Greg and Candace Moore desired an urban setting with a short commute as they planned their move from Lexington, Ky., for Greg’s new job at Georgia Tech. Greg, 57, and Candace, 58, chatted about the unit they purchased, with the help of Patti Ellis of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty, in 905 Juniper, a Midtown mid-rise.
Q: How did you go about your search?
Candace: Everybody we had talked to said if there's any way to avoid driving, live downtown. We had launched our kids and had lived in a single-family downtown neighborhood in Lexington and really liked being able to walk to restaurants and cleaners and hardware stores and grocery stores.
Since we were getting of the age where we were thinking about having things on one story, we thought, well, why not get a condo? Then all we had to do was to figure out how to move from a house with a basement and an attic and a garage into a condo.
Q: How difficult was that process?
Candace: I thought we had done a pretty good job of downsizing until we got here. Then I discovered I still had twice as much stuff as we needed. We've been though one big holiday with all of the kids here, and they all went home with lots of the Christmas stuff.
Q: What changes did you make to the condo?
Candace: When we looked at the condo, it had black walls and unfinished cement floors. That was just a bit too urban for me, so we put down hardwood and got the walls painted so our Queen Anne furniture didn't look like an eyesore in the condo.
Q: What’s a drawback to condo living?
Candace: We've had a number of dinner parties. ... When you have guests, you can't put the dishes in the kitchen and not have anybody see them.
Q: But how has the location worked out?
Greg: I can take public transportation to work, or I can walk. We can take advantage of all the campus has to offer with plays and musical events. We always walk to the Fox Theatre, which is only five blocks away. You can see a bakery [Bakeshop] from our window, which is kind of dangerous, and dozens of restaurants. Piedmont Park is four blocks away.
Q: What’s one amenity that you were surprised to find you enjoy?
Candace: As we were having all of the stuff done to the house, I was still up in Kentucky and Greg was at work, so the concierge was able to orchestrate all of the workmen. I had no idea what a wonderful asset that was going to make to my life.
Q: How was buying this condo different from previous purchases?
Candace: We also looked at the scale of how many amenities do you need and how much are you willing to pay for. There are condos where you can pay huge monthly homeowners fees and they offer lots in the way of perks, but if they're not the [ones] that you think are important, why should you pay for them?
At a glance
Greg and Candace Moore’s condo in Atlanta’s 905 Juniper building has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and about 2,000 square feet. They purchased it in September. Condos in 905 Juniper range from the mid-$200,000s to the mid-$500,000s.
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