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Old 10-08-2012, 03:42 PM
 
1,971 posts, read 3,027,826 times
Reputation: 2209

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The Fargo area is not classist, neither is most of Minnesota, and if you have $350K for a house and can work anywhere, your quality of life in those areas will be way better there than Atlanta (but it will be cold in winter). I feel like most of the northern midwest is sort of like that. So there's that.

My business partner was based in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa for years, so I know a bit about the OC. If Atlanta is the place to be because of family, those suburban areas you and others have mentioned are not a lot different than the OC in terms of actual day-to-day life. Same shops, same kind of suburban neighborhoods, same types of schools, same types of mid-range professional people. The weather and scenery are much different, though. Personally, I do not care for the Atlanta summer humidity. It is great weather right now, though.

For some reason it seems taboo to discuss on this forum, but I also think it makes a big difference what sort of religious and ethnic background you are as to whether or not you enjoy Atlanta. It's a very Black & White church going demographic, so if you are from a group more represented in SoCal, like jewish, korean, or mexican, you might have trouble connecting with people. It seems that people who move to Atlanta from California and love it are the kind of people trying to get away from those demographics.
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Old 10-09-2012, 12:41 AM
 
Location: Savannah GA
13,709 posts, read 21,772,096 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz View Post
... if you are from a group more represented in SoCal, like jewish, korean, or mexican, you might have trouble connecting with people ....
GREAT GOD ALMIGHTY! Metro Atlanta has huge populations of all three -- Jewish, Korean and Mexican! I'm just totally flabbergasted that *SOME* posters who obviously don't like Atlanta continue to try and talk the OP out of a decision that she has clearly thought through VERY well -- and is backed up by VERY valid reasons (family in the area, need for better schools, lower housing costs).

FARGO?! MINNESOTA?! Please just stop it -- it's very insulting!
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Old 10-09-2012, 01:00 AM
 
9,008 posts, read 13,962,159 times
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This thread is loaded with generalizations.

The generalizations about SoCal are completely off and as someone who has only spent marginal time there, even I know that the culture and people that you experience are going to vary a great deal within the area. The kind of people that you encounter in Manhattan Beach are going to have vastly different attitudes and lifestyles than those you encounter in Costa Mesa which will vary equally with those in Glendale.

The same can be said of Atlanta. What the OP is looking for is probably going to be fairly easy to find in North Fulton...but because it exists there, does not mean that it would exist in Vine City or Stone Mountain.

Atlanta is just like California in that there are enclaves where people will wave to you as you drive down the street and hold the door open for you and your family. Just like California, though, there are other places where people would just as soon shoot you in the face as look at you.

There are also plenty of Jewish, Korean, and Mexican areas here. Do people move to get away from them? I've never heard anyone ever in my entire life say, "Uh-oh, here come the Jews...there goes the neighborhood!"

To the OP, I will reiterate, I think Johns Creek and pretty much all of North Fulton will suit you just fine. I only have one other piece of advice to offer, and I know you didn't ask for this, but since you said you are having trouble making ends meet, I would like to urge you to reconsider your budget. With three children to support, $3000 per month is really too much of a mortgage to take on with a $110k salary. The only exception would be if you know for a fact your income will go up over time (but who has that kind of guarantee?) and you want to take advantage of the cheap prices. But prices aren't going to rise significantly any time soon and it would really be much more appropriate to be looking at mortgages of around $2000, MAYBE $2500 with escrow, but why not keep in conservative? I don't know what your other sources of income are, but since you said you are having trouble not dipping into retirement, you have an even bigger incentive to keep housing costs down as you probably need to play a bit of catch-up putting money back into retirement accounts to make up for what you had to take out.

