Moving to Atlanta from the UK (Alpharetta, Dunwoody: renting, how much, schools)

[fastandfurious]

Hi my wife and I are looking to relocate to Atlanta (I would be working between exit 7 and 8 of the GA 400) from the UK. We would be renting for approximately 1 year.
We have a 2 and half year old girl so looking for a nice family area with nice parks etc and a nice neighberhood feel.
Can anyone suggest any areas not to far, I have looked through the forums and Alpharetta seems to be highly regarded?
Many Thanks for any help

[atlantagreg30127]

I would have suggested Alpharetta myself, so if you get a good realtor they should be able to help you there. It's one of the nicer suburbs to Atlanta.

Do keep in mind that GA400 has some of the most congested traffic in the area, especially if you'll be traveling during rush hour. So keep that in mind when planning your commute even though it's not a hugely long commute in terms of miles from Alpharetta proper to those exits.

Your only disadvantage is that the Alpharetta area is somewhat lacking in public transit if you ever want to take that route. There's a bus route or two via MARTA, but if you want to take the rail into the city for any reason you'd have to drive south on GA400 to the North Springs station. It'll be a good number of years before it ever (if ever) gets extended into the Alpharetta area. Doesn't matter for your decribed commute, but just a FYI.

[fastandfurious]

Hi Thanks very much for the reply Anything I can gauge from this very helpful forum will be useful I am sure hope to pass on my experiences later on

[atlantagreg30127]

P.S...

If you scroll down to the bottom of page 1 of the old thread link below, you'll find a HUGE number of U.K. clubs in Georgia from former U.K. folks now living here. Maybe you can connect with them once here and feel a bit more at ease.

A note to others: This link goes to an OLD thread. I'm posting it for the benefit of this poster to LOOK at the resources. Please do not start posting/replying to that old thread. Just view the resources on it and don't revive it via posts. Let old threads die. LOL


Link: http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...g-atlanta.html

[middleamerica]

Alpharetta is recommended and remember everyone recommends Alpharetta and EVERYONE moves there. We moved there five years ago from out of state on a recommendation of a friend. Back then it was fairly quiet, not too much traffic, great shopping and excellent schools. Two years into our stay in the area, it was becoming OVERRUN with shopping, lots of the old residents were moving further north to get away from the craziness, as did we. BE WARNED, the schools in Alpahretta are getting overcrowded, our experience was that there were too many kids by the end of our stay. Kids aren't ALLOWED to walk to school for the most part, (per school rules and recommendations)English speaking kids that they are busy dealing with to pay any attention to average kids in the normal classes. Not to be negative but unless you'd like to live in a "downtown" feeling area, Alpharetta is not for you. The scenery is ok, but it's becoming OVERRUN with shopping. Everyone in the surrounding rural areas commute to shop in Alpharetta on the weekend, forget about going anywhere with your family without sitting in traffic for twenty to thirty minutes. There is also a GIANT outdoor mall going in at 400 and Old Milton so that's going to be a disaster. Also, if you're commuting down 400 be warned. 400 is often at a standstill or crawl for around three hours in the morning. There is wreck every day on that highway. I used to commute to Dunwoody in the am from Alpharetta and it could take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours on a bad day. I've never experienced the kind of traffic nightmare they call Atlanta before.
We were also relocated for a job, and we've found that in general the further away you move from the perimeter (285) the better off you are, even if you pay for it with the commute. We moved an hour north to the Canton area and it takes the same 45 minutes to an hour to commute TO Alpharetta as it did living in Alpharetta 15 minutes away from work and sitting on the side streets in traffic, crazy huh? Feel free to send me a message if you like, we lived there and experienced the area for a while, but now we are happier where we are. Good LUCK!

[plessthanpointohfive]

It's also a very AMERICAN type of place, which is not a bad thing, in and of itself. But, coming from the UK it might be sort of a culture shock. I would never recommend living anywhere but as close as possible to where you work (not in Atlanta) but I just want you to be forewarned about that.

If you can live off a major artery (400) near your work I'd advise that.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by plessthanpointohfive

It's also a very AMERICAN type of place, which is not a bad thing, in and of itself. But, coming from the UK it might be sort of a culture shock.

Very insightful observation, and downright amazing from a native American who likely hasn't lived outside the country.

I've lived in New Zealand, UK, Canada and US and yes, Alpharetta is likely very American. It should be a fun cultural experience, if you're up for it. Prepare to be surprised by a lot of differences in unexamined assumptions.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Yeah, don't get too bent out of shape by something you might find in Americans as rude or obnoxious. Americans, as a culture, tend to be self-centered. I don't mean that in an ugly way, just that the country is so freakin big we have a hard time keeping up with ourselve much less the rest of the world. So, Americans will often show visible surprise when they find out people do/say/eat things differently where you come from. But, in MOST cases, they're curious and interested, which is the good part.

If you REALLY want to get along well then don't spend much time telling Americans how much better it is in the UK. But that's rude anywhere. I would never go to the UK and tell people there how much better it is here.

And it's okay to criticize if you mate the criticism with a compliment.

As for my insight. Well, working at CDC many of my coworkers come from all over the world. I've learned from them. I have a good friend from NZ who taught me about the criticism/compliment thing.

RRDay - I've been to Russia, back when it was still the USSR. But I've never lived outside the USA. Unless you count New Orleans.