ATL rent prices vs. People who hate Atlanta (White: apartments, insurance)

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I think something important to note here is that Atlanta offers a pretty good living situation for a fairly reasonable price.

Even on a rather modest income, I was able to live in a very nice apartment in Buchkead walkable to MARTA, a gorgeous 33 acre park, Lenox mall, and the businesses around there. For the same price, I never would have been able to afford Manhattan or Lincoln Park.

And now I can afford a 3 bedroom house in a suburb where I am surrounded by greenspace and 3 minutes from my door I can grocery shop, kayak in a lake, tube down a river, or walk my dog in some woods.

I will have to make a recommendation that I would never make. I hate the show Girls on HBO (don't ask me why I watch it, I just can't stop.) In addition to showcasing why the millenials are pretty much the worst generation ever, it does an excellent job showing what it is really like to live in Brooklyn if you work a regular job and have a regular income. It's not living in an ultra hip pad sipping mojitos on the patio of your local trendy bar down the block....its living in a dingey old apartment surrounded by brown, ugly, falling apart buildings. That's what NYC has for you unless you have a lot of money.

If what germansoldier says is true, then all you need to make is about 50k-60k(Easy if you have a professsional job in NYC area) to afford a 1300 dollar apartment. You can even have 1 roommate and make less and easily be able to afford that and still get to Manhattan in 30-40 minutes by subway. Remember, you also don't have to pay 300-400 in gas every month or a car note or car insurance.

Not everyone in NYC lives in Chelsea or Upper East Side. There's Queens and Brooklyn that also offer a smaller big city experience while being half an hour away from the big city by subway.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

You know the one thing I noticed about most of the interesting cities in this country is that they generally have a Little Tokyo/Chinatown neighborhood. or both. Now that I think about it, Atlanta has neither unless you count Buford highway which technically isn't a neighborhood.

Older cities have enclaves like that because of their history. Many of them were home to large groups of immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries, and most were also built well before the age of the automobile.

That isn't true of Atlanta. Perhaps that makes it less "interesting" to some, but does that really matter? Not all good places to live are interesting to tourists, and not all places that are interesting to tourists are good places to live.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

That isn't true of Atlanta. Perhaps that makes it less "interesting" to some, but does that really matter? Not all good places to live are interesting to tourists, and not all places that are interesting to tourists are good places to live.

True or Las Vegas by that logic would be a great place to live and we know that is not that great of a place to live. Still, that something I've noticed personally. All of the cities I love and like have those ethnic enclaves/neighborhoods. I'm also into the Asian culture.

[ATLTJL]

It's a pretty easy argument to solve.

Hop onto NYC Craigslist and type in a maximum rent of $1300 in Brooklyn and see what that gets you. If that makes you happy, you're golden! But you'll see it's much less than you would get here.

It's also important to note that if you're conservative, $1300 is a pretty decent stretch if you make $50k per year, and even $60k. It means you aren't saving enough for retirement and are probably cooking almost all of your meals at home.

I don't know anybody who spends $400 in gas every month, but in NYC a 7-day subway pass is $29. So most months you'll be paying around $116 for transportation, and that doesn't include when you have to take a cab.

I'm not sure what utility costs are, but I assume they are much higher than here. Probably it would equal out to the same, though, because you'll have such a small amount of space that even at the higher cost you won't have to use as much energy to climate control your place.

But I personally don't see a major difference between being 30 minutes away from Manhattan in Brooklyn or 30 minutes away from Atlanta in Alpharetta.

I'm not saying you shouldn't move there, I think I've said before that you absolutely, positively should!!!!! New York is great while you're young to go out and have your young experiences and not worry about the future. But after you've hit 30 and need to be more responsible with how you do things, cities along the lines of Atlanta start to make a lot more sense, and that's why you have so many people who still want to live here.

Having said that, I still think it's a major blow to the city to lose the vibe of attracting young people and I think the city made immesaurably huge mistakes in the early 2000s that made the city so much less attractive to young people. It's really not so much the city itself's fault nearly so much as the Atlanta City Council's.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

It's a pretty easy argument to solve.