The good news is with a little bit of work and looking around, you can find a perfectly good house in North Fulton for under $300k. I'd shoot for $275k if I were you.
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Old 10-09-2012, 06:25 AM
 
369 posts, read 654,652 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KelW15 View Post
My husband and I have become very tired of the quality of life we have in Orange County and are considering moving to maybe the Johns Creek area of Atlanta. We have hit the point where our expenses (with three children) are barely sustainable, we have had to pull down our contributions to our retirement accounts to nearly nothing and still have no disposable income. We want to be able to have a cushion for our family and to be able to take a couple of family vacations throughout the year. We are considering Atlanta because I have a lot of family there and we both like the area. I am also extremely tired of the California attitude with so many people acting so superior to everyone else and another large group just being completely complacent about everything. I would like to live somewhere where people have manners and where a door may actually be held open for me when I am trying to get in a building with all three of my young kids. We want seasons, we think that California is highly overrated, and we are conservatives living in a perpetually blue state.

My husband's job can be done from anywhere in the county and his salary in Atlanta would be about 110,000. Going up each year. Our 1900 square foot house here is worth around 500,000 although we are planning to only break even when selling it after reltor fees. We would like to buy something there eventually around 350,000 so we didn't feel like we were using every last penny on our mortgage. I've done some research online and it looks like cost of living in the Atlanta area is much less than here, is there anyone on here that can confirm that from experience? I know prices have been jumping everywhere, but here we are spending 4.80 on a gallon of gas right now and all of our groceries have gone up by about 30% just in the last year.

Also the schools here are atrocious, my older daughter is a first grader in a class with 35 kids. And this is in a good school district in a school that has won all sorts of awards. There are no athletics tied to the schools here until high school and no funding for arts at all. My daughter was also selected to be put in a K-1 combo class this year because there were too many 1st graders and kindergarteners and the school didn't have the money to hire another teacher for each grade. They picked out the best students so the 1st graders could work independently while the teacher taught the kindergarten lessons. Does the Georgia school system work this way as well, or is it a California thing? Private school here isn't an option as the schools in our area range in yearly tuition from $20,000 to $30,000.

What do you all see as the cons of the Atlanta suburbs vs. suburbs elsewhere? I'm not really interested in cons vs. city living as I'm past that point in my life. I have read that the traffic is an issue, DH will be working inside the freeway loop but in the northeast side, and right now he is commuting back and forth from LA on a regular basis which is beyond painful.

Also, how are the athletic programs in the area of Atlanta that I am considering? Athletics are a big thing for our family.

Thanks in Advance!
That's horrible and I'm glad you're realizing what a badly run state california is BUT if you decide to move to Atlanta PLEASE leave the 'california' in california and dont transplant it into Georgia! You seem to already get that though.
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Old 10-09-2012, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA (Dunwoody)
2,047 posts, read 4,600,196 times
Reputation: 980
There are no athletics tied to schools in the lower grades here either, and it can be pricey. We're a sports mad family as well and this year of club soccer has been insane. Little League is crazy expensive as well. The programs are very good. I think my son is learning a lot, but man it's very expensive.

I'm not sure I would say Georgia has seasons, though it's certainly more seasonal than Southern California. Basically we have hotter than the hinges of hell, and slightly less hot. Throw in comparable humidity and the weather's nothing to write home about.

The main thing you have to remember here is that while the cost of living here looks cheap, the nickeling and diming adds up. I'm sure coming from California it will be significantly less expensive, but not nearly as much as its reputation would indicate. With three kids you'll quickly discover that economically Atlanta is not a very kid friendly town. Things like the zoo, the Aquarium, even museums are costly. They have discount days, but the lines are so long you never get in. You should be comfortable here politically as Georgia is forever red.

To my mind geographically Atlanta is a lot like LA in that it's incredibly spread out and car focused. My son's soccer games are all over the metro area, and it typically takes an hour one way to get to whatever far flung area they're being held. He also has practices twice a week, so that's a thirty minute commute in rush hour. I don't live in John's Creek, but I imagine it would be much the same.
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Old 10-09-2012, 08:08 AM
 
1,971 posts, read 3,027,826 times
Reputation: 2209
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newsboy View Post
GREAT GOD ALMIGHTY! Metro Atlanta has huge populations of all three -- Jewish, Korean and Mexican! I'm just totally flabbergasted that *SOME* posters who obviously don't like Atlanta continue to try and talk the OP out of a decision that she has clearly thought through VERY well -- and is backed up by VERY valid reasons (family in the area, need for better schools, lower housing costs).

