Looking for realtor - relocating from MN

[rtuchek]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Good for you! As a fellow MN Native having moved around a lot and will also be settling in the Atlanta area after we leave DC at the end of the year, we really loved Marietta, Roswell and the Sandy Spring area.

We hadn't really considered Roswell until it was mentioned. After looking, I really like the area (at least online). We've looked at Sandy Springs but it seems to be hit or miss on the schools.

Looks like we might have to increase the budget to get what we want! Was hoping to skinny down the expenses. I guess that's what is meant by "kids are expensive".

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by rtuchek

I did not know about the elevation - interesting info. With commutes averaging 3 hours, we've got plenty of experience driving in icy conditions; however, that's not going to help if our fellow Altlantians (?) can't figure it out.

One reason for the move is to be outdoors more - and a few cold days are tolerable. I worked in the Marietta area about 10 years ago from Oct to Dec and it was night and day different.

Yeah, most of the winter here is really just a very nice Minnesota fall. :-) The ice here can be much worse, though, at least once every few years, and it's not just because of crazy natives.

(1) Much of the Atlanta metro is very hilly terrain with winding roadways. The proverbial plate of spaghetti. It's not like driving in the Bloomington grid on icy roads. More like Duluth in places. Or at least eastern Minnetonka in the glacial morrain. Much of Marietta and central Cobb is kinda flat, but the area around Cumberland/Vinings and Mableton where I live is not, and neither is the City of Atlanta itself.

I drove in Minnesota winters for 20+ years, but even I was trapped at my workplace last winter when the big ice storm hit. Glare ice with powder on top is bad enough on flat surface streets, but here I decided it wasn't even worth it to attempt the commute home, and I stayed overnight. I didn't have tire chains, and I also didn't have snow tires, but with my little Accord I don't think it would have mattered. Maybe with chains. I tried twice, and scouted Cumberland Parkway on foot. It wasn't worth it to me.

(2) Most of the cities and counties here don't have much in the way of melting agents around, and while some will spread sand on key intersections, the ice will typically remain until it is removed by the sun, and that can take days in shady areas. That means you still have to be careful well after the storm.

(3) Atlanta tends to hang around freezing a lot. We haven't had this recently, but in 2004 when we first moved down here, I experienced something I hadn't seen before: a foggy 31-degree evening and night where the fog froze and created a 1/4 inch layer of ice on EVERYTHING. Standing outside and listening to the silence with the occasional tree branch crashing off in the distance was kind of unsettling...

It isn't horrible most of the time, but it can be. A bad ice storm can take down power lines and trees. I think those are more common in Tennessee than down here, since I've only seen smaller ice storms in the past decade, but they haven't missed the metro by much at times.

[rtuchek]

Thanks for the detailed info on the ice - we will be careful.

Getting ready to list our house by 4/6 and flying to GA on 4/15 to look for a new place! Super excited!