Alpharetta
Alpharetta literally means first city in Greek. Originally, Alpharetta was the "first city" in what was then Milton County. In fact, before being named Alpharetta, the name was Town of Milton, which is a little confusing given that, as of 2006, there is a City of Milton adjacent to Alpharetta today.
Anyway, that was all back in the 1850’s, and while Alpharetta was not the first city in North Fulton (Roswell was), today Alpharetta is arguably the first city. Look at it this way, Roswell has two exists of GA-400 and Alpharetta has three!
All municipal rivalry aside, Alpharetta has developed itself into a city with good services, low crime and nice parks and recreation facilities. The new Encore Park, currently under construction, will become the northern home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Prospect Park, also under construction, will bring exclusive shopping the Alpharetta to complement North Point Mall.
While the lifestyle is pleasant (except for the traffic, which is always the knock on the Atlanta area) it is the jobs and schools which ultimately make people want to live here. Alpharetta is the commercial and corporate heart of North Fulton. The areas along North Point Parkway and Windward Parkway are home to dozens of corporate headquarters from IBM and Equifax to ADP and Choicepoint to Siemens and Verizon.
As of 2007, approximately 120,000 people call Alpharetta their workplace, which is more than three times the number who call it their home. Alpharetta has indisputably become the first city of commerce in North Fulton. This means that everyday, thousands of people commute into Alpharetta and then home again in the evenings to the surrounding "bedroom communities."
The public schools in Alpharetta are some of the best in the state anchored by Centennial, Chattahoochee and Alpharetta High Schools with a scad of quality middle and elementary schools feeding those high schools. Additionally there is a variety of quality private schools from which to choose including Mt. Pisgah.
At the end of the day, Alpharetta has become the city of choice for so many because it scores high on all the housing decision criteria: well run government, relatively new housing stock and a variety of housing types, close to work, good schools, many shopping and dining options and not too too far from Atlanta and Buckhead for "big city adventures" or to the airport if you have to travel for work or pleasure.
The BIG Number: August
72
The number of homes in all of North Fulton that are on water (river or lake).
On the last day of each month I post a “Big Number” or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.
Posted by: Bob Strader, August 31st, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Crabapple, Johns Creek Real Estate, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, The Big Number | 3 Comments »
Milton Meets Monticello In This Estate Home In The Heart Of Milton
Someone once said “A bargain isn’t a bargain if you don’t need it”. I don’t know if anyone really needs this Gorgeous Estate Home in Milton, but it is a bargain.
LOCATION: Milton, GA
PRICE: $11,500,000
SIZE: 13,043 square feet (approx.), 9 bedrooms, 9 full and 2 half bathrooms plus a 3 bedroom, 2 bath caretaker home.
Sited [...]
Posted by: Bob Strader, August 18th, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Luxury Homes, Milton Real Estate | 3 Comments »
Approved For Your Loan? It Ain’t Over Yet….
A long, long time ago in a place far, far away….2005; the time of easy loans. You spoke to a lender and they pulled your scores, asked you some questions and said “you can afford a mortgage up to $$$”. More importantly, you were 100% sure that there were not going to be any [...]
Posted by: Bob Strader, August 11th, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
More New Construction in Crabapple
Recently I wrote about Anthem homes building 4 single family homes on slabs in the mid $300’s and 4 garden style attached homes on slabs in the high $200’s in Crabapple Crossing. All these floorplans are in the 2800 - 3000 sq. ft. range Not only is it good news for Crabapple but it’s [...]
Posted by: Bob Strader, August 5th, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Crabapple, Milton Real Estate, New Construction | 1 Comment »
The BIG Number: July
20%
The percentage increase in sales of existing homes in North Fulton County for Q2 2010 vs Q2 2009.
On the last day of each month I post a “Big Number” or interesting figure related to real estate in our area.
Posted by: Bob Strader, July 31st, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Local Market Conditions, Milton Real Estate, Roswell Real Estate, The Big Number | No Comments »
Foreclosure Sales Trend Down Helping Equity Sellers
Because I’m on vacation this week I’m slacking on the blog. I have two interesting charts that reflect a positive trend in foreclosure sales and the results due to those declining numbers of foreclosure sales.
In the first chart you see Foreclosures as a percentage of Total Sales. In the 2nd Qtr. 2010 24.4% of all [...]
Posted by: Bob Strader, July 30th, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Metro Atlanta Statistics, Milton Real Estate | 2 Comments »
Housing Starts Down In June?…..Not Really
Let me see if I can make this really confusing….
Housing starts nationally for June are down 5% which the media purports as bad news..but I say it’s really good. But the real facts are that single family starts aren’t down that much, which sounds good but I say it’s bad. Confused yet? Stick with [...]
Posted by: Bob Strader, July 22nd, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Metro Atlanta Statistics, Milton Real Estate, New Construction | No Comments »
A House Grows in Crabapple
Eight of them to be exact. You won’t see them until they go under contract as they are pre-sale only - but I don’t expect that to take long. I’ve been wondering for a while now why we haven’t seen a builder come in and breath live back into the new communities of Crabapple [...]
Posted by: Bob Strader, July 14th, 2010 | LiveInAlpharetta.com
Posted in Alpharetta Real Estate, Crabapple, Milton Real Estate, New Construction | 3 Comments »
