Another NJ to Atlanta (Buford, Buckhead: for sale, rentals, low crime)

[deanri]

Hi All. I'm another person from NJ relocating to the Atlanta area.

What I'm looking for is to rent a 3+bdrm, 2+bath, 2+ garage house (preferred) or townhouse (will settle) between 1000 and 1500 a month. I am single with no kids and would prefer a suburban area. I work from home 95% of the time so not to worried about being an hour or so outside of Atlanta. Just need to go the office for meetings occasionally. I'm not concerned about public transportation and would prefer a safe (low crime) zip code. I am, for FYI purposes, half cuacasian and asian, or as my ex-wife would call me a "twinkie" (yellow on the oustside but white on the inside) and have never lived outside of NJ. I would prefer to live in communities with later model homes and somewhat up to date interiors. My last desire would also be to be somewhat near the mountains as I have motorcycle and like to hit the twisty roads, so an hour ride is much better than the 6 hour ride I have to do from NJ to find some decent roads.

I've used my google fu to scour the internet on places, but the biggest challenge I'm having is finding a realtor who will respond to me in a reasonable amount of time, when I ask for more information. This is important to me as I'd like to head down that way in the next month or so to look at places and firm up logistics. However, the soonest I will be permanently in the area is at least 3 months and potentially not for 6 months.

Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

[BobKovacs]

We moved from NJ to Cherokee County in 2007 and we love it. You can get everything you mentioned up here for around $1500- $1000 will have you sacrificing some of your desires. I can message you contact info for realtor I know up here who may be able to help, if you'd like.

[researchnerd]

^^ What BobKovacs said. Cherokee County sounds like a great place for you.

There aren't a lot of realtors who deal with rentals outside the city, perhaps because they don't make big commissions. You may need to do your own research. I've had good luck finding stuff on Trulia.com, which has an entire rental section separate from the homes for sale.

[cittic10]

I think you should move to Gwinnett.
Like the Buford area. 45 minutes via an actual highway to the most popular motorcycle routes and lots of twinkies and diversity. (cherrokee has very little diversity).

Lots of rentals here.
Can't help you on the realtors. They don't return anyone's call. It doesn't matter who you are.

[deanri]

Thanks all, appreciate the responses. Actually Bob gave me a realtors name last night and she promptly called me back this morning. Thanks you very much Bob. She seems on top of her game and is extremely helpful.

However, another caveat popped it's head today. Just found out from our HR dept. that for me to relocate I would need to take a 20% paycut, due to the differences in the cost of labor between here (northern NJ) and Atlanta. I can't quite stomach that so am hoping this is something up for negotiation, as my management is fully supportive of the move. I've been with this company for 15 years and can't believe this is policy. If not, then I guess I'm stuck up here till I retire.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by deanri

Thanks all, appreciate the responses. Actually Bob gave me a realtors name last night and she promptly called me back this morning. Thanks you very much Bob. She seems on top of her game and is extremely helpful.

However, another caveat popped it's head today. Just found out from our HR dept. that for me to relocate I would need to take a 20% paycut, due to the differences in the cost of labor between here (northern NJ) and Atlanta. I can't quite stomach that so am hoping this is something up for negotiation, as my management is fully supportive of the move. I've been with this company for 15 years and can't believe this is policy. If not, then I guess I'm stuck up here till I retire.

Glad she was able to help- I figured she would be.

The pay cut is typical for some industries, but not all- it's possible to find local labor in some industries that is willing to work for much less than their Northeast counterparts. Compensation in other industries doesn't have nearly that big of a difference in pay, and demand drives the salaries anyway- I came down here to work for a different company than the one I worked for in NJ, yet my salary was within only a few % of what I left behind. You'll see a difference in the cost of housing and property taxes here, but everything else is pretty much the same as in NJ.

[netsirk]

I just moved down here from Morristown, NJ about two months ago. I took about a 8% base pay increase over my NYC salary to move here, so, for me, it was a no-brainer. That said, all of the salary calculators out there do indicate that you can take roughly a 20 to 25% decrease in pay from northern NJ to Atlanta and still maintain your standard of living. And, honestly, if you were to move to the suburbs here, I believe it. (I'm temporarily in Buckhead and looking for permanent housing in Midtown and Virginia Highland, so it's still a good trade, costwise, over metro NYC, but maybe not as much.)

That said, I'd negotiate the hell out of that; if you've been there 15 years, they're far better off paying for your experience and organizational knowledge than they are hiring someone new. Good luck to you!

[deanri]

Thanks! I'm right up the street (sort of) from Morristown in Caldwell. Yes, I've seen the different calculators, and I don't dismiss that I could live OK with that much of a paycut. However, I went through a divorce last year so that has eaten a bit of my finances and impacts my real take home amount.

As for the negotiation, like you say, I have 15 years of experience in the company and have great understanding and knowledge. We'll see what comes of it. Thanks for the encouragement.

[researchnerd]

Yikes. I know there's a pay differential between NYC and Atlanta, but 20% is a pretty steep cut. Hope you can get it worked out!

[rzzz]

I would not take a 20% pay cut to live in ATL.
It should be more like a 20% increase, sort of like hardship pay.