Well........
What are you looking for? Suburban or urban, or somewhere in between?
If the burbs are what you are after (kids or soon to be) I grew up in Coweta and Fayette Counties (aka: Delta Base Housing) and know quite a bit about them. However, I am a little less informed when it comes to the north side exept that it costs a little more.
Newnan (Coweta County/under the LGC arrival) is a nice place and where I mostly grew up. It happens to be the only place near Atlanta that was not burned during the Civil War because it was a hospital town. And as such, the original town square and most of the houses still exist that were from the early 1800's. The county is growing by leaps and bounds and unfortunately the roads have not. The traffic between Newnan and Peachtree City (more later) is awful, however the ride to the airport is easy depending on what exit you live near. As far as renting is concerned, take a look at the Newnan Lofts. A couple of years ago they renovated an old cotton mill and turned them into apartments. They are pretty darn cheap and lots of square footage plus they give an airline discount of 10%. Their website is
www.apartments.com/newnanlofts.
PTC (Peachtree City) is a very unique place in that you can get anywhere in town on a golf cart. It is a planned city that started up in the late fifties and it has continued to grow sense. There are not many more ways to describe it other than that it is newer. There are lots of restaurants and shopping around as well.
Fayetteville is on the other side of PTC from Newnan. It is also an older town but grew up mostly in the seventies and eighties as evidenced by HWY 85. However, just like Newnan and PTC there is an abundancy of new subdivisions as well as restaurants and shopping. Of course there are many more small towns in between these three and a lot of open land for building, unlike Dallas or Houston.
Now for a bit more urban...
If you and your wife are DINKS (dual income, no kids) then I recommend the Virginia Highlands, Midtown, Buckhead, Chastain, or Vinings. The major downside to these areas is price. But, you can't beat them for their locations. Plenty of things to do but traffic can always get burdonsome. On the bright side you can always take MARTA directly to the airport. Also, the condo, loft, townhome market is very good right now. This is what my wife and will be doing next year.
Now, let us hear from some of the folks from the north side on the merits of Marrietta, Smyrna, Gwinnett, and Lawrenceville.
Frats,