Nicole Amin looked forward to returning to Georgia and purchasing their first home after husband Prashant’s medical residency in North Carolina.
“All of our family is here. And we were coming with a new baby,” she said.
The priority
Prashant’s nephrology practice has locations in Gainesville, Braselton, Cumming and Johns Creek, so they targeted the northern suburbs. Although they previously had lived in Atlanta and also attended the University of Georgia, the couple was unfamiliar with the Cumming area. Nicole researched test scores on sites such as the Georgia Department of Education and Greatschools.org. Based on her research, she said she learned that Forsyth County was an up-and-coming area with well-performing schools and lower property taxes than other communities.
The search
Once they narrowed the location to Forsyth County, Nicole searched on Google for real estate agents and found local realtor Gayle Barton of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties. They told Barton they wanted a neighborhood with older trees, space between houses and a private backyard.
The couple brought Elsie, who was 8 weeks old then, to Georgia for a one-day search last spring. They whittled down their list of 12 homes by not even getting out of the car for a couple of them. Although they had seen listings online, viewing the houses in person gave them a much better idea of the property and surroundings.
“I had spent hours and hours and hours looking at houses on Zillow thinking, ‘This is the perfect house,’” she said. “Honestly, I wasted a lot of my time. From being out of state, I didn’t know what the neighborhoods looked like.”
The home
The five-bedroom, three-bath house they purchased in Cumming’s Woodland Park neighborhood was a new listing brought to their attention by their agent.
“Right when we pulled up, we were in awe. We were like, ‘Oh, that house is beautiful.’ It’s on a corner lot, so the lot looks big. We love the stone that was on the exterior,” Nicole said.
The home was move-in ready with hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and a stone fireplace. They plan to use the fifth bedroom as a media room/playroom. The unfinished basement gives them opportunities to build it out for a family room or another play area. To get the neighborhood and lot with mature trees, the couple made sacrifices by purchasing an older home with a layout that was less open than others.
The lifestyle
The couple, both 31, enjoy being able to walk to a pool, tennis court and playground in Woodland Park and taking Elsie to Forsyth County parks and walking trails. “Also, there is Sawnee Mountain Preserve,” Nicole said. “You feel like you’re in the mountains even though you’re 15 minutes from the house.”
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