Young 20 something possibly moving to Newnan, GA, has to decide on job offer by tomorrow! (Atlanta: apartments, lease)

[Physicist_Pants]

Hey guys,

I have two job offers. One is in Charlotte, NC and one in Newnan, GA. Both job offers are pretty equivalent. I have to decide by noon tomorrow.

So my issue is that I want to experience "big city" life. I'm a young, single politically progressive male in my mid 20s. I'm definitely the type that likes other young urbanites. Hip, eclectic neighborhoods are something I'd love to experience, as well as parts of the city that like that.

In the Charlotte, NC offer I'd live in the city proper, but I think Atlanta has so much more to offer that living close to it would be better than living in Charlotte.

Anyway, the job in Newnan is right next to I-85 (you can hear the cars on the interstate from the parking lot), so commuting to it would be easy.

What I want to know is, are there good places to live in the area between Atlanta (the city proper) and Newnan. Google maps says it is 36.2 miles from my workplace to the middle of Downtown Atlanta, which also, according to Google maps, is 38 minutes in lunch time traffic conditions. I was thinking I could live in Union City or Fairburn, which practically splits the distance between work and Downtown Altanta. From either of those places, it would be about 20 miles to work and 20 miles to Downtown Atlanta. This means less than a 30 minute commute to work one way.

Does this sound like a good plan? I plan on making friends and dating in the city, and I just don't think I can maintain friendships and/or relationships with city-dwellers if I live too much further out from the city. So I'm really trying to balance commute and a social life.

What do you guys think? Is the southern part of the city the part a person like me would wanna be near anyway? Do I have to go to the north part of Atlanta proper to get what I want in terms of social life? Other suggestions of places to live? Should I got to Charlotte, NC instead?

Also, am I being realistic about the commute time? In my experience the time estimates from google maps are pretty good IF you are talking about interstates. Is I-85 crowded much? If so then my estimates might be a little off, but I'm thinking not by much. And remember, my commute would just be between Union City and Newnan, not into the city. I'd only be going into Altanta after work and on weekends.

I need an answer real quick.

Yall asked for this info in the sticky, so I thought why not.

1. Budget
$45,000 annual salary total (I'm a resident, so this is normal)

2. House/Condo/Townhome?
Apartment

3. Employment Status(commute/work from home)
Commute

4. Children(public school vs. private)
No children, Single male

5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two
Strong preference for Urban lifestyle.

6. Easy access to public transit, important or not?
Public transit would be a plus. Is there public transit to Newnan or Union City or something nearby into the city? I have a car so its not a big deal.

7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood.
Racially and religiously diverse is nice, but I just wanna live close to Atlanta

Whatcha guys think?

[flyonpa]

Given you want of a urban environment, Assuming the Charlotte, NC job is 'downtown' I would pick that location.

You would have a reverse commute going from Atlanta to Newnan, But I would expect a 45 min (min) commute each day, depending on where you start from. Other can comment about apartments on the south side & In Atlanta core,

[ATLTJL]

I think you should move to Charlotte.

You'd be amazed how quickly driving 20 miles in to the city to visit people or go out starts to seem like too much of a hassle and you just don't do it. As a resident, you'll be so exhausted on your off time that making this trip is going to be the very last thing you want to do. Union City is also, well, just not very desirable.

You will also learn pretty quickly that people in the city won't keep you in mind for social activities. I'm not saying they won't be friends with you because you live in Union City, but expect to not be included on last minute plans because you aren't nearby. It's just human nature, people don't invite someone who lives far away unless the event is preplanned because they don't want to wait for you to arrive, especially if you get stuck in traffic.

Do yourself a favor and live in the city proper in Charlotte. The social scene in uptown Charlotte is arguably better than the scene in Atlanta, anyway, even though Atlanta has a larger population.

Most of the time in situations like this people will say, "well, it depends on who you are, what you are willing to do, blah blah blah." For your particular situation, this is a no-brainer. If you work in Newnan, I can make a guaranteed promise right here, right now, that you will regret it. After your lease is up, you will decide to either live in Newnan to be close to work or live in Atlanta and commute every day. Either scencario is going to be miserable. I don't see why you would do that when the situation that you want is being offered in a city that is probably only lacking a few things that Atlanta has, but at the same time, offering some things that Atlanta does not. I actually think the cities are fairly comparable in terms of quality of life, cultural offerings, etc. I would actually prefer to be a young single person in Charlotte right now because of the vibrancy in the uptown area.

[tonygeorgia]

I would move to Charlotte just because of the commute. Move back to Atlanta once you can get a job near 285. Now if you had a family I would recommend you moving to Peachtree City but since you are single that commute would be too long.

The social scene is better in Charlotte with a 1:45am last call lol...come on

[starfish27]

I'm going to cast another vote for Charlotte. Newnan is just not young, hip, or progressive. It's closer to Alabama than it is to Atlanta. I wouldn't consider Union City or Fairburn to be good choices either. They're just not very young or desirable areas. If you commuted from the city you'd be looking at about an hour commute without traffic. You'd be spending so much money on gas. I've only been to Charlotte once and I was on business so I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked, but it seemed very nice. Lots of young people and it had a nice downtown area. I'd pick that just based on convenience.

[jsvh]

Yea. Charlotte vs Newnan, I would go with Charlotte. Then work your way to finding a job in Atlanta proper

[shalc]

I also think it would be hard for you to live an "urban" lifestyle living in the area you're talking about. When I first moved to the area, I lived in the suburbs (Roswell) -- but I never felt like I was really living the urban lifestyle until I moved to midtown.... and Roswell is much more built up and has more young folks than either Fairburn or Union City.

If you really want to have an urban social life here you have to live in town. Real city dwellers hate going OTP (outside the perimeter - 285) to go hang out with somebody. And you would also have to commute both to work and to places to hang out. It's easier to meet people closer to where you live b/c you do so many things closer to home -- going out to eat, drink, the gym, other activities....

Anywho, it is doable, but it's much harder than it would be if you were living intown. I'm not sure a lot of young professionals live in the areas you're looking at either. Some suburbs do have more young people than others but I don't think you'll like it where you're looking at.

[GeorgiatoChina]

I don't know about Charlotte having a better "social scene" but that Newman commute would be awful for a young person looking to enjoy the city.

I'd hate to choose the smart city but since Charlotte is not that small (2+million) and is closer to more large cities it wouldn't be that bad and you might like it better since NC overall is a better state.

[GeorgiatoChina]

I notice that the OP only said his job in Charlotte was in the city proper and not actually downtown. This could change something's.

[Physicist_Pants]

No, the Charlotte job is really close to downtown. I will work in two facilities, one of which is practically in downtown (a block or two south of it), and the other facility is 15 minutes away from the center of downtown by car. I can live in the arts district (NoDa) or within walking distance from downtown and easily commute to both. In fact, if I live close to the one that is nearest downtown, I could walk to it. My time will be split between these two facilities.