Florida-to-GA...What's the deal??? (Atlanta, Buford: sales, salon, house)

[gettin_out_of_fl]

I live in South Florida and actually now own a condo 2 miles from where I grew up. I have 2 kids and live in a 2 bedroom condo with my wife. We bought it 5 years ago and the value has appreciated 150%. That would be great if I could find a house under $400K (you can't). On top of that the property tax would be 15k a year.

I never thought I would leave South Florida. I love it here. I love the english as a second language feel. I love the cultural mix. I love my church. My family is here but I cannot afford a house. My brother in law just move to Dallas, Ga and bought a house with a yard. The average yard in south florida is under 12' wide.

The town I am looking at has houses so cheap that I could buy one cash with the money I make on my house sale. If I only put 2/3 down my mortgage would be less than my current condo fees!

No doubt that Ga is not the promissed land but my wife and I lay in bed at night and fantacise about owning a home and that shouldn't be.

[AthmaGirl]

Well, this is one girl who's moving from Illinois to Georgia. However, I grew up in Georgia so I'm used to the summers. I'm not at all surprised by the traffic in Georgia, but that's everywhere. You think traffic is getting bad in Georgia? Try the suburbs around Chicago. It's getting just as bad up here with new expensive houses popping up every day. It's used to take me 25 minutes to get to work ten years ago. Now, it takes me 45 minutes at least. An hour if it snows. And I work and live in the suburbs!

Don't get me wrong, Illinois has got a lot of good areas and lots of jobs. But, the winters suck, gas prices are among the highest in the nation, property taxes are skyrocketing, and we have gangs out in the suburbs here too. Georgia is not unique in these areas. ALL states in this country have these problems. The higher the population of a state, the more of these problems it has. Crime, expensive housing, gas, taxes, healthcare, illegal aliens, etc, etc. It's everywhere.

Point is, everywhere in this country is changing. Everything is getting more expensive. So, you can either be miserable trying to maintain an expensive house, or maybe downgrade your style of living and then you won't have to be so worried about the mortgage. If you'll only take a house, and not even consider a townhome, or condo to buy, or even a trailer, then yes, your cost of living is going to be much higher and you will be miserable trying to pay a mortgage no matter where you live. Everyone wants a big house, two cars, a plasma TV, etc. Lower your material needs and then you won't have to commute to the city to pay for that big house.

Anyway, just my two cents. We live in a one bedroom apartment. And that's enough for me.

[jerriellijay]

InGA, I take it from your post that you live pretty close to metro Atlanta. And I would agree, traffic, congestion, crime, taxes are really bad there.

Many of the Floridians seem to be targeting the more rural GA areas, like the North GA Mountains. Where we have no traffic (unless it's a weekend in October!) Our property taxes are about .008 of the value of your home. ($1,600 on a $200k value), people are extremely friendly. etc...

Yup, we've got plenty of illegals up here and our roads are gravel but it's so much less stressfull than FLA. In my opinion.

[NYLATINQT]

Originally Posted by AthmaGirl

Well, this is one girl who's moving from Illinois to Georgia. However, I grew up in Georgia so I'm used to the summers. I'm not at all surprised by the traffic in Georgia, but that's everywhere. You think traffic is getting bad in Georgia? Try the suburbs around Chicago. It's getting just as bad up here with new expensive houses popping up every day. It's used to take me 25 minutes to get to work ten years ago. Now, it takes me 45 minutes at least. An hour if it snows. And I work and live in the suburbs!

Don't get me wrong, Illinois has got a lot of good areas and lots of jobs. But, the winters suck, gas prices are among the highest in the nation, property taxes are skyrocketing, and we have gangs out in the suburbs here too. Georgia is not unique in these areas. ALL states in this country have these problems. The higher the population of a state, the more of these problems it has. Crime, expensive housing, gas, taxes, healthcare, illegal aliens, etc, etc. It's everywhere.

Point is, everywhere in this country is changing. Everything is getting more expensive. So, you can either be miserable trying to maintain an expensive house, or maybe downgrade your style of living and then you won't have to be so worried about the mortgage. If you'll only take a house, and not even consider a townhome, or condo to buy, or even a trailer, then yes, your cost of living is going to be much higher and you will be miserable trying to pay a mortgage no matter where you live. Everyone wants a big house, two cars, a plasma TV, etc. Lower your material needs and then you won't have to commute to the city to pay for that big house.

