The Metro Atlanta area consists of 10 counties and a geographic area of 8376 square miles; quite large compared with most other metropolitan areas.
The ten counties that make up Metro Atlanta are; Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Rockdale.
Atlanta homes for sale range dramatically in price and style depending on what area of Metro Atlanta you are in.
The most metropolitan areas of Atlanta consist of the cities of Atlanta, Decatur, Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta and Marietta.
Together these cities make up most of the populations of Cobb, Dekalb and Fulton Counties.
These areas also have the most expensive and diverse homes for sale in the Metro Atlanta area.
Each city however, offers its own unique flavor and lifestyle that contributes to the overall Atlanta real estate market.
Because Atlanta is so large geographically, when searching Atlanta homes for sale, it is very important to first determine which area of Atlanta you are interesting in buying a home in.
With over 60,000 single family homes for sale at a given time, it would be very difficult, on your own, or even with the help of a REALTOR to search such a vast area to find a home.
Once you have determined the area that best meets your requirements, you can then begin to search homes for sale that more specifically meet your criteria.
Most good real estate websites offer helpful tools that can help you narrow and refine your search by limiting the criteria helping to refine your search.
For example, if you are looking for a brick traditional home built recently on at least half an acre, you need to be able to sort out older homes so you aren't looking through homes that are not within your criteria.
Newer, more advanced real estate websites offer some additional features to help your home search such as interactive maps that populate listings based on criteria that you set allowing you to be able to really get a feel for an area before taking the time that it used to take driving to homes that you won't be interested in living in.
I strongly suggest that you find a website that has these features to help you find your home.
Finally, when searching Atlanta homes for sale, I strongly recommend that you consider the school districts and buy a home in a better school district if at all possible.
This applies even if you have no need for the schools for you or your family.
The fact that a home is in a better school district is indicative of many positive things that ultimately help you with appreciation and resale value down the road.
Homes in better school districts will have a higher demand with a larger group of potential buyers for you in the future and generally indicate an area that is more affluent and in higher demand which creates higher values of properties.