Chi-Town (Chicago) to Atlanta 2008..Help! (Marietta, Dunwoody: rental, condos, home)

[Chi-CitySLK]

My fiance and I have recently decided to move to Atlanta from Chicago, IL sometime within the next two years. Atlanta seems to have so much to offer and we do not want to waste more time than necessary staying in a place that no longer sustains our happiness and shows potential for our financial goals.

We are both in our upper twenties and currently have no children. We are not in the position to purchase our first home yet but have decided to begin searching the areas to determine what areas offer the most affordable rental options and excellent school districts.

Being new to the area means not being familiar with the counties and neighborhood names or surrounding suburbs so research is proving to be rather difficult.

I would love to work in the downtown area so a commute of less than 45 min on average would be a plus.

I am really excited about this possibility but I do know that it will take serious research and planning before our desires come to fruition.

It would be a great help if someone could suggest websites and/or books that might give some descriptive and informative information to help aid in our search.

I'd appreciate hearing from those of you who actually live and work in the Atlanta Metro areas. Any advise, all opinions, and any help is greatly appreciated.

[jxu66]

You can search on this site on school info. In general, most Atlanta area that has best public schools in Atlanta are pretty expensive (i.e East Cobb or North Fulton or Peachtree City). The rest of desirable neighborhoods like Midtown, Vining, Buckhead and Dunwoody/Sandy Spring sent their kids to private schools.

To get to downtown within 45 minutes, midtown, buckhead, PTC, maybe vining are only choices probably.

Atlanta is really not that cheap anymore, at least in the desirable neighborhood. Some condos in midtown sell for 250,000 for 700 square feet one bedroom plus big monthly condo fees. It is really not that surprising considered Atlanta MSA has 5.5 millions people and everybody is looking for that affordable excellent school district.

[Chi-CitySLK]

Because I've been trying to decide the best place to relocate and raise a family and I've heard and seen some great things about Atlanta metro.

I'm noticing the housing market is BOOMing right now and I don't want to wait until I can afford to purchase one in order to move. Chicago is much worse in that regards so moving to Atlanta and renting is a better option than remaining here.

Where are the best places to look for jobs?

[jxu66]

There are still a lot of companies in downtown. But lately, there is a trendy that some companies start moving their offices to midtown/buckhead area. Also, there are many jobs on the north side of city like Alpharatta, Dunwoody and Marietta.

[DetroitRedd]

Originally Posted by Chi-CitySLK

My fiance and I have recently decided to move to Atlanta from Chicago, IL sometime within the next two years. Atlanta seems to have so much to offer and we do not want to waste more time than necessary staying in a place that no longer sustains our happiness and shows potential for our financial goals.

DO YOUR RESEARCH/HOMEWORK -
*Make sure HAVE a job/prospect when you get here which will help you know where you will want to live because traffic is HELL here.
*Housing is more affordable than Chicago, whether you rent or purchase, but you may pay a "price" to commute.
*If your company isn't transferring you, you make make 1/4 less than what you get up North. Atlanta is still claiming the "lower cost of living" as the reason for lower wages and that's bull.
***the BEST thing about here, compared to Chicago is leaving "the Hawk" and the snow. Everthing else will take some SERIOUS getting used to!

[JPD]

Originally Posted by jxu66

To get to downtown within 45 minutes, midtown, buckhead, PTC, maybe vining are only choices probably.

Those are not the only choices. Decatur, Tucker, Northlake, Brookhaven, Toco Hill, Avondale, Druid Hills, Candler Park, East Lake, Inman Park, Cabbagetown, Grant Park, Virginia Highland...Shall I continue? You can get downtown from any of those places in 45 minutes or less during rush hour and you don't even have to get on the highway.

[jxu66]

JPD, you misread my post. "To get to downtown within 45 minutes, midtown, buckhead, PTC, maybe vining are only choices probably" is within the context of neighborhoods I mentioned. It is not a blank statement. Of course, there are a lot of other wonderful intown neighborhoods in Atlanta which you just listed.

[jennydowd]

I always hear people say that the wages here are lower than up North, but I personally do not find that to be true. Both my husband (finance) and I (marketing) came here from NJ/NY and easily found jobs paying significantly MORE than we were making up North for the same positions. We increased our wage income by $40k.

Maybe we just got lucky?

[LLD]

I'd say you are an exception. And there are always exceptions in every job market. As someone who has moved around a lot for her career and researched this extensively, generally the highest paying jobs are in the Northeast (NYC, Boston etc.), the DC area, Chicago and several parts of California.

That said, I've managed to maintain my salary level no matter where I've moved, even into markets that are sometimes generaly 20-40% less on average than the higher markets.