Florida-to-GA...What's the deal??? (Atlanta, Savannah: rent, insurance, condo)

[dig02]

Georgia,

Thanks for the advice. We will definitely look at all the angles. One thing also that's killing us is our health insurance. I work for the county and still have to pay $800 a month on family health insurance. Our rent for a 3 bedroom condo is $1250 and we're lucky it's so "Cheap".
I think I will miss the diversity and the Sun and Palm trees, but I want to give my girls at least a backyard to play in.
Thanks again!!!

[GAisGreat]

Originally Posted by dig02

Georgia,

Thanks for the advice. We will definitely look at all the angles. One thing also that's killing us is our health insurance. I work for the county and still have to pay $800 a month on family health insurance. Our rent for a 3 bedroom condo is $1250 and we're lucky it's so "Cheap".
I think I will miss the diversity and the Sun and Palm trees, but I want to give my girls at least a backyard to play in.
Thanks again!!!

The rent won't be much better...We were paying $1200/mo for a 3-bd apt. in the ghetto. Seriousely there were a couple murders, drug busts, kidnappings, etc. all in this apt. complex and we were paying that much!

Atlanta is not cheap at all, if you go far out it's gets more reasonable, but the way they trick people is there are like 15 counties considered part of the metro area, so somebody thinks oh wow look how cheap it is there, oh and i'm only 30miles away from downtown Atlanta, I can always work off hours and avoid rush hour, or ride this wonderful MARTA thing they keep talking about, or carpool, I'll figure something out, no matter what for the cheap housing it has to be worth it...

Fast forward to 6mo. later after you've moved here...All the jobs are IN Atlanta, so you HAVE TO commute, few offer flex-time, so guess what your commuting prime time, MARTA is sh#tty plus out in the burbs you have to drive-in to ATL to take it anyway, so that's out the window, nobody here carpools because everybody is sprawled out everywhere, plus nobody believes in getting that 'close' to somebody that's not related to them or a member of that church...So now w/your cheap house, you're spending 4-5hrs a day commuting to your job that you'll probably get laid off from within a yr or two...You have no life outside commuting and work, by the time you get home you're too tired to do anything...Everything is totally sprawled out, so there is no such thing as just going out for a quick bite to eat, you ALWAYS have to deal w/and worry about traffic, so everything is 5-20miles away which could mean a 15min drive or 40min drive...

[GAisGreat]

If you don't mind the strip-mall, Developers own the state, corporate chain-store, suburbanite, bible-thumping, mentality/lifestyle then ok I see why you want to stay in the South if your leaving FLA. But GA is about as close as you can get to being FLA, outside of FLA.
Why not look into SC, AL, TN, or even TX? Just my personal opinion, but from what I've seen of these states, if you hate what Florida has become but want to stay in the South, these states will be much better alternatives to FLA than GA...GA is Florida lite, same w/NC...

[jillmaican]

Florida lite.. I love that. Thanks for the advice from everyone who lives there. Its always good to get other people's perspective, many people think that Florida is as good as it gets.... others disagree. I don't mind transplants I'm not from Florida anyway. And as for suburbanite thats ok with me... Florida is the same way when you get down to it. Any area that is actually unique in any way is not affordable.

[KensT]

WOW - I'm still thinking of moving to GA myself.... I think.
You guys sure have a unique perpective. However, I just cannot afford to stay in Fl even though i love it here. Just like the others said.... taxes and insurance keep you house poor. I want to be close to the state i love, so.....GA it is.
at least the salaries are pretty equal according to the people i know there. For the last few years my savings has depleated allot to pay for all the taxes and insurance and hurricane deductable costs and upcharges. Another couple of years and i will have used my entire savings completely and never be able to retire. I need to go and TRY to start fresh.
KensT

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by SR89racer

$4,800 in taxes and $4,600 for insurance a year! What would you do?

They would give it to their state government in the form of income tax, that's what. And their government would squander it on programs that by the looks of things in Atlanta, the moneys being flushed down the septic.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by KensT

WOW - I'm still thinking of moving to GA myself.... I think.
You guys sure have a unique perpective. However, I just cannot afford to stay in Fl even though i love it here. Just like the others said.... taxes and insurance keep you house poor. I want to be close to the state i love, so.....GA it is.
at least the salaries are pretty equal according to the people i know there. For the last few years my savings has depleated allot to pay for all the taxes and insurance and hurricane deductable costs and upcharges. Another couple of years and i will have used my entire savings completely and never be able to retire. I need to go and TRY to start fresh.
KensT

If you make 100K a year you will surrender at least 6-7 G's + to the Ga government.

