Military family thinking of moving to the ATL area from Hampton Roads Virginia. Pros and cons? (Atlanta: relocation)

[mclean]

Hello,

We just retired from the Air Force and live in Hampton Roads, Virginia. We are considering relocationg to the Atlanta area because of less expensive housing. We can get the same house in ATL as Virgina, but alot cheaper. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of moving to Atlanta? We have three children (two that will be in collegeand one in middle school.) We are government employees, so we are curious about job opportunites in that area.

Thank you!

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[antiquesmountainapache]

As I tell everyone -- please, please do not come to Atlanta without a job. Do you have any particular ties to this area? It is so sprawling and, as always, the traffice is horrible. If home price is the only factor involved, I would honestly try some other southern cities. This advice comes from a native who lived in other areas and has returned. My first suggestion would be Chattanooga.

[BobKovacs]

Well, your ability to get a good job is going to depend on your skills. What did you do in the Air Force, and are you looking only for government positions?

[JayRockTeam]

I went to Hampton University so I'm somewhat familiar with what you may be used to (at a minimum what your kids are probably used to).

Pros
Big city with plenty of opportunity
Plenty of activities
Plenty of choice in housing and locations

Cons
Traffic
Traffic
Traffic (no seriously its bad, and getting worse)
Distance from the beach

Seriously other than that the adjustment to living in Atlanta is largely in the mind of the person making the move. There are plenty of locations and job opportunities to be had. You'll definitely want to take a couple of prolonged trips down to get the lay of the land before making a final decision.

.

[dbarbee82]

Atlanta is a great place to live. Over the years, Atlanta has experienced an resurgence and great things are happening. Just like any city, Atlanta has its pros and cons, a pro, affordability, a con, traffic. But you will find your niche here in Atlanta, at first I was skeptical, but I am glad I made the move. I was reading the other post and saw that having a job is cruical before moving here.

[NorthmeetsSouth]

Originally Posted by mclean

Hello,

We just retired from the Air Force and live in Hampton Roads, Virginia. We are considering relocationg to the Atlanta area because of less expensive housing. We can get the same house in ATL as Virgina, but alot cheaper. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of moving to Atlanta? We have three children (two that will be in collegeand one in middle school.) We are government employees, so we are curious about job opportunites in that area.

First of all, thank you for your service to your country!

There are a lot of areas around Atlanta that I wouldn't like to live, and there are others that are quite nice. Where will your kids be going to college? What did you do in the Air Force? What type of work will you be looking for?
All of these things are important because there is so much traffic in Atlanta that you don't want to wind up living too far from work and school.

Another place you might want to look at (depending on what your job was) is Warner Robins. Half of that base is manned by ex-military civilians who work on the jets from all of the bases all over the world. It is an impressive operation. If you were EMS or something of that nature that might be a good place to look. Another place to look would be Dobbins ARB, where Lockheed assembles the Raptor.