Seriously thinking of relocating to the area in the next year or two for a few reasons. Have opinions of relatives that have lived there for a while but would like to get a few more opinions on: what county/area to relocate to and the cost of living there. I'm looking for a fairly diverse, low crime area where house have backyards and I won't have to drive an hour to get to the mall or Best Buy. So far I've been led towards Gwinnett County. When I go visit in a month, what should I expect. Thanks!
ucking:Gwinnett County
If you want to be surrounded by soccer mom's and strip malls, Gwinnett is for you!
I'm spoiled by living in the city which is, IMO, the best place in Atlanta to live. Much more expensive but the property is so valuable and going up every second. I live across the street from a park and have a big front and back yard, but also a walk from tons of restaurants, shops and a mile from the high rises. Never lock my door. True, you can get about 3x the house in Gwinnett or Cobb or Marietta as you can intown but the area is so much nicer and the investment value is incomparable.
Gonna cost you a pretty penny, though, to buy a house in the city nowadays so it really depends on your budget.
cklennon said:
Gwinnett County
If you want to be surrounded by soccer mom's and strip malls, Gwinnett is for you!
I'm spoiled by living in the city which is, IMO, the best place in Atlanta to live. Much more expensive but the property is so valuable and going up every second. I live across the street from a park and have a big front and back yard, but also a walk from tons of restaurants, shops and a mile from the high rises. Never lock my door. True, you can get about 3x the house in Gwinnett or Cobb or Marietta as you can intown but the area is so much nicer and the investment value is incomparable.
Gonna cost you a pretty penny, though, to buy a house in the city nowadays so it really depends on your budget.
So you actually live in the city? I'm looking at spending around 350k for a house hoping whereever I buy it, the value would appreciate.
WVU said:
MARTA? Name of the public transportation system there right? Now how is public transportation viewed there locally. Sometimes it increases the value of real estate around it and sometimes it depreciates the value of real estate around it (the whole bringing undesirables out the 'burbs perception and etc.)
I lived in Atlanta for a few years, I would never want to go back. Terribly run city. Traffic is so bad is mind knumbing. You may have heard bad traffic there and thought " yeah, yeah, I can handle it"......good luck. There is no relief in sight either it just gets worse and worse and worse. Developers pay off city hall to not have to widen roads or put in sidewalks when they add developments to places that lack the infrastructure to handle all the new people and traffic.
Atlanta can be a pretty area and the weather isnt too bad, but its just dreadfull because of the mess on the roads and the inept and corrupt local government. A nice southern city that isnt so overun with population like Raliegh or Charleston would be SIGNIFICANTLY better in my opinion.
If you are dead set on Atlanta, Alpharetta is a nice part ( north Atlanta). South Atlanta is a good place to go to if you need crack or feel like getting carjacked or shot.
And good luck getting in and out of the airport, ATL airport is a giant overcrowded mess.
Atlanta is the least favorite place for me where I ever lived.
Atlanta can be a pretty area and the weather isnt too bad, but its just dreadfull because of the mess on the roads and the inept and corrupt local government. A nice southern city that isnt so overun with population like Raliegh or Charleston would be SIGNIFICANTLY better in my opinion.
If you are dead set on Atlanta, Alpharetta is a nice part ( north Atlanta). South Atlanta is a good place to go to if you need crack or feel like getting carjacked or shot.
And good luck getting in and out of the airport, ATL airport is a giant overcrowded mess.
Atlanta is the least favorite place for me where I ever lived.
Mr. Smith said:
Worse than Metro D.C.??? By the way, traffic does play an important part of where I decide to live next because traffic is my number one pet peeve and I heard 85 is horrible but I plan on locating myself to where I won't have to get on any interstate or highway during rush hour times. Is there traffic outside of those times as well?
Metro DC is bad, I have read LA, Atlanta and Houston have the worst traffic in the country, in that order.
Atlanta traffic is just miserable. Its actually WORSE in the northern suberbs( the nice part of town to live in) than the city.
Here is something to know about Atlanta. The north half is nicer and mostly white. the city and south Atlanta is mostly black. there are more black people than white and they elect black people from their neighborhoods to all the city government positions. its a black run city. the city government then takes all the tax money that the northern half of the city produces and spends it all in the south part of the city. the north pays the large bulk of the money the city has and the city turns around and blatenly screws them. you get nothing for your tax dollars.
example: businesses in the nice Buckhead district pay impact fees, which are supposed to be for widening roads, building sidewalks, etc in the area the fees are collected from. the black city government actually takes all that money and spends it in the poor neighborhoods. I understand some helping your fellow man is in order, but its very frustrating living in Atlanta choked in traffic everywhere you go and NOTHING is being done about it. Traffic in Buckhead is miserable and always will be. No hope in sight.
