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This is my first post and I joined this forum to get some feedback from people who know both areas. I currently live in Ashburn, VA with my husband, 4 children, and my sister who goes to college here (she graduates in May and is moving out then-back to NJ where my family lives).
There are two reasons we are considering to move the first one is that my husband told me last week he wants to move close to his parents. He misses them. Seriously, he and his dad have a great relationship. They live in Alpharetta and have no other family there. As far as his job goes, he can easily relocate there within his company. Our second reason for the move is cost of living. Northern VA is obsenely expensive--especially since I'm a stay at home mom of 4 children. If we stay, I will soon have to resume working which was not in the grand plan for us.
Ashburn VA has been our home for three years. Our oldest is 7 and our triplets are 5. Once my sister moves out, we will have no other family near by except for my folks in NJ (4 hours away).
Both areas are horrendous with traffic, commute and sprawl. I'm ok with that. My biggest concern with making this move are education and not being close to my family. My mom doesn't fly and I know she will be heartbroken.
I wish I knew what to do.
Any feedback about both areas? How do I deal with telling my mom if we make the decision to move?
Personally, I would stay in Virginia. N.Fulton is probably marginally cheaper than Loudon but NoVA, in my experience, is a bit more...interesting than N.Fulton... I'm not sure on schools but my gut tells me that schools in NoVA are going to "score" higher than schools here in GA. As for your mom, could you fly to her if you did decide to move here ? get her to ride the train ?
There was a couple of months ago another northern VA guy who wonder whether to move to Alpharatta/John's Creek area. The housing is definitely cheaper in North Fulton, if you buy existing home. You can still get existing home startng 300s range. New home in Alpharatta/John's Creek started around 500s range. Northview and Chattohoochee are two of three best public schools in Atlanta although North Virginia probably has better schools overall.
Still, if you are unsure (sound like you are unsure), it is best to stay put. Moving is very expensive.
I'd have to agree Loudoun County has alot to offer. There are many Town Centers in the works as more and more jobs are being created and offered here. We have so much shopping and restaurants opening up here that you can't keep up with it anymore. Its' unreal and quite frankly I'm not sure if all this growth is a good thing. I easily get overwhelmed reading the local paper here with all the merchants and services listed. I suppose its good though to have choices.
My husband works with EMC and apparently there are three offices in the Altanta area. One downtown, one in Deluth, and one in Alpharetta. The potential transfer is still in the works so I'm not sure where he'll go yet.
I currently live in a community that is huge. There are over 5000 in my neighborhood (a mix of single family and condos). There are about 7 other communities in addition to mine that make up Ashburn. Each community has there own shopping centers, schools, swimming and rec centers, etc. The nice part is that everything is relatively new (within 15 yrs). There is no 'bad' section of town in my opinion.
Does a place like this exist in Norhern Atlanta? If we go, we would want to stay relatively near my husbands' parents in Alpharetta.
I recently bought the book "Best Places to Raise Your Family" and Roswell earned the #3 spot. It's highest rankings were in Cost of Living and Education, which are my top concerns too. Any thoughts about this??? And where exactly in Roswell are the better areas?
I live in Roswell and looked around a bit before settling here, so I'll offer my $0.02.
Roswell is a great place to live -- it's a well-managed city, excellent schools, known for its park system, low crime, etc.
the one thing I don't like about it is that it has a lot of apartments that have become full of illegals and the concomitant problems -- crime in those areas, decay. Bear in mind this is not a problem exclusive to Roswell, it's everywhere down here. I call the Roswell Wal-Mart "the Mexico City airport" because there often are many cabs out front that service the illegal/carless community, who are most of its shoppers. I've counted 8 taxis sitting in front of it before. It's literally like an airport with the taxis circling the terminal.
This is because after a certain number of years, the big REITs that own huge apartment complexes let them go... and illlegals don't complain to authorities about issues like pest infestation and the like.
When I first moved here 4 years ago, there was a big deal regarding this. Roswell is very aggressive in trying to maintain a high quality of life. The city had investigated some apartments after complaints and found everything from a bodega being run out of a run to an illegal restaurant out of another, all sorts of stuff. So Jere Wood (the mayor) and the commission passed a law requiring annual inspections of these apartments. The big developers and apartment owners threw a fit! Old apartments are cash cows for them, and being forced to correct deficiencies puts a real crimp in that.