FARGO?! MINNESOTA?! Please just stop it -- it's very insulting!
What are you talking about? Fargo and Minnesota are far ahead of atlanta on any quality of life list, and have much better schools. Just look at any "best places to live" list. Minnesota usually has a dozen entries out of 50, and always is in the top five for public school systems. Atlanta has far fewer numbers of Mexicans, Asians and Jewish people compared to southern California. Those are just facts. Obviously the OP wants to move here because she has family in the area. Most people move because of work. However, it seems like the husband works from home. If one was working with $110k a year and could live anywhere in the country, i have no idea why you would uproot and move across country to the Atlanta area. Suburbs are very similar across the country and there are dozens of places that are safer, less expensive, have better schools, cooler summers, near more to do, etc.

Last edited by rzzz; 10-09-2012 at 08:20 AM..
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Old 10-09-2012, 08:42 AM
 
2,530 posts, read 4,745,373 times
Reputation: 2048
Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz View Post
What are you talking about? Fargo and Minnesota are far ahead of atlanta on any quality of life list, and have much better schools. Just look at any "best places to live" list. Minnesota usually has a dozen entries out of 50, and always is in the top five for public school systems. Atlanta has far fewer numbers of Mexicans, Asians and Jewish people compared to southern California. Those are just facts. Obviously the OP wants to move here because she has family in the area. Most people move because of work. However, it seems like the husband works from home. If one was working with $110k a year and could live anywhere in the country, i have no idea why you would uproot and move across country to the Atlanta area. Suburbs are very similar across the country and there are dozens of places that are safer, less expensive, have better schools, cooler summers, near more to do, etc.
The OP stated her reason for deciding to move to Atlanta. She simply asked for Pros and Cons about Johns Creek that she had not already considered. No where did the OP ask for financial advise on how to manage their personal finances, nor did she ask for open suggestions on where in the US they should move to.

So staying on topic:

Pros
1) Johns Creek has excellent schools
2) Homes hold their value better than most in the area
3) Nice shopping
4) Proximity to well paying jobs in North Fulton area

Cons
1) Schools can be overly competitive
2) Lots of transplants and foreign nationals (depending on your view can be a pro)
3) Traffic and proximity to the diversity of activity/restaurants/shopping ITP
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Old 10-09-2012, 10:11 AM
 
Location: ATL-SAV
98 posts, read 204,020 times
Reputation: 74
I suggest the Johns Creek area with Johns Creek and the Northview school districts. Also the Duluth/Suwanee is good because of the access to I-85, and the great North Gwinnett/Peachtree Ridge school districts. Football and school/city activities are great here in the Northern Gwinnett side. You also get access to the Mall of GA, and Discover Mills pretty easily. I think the schools in Johns Creek is too competitive.
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Old 10-09-2012, 10:31 AM
 
1,858 posts, read 3,534,546 times
Reputation: 1177
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD View Post
At the end of the day, we are all searching for that brass ring. Some will find it some won't.

A good quality of life is all that matters.
if i hear someone say "at the end of the day" again..I am going to scream!
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Old 10-09-2012, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Savannah GA
13,709 posts, read 21,772,096 times
Reputation: 10184
Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz View Post
what are you talking about? Fargo and minnesota are far ahead of atlanta on any quality of life list, and have much better schools. Just look at any "best places to live" list. Minnesota usually has a dozen entries out of 50, and always is in the top five for public school systems. Atlanta has far fewer numbers of mexicans, asians and jewish people compared to southern california. Those are just facts. Obviously the op wants to move here because she has family in the area. Most people move because of work. However, it seems like the husband works from home. If one was working with $110k a year and could live anywhere in the country, i have no idea why you would uproot and move across country to the atlanta area. suburbs are very similar across the country and there are dozens of places that are safer, less expensive, have better schools, cooler summers, near more to do, etc.
BECAUSE ... she has family in the area, she has been here many times ... And she likes it!!!!! Geez ...
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