Traffic is miserable everywhere in that town. PM rush our starts at 3:30 PM and goes till 7. Am is bad from about 7:30-9.
If you live in Atlanta, you NEED TO get a job close to your house. You DO NOT want a long commute.
If you live in the nice northern suberbs and get a job in the city, you shall be miserable indeed commuting. I know a guy who was a lawyer and left every day at 5 AM from Alpharetta to get to his job by 6 instead of leaving at 7 and getting their at 9. then at 5 PM he would stay downtown and work out at a gym for 2 hours just so he wouldnt have to fight the 5 PM traffic home. Got home at 8 PM, back up the next day at 4:30.
Why did he do it? so his family could live in a nice part of town ( the city sucks). But that is not livin.......
I was fortunate that my job was near where I lived. The traffic is by no means just bad on the highways, the regular roads in North Atlanta are clogged beyond any belief. Its a terrible nightmare and like I said the worst part is it only gets worse and their is no help on the horizon. The city government couldnt care less about fairness or helping the northern part of the city with its traffic problems.
luckily my boss got fed up with the living condiitons and moved our company out of there to Florida. Thank God.
I know someone who moved to ATL about when I left and he regrets it. He has one of those suberbs to the city commutes from hell. He leaves at 5 AM and hates it.
Atlanta traffic is just miserable. Its actually WORSE in the northern suberbs( the nice part of town to live in) than the city.
Here is something to know about Atlanta. The north half is nicer and mostly white. the city and south Atlanta is mostly black. there are more black people than white and they elect black people from their neighborhoods to all the city government positions. its a black run city. the city government then takes all the tax money that the northern half of the city produces and spends it all in the south part of the city. the north pays the large bulk of the money the city has and the city turns around and blatenly screws them. you get nothing for your tax dollars.
example: businesses in the nice Buckhead district pay impact fees, which are supposed to be for widening roads, building sidewalks, etc in the area the fees are collected from. the black city government actually takes all that money and spends it in the poor neighborhoods. I understand some helping your fellow man is in order, but its very frustrating living in Atlanta choked in traffic everywhere you go and NOTHING is being done about it. Traffic in Buckhead is miserable and always will be. No hope in sight.
Traffic is miserable everywhere in that town. PM rush our starts at 3:30 PM and goes till 7. Am is bad from about 7:30-9.
If you live in Atlanta, you NEED TO get a job close to your house. You DO NOT want a long commute.
If you live in the nice northern suberbs and get a job in the city, you shall be miserable indeed commuting. I know a guy who was a lawyer and left every day at 5 AM from Alpharetta to get to his job by 6 instead of leaving at 7 and getting their at 9. then at 5 PM he would stay downtown and work out at a gym for 2 hours just so he wouldnt have to fight the 5 PM traffic home. Got home at 8 PM, back up the next day at 4:30.
Why did he do it? so his family could live in a nice part of town ( the city sucks). But that is not livin.......
I was fortunate that my job was near where I lived. The traffic is by no means just bad on the highways, the regular roads in North Atlanta are clogged beyond any belief. Its a terrible nightmare and like I said the worst part is it only gets worse and their is no help on the horizon. The city government couldnt care less about fairness or helping the northern part of the city with its traffic problems.
luckily my boss got fed up with the living condiitons and moved our company out of there to Florida. Thank God.
I know someone who moved to ATL about when I left and he regrets it. He has one of those suberbs to the city commutes from hell. He leaves at 5 AM and hates it.
Well if you're scared of black people in general, as our friend Mr. Smith appears to be, Atlanta may just not be for you. If you're dead set on living in a white flight neighborhood (Alpharetta, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Gwinnett, Cobb, most of the North suburbs) you're gonna get stuck with bad traffic.
Let me tell you, if living in the "nice" part of town made Mr. Smith hate Atlanta so much, what's so nice about it? I live in a great neighborhood in the city, have lived in Atlanta for 20 years or so and have lived in several intown neighboroods. Midtown, Virginia Highlands, Morningside, Decatur, Druid Hills, these are the nice neighborhoods in the city.
As I said, you're going to pay a lot more in the city for the same house in the north suburbs, but you're going to avoid the traffic (assuming you're working intown). Not to mention the fact that I'm not comfortable living with a bunch of whitebred southern baptists out in Cobb county, I don't particularly MIND that the metro area is ~70% black. The culture is here. If you live in most of the North suburbs the most culture you're gonna get is TGI Friday's.
There are neighborhoods around here where you can get a decent house for $350k but it's not gonna be nearly as big as something outside the city. Spend $350k in Alpharetta and you get a 3000ft2 McMansion, which some people love, but if you spend $350k intown you're gonna get 2-3 bedrooms of a house with some character from the mid-early 20th century. Check out Inman Park, Edgewood, etc, these are the up and coming neighborhoods intown where you can get a house now for $300k that's gonna be worth $500k in 10-15 years.
