Where to live now in Atlanta 2018

Princeton Lakes

Where to live now in Atlanta 2018: Princeton Lakes
List price: $400,000

Photograph by Planomatic. Listing Agent: Stacy Carter, Better homes and gardens real estate

Atlantans might not associate East Cobb with urban-style walkability, but a closer look reveals a place like Princeton Lakes, where shopping, a local school, and entertainment are steps away.

Nestled a few miles from interstates 75 and 285 and Georgia 400, Princeton Lakes was developed from farmland as a swim-tennis community between the late 1970s and mid-’80s. Comprised of about 300 houses (arranged around an actual lake), the neighborhood is a relatively affordable entree into the Walton school cluster, among the state’s top-scoring districts. Nearby Atlanta Country Club, by comparison, supports home sales of $2 million, while Princeton Lakes properties generally sell for about a quarter of that—when they’re available.

“In the past six months, there’s only been two sales,” notes Toni Itkin, a Coldwell Banker realtor and East Cobb resident. “So it’s a very stable community, very little turnover.”

Homes

Traditional homes on large, well-kept lawns rule the day. Mid-$400,000s fetches four bedrooms and maybe 3,700 square feet, while the higher end (low-$500,000s) lands an HGTV-level renovation on a full, finished basement.

Who lives here?

Families with kids in local schools, generally, though it’s a haven for empty-nesters as well.

Pros

Walking to Mt. Bethel Elementary doesn’t even require leaving the neighborhood. Across the street is shopping hub Merchant’s Walk. For outdoor activities beyond its own swim-tennis amenities, the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area’s Johnson Ferry Unit is less than two miles away—primo for bicycling, running, walking, roller-blading, and even rafting.

Con

“It’s like everywhere else in Atlanta,” Itkin says. “Traffic is always a concern, the topic of conversation.”

Resident review

“What we love about Princeton Lakes is that we’re now seeing the ‘next generation.’ Families are buying homes for the same reasons we did [in 1999]: tons of children and social activities, a six-lane swimming pool, four tennis courts, reasonable HOA fees, multiple youth and adult tennis teams, an active social calendar.”

— Kathy Hanks, mother of three adult children raised in the subdivision

Vital stats

Crime (Annual odds of becoming a victim in the Bishop Lake Road/Roswell Road neighborhood as defined by NeighborhoodScout.com)
Violent crime: 1 in 2,435
Property crime: 1 in 135

Georgia School Grade
Walton High School: A

Crime ratings by NeighborhoodScout.com are based on data collected from more than 18,000 local law enforcement agencies and coded by location. NeighborhoodScout.com is the most widely used neighborhood search engine in the world. It is owned by Location Inc., a leading builder and source of location-based data and tools for businesses and consumers nationwide. NeighborhoodScout areas are based on Census tracts and don’t always exactly mirror neighborhood boundaries.

School grades were provided by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. The office’s Georgia School Grades Reports include “A-F letter grades based on school performance and other useful information about the school, such as performance on statewide assessments, the makeup of the school’s student body, the graduation rate, and additional academic information.” schoolgrades.georgia.gov

This article originally appeared in our February 2018 issue.