Sick of the freezing cold and life in Chicago! (Atlanta: rental homes, new home)

[susieqsit]

I was born and raised in Chicago and every winter I ask myself, why the hell do I live here? I recently got married and my husband hates the winters too. He is a P.E. and driver's ed teacher for a high school, so we would need to find a good school district to live in and for our future kiddies.

We are used to living in the burbs, just outside of the city, so definitely want to be near a city for access to art, culture and nightlife. Lately I have been researhing the whole U.S. like crazy to find the perfect place to relocate and Atlanta so far is the most convincing, due to the mild winters, changes in season (minus the arctic snow and windchills...can you say brrr??), great schools (Cobb County), mountains and a vibrant city in arms length. Another enticing factor, my parents are planning on relocating to TN for retirement, so Atlanta would be only a 3 hour drive. Also, I personally am tired of the hustle and bustle, rude, fake people and expenses that keep increasing (Illinois is broke and tax hungry!)

In terms of lifestyle, my husband plays on softball and bowling leagues and is a big sports fan. I on the other hand, am a lover of the arts and music, and we both love to ride our Harley Davidson...Would love to have all of these interests available to us to enjoy.

However, I fear the south will be a major shock, not fitting in...people being clanish, gossipy and dare I say it, bible thumping... I am spiritual, but don't want to be surrounded by people driving it down my throat.

That being said, would Atlanta be a good choice for us or is there somewhere else in he U.S. you would suggest that matches our criteria?

To include more info, we would probably rent a house first...so far Roswell, Alpharetta and Peachtree City sound like good picks for what we are looking for (top-rated schools, safety, accessibility, etc)...if you can make any other suggestions in terms of anywhere near Atlanta or in U.S. that it a better fit for us, please do!

I greatly appreciate any help

[mrpanda]

You need to read my thread from August 2010, " Has anybody moved to Atlanta from Chicago and regretted their decision? And my answer to my own thread is, "Are you kidding me, Atlanta rocks! I love Atlanta and you will start to appreciate the area more and more as months go by. Moving my family from Chicago to Atlanta has been by far the best decision ever. The weather this winter has been unusually warm in the 60s and am generally very happy when the weather is warm and depressed when the weather is freakin cold.

I am currently in Chicago right now to meet my new tenants for my rental property and have been thinking to myself... I am so glad i am out of here. How depressing it is to spend your 30s living here. I can't wait to sell my Chicago rental so i can invest in 2 rental homes in Atlanta. The Korean food here in Chicago royally sucks. I want to go back to my new home in Atlanta. Get the picture right?

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...cago-have.html

[MathmanMathman]

Heathen

[ATLTJL]

There are tons of Chicagoans here.

Anytime the Braves play the Cubs, Turner Field is jam packed. And it ain't with Braves fans.

I do hear a lot of people from there talk about what a great place Chicago is. However, I have yet to see any of them move back there.

[lastminutemom]

Many school districts eliminated drivers ed in the last few years. Actually, many never offered it. PE teachers are a dime a dozen (sorry) and teaching jobs are incredibly difficult to find here. In the last two years, the state has upped the number of students that can be in a PE class with one teacher to astronomically large numbers (maybe 100), so there is less demand. Also, most teachers aren't retiring because of the economy.

GA is a right to work state so there are no teacher unions. In the economic downturn, almost every school system has cut teacher's salaries by furloughing them.

Find the job first and then figure out where to live. Atlanta is very spread out and you want a manageable commute. Do you plan to work?

Do not come here without jobs. Even substitute teaching positions are hard to find.

Otherwise, Atlanta is a fine place to live. Lots of people from all over.

[roxyrn]

Atlanta is a great place to live- if you have a decent job.

[billl]

We moved from Chicago in 1996 (two weeks before the Olympics) and have never regretted it. We still have relatives that live in the Batavia/Geneva area. When we visit them in the winter we are very glad that we are just visiting.

The flip side, of course, is that our summers are hot and humid. Much like Chicago can get, but for longer stretches of time. We don't bother trying to do any outdoor activity in August other than visit the pool. It's just too hot to be enjoyable.

School years here are different. The kids are out by the end of May and back in school by the middle of August. Some counties (like Cherokee, the one we are in), the kids start at the beginning of August, and the kids only have 9 weeks of summer. They are compensated by getting an entire week off in September, November, and February in addition to the usual 2 weeks at Christmas and the week in April. I think Cobb tried moving to a calendar like that but switched back after a year.

But....as great as Atlanta is: don't move here without a job. This board is filled with people who say they regret moving here because they can't find a job. Our unemployment is higher than the national average and finding a job can be very difficult.

Don't move here without a job!

[billl]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

Many school districts eliminated drivers ed in the last few years. Actually, many never offered it.

Yes this is true. But now there is a state law requiring underaged drivers to take drivers ed before getting their license. Schools don't offer it so there are lots of private companies that offer drivers ed classes, both classroom and in-car instruction. If you are looking for a job as a drivers ed instructor, you would want to look at those companies.

[Momdog]

Originally Posted by mrpanda

You need to read my thread from August 2010, " Has anybody moved to Atlanta from Chicago and regretted their decision? And my answer to my own thread is, "Are you kidding me, Atlanta rocks! I love Atlanta and you will start to appreciate the area more and more as months go by. Moving my family from Chicago to Atlanta has been by far the best decision ever. The weather this winter has been unusually warm in the 60s and am generally very happy when the weather is warm and depressed when the weather is freakin cold.

I am currently in Chicago right now to meet my new tenants for my rental property and have been thinking to myself... I am so glad i am out of here. How depressing it is to spend your 30s living here. I can't wait to sell my Chicago rental so i can invest in 2 rental homes in Atlanta. The Korean food here in Chicago royally sucks. I want to go back to my new home in Atlanta. Get the picture right?

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...cago-have.html

Just like Mrpanda, we moved here from Chicago in 2011 and are very happy. My husband and I were both born and raised in IL; we both lived in Lincoln Park and while Chicago IS a great city, we were also tired of the weather, the broke state, the high taxes, the long winter and ugly spring, and a quality of life that we knew was not all that great and was probably better elsewhere. We still wanted the change of seasons and to still be driving distance back to IL to visit friends and family, and good schools. We found that in the Atlanta suburbs. But my husband was able to transfer with his job, otherwise we would have not moved. We did pay for all the moving expenses ourselves, which was a lot of money to us, but well worth it. If my husband was not able to transfer with his current job, he (and I would have spear-headed this "project") would have tried to land a different job down here in order to get out of IL. Good luck!

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by billl

Yes this is true. But now there is a state law requiring underaged drivers to take drivers ed before getting their license. Schools don't offer it so there are lots of private companies that offer drivers ed classes, both classroom and in-car instruction. If you are looking for a job as a drivers ed instructor, you would want to look at those companies.

Slightly off topic, but just to be clear, the state law does not actually require young drivers to ever meet a professional driving instructor. We used the options of an online course plus 40 hours of parent instruction to enable our teen to qualify for a driver's license.