Well, the state legislature here is Republican and owned by developers. So they immediately passed a state law prohibiting ordinances like Roswell's. If you're so inclined or willing to pay, you could search archives of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for stories about this. I followed it closely while looking to buy.
But now some of the land containing these apartments has become worth enough that some of them are getting razed for high-end redevelopment. There's an entire area near downtown Roswell (which is very pretty & historic) where this is happening. And there's a big proposal to redevelop the area near exit 7 on GA-400. I think that's a billion-dollar proposal, it's enormous. These apartment areas are mostly along Holcomb Bridge Rd., especially between GA-400 and GA-9. You don't even see them really, since this is a very commercial road. There'll be drives going back beyond the commercial development to huge complexes.
With apartments especially, it's a cycle of decay & renewal... but the 'ghetto-ization' of apartments is moving further out. So Alpharetta and places like that are next in line... they're already starting to suffer. I moved to a new apartment complex in Alpharetta 4 yrs. ago, and I understand it's undergoing that transformation now.
Marietta is essentially the same as Roswell... a fair number of ghetto apartments that are getting torn down & redeveloped as the ghetto moves further out. I think commute issues are driving a lot of this.
But anyway, I did a lot of research here before choosing Roswell. And admittedly, part of my decision was seeing the agressiveness of the city in trying to maintain a high quality of life. I don't think you could go wrong in either Roswell or Alpharetta.
I live in Roswell and looked around a bit before settling here, so I'll offer my $0.02.
Roswell is a great place to live -- it's a well-managed city, excellent schools, known for its park system, low crime, etc.
the one thing I don't like about it is that it has a lot of apartments that have become full of illegals and the concomitant problems -- crime in those areas, decay. Bear in mind this is not a problem exclusive to Roswell, it's everywhere down here. I call the Roswell Wal-Mart "the Mexico City airport" because there often are many cabs out front that service the illegal/carless community, who are most of its shoppers. I've counted 8 taxis sitting in front of it before. It's literally like an airport with the taxis circling the terminal.
This is because after a certain number of years, the big REITs that own huge apartment complexes let them go... and illlegals don't complain to authorities about issues like pest infestation and the like.
When I first moved here 4 years ago, there was a big deal regarding this. Roswell is very aggressive in trying to maintain a high quality of life. The city had investigated some apartments after complaints and found everything from a bodega being run out of a run to an illegal restaurant out of another, all sorts of stuff. So Jere Wood (the mayor) and the commission passed a law requiring annual inspections of these apartments. The big developers and apartment owners threw a fit! Old apartments are cash cows for them, and being forced to correct deficiencies puts a real crimp in that.
Well, the state legislature here is Republican and owned by developers. So they immediately passed a state law prohibiting ordinances like Roswell's. If you're so inclined or willing to pay, you could search archives of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for stories about this. I followed it closely while looking to buy.
But now some of the land containing these apartments has become worth enough that some of them are getting razed for high-end redevelopment. There's an entire area near downtown Roswell (which is very pretty & historic) where this is happening. And there's a big proposal to redevelop the area near exit 7 on GA-400. I think that's a billion-dollar proposal, it's enormous. These apartment areas are mostly along Holcomb Bridge Rd., especially between GA-400 and GA-9. You don't even see them really, since this is a very commercial road. There'll be drives going back beyond the commercial development to huge complexes.
With apartments especially, it's a cycle of decay & renewal... but the 'ghetto-ization' of apartments is moving further out. So Alpharetta and places like that are next in line... they're already starting to suffer. I moved to a new apartment complex in Alpharetta 4 yrs. ago, and I understand it's undergoing that transformation now.
Marietta is essentially the same as Roswell... a fair number of ghetto apartments that are getting torn down & redeveloped as the ghetto moves further out. I think commute issues are driving a lot of this.
But anyway, I did a lot of research here before choosing Roswell. And admittedly, part of my decision was seeing the agressiveness of the city in trying to maintain a high quality of life. I don't think you could go wrong in either Roswell or Alpharetta.
