If I had to go to Tucker everyday I’d probably live on a horse farm in N Rockdale or around Loganville. Maybe even farther out in Walton Co. or maybe closer in near N Druid Hills if you don’t have kids to send to public school.

Just not a big fan of Dekalb County overall. It is a poorly run county with crap schools and laughable politics. Majority minority county, democrat run. I’m not much of a fan of Gwinnett either as it has many of the same problems now, due to unchecked growth for the last 30 years.

I was born in Decatur, lived in Stone Mountain until 10 and then to Conyers.

As to property tax, you may be looking at houses in 2 different counties. Millage rates are based on the county you live in. I think Tucker is in Dekalb but I think some may also be in Gwinnett. Or at least some of the surrounding homes are because the county line is close. You could also be looking at a house owned by people who have the school exemption. I think Zillow shows the estimate based on the last few years so if the people currently residing there are over 65, they don’t have to pay school taxes, which is the bulk of the bill. Gwinnett and Dekalb both have over 65 school exemptions.

Looking more toward Gwinnett. Dekalb is out of the question, for many reasons. My wife wouldn’t want to live far out, she’s a city gal, so a happy medium would be somewhere like Lawrenceville or the like.

The houses I was looking at that had the huge differences in taxes, were all in Gwinnett County and within a few blocks of each other.

If one person in the house is 65 and the other is 50, and we have zero children, what does that do for property taxes? Can the school exemption be claimed?

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Looking more toward Gwinnett. Dekalb is out of the question, for many reasons. My wife wouldn’t want to live far out, she’s a city gal, so a happy medium would be somewhere like Lawrenceville or the like.

The houses I was looking at that had the huge differences in taxes, were all in Gwinnett County and within a few blocks of each other.

If one person in the house is 65 and the other is 50, and we have zero children, what does that do for property taxes? Can the school exemption be claimed?

Depends on the county so you'll have to look that up where you intend to live.
Where I am, if one of the owners is 65, you get $300,000 off the appraised value on the school portion of your property taxes. There are a number of others too written into the various county and city codes.
Use this site to find the property you are looking at and there's all sorts of info. Go down to the tax assessors link and you can find that info too.

https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Looking more toward Gwinnett. Dekalb is out of the question, for many reasons. My wife wouldn’t want to live far out, she’s a city gal, so a happy medium would be somewhere like Lawrenceville or the like.

The houses I was looking at that had the huge differences in taxes, were all in Gwinnett County and within a few blocks of each other.

If one person in the house is 65 and the other is 50, and we have zero children, what does that do for property taxes? Can the school exemption be claimed?

Not sure on taxes but downtown Lawrenceville is pretty nice. In fact, a lot of the suburban town centers around Atlanta have been revitalized lately with people wanting a denser, more urban and walkable, lifestyle. Downtown Lawrenceville has some nice shops, restaurants, a brewery, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Looking more toward Gwinnett. Dekalb is out of the question, for many reasons. My wife wouldn’t want to live far out, she’s a city gal, so a happy medium would be somewhere like Lawrenceville or the like.

The houses I was looking at that had the huge differences in taxes, were all in Gwinnett County and within a few blocks of each other.

If one person in the house is 65 and the other is 50, and we have zero children, what does that do for property taxes? Can the school exemption be claimed?

In Gwinnett seniors 65 and older making less than 120K can get an exemption. I would assume as long as one of you is 65 it would apply.

When you say Dekalb is out of the question, My reason for not wanting to not live in Gwinnett is Dekalb has moved east. Gwinnett flipped to blue last presidential election. Along with that came new school board, new sheriff, local seats etc...

Another consideration I haven't seen mentioned, the area seems to have a number of Sigforum members and lot's of places to practice your hobby, both indoors and outdoors.

In my county, the Sheriff holds a quarterly class to teach basic gun safety and then any residents can use the outdoor range 4 days a month, no charge.

Lot's of 2A friendly LE, ex-LE and firearms enthusiasts there to help beginners, monitor safety practices and whatever else. Targets included, just bring ammo, a gun, and safety gear (eye and hearing protection).
They even have a rifle range and are working on building a longer range version.

Gun climate is definitely friendly in Georgia. Legislation is good (constitutional carry, shall issue permits, no waiting period on purchase) and general attitude of the public is good as well. Gun stores and indoor ranges abound near the city and longer outdoor ranges are accessible within an hour drive or so. Some private but also plenty of public.

And yes, there are MANY sigforum members in the metro.

Another question…

We went for a walk last night and it was pitch black. Couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. There are no street lights here and no one turns on their outside lights. It’s a “dark sky community”, which is awful in my opinion. It’s not just my neighborhood, but the town of Clarkdale, City of Cottonwood, Sedona, etc all live and die by it. The regulations for exterior lighting is pretty harsh.

We like street lights and well lit neighborhoods.

Is the Lawrenceville area well lit? Do they have street lights?

I certainly don’t want another dark sky community.

Scorpions are attracted to light, they like bugs. Everyone around here that knows that, the ones that don't, and leave a porch light on, have scorpions .

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
Scorpions are attracted to light, they like bugs. Everyone around here that knows that, the ones that don't, and leave a porch light on, have scorpions .

My house it lit up like an airport. I don’t have issues with bugs because I spray for all of them.

That’s not the question though. I’m curious as to if Lawrenceville Georgia has street lights.

quote:

Is the Lawrenceville area well lit? Do they have street lights?

Yes, times 5

BigSwede, thank you. That’s fantastic news!