Atlanta Area For Retirement? Good or Bad Idea? (Smyrna, Peachtree City: real estate, renting)

[Jasminenirvana]

Hello! I am a brand new member on City Data Forum and I have lived in Connecticut for 22 years. My husband and I would like to move to a warmer climate for retirement. Although Connecticut is a good place to live despite high property taxes and brutal snowy winters, we would like to move to a warm, sunny state. Are Atlanta area suburbs a good place to retire? I would love to hear positives and negatives about Atlanta. I have not visited Atlanta yet but we hope to visit next year. Which suburbs are the best to live in? Atlanta real estate seems very affordable so that is a positive but Atlanta is very far from the beaches which would be a negative for me. Would love some input on Atlanta retirement!

[afdinatl]

This has been posted several times. Do a quick search and you will find several great threads about this topic

[lorilove]

Atlanta is an excellent area to retire but it depends on what activities you are looking for?


As for the beaches - they are not close enough for a day trip.

[George Chong]

Other than warmer weather - what else are you looking for? What is your budget?

[DaBurgh]

And your hobbies?

[mattee01]

You won't know until you visit.

[sedimenjerry]

I'm not sure about retiring to the suburbs (although my grandparents have been between Duluth and Suwnanee for at least 20 years now) but the mountains to the north are popular with retirees. You would be far from the ocean though. If I had to choose, I might think about north Forsyth County. Close to Cumming and the suburbs to the south while close to the mountains on 400 to the north.

[cwkimbro]

A good many retirees are attracted to Forsyth County.

-Cheap property taxes
-Lots of house for the money
-Large tree'd housing lots
-New fairly nice developments throughout
-Its just too long to really commute into the city keeps values from growing too high
-There are many active retirees neighborhoods and a good cluster of assisted living facilities for later on.
-Lake Lanier and the Mountains are extremely close by.

But not a great place if you want a town-like setting or don't like the modern cut-off gate-styled suburban developments

On the state level they have drastically cut back taxes for retirees... sort of an unfair tax cut caused by political support from the surge in retirees ... ie. baby boomers... but its specifically targeted to attract more older wealth down here nonetheless. There is a huge income tax exclusion on most types of investment income for those over the age of 62. There is also no state estate tax.

State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees - Georgia -Kiplinger

[Newsboy]

Check out Peachtree City.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tV2b6rpBYk

[netdragon]

Georgia is great. My father retired here from our town in Connecticut and is renting in Smyrna. He loves it. He rides his bicycle on the Silver Comet Trail almost daily. Most new home, condo and townhome communities around here are also swim/tennis communities which means you don't have to deal with pool maintenance and what-not and just pay HOA fees.

Whereas in Connecticut he would sometimes pay $1600 for oil in the winter, his utility bills are almost nothing here due to the weather and the efficiency of the condo. They are barely more than the service fees and government surcharges. If you get a detached home, then I would recommend swapping out the A/C system with a 14 seer or higher system and having an energy audit for things like the insulation and windows and other things you can do to have the best efficiency. Then your summer bills should be pretty reasonable.