Hop onto NYC Craigslist and type in a maximum rent of $1300 in Brooklyn and see what that gets you. If that makes you happy, you're golden! But you'll see it's much less than you would get here.

It's also important to note that if you're conservative, $1300 is a pretty decent stretch if you make $50k per year, and even $60k. It means you aren't saving enough for retirement and are probably cooking almost all of your meals at home.

I don't know anybody who spends $400 in gas every month, but in NYC a 7-day subway pass is $29. So most months you'll be paying around $116 for transportation, and that doesn't include when you have to take a cab.

I'm not sure what utility costs are, but I assume they are much higher than here. Probably it would equal out to the same, though, because you'll have such a small amount of space that even at the higher cost you won't have to use as much energy to climate control your place.

But I personally don't see a major difference between being 30 minutes away from Manhattan in Brooklyn or 30 minutes away from Atlanta in Alpharetta.

I'm not saying you shouldn't move there, I think I've said before that you absolutely, positively should!!!!! New York is great while you're young to go out and have your young experiences and not worry about the future. But after you've hit 30 and need to be more responsible with how you do things, cities along the lines of Atlanta start to make a lot more sense, and that's why you have so many people who still want to live here.

Having said that, I still think it's a major blow to the city to lose the vibe of attracting young people and I think the city made immesaurably huge mistakes in the early 2000s that made the city so much less attractive to young people. It's really not so much the city itself's fault nearly so much as the Atlanta City Council's.

Well, as I said before, Queens and Brooklyn are very urban, just as urban as central Atlanta so you still have a big city experience right there. It's much different then being in Alpharetta. They don't even compare.

Making 60k, you bring home around 4500 a month. 1300 a month in rent/ultilities based on what the poster said, you would still have 3200. Let's just say you spend 500 more on whatever needs you have to. You still have 2700 dollars!!!! Young people don't save up that early and we all know this. Even 1500 a month leftover, you would still have more then enough to enjoy yourself.

60,000 for a single person with no kids is a lot of money, with a roommate/partner making even 40k, that's more then enough to live your life in NYC...a lot more then you think. If you have a family making that much, then maybe you shouldn't be living in the city in the first place.

[ATLTJL]

Making 60k, you bring home around 4500 a month

Clearly you have never heard of federal income tax, state income tax, FICA, medicare tax, health insurance premiums, or 401(k) contributions.

Have you ever had a job before?

If you make $60k a year, you are lucky to bring 3k home a month, and probably not even that much.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Clearly you have never heard of federal income tax, state income tax, FICA, medicare tax, health insurance premiums, or 401(k) contributions.

Have you ever had a job before?

If you make $60k a year, you are lucky to bring 3k home a month, and probably not even that much.

So you think they will take over 1k away from you and I was being very liberal there. Even if you take home 4k a month, it still more then enough for you to afford 1300 dollars in rent/utilities and live decently alone.

Of course, I had a job. I even had my own website/coded a game making thousands a year in my first 2 years of college and last 2 years of highschool. I made more money then 95% of the teenagers at my age. Of course, I didn't pay taxes but don't tell anyone. It's why I went into Computer Science in the first place.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

...
I will have to make a recommendation that I would never make. I hate the show Girls on HBO (don't ask me why I watch it, I just can't stop.) In addition to showcasing why the millenials are pretty much the worst generation ever, it does an excellent job showing what it is really like to live in Brooklyn if you work a regular job and have a regular income. It's not living in an ultra hip pad sipping mojitos on the patio of your local trendy bar down the block....its living in a dingey old apartment surrounded by brown, ugly, falling apart buildings. That's what NYC has for you unless you have a lot of money.

And dirty as hell to boot.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Clearly you have never heard of federal income tax, state income tax, FICA, medicare tax, health insurance premiums, or 401(k) contributions.

Have you ever had a job before?

If you make $60k a year, you are lucky to bring 3k home a month, and probably not even that much.

Yep.

[ATLTJL]

Dude, you've got some hardcore lessons you are about to learn when you graduate!