April move to ATL-24 yr old single male (Atlanta, Roswell: apartment, leases)

[sconnor444]

1. Budget $700-900 (would live with roommate as well)
2. House/Condo/Townhome? Apartment
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) Will be working in Alpharetta
4. Children(public school vs. private) None; not a factor
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two- Urban
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Beneficial, not a deal breaker
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Walkable neighborhood, close to restaurants/bars/ etc
8. more info: 24, will be 25 after move single male, very active, like to run, golf, travel, walk the town, hit bars, very outgoing and enjoy life

--Will be moving from Philadelphia April 1st to ATL area for work. Office will be in Alphaetta, and my boss has stated they want me to live close to the office at first because of commute times etc. However, coming from living in urban part of philadelphia( 5 min walk to 20 some bars/ restaurants) I am freaking out a bit about having to move to Alpharetta and having nothing to do, besides work. I am an extremely early riser so I could be on the road 6 am no problem. I was wondering with the given above info, where might be a good place to look to live while also convincing my boss it won't take me 2 hours to commute to work. I realize these types of posts are frequent, I really do appreciate the time and effort anyone puts in to responses.

[Georgiafrog]

Originally Posted by sconnor444

1. Budget $700-900 (would live with roommate as well)
2. House/Condo/Townhome? Apartment
3. Employment Status(commute/work from home) Will be working in Alpharetta
4. Children(public school vs. private) None; not a factor
5. Suburban or Urban lifestyle preference or a mix of the two- Urban
6. Easy access to public transit, important or not? Beneficial, not a deal breaker
7. Preferable demographics of desired neighborhood. Walkable neighborhood, close to restaurants/bars/ etc
8. more info: 24, will be 25 after move single male, very active, like to run, golf, travel, walk the town, hit bars, very outgoing and enjoy life

--Will be moving from Philadelphia April 1st to ATL area for work. Office will be in Alphaetta, and my boss has stated they want me to live close to the office at first because of commute times etc. However, coming from living in urban part of philadelphia( 5 min walk to 20 some bars/ restaurants) I am freaking out a bit about having to move to Alpharetta and having nothing to do, besides work. I am an extremely early riser so I could be on the road 6 am no problem. I was wondering with the given above info, where might be a good place to look to live while also convincing my boss it won't take me 2 hours to commute to work. I realize these types of posts are frequent, I really do appreciate the time and effort anyone puts in to responses.

First of all, Alpharetta isn't so bad. But more than that, it sounds like you would rather be in Buckhead. Find a rommate in the Buckhead area, and convince your boss that a reverse commute out of the city won't be so horrible. Then be on time!

[ATLTJL]

If you're coming from an urban part of Philadelphia, I'm not even sure Buckhead would be urban enough for you.

I'd say your best bet in going to be in midtown between North and 14th St., not more than a couple of blocks from Peachtree Rd.

It will probably be a stretch with your budget, even with a roommate, but you may be able to find something suitable if you look hard enough.

If you're at all willing to diverge from your urban requirement, you might check into the Perimeter area. Not so much an urban environment, I'd proabably call it more like a "village" approach. Many of the more successful intown restaurants and bars have satellite Perimeter locations, but unlike midtown, it's still pretty much car dependent. Of course, you would be considerably closer to Alpharetta and in a much safer area. It's still very dense, people just drive instead of walk everywhere.

You can also check into Virginia Highland, which is very walkable and intown, but I don't know if I would necessarily qualify it as "urban." Very high concentration of bars and restaurants, probably the highest in the entire city, but more neighborhood pub kind of places, not trendy lofty spaces in highrises.

Generally midtown is the preferred location for people who come from places like Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, etc.

Good luck. Reverse commute or not, the commute to Alpharetta from the city is going to be brutal.

[sconnor444]

Thanks so much! I guess I may have phrased it a bit wrong, I did hear some really nice things about Alpharetta, I would just prefer to live somewhat closer to the city. I like the sound of Virginia highland...honestly I am more of a "pub" type of person rather than trendy spots anyhow. I actually lived in Ireland for a time. Can anyone give me an idea of actually how bad the traffic is in the ATL area? I keep hearing it is quite bad..Philadelphia has its share of congestion, but perhaps this is far worse. If the boss tells me to live in Alpharetta to start, surely thats what I'll do, it's a promotion

[ATLTJL]

Sounds like Virginia Highland would really be your spot. Unfortunately, the traffic to get to and from Alpharetta would most likely be absolutely horrible. That's because VaHi isn't even along a major artery, so you would have to deal with congested surface streets for a few miles before you could even get to I-85/Ga 400 for your commute to and from Alpharetta. Personally, I think you would be much better off doing what most people do.....live by where you work in Alpharetta, and then drive in to the area you like to party on the weekends. Unless you really want to go to happy hours and such on weeknights after work, this solution would probably work. If you do like to do that kind of thing, you can find a few places to go out scattered around Alpharetta, but I fear you will likely find a bit of an older more family oriented demographic than you are.

Of course, you are still very young. I have found that there are a considerable amount of young single women that live in the suburbs until they are a bit older, especially around the Perimeter area where the intown-type bars are. I call this the "I want the urban experience, but I'm too scared to actually drive into midtown for it." You know the type, people who grew up in the suburbs, went to school in college towns, and have never really had an urban experience. I know because I was the same way. I was 28 years old before I got the guts to move into the city.

Also know that Alpharetta is a very nice suburb. If you can't live in the city proper, it's probably one of the best places to be. If you meet someone on match.com and she sees you live in Alpharetta, she's not going to think eww, gross (unless she is a hipster, in which case she will think that unless you live in one of the relatively skanky intown neighborhoods anyway). She will just think you have a good job. A lot of people in software development and other tech jobs live and work in Alpharetta, so it's not like people aren't used to dealing with people who live there. It's also not too far from historic downtown Roswell, which is starting to have a little mini-scene of its own.

If I were you, I would find a nice apartment in Alpharetta and take out a 6 month lease. Or, if possible, visit Atlanta on a weekday and drive around during rush hour and see if it's something you can deal with. My bet is once you see it, you'll decide you want to live as close to work as possible. I would say even if you live in Alpharetta, you want to live as close to your actual building as you can as it can take a long time to even get from one side of Alpharetta to another during rush hour using surface streets.

Don't stress too much. Almost nobody immediately finds the area of town they like best when they first move here. After you get here, you'll figure out where you end up most of the time and where your scene is and then you can move there. If you don't want to waste a year getting there, I'd recommend a shorter term lease. Most complexes offer 6 monht leases for a slightly higher monthly rent, but it may be worth it. If you have a decet job, which it sounds like you do, breaking a lease also isn't the end of the world.