Anyway, just my two cents. We live in a one bedroom apartment. And that's enough for me.

totally agree. you make some good points.

[Prichard]

I think many of us who are in the "rat-race" are in it just so that we can accumulate enough wealth, and then find a beautiful place to live, while we have some life left in us, and "check out". I've found the place, now all I need to do is to get financially situated to live the simple life.

[Floormerich]

I am originally from Savannah, my family moved to the Tampa area in 1973. I have seen it ALL. I'm now 45 and my wife and I and our 3 daughters will be moving to S.W. Ga. in a few months. Why? Because of lifestyle issues, slower pace, lower crime rate, 28% lower cost of living. Not to mention taxes and insurance issues. Note I said S.W. Ga. I would not live in the Atlanta area because it would be like movig to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale except english would be the main language. Georiga is not like upscale Florida, but very much like rural and northern Fla. We still say yes sir and yes mam' in my part of the south.

[DaBottom305]

Okay, so heres the deal?!
Why is everyone in GA making a big deal about the people from FL moving there? If anything, people from urban FL are bringing some excitement and life to the country of GA. U fellow Georgians should not feel any sort excitement about us moving there. Clearly, we are just using they cheap life style of GA for an excuse. Believe me......the majority of us prefer to live in FL; however, i prefer living in a nice house in GA than the streets in FL. Atleast, we are ballers, GO HEAT! I did not see you guys in the play-offs !
We are just bringing exotic diversity to see you country' folks. much love!!!

[Jasmine224]

Ok..ok well my parents are one of the victims that moved from South Florida to Georiga. But just to let you guys know they moved in a nice town called Pembroke Pines and in a nice area for about 10 years and then one day out of manipulation from my aunt and uncle they just left. Yea..yea the quality of life is more expensive in Miami. We all understand that. But if you like a quiet calm and boring atmosphere do not live in Georgia. There is nothing there really. The only exciting place is Atlanta. There are no beaches in Georgia, it is cold as heck most of the time, and there is no culture over there. They would not know the difference from a Cuban to a Mexican if it slapped them in the face. It is just a waste of time to live in Georgia because there are more things to do in Miami and it is a culturally diverse environment.
Right now I live in Orlando because of school and I absolutely hate it. Nothing too do but stupid theme parks that are overcrowded as hell. The downtown area is severly limited and restaurants are not open as late. I lived in Orlando because the rent is cheaper there but I realized that just because the rent is cheaper was not a sufficient choice to move to Orlando. My advice to people who are moving to Georgia and come from Miami is think about where you feel at home at the most. Do you really think that you can create a home in Georgia if your only reasoning is that it is cheaper? There are ways around the system and there are many ways to have a better quality of life where you are instead of running away from your problems and moving to Georgia. Ever since my parents moved there, they have regretted it and now they cannot do anything about it because now they have a mortgage to pay. And as for me, I am moving to Miami and doing any means by possible to not sellout.

[Prichard]

Jasmine seems to have a real chip on her shoulder.

You don't have a clue when it comes to Georgia's beaches. Although Georgia doesn't have as much beach area as we do in Florida, it is home to some of the most beautiful beaches you will find anywhere. Check out Tybee, Jeckle Island, St. Simons Island, Cumberland Island, and the other natural barrier islands along it's coast. Georgia didn't let the condo-canyon cowboys destroy their beachfront, like we did.

Atlanta has every bit, if not more, culture than does Miami. The north Georgia mountains are more beautiful than anything you will find in Florida.

As far as Orlando goes, Jasmine doesn't get out much. There are pleanty of fun things to do in Orlando that have nothing to do with theme parks. But, if her version of fun is boozing it up with drug dealers and "party" all night long, then maybe you would feel more at home in Maimi. Perhaps you should go back there, since you like it so much.

A home is only what you make of it.

[bebee]

It seems as if you wouldn't want people from S.FL to move to GA. But you, your self is from Virginia. This is the United States, people are free to move any where and any place that they choose to. Yes, FL is very expensive. But you wouldn't anderstand because you don't live in S. FL. Everywhere has crime. I don't care where you live. TELL ME WHERE YOU HEAR THERE IS NO CRIME.