re: Atlanta, Charlotte or Nashville

Marietta proper is fine and has some charm. It's not 30 miles away though. Overall I think Atlanta suburbs are declining, but that wasn't really my point in the 30 mile thing. But on a county-by-county basis, it's hard to see which suburban counties are on the rise.

IMO it's a cycle with the outer burbs especially. They go from somewhat rural/nothing to suburban in character, but they're fairly cheap because of the distance. It leads to a boom in development and increasing quality of life (at least from a suburban angle). People with reasonable priorities flood those areas looking for decent schools and space, but because of the nature of the development (cheaper, chain-centric, etc.) it's often followed by a steep decline because it's accessible. Moreover, because they've got nothing to hold value (far from the city, usually no geographic features, new-built cheap neighborhoods instead of older, established areas), people flee to the next outer suburb that's growing up. Which leads to a vacuum and home price collapse that is filled with people who may not have the original priorities of the first group.