I wasn't aware of the illegal overflow in Roswell, though. Good to know, thanks. FWIW, I'm back and forth about moving out of GA because of family, friends back North. Job growth here is also an issue for me at least, so that needs to be considered by anyone who decides to make a big move. Good luck to all.
This is my first post and I joined this forum to get some feedback from people who know both areas. I currently live in Ashburn, VA with my husband, 4 children, and my sister who goes to college here (she graduates in May and is moving out then-back to NJ where my family lives).
There are two reasons we are considering to move the first one is that my husband told me last week he wants to move close to his parents. He misses them. Seriously, he and his dad have a great relationship. They live in Alpharetta and have no other family there. As far as his job goes, he can easily relocate there within his company. Our second reason for the move is cost of living. Northern VA is obsenely expensive--especially since I'm a stay at home mom of 4 children. If we stay, I will soon have to resume working which was not in the grand plan for us.
Ashburn VA has been our home for three years. Our oldest is 7 and our triplets are 5. Once my sister moves out, we will have no other family near by except for my folks in NJ (4 hours away).
Both areas are horrendous with traffic, commute and sprawl. I'm ok with that. My biggest concern with making this move are education and not being close to my family. My mom doesn't fly and I know she will be heartbroken.
I wish I knew what to do.
Any feedback about both areas? How do I deal with telling my mom if we make the decision to move?
Thank you for taking the time in reading this
4tohug
I'm not sure how I stumbled on to this cite, but I had to respond.
I just moved from Atlanta (Buckhead) to Leesburg. Words cannot express how much I loved Buckhead. I rarely went to Alpharetta other than passing to go to the Outlet Mall. So I hope I can provide some assistance. I think it would be a good decision to move to GA. You will enjoy the mild winters and your children can participate in more sports activities (although you may be more busy). Just make sure you are in a good school district; Alpharetta is good; other than Cobb County. Do your research on taxes too - the county may re-assess and that could cost you too. We have 2 children in preschool and no family around to bond with. I think if you move to GA the children will benefit by having a grandparent closer than 4 hours away. As for your mom in NJ who doesn't fly (or does she hate it?) whatever, she'll find a way to see you. I have a good friend that I met who come from NJ, and she really likes the area, who knows, maybe your mom would consider a move too! (wishful thinking). You really need to consider the quality of life and what is best for you and GA may have it.
My family and I moved from Ashburn to Alpharetta a few years back. I worked at AOL in Dulles for some time. Both areas are fairly similar as far as shopping, restaurants, size, real estate prices.
I think Alpharetta would edge out Ashburn for nearby shopping (North Point, Mall of Georgia, Perimeter Square Mall are all within within a reasonable distance. North Georgia Premium Outlets are probably almost as close to Alpharetta as Leesburg/outlets were/are to you in Ashburn. Alpharetta also has a large selection of nice restaurants, mostly along North Point Dr.
Like some others posted earlier, I think the educational system in Loudon would be a little bit better, although Alpharetta schools are rated as some of the best in the state. Cost of living is a little cheaper here and the weather a little better if you like a warmer climate. Both places offer mountains and the Atlantic ocean within a reasonable distance, so both are nice in that aspect. I really miss the DC museums, Skyline drive, and the Metro trans. Marta pales in comparison. Dulles airport was right around the corner for you in Ashburn. H/J is well over an hour for you here in Alpharetta. Traffic here is BY FAR worse than any other place I've lived (up to 60 minutes to go 12 miles). For that reason alone I would have NoVa. If your husband is fortunate enough to live AND work in Alpharetta then that probably won't be a concern for you. In fact, you might consider South Forsyth County (East of 400, just north of Windward Pkwy) as a possibility as well. Schools are good and property taxes (and home prices) may be a little cheaper. All in all, if you liked Ashburn/NoVa you'll like Alpharetta. And if you only concern is the Alpharetta schools, then you shouldn't have much to worry about there.
Hope this helps. If there is anything else you think I may be able to answer, please don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!!
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I'm interested in the same topic as well.
Agree with you re Alpharetta and Roswell
GA vs. VA
