The neighborhoods in central and surrounding Atlanta offer a unique compilation of small-town charm with city-center access. Atlanta is a vibrant city with fun activities, art exhibits, and great local businesses.

If you love living in a close-knit neighborhood, and enjoy the ability to walk or bike to anything in the city, check out these top nine pedestrian and bike friendly Atlanta neighborhoods.

1) Midtown

Midtown, Atlanta is an epicenter of family fun, shopping, dining, and local events. It is...

It's not easy to find objective ratings and reviews for public schools. While there are several independent websites that rate schools, they're often contradictory and difficult to decipher. So to get the full story, you spend time scouring multiple school review sites to determine a consensus of the ratings they provide for each school. 

On each of our Atlanta School Guides we've done the legwork for you.  And we provide a simple, yet effective, thumbs up/thumbs down rating system designed to give you an "at a glance" review of the school serving a given neighborhood or community.  

Keen Team "Thumbs Up" Rating

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Atlanta’s history is rich with stories of triumph, failure … and new beginnings.

Ponce City Market, a building that’s playing a vital role in transforming Old Fourth Ward and the surrounding neighborhoods of Midtown and Virginia Highlands, is a perfect example.

This once-abandoned building is a key player in the redevelopment of one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods.

In this article, we’ll discuss...

We know that Atlanta is unique – and not just because of Coca-Cola, CNN and the CDC. Atlanta stands out among major U.S. cities because of what it doesn't possess: a navigable waterway.

Why does that matter? Read on.

Many major U.S. cities are built on navigable waterways. Minneapolis, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans are located on the historic Mississippi River. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are located along the Ohio River. New York, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle are coastal cities.

Atlanta is one of the few major U.S. cities that isn’t built on a major river or near a large body of water. (The Chattahoochee isn't navigable for major shipping or transport.)

Many major cities in the United States grew along rivers banks and ocean ports....

There’s no question that the Atlanta Beltline’s miles of trails, acres of green space and improved access to transit is transforming the city of Atlanta. The Beltline creates economic boosts to Atlanta's Intown neighborhoods, new access to employment opportunities, and creates the opportunity for foot traffic (and bike traffic) to reach new retail and office space. 

Guess what? It's not alone.

The Beltline isn’t the only redevelopment project that can breathe new life into the City of Atlanta.

In the coming decades, the following five projects — Turner Field, Fort McPherson,...

The Kirkwood neighborhood of Atlanta is a historic community of more than 3,000 households on the east side of Atlanta, a “small town in the big city. The original Kirkwood neighborhood, designed by architect Will Saunders in the 1870s, became a streetcar suburb of Atlanta by 1910. It's now entirely in DeKalb County and is bordered by Oakhurst, Edgewood, East Lake, and Lake Claire.

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Where exactly is "Intown" Atlanta anyway? Loosely defined: it's "Inside the Perimeter" - meaning the geographic area inside of the circular, eight- to 12-lane, 60-mile stretch of I-285 that completely surrounds Atlanta and its nearby neighborhoods and towns. More specifically, "Intown Atlanta" refers to the cluster of 37 neighborhoods close to the city center.  And here at The Keen Team, we recently launched a new interactive Intown Atlanta Neighborhood Map Search.  Click the image below to get started.

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Sherwood Forest

First developed in the 1940s, Sherwood Forest is a quiet, residential neighborhood which runs adjacent to Ansley Golf Course. Going with the Robin Hood theme, the main thoroughfare is Robin Hood Road, with Friar Tuck Road and Little John Trail overlooking the greens.  On Lady Marian Lane and Nottingham Way you’ll find well-kept mid-century ranch style homes.

Since the Sherwood Forest neighborhood is within walking distance of the Beltline’s loop, residents look forward to a future Beltline connection.

Virginia Highlands

What started as an early 20^th-century streetcar suburb, Virginia-Highland is a neighborhood named after the intersection of Virginia Avenue and North Highland Avenue, the heart of a busy commercial district at the center...

Buying a home is no small decision, and the process is no minor feat.

To make things less stressful for you, here is a quick and easy overview of all steps along the way. This can help you understand what you’re getting into, and learn how to handle each step as you get there.

Don't forget: if you work with the Keen Team, you'll have an advocate helping you every step of the way. (Check out our testimonials.)

1. Set a Budget

When deciding how much to budget for a home, remember that the mortgage amount you’re approved for doesn’t necessarily equal the amount you can afford.

The cost of owning a home involves more than just the price of the property; it also includes the extra expenses that come along with...

Edgewood, located near Little Five Points (L5P), Cabbagetown, Kirkwood and East Atlanta, is one of Intown Atlanta's most booming and vibrant neighborhoods. It's also an affordable place to live for many first-time homebuyers.

Let's take a closer look at life in Edgewood...

Home values in Edgewood...

Interested in selling your home? You might have questions about timing.

Have home prices peaked? Is it currently the best time to sell your house? Or should you wait for another six months or a year, with the hope that home prices will rise further?

Unless you own a crystal ball, there’s no way to know where home prices are headed. We see that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased by 6.8 percent in April 2015 compared with April 2014, according to CoreLogic, a property research firm.

News about the Atlanta real estate market is generally upbeat. Atlanta is the third fastest-growing market in the U.S for new homes, posting sales gains of 10 percent from a year ago.  What’s more, the median sales price for Atlanta homes is $262,500, up 6.4 percent since the same time a year before.

So the market...

Lien Release vs. Full Satisfaction in Short Sales

When buyers purchase real property, they, and the title company insuring title, will ensure that the property is conveyed free and clear of all liens.  When your lender agrees to a short sale, they are agreeing to release their lien(s) from the property for less money than what is owed so the property can be sold.  So whenever a property is sold in a short sale, the lien is released from the property.  Yet the lender generally has two choices.
Lenders can either: 1) Release the lien and declare the debt paid and settled in full (called a "full release and satisfaction") or 2) Release the lien only from the property and still consider you personally liable for any unpaid balance of the loan ("lien release only").
In all situation our negotiators strive to obtain a "Full Release and Satisfaction" of your debt.  ...

Buyers find lots of reasons to lose sleep when purchasing a home, but coming up with a 20 percent down payment shouldn’t be a source of anxiety.

In the days before government groups guaranteed mortgage loans, lenders usually required 20 percent down payments so buyers would have some skin in the game – equity –and incentive to keep paying down their mortgage debt.

Today, however, lenders can accept less than 20 percent down payment because a myriad of government agencies will guarantee the loans under specific conditions. And even if your lender requires 20 percent down, there are ways of raising that money without tapping out your savings.

Here are some ways you can handle a down payment so you can buy the house you love.

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In 2012, 14 percent of all home buyers...

You want your home to stand out when you list it for sale, but you’re not a design expert. You may watch HGTV on occasion to get some ideas, but every time you do, you feel overwhelmed. The average busy person just doesn’t have the skill or the time to tackle most of the projects they show.

Fear not, intrepid homeowner — there are 10 easy things you can do to make sure your house impresses potential buyers, and you don’t need a ton of time or an extensive tool collection to do them.

1. Make It Sparkle

It’s easy to overlook the little things when you’re getting your house ready for sale. You may clean the windows, polish the hardwood floors and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, but sometimes the smaller details can make...