Super Bowl 51 special: An insider’s guide to Atlanta

In honor of this Sunday’s big game, we’ve teamed with Curbed Atlanta’s editor to provide the following insights about the Falcons’ home market. Consider it a friendly peek behind enemy lines.

The post-recession years have been good to the Big Peach (yes, that’s an actual nickname), with the metro population swelling to nearly 6 million and housing prices spiking more than 11 percent last year alone.

Still, like much of the Sun Belt, it’s a relatively affordable place to live. Median home values clock in at $201,000, though sizable places—Atlantans love their houses with yards, even in the heart of the city—will cost far more in choice areas.

1. Sample properties from Atlanta's hottest neighborhood:

Midtown Atlanta is positioned between the business and touristy district of downtown and the flashy, moneyed streets of Buckhead. In this 1 square mile of the city, some 45 construction projects are underway or in the pipeline, many of them high-rises.

Below are two examples of what buyers might find in Midtown right now:

^ $324,900 buys this 1-BR, 1-BA Midtown loft at the cusp of Piedmont Park, Atlanta’s premier greenspace. Square footage: 1,038.

^ Meanwhile, on the leafy residential streets of Midtown, $1.29 million buys this 4-BR, modern renovation with more than 3,000 square feet and multiple outdoor lounging options.

2. Surprising things about Atlanta that every Atlantan knows:

• Southern Hospitality© is real—in a good way. At Target, someone will hold the door open for you, even though you’re still 50 feet away. People who stopped at intersections before you will wave you through. Many little kids say “sir” and “ma’am” without sarcasm.
• The Atlanta Beltline, a planned 22-mile loop of multi-use trails and light transit around the core of the city, was dreamed up by Georgia Tech grad student Ryan Gravel back in 1999. Completed sections of the Beltline are insanely popular, and about five more miles of paved trail are expected to open this year. In 2014, the International Real Estate Federation named the Beltline the “Best Environmental Rehabilitation Project” in the world.
• When you call it “Hotlanta,” people wince, and you sound like a tool.

3. These stereotypes are true:

• Atlanta gets hot as Hades in the summer—for three months, in bad years. People typically retreat to a pool and do nothing. Being able to wear t-shirts in January helps atone for that, though.
• Traffic usually sucks in Atlanta. Period. The metro area grew too quickly to keep up, and public transit has encountered pushback (especially from the suburbs). But the city itself overwhelmingly approved two potentially game-changing transit taxes last year.
• Atlantans worship college football. On Saturdays in the fall, it’s like a giant melting pot of collegiate allegiances, all trying to outdrink one another.

4. Editor’s pick — a quintessential Atlanta home:

Home: 1920 bungalow

Price: $439,000

Size: 3-BR, 3-BA

Square footage: 2,422

Atlanta is loaded with stylishly rehabbed bungalows built about a century ago. This one is in the walkable Kirkwood neighborhood, about five minutes from downtown by Interstate 20 or four stops on the MARTA train.