enroll in any of career and technical courses from cosmetology to computer science or take advanced academic offerings to earn college credit, internship opportunities, and other advantages in applying to competitive-admission institutions.
With so much to attract new residents to Roswell, homes of all kinds tend to sell fast and without being discounted. The median price is now above $725,000. In such a competitive market, buyers can strengthen their position to purchase above the conventional pre approved home loan with an upfront approval guarantee.
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Delightful Decatur
The second in this trio of suburbs lies about five miles east of downtown Atlanta, making it an ideal place for those whose work requires a daily commute to the capital city, especially since it’s connected by the MARTA light rail system, with about a 20-minute ride to Atlanta’s center.
Decatur’s arts vibe is immediately noticeable in the multitude of murals gracing its city center, and a vibrant music scene, a burgeoning food culture, and a growing independent business focus add to the ambiance of historic neighborhoods and college campuses. The frequent site of concerts and festivals, the 15-block Square area pushes dining and shopping at local businesses with the slogan “Shop Indie-Catur.”
Decatur proper is small by suburban standards – less than five square miles – and is, predictably, home to college students (Agnes Scott College is in the city, and Emory University is just to the west) and professionals alike. With an A-rated City school district and a high graduation rate, many young families also call Decatur home. The city has nearly 200 acres of parks, including an inclusive playground for kids with disabilities, and a new track-and-field competition site has been added to facilities for basketball, tennis, softball, soccer, baseball, and a host of other sports. Decatur has an extensive biking and walking trail system, including a stretch of the 19-mile Stone Mountain Trail, and even the city cemetery is a popular place for biking and dog walking.
Historic homes, mid-century ranch houses, townhouses, condos and other residence styles are offered within the city limits, but heavy competition and quick sales have pushed the median price to more than $650,000. In unincorporated areas to the south, though, new developments are being built with a more traditionally suburban mix of home styles, with median home prices near $320,000.
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Secluded Sandy Springs
Located just above the northern arc of the 285 Perimeter, Sandy Springs offers both an amazing feel of seclusion and outdoors recreation opportunities that belie its place just 16 miles from downtown Atlanta.
The Chattahoochee River affords residents here opportunities to fish, kayak, swim, or simply laze with the current, and the city’s generous tree canopy – recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation among the “Tree Cities of the World” – offers hikes through diverse forests and wetlands at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. (The more adventurous can even take a quick zipline ride to see the woodlands from a whole new perspective!) Birding, wildlife photography, and horseback riding are other popular ways to encounter nature.
Competitive and individual sports also abound in Sandy Springs. Steel Canyon Golf Club’s 18-hole course and driving range are open to the public for daily rates, and two private golf clubs provide members-only play. City parks offer either free play or league play in sports that include basketball, baseball, football, pickleball, soccer, softball, and volleyball.
Community is a strong part of Sandy Springs’ attraction as well. The city hosts private and parochial schools, and its public schools all rate a B-plus or higher, with special offerings from after-school computer coding and drone-flying classes to dozens of advanced placement courses. A warm-weather concert series draws people together each month on the City Hall lawn, and City Springs Performing Arts Center offers a year-round slate of concerts and other stage productions with names as prominent as Judy Collins, Johnny Mathis, the State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine, and the Vienna Boys Choir.
Sandy Springs residents are just two miles from Perimeter Mall with national retailers such as Nordstrom and Macy’s as well as specialty shops of all kinds, and well-known grocers such as Kroger, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods make food shopping convenient. In addition to the shopping fun that mom-and-pop boutiques and galleries provide, a host of locally owned restaurants, coffee shops, and clubs add a Sandy Springs flavor to the dining scene.
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How a Pre Approved Home Loan Can Make you a Homeowner
The low-inventory environment and the quick turnover of properties in all three of these suburbs make today’s housing market super competitive. To help you win the house you want – even in a bidding war – the Moreira Team offers an Approval Guarantee that puts you in a superior position to buyers with a traditional pre approved home loan — and you can choose to waive the financing contingency!
- Our Approval Guarantee program can help improve your chances of scoring the house.
- Your offer is as close to a cash offer as possible.
- You’re presenting the seller with a fully underwritten approval.
- Most pre-approvals are based on credit and unverified income rather than being fully underwritten, and they are only good for 30 to 60 days.
- Upfront Approval Guarantee verifies bank records, tax statements, credit scores, income, assets, debt-to-income ratio — and is good for 120 days.
Current Mortgage Rates and Loan Options
Mortgage rates can vary widely depending on the property’s location, your financial yardsticks (credit rating, income, debt-to-asset ratio, and private mortgage insurance, for instance), the mortgage’s amortization term (typically but not always either 15 or 30 years), down payment, closing costs, and whether you and the property qualify for certain federal loan programs. To see your mortgage options, try the Moreira Team’s free mortgage calculator. Next, fill out our Upfront Approval Guarantee page to start the process to qualify for a “super-pre-approved” home loan to be on a competitive level with cash buyers. An Upfront Approval Guarantee puts you in your strongest position to buy the home you really want in Roswell, Decatur, or Sandy Springs – Atlanta’s superb suburbs.