Moving to Atlanta from NZ (sale, real estate, 2013)

[zocster]

Hi all, am looking at migrating to Atlanta early 2013 to do my post graduate studies at GATech, and hopefully settle with my wife and 2 children.

We are Asian from New Zealand.

I have been looking up homes.com and found few areas where I can buy properties up to USD 150k.

How about mobile coverage? What carrier is best in Atlanta?

Thanks in advance, I surely will have further questions later.

[bryantm3]

wow! coming a long way. have you ever been to atlanta? it's certainly different from new zealand but i'm sure you'll grow to love it like home despite the differences.

for mobile coverage, i go with t-mobile because of the customer service— they have great prices, although the coverage is spotty in rural areas (although it's way better now than it used to be).

the reason i don't use verizon despite their having the best coverage is because of the way they treat their customers— my grandfather had a contract with them when he died— we sent them a court certified copy of his death certificate and they refused to release him from the contract. he ended up running $500 in monthly charges before his contract expired, and they took it to fulton county court and filed against his estate!

as for other questions, you didn't really ask any— what would you like to know? if you're going to be going to georgia tech you'll want to live close in to town. are your kids school age, and will they be attending public school? have you decided on a neighbourhood?

[zocster]

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for the reply.

Well my main question is I saw few older threads where house prices mentioned are double of what they are now on some real estate sites.

Is this correct? I am narrowing down to Perkerson park area saw a house I really like, according to Google maps its quite near.

What can you tell me about the area in general? We need our asian food of course, herbs and all, spices.

Is it handy to asian food shop?

Thanks again

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900

[bryantm3]

it depends on what you mean by perkerson park, since there is a neighbourhood in south atlanta called 'perkerson park' that is near east point, and then there is 'perkerson park', an actual city park that is located in capitol view. the capitol view neighbourhood right now is still kind of rough even though the homes are beautiful. perkerson park next to east point would probably be a better bet if that's the two that you're choosing between, but there are much better options.

what kind of neighbourhood would you like to live in, kind of more urban, or very quiet and family oriented? both are available within a reasonable distance to GA tech.

[lastminutemom]

Are schools a concern? Migrating? Have you investigated the immigration rules? Simply earning a degree in the US, doesn't guarantee you residency.

[zocster]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

it depends on what you mean by perkerson park, since there is a neighbourhood in south atlanta called 'perkerson park' that is near east point, and then there is 'perkerson park', an actual city park that is located in capitol view. the capitol view neighbourhood right now is still kind of rough even though the homes are beautiful. perkerson park next to east point would probably be a better bet if that's the two that you're choosing between, but there are much better options.

what kind of neighbourhood would you like to live in, kind of more urban, or very quiet and family oriented? both are available within a reasonable distance to GA tech.

A quiet neighbourhood with a bit of land is good. I will look around again, I don't want to spend any more than what I said above.

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

Are schools a concern? Migrating? Have you investigated the immigration rules? Simply earning a degree in the US, doesn't guarantee you residency.

Schools for the kids, not too much of a concern, Christian/Catholic is what we are after, but they are only 2 going on 3 at this stage. And yeah, I have investigated. Long story short, it's a paid tuition by my Canadian boss to open up a branch in the USA once I completed my post grad studies.

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by zocster

A quiet neighbourhood with a bit of land is good. I will look around again, I don't want to spend any more than what I said above.



Schools for the kids, not too much of a concern, Christian/Catholic is what we are after, but they are only 2 going on 3 at this stage. And yeah, I have investigated. Long story short, it's a paid tuition by my Canadian boss to open up a branch in the USA once I completed my post grad studies.

Once you buy this house, you are likely stuck for at least 5 years, so you won't be able to sale if you don't like the nearby school options. Appreciation is not guaranteed, and in this market is far from a sure thing.

The consensus of most of us on City Data is to rent first, get to know the area and learn the lay of the land. If you are a "tiger dad" you are going to find that there are tremendous differences in the quality of private schools and the best are very expensive. Two going on three sounds young, but that means 2-3 years until they are in kindergarten! Time goes very fast.

[zocster]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

Once you buy this house, you are likely stuck for at least 5 years, so you won't be able to sale if you don't like the nearby school options. Appreciation is not guaranteed, and in this market is far from a sure thing.

The consensus of most of us on City Data is to rent first, get to know the area and learn the lay of the land. If you are a "tiger dad" you are going to find that there are tremendous differences in the quality of private schools and the best are very expensive. Two going on three sounds young, but that means 2-3 years until they are in kindergarten! Time goes very fast.

Haha yeah, time does go by very fast. And I do understand that you pay for what you get.

Please give me some suggestions so I can google. At the minute I am pretty blind, when it comes to the city and its amenities.

Thanks again for spending time in replying to me.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900