Let me tell you, if living in the "nice" part of town made Mr. Smith hate Atlanta so much, what's so nice about it? I live in a great neighborhood in the city, have lived in Atlanta for 20 years or so and have lived in several intown neighboroods. Midtown, Virginia Highlands, Morningside, Decatur, Druid Hills, these are the nice neighborhoods in the city.
As I said, you're going to pay a lot more in the city for the same house in the north suburbs, but you're going to avoid the traffic (assuming you're working intown). Not to mention the fact that I'm not comfortable living with a bunch of whitebred southern baptists out in Cobb county, I don't particularly MIND that the metro area is ~70% black. The culture is here. If you live in most of the North suburbs the most culture you're gonna get is TGI Friday's.
There are neighborhoods around here where you can get a decent house for $350k but it's not gonna be nearly as big as something outside the city. Spend $350k in Alpharetta and you get a 3000ft2 McMansion, which some people love, but if you spend $350k intown you're gonna get 2-3 bedrooms of a house with some character from the mid-early 20th century. Check out Inman Park, Edgewood, etc, these are the up and coming neighborhoods intown where you can get a house now for $300k that's gonna be worth $500k in 10-15 years.
cklennon said:
Hell no I don't want to live in a purely "white" part of town, that's why I was asking LOL! I'm receptive to different cultures from every facet of life and background. I'm not completely close minded like some and even though I have my reservation and prejudices of putting myself and family in certain situations, I would not let the race of someone else be a determining factor of where I relocate.
heres the sort of frustrating thing that goes on in Atlanta;
obviously, the traffic is a major headache for everyone.
The major highway if you live in Alpharetta or thereabouts to use to get into the city is the GA400. In my opinion, honestly, it is the single worst crowded, most in need of expansion road in the entire city.
Even though this road was paid off years ago, it is still a toll road. the tolls are supposed to go towards keeping the road up or expansion. the city takes the tolls and spends the money in South Atlanta instead. And the city government is quite unrepentant about that.
The people in the north that generate a lot of the tax dollars suffer the most in the traffic as a result. One day, front page news in the paper, GA400 widening approved by city council....to be completed in 2011!. It needed to be done like 7 years ago, now they are approving it for 2011?
Even worse, just before we moved, the city government cancelled the widening project. They didnt have enough money in the budget for some things and had to make some cuts. Guess what was among the cuts, the 400 widening.
The local Alpharetta representative was taking A LOT of flack from his constituents over that and he finally threw up his hands and said " There was nothing I could do, I voted to keep it in the budget, but I got outvoted". The inner city elected guys are the majority and they run the city.
Its very frustrating to live there and have to deal with the traffic and know that nothing is being done to help the situation. In fact, just the opposite. Its business as usual between the developers and city hall. the developers put in whatever they want, grease city hall with some campaign contributuins and city hall turns around and doesnt make the developers put in the needed road widenings/sidewalks/schools/ needed to accomodate their developments. So the traffic continues to get worse.
Not a place I ever want to live in again.
If there were substantially fewer people living there, it would be a nice city. As it is, I find it unliveable. Luckily, the owner of my company agreed. Its not the black/white thing that is the problem its just you cant get around town without traffic messes. Your life revolves around trying to beat the traffic
obviously, the traffic is a major headache for everyone.
The major highway if you live in Alpharetta or thereabouts to use to get into the city is the GA400. In my opinion, honestly, it is the single worst crowded, most in need of expansion road in the entire city.
Even though this road was paid off years ago, it is still a toll road. the tolls are supposed to go towards keeping the road up or expansion. the city takes the tolls and spends the money in South Atlanta instead. And the city government is quite unrepentant about that.
The people in the north that generate a lot of the tax dollars suffer the most in the traffic as a result. One day, front page news in the paper, GA400 widening approved by city council....to be completed in 2011!. It needed to be done like 7 years ago, now they are approving it for 2011?
Even worse, just before we moved, the city government cancelled the widening project. They didnt have enough money in the budget for some things and had to make some cuts. Guess what was among the cuts, the 400 widening.
The local Alpharetta representative was taking A LOT of flack from his constituents over that and he finally threw up his hands and said " There was nothing I could do, I voted to keep it in the budget, but I got outvoted". The inner city elected guys are the majority and they run the city.
Its very frustrating to live there and have to deal with the traffic and know that nothing is being done to help the situation. In fact, just the opposite. Its business as usual between the developers and city hall. the developers put in whatever they want, grease city hall with some campaign contributuins and city hall turns around and doesnt make the developers put in the needed road widenings/sidewalks/schools/ needed to accomodate their developments. So the traffic continues to get worse.