There's not much difference anymore with prop taxes and insurance going up in Fla. It's equalizing with the other states that rip THEIR citizens off via income tax.

It's getting to the point where there's nowhere to run anymore.

[Zelia]

I've enjoyed reading the posts. Great posts!

Our country now has 300 million people as of yesterday. Many of us don't want to live in Buffalo, New York or cold, snowy climates.

Unfortunately, the quality of life in most Sun Belt cities is going to get worse. If more people wanted to live in Buffalo and Minneapolis, we'd have less smog, less traffic, and less conjestion.

Geographically, Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River. Florida has almost three times as many people living in a smaller state. There's just too many people living in Florida, especially on the Gold Coast--southeast Florida. It's wall-to-wall concrete. THE GOLDEN LIFE IN FLORIDA IS BASICALLY OVER. It was once an attractive state.

How many people can own a house, and not care if they can't buy home insurance? How many middile income folks can afford to pay $5,000, 7,000, or $10,000 for home insurance--even if you're able find an insurance agent who's willing to sell it to you?

Georgia's income tax is fairly reasonable. Other Georgia posters, too, have said it's reasonable.

Let's talk car insurace. Car insurance is high if you have accidents. Car insurance is high if you get speeding tickets. Car insurance is high if you run red lights. You'll be paying super high insurance rates and you should.

I pay super low car insurance rates because I haven't had an accident, caused by my negligence nor have I gotten speeding tickets. When I first moved here, I had six car accidents in five years, and none of them were my fault. My car was totaled in one accident. The drivers here are CRAZY. I love Atlanta, but I don't love the drivers. I hope they're paying $10,000 dollars a year for their car insurance.

I don't find the people here more phony than elsewhere. Most people here are warm, and friendly. Materialism? That's a national problem.

Housing prices here are cheap compared to many states. Yes, property taxes do consistently go up. My property taxes are double what they were 15 years ago, but then again I can make a few bucks should I decide to sell my house.

Atlanta does have a four-season climate. Spring does tend to be the shortest season. Summers here are no worse than most parts of the Midwest. Yes, the nights are warmer, but an average August high of 89 degrees is not super, super hot. Try Texas for a while. Dallas and Austin have average August temperatures of 96 or 97 degrees. There's a big difference between 89 degrees and 97 degrees.

On the down side, gas prices are no longer a bargain. Gas USED to be cheap here. Due to our air quality problems, mainly in the summer, gas is more expensive because of special blends and additives.

Z

[NYLATINQT]

I, too, did the Florida to GA transition (grew up in NYC, moved to Fla 2004 and GA 2006). Florida just sucked as far as i'm concerned. Schools were horrible, homes overpriced, heat & humidity unbearable, no culture to speak of. I thought Atlanta, being the "capital of the south" was going to be sort of like a mini-NYC, as i've heard people say. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's just like Florida, minus the palm trees, and worse traffic. I never really knew what "sprawl" was until I got here.
"InGA" totally put things into perspective. If you want affordable housing here, you have to live in the suburbs, and then you basically don't have much of a choice about where to work (within the perimeter) and traffic is AN ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE. Public transportation is almost unheard of so you basically have no choice. I live in Gwinnett County and started working downtown. It's 1 1/2 hours each way on a normal day. But luckily it's only temporary because the job is opening up a new office in Gwinnett in a few weeks. If I had to do that every day, i'd shoot myself.
And another thing, people who are not from NY always think that NY is so rude and crime ridden, but i am here to tell you that I feel 100 times safer riding the subway at 3am by myself in NY than to run around town in Florida or in Atlanta. The crime in the South is scary!!
Atlanta is NOT a real city, as much as they think it is. If you are moving from Florida to get away from the Florida crap, don't come here. It's the same sh*t.

[jxu66]

Atlanta is not "cheap" by any mean.

Don't buy cheap neighborhood in the suburb. They are cheap for a reason. It is true that certain neighborhood in Gwinnett is very crime ridden. I was mistakenly rent an apartment when I was first move here.

Since then, I do a lot of researches. School district is very important here and be ready for paying for it.

In Gwinnett, I only can recommend West Norcross, Duluth city limit (I found out Gwinnett place mall is not in the city of Duluth limit) and Suwanee.

Be ready to pay money for rent apartment. 800 for one bedroom and 1000 for two bedrooms.