Not a place I ever want to live in again.
If there were substantially fewer people living there, it would be a nice city. As it is, I find it unliveable. Luckily, the owner of my company agreed. Its not the black/white thing that is the problem its just you cant get around town without traffic messes. Your life revolves around trying to beat the traffic
Well I'd say that's definitely a necessary characteristic if you're seriously thinking about moving to Atlanta. When I tell people from the North suburbs that I live intown, a lot of them are AGHAST. "WHAT? You live in the city? Do you own a gun?" Are the types of questions I'm usually asked.go2guy said:
Sure, there is more crime in the city but there are plenty of neighborhoods that are middle-class neighborhoods with great police protection and neighborhood watches, that kind of thing. As I said I live in a mostly affluent intown neighborhood and never lock my door and have had one break-in in about 15 years of living here. You always get the homeless contingent, guys down by the office buildings begging for change and about two or three times a year I have guys come up to my house asking if I can give them any work, but nothing threatening and I've never felt in danger of my or my family's safety.
Traffic, as Mr Smith said, is a problem in Atlanta. That's why we folks that were smart enough to realize that living intown is the way to go just laugh at the people who live in the suburbs. I don't need a huge mansion, I'd rather live in a place that has lots of parks and trees, fun and original restaurants and retail instead of an O'Charley's and a Target on every block and has an absence strip malls. And while I do pay more for less house, the benefits of that are not having to worry about an hour+ commute every day. Intowners just know to stay off the highways between 7-10AM and 4-7PM and if you can manage that the traffic is only something you hear about on the news.
cklennon said:
not surprised to see something like that. In this country if you make a statement about black people that isnt absolutely clearly 1000% positive, people start throwing stones at you. All I said is black people control the city and rip off the white people who pay the bills. Its true and its frustrating not because of a racial divide but because the north gets taken advantage of and does not get the help they need to make their communities liveable.
the traffic where you live is not nearly as bad as Alpharetta so you may not be as frustrated with the traffic and lack of help coming for it as I was.
I remember this one, there is a big bell south building next to the 285 highway. Bell South had plans to put in a second tower in the future, but it was taking employees up to 45 minutes in the morning commute to get from the 285 off-ramp back-up to their parking space, a distance of maybe 2 miles. Employees were constantly late. Bell South pulled the plug on the expansion and put the new tower in another city.
My point was to warn this poster that this is the kind of thing that happens with the traffic in Atlanta, it sucks and nothing is being done about it. So be advised if you move there, this is the kind of thing you can be in for in your commute.
Atlanta needs to do a better job being responsive to the traffic mess. Because of the traffic they are losing jobs/tax money like this Bell South building that went elsewhere and the company I worked for that moved to Florida.
In some ways Atlanta is very nice. Its a pretty area, people are nice, there is good night life, sporting events. If there were a lot less people living there and you could get around it would be very nice. If it were 1980 and much less crowded, I could live there.
I think the traffic problems are the biggest reason the Hawks and Thrashers draw so bad.
Nobody wants to mess with the traffic weekdays to get there after having done it to and from work already.
My point was to warn this poster that this is the kind of thing that happens with the traffic in Atlanta, it sucks and nothing is being done about it. So be advised if you move there, this is the kind of thing you can be in for in your commute.
Atlanta needs to do a better job being responsive to the traffic mess. Because of the traffic they are losing jobs/tax money like this Bell South building that went elsewhere and the company I worked for that moved to Florida.
In some ways Atlanta is very nice. Its a pretty area, people are nice, there is good night life, sporting events. If there were a lot less people living there and you could get around it would be very nice. If it were 1980 and much less crowded, I could live there.
I think the traffic problems are the biggest reason the Hawks and Thrashers draw so bad.
Nobody wants to mess with the traffic weekdays to get there after having done it to and from work already.
I would say that Florida overall offers much more than Georgia, having lived in both. In general Florida is a much better run state and Florida has no state income tax, while Georgia does.
If you want a diverse community, Miami is very nice. Has a bad rep from Miami Vice show days as if drug dealers with uzis roamed the streets, but I have never felt uncomfortable in Miami. Its a very nice city.
Tampa is very nice. Palm Beach-Ft. Lauderdale area very nice. Many nice small towns in North Florida on the east coast for a family to live in.
If you want a diverse community, Miami is very nice. Has a bad rep from Miami Vice show days as if drug dealers with uzis roamed the streets, but I have never felt uncomfortable in Miami. Its a very nice city.
Tampa is very nice. Palm Beach-Ft. Lauderdale area very nice. Many nice small towns in North Florida on the east coast for a family to live in.
