From the Chicago burbs to the Atlanta burbs...help!!! (Alpharetta: schools, income)

[jshaunte]

Wow, many side subjects discussed on here but I take everything with a grain of salt. A friend of mine who lives in Midtown currently told me to check out Fayetteville. Does anyone have any opinions of Fayetteville? I appreciate all of the responses.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by jshaunte

Wow, many side subjects discussed on here but I take everything with a grain of salt. A friend of mine who lives in Midtown currently told me to check out Fayetteville. Does anyone have any opinions of Fayetteville? I appreciate all of the responses.

Fayetteville is a nice Southside suburban community with great schools (via the Fayette County school system) and a very high quality-of-life overall.

The rush hour commute to and from the city can be challenging on some days, but not necessarily as consistently challenging as the rush hour commutes can be on the north side of the metro area.

The only drawback is that Fayetteville may not necessarily be the absolute best place to live if one ends up commuting to work at one of the employment hubs on the north side of the Atlanta metro area (...Northside employment hubs like Cumberland, Kennesaw/Town Center, Perimeter, Alpharetta/South Forsyth County, Johns Creek, Norcross/Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Suwanee, Northlake/Tucker, Emory University, etc).

Fayetteville and Fayette County is generally best as a living option if one someone is working no farther north than Downtown or Midtown or maybe even Buckhead in some cases.

Like was stated earlier on this thread, your best option is most likely to wait and find out where your husband will be working before making a decision on where to commit to a place to live.

Communities in your price range with a high quality-of-life can be found all over the Atlanta metro region.

You don't want to put your husband and your family in a challenging situation by making a decision to commit to a place to live before finding out where in the Atlanta metropolitan region your husband will be commuting to and from for work each workday.

We cannot emphasize enough to just be patient and cautious and WAIT to find out where your husband will be commuting to and from for work before making a decision on where to live.

[ipkl07]

I can post lies to paris on ponce. Georgia does not have higher ACT or SAT than Illinois. Take your garbage and lies else where! Chicago also has cleaner air as well. I have lived both places and saw all your action ozone days last summer. Hey, if you love you Atlanta it's yours. I want no part of it. Chicago unemployment I really have no clue on. The only way to really tell is to live in the cities and talk to the people and see for yourself, but I'm guessing you don't have the balls to live in or by Chicago anyway paris on ponce.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by ipkl07

I can post lies to paris on ponce. Georgia does not have higher ACT or SAT than Illinois. Take your garbage and lies else where! Chicago also has cleaner air as well. I have lived both places and saw all your action ozone days last summer. Hey, if you love you Atlanta it's yours. I want no part of it. Chicago unemployment I really have no clue on. The only way to really tell is to live in the cities and talk to the people and see for yourself, but I'm guessing you don't have the balls to live in or by Chicago anyway paris on ponce.

You get school'd and that's your rebuttal? Yawn....


Stop trying to turn this into such a contest. Chicago is a nice place, but so is Atlanta. I'm sorry you didn't like it or you moved to a bad area.... or possibly from some of your comments you just took issue with the amount of non-white people that live here.... (come on man its 2016)


People can choose for themselves and often will move here for already received career opportunities. We are here to help them when they ask and we don't need to troll petty fights over what you think is a better city.

[samsammeh]

Guys,

Is it true that utilities such as electric, cable, water, and gas are higher than IL? I can see electric bill being higher due to the extreme heat from the South. How about waste management? What does it cost per month for a household to have a 96 gallon bin for Waste, Recycling and Yardwaste? I pay $84 every 3 months.

As far as basement, is it true that basement isn't as popular in GA compare to IL?
Has any IL do some serious number crunch and find out that living in northern GA will cost about the same as Chicago suburbs? Keep in mind that IL state Income tax is 3.75% vs 6% GA. IL has lower state income tax, Auto and home insurance and GA has higher Auto/home, and state income tax.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by samsammeh

Guys,

Is it true that utilities such as electric, cable, water, and gas are higher than IL? I can see electric bill being higher due to the extreme heat from the South. How about waste management? What does it cost per month for a household to have a 96 gallon bin for Waste, Recycling and Yardwaste? I pay $84 every 3 months.

As far as basement, is it true that basement isn't as popular in GA compare to IL?
Has any IL do some serious number crunch and find out that living in northern GA will cost about the same as Chicago suburbs? Keep in mind that IL state Income tax is 3.75% vs 6% GA. IL has lower state income tax, Auto and home insurance and GA has higher Auto/home, and state income tax.

Utility cost differences would be minimal. I cannot see that as a determining factor.

Basements are common and popular in GA, although the basements in GA are usually Daylight style with full windows and door in basement (because of the sloping terrain), whereas most basements in Illinois are all below ground, due to the flat terrain. The biggest difference will be property tax. A $500K home in the Atlanta burbs will typically cost $5K per year in property taxes and in the Chicago burbs, you'd be looking at something closer to $15K.

The income tax in Illinois is currently cheaper as you noted, but will that last?

[numberfive]

The overall tax burden for Illinois is one of the highest in the nation, so wherever you go, it's pretty much a guarantee that you'll save money in taxes.

OP, we're practically neighbors, we live about 20 minutes from eachother. The taxes here and travel times are just getting to be too much, so we're planning to relocate like you are.

Even with higher income taxes, the lower property taxes offset that by more than enough. I just ran a couple sample scenarios, and at $100k/yr household income, you're saving ~$6,000/year in taxes. If you were to bump up that salary to say, $200k/yr, but contribute more to a 401k, you're still saving $5,000+/year in taxes. So not a huge impact.

And there are other perks -- living closer to work (you probably picked Gurnee because the home prices there aren't outrageous, but the schools aren't the best). Better schools in more areas in Georgia (we were looking at Alpharetta, and those schools are 10's all around). And you can sell your snowblower!

[Big L]

Originally Posted by jshaunte

Wow, many side subjects discussed on here but I take everything with a grain of salt. A friend of mine who lives in Midtown currently told me to check out Fayetteville. Does anyone have any opinions of Fayetteville? I appreciate all of the responses.

I have an aunt in Fayetteville that has been there for 25+ years. It is a nice area, but the only drawback is that a commute to most of the job centers (Downtown, Galleria/Cumberland Area, Perimeter, etc.) would be very rough for the most part. Downtown may not as bad as the rest, but anything beyond that would be brutal. However, if it works for the commute, the homes and schools are good.


If your husband can transfer and you guys know where his new location will be, that would be a good indication of where your housing search should begin and end. There are numerous areas in Metro Atlanta that have decent homes, schools, and amenities, but your work location really makes a difference in terms of what area you choose and why.


Good luck to you!

[jshaunte]

Thanks everyone for the continued suggestions. My husband will be 100% virtual so I guess now with a work commute not being a huge factor, we'd like to focus on areas that provides the bulk of what our family needs like a nice sized mall, family and adult entertainment, a decent night life with great restaurants, theaters, museums etc.. We are also now willing to travel further than 30 minutes outside of Atlanta if we can get more of what we want in a home and are also willing to bump up our budget up a bit.

We've really been looking at cities suggested not only here but by people who live in Georgia in cities that may fit most of our families needs. Cities like Smyrna, Mableton, Lawrenceville, Snellville and maybe even Decatur. Thanks again

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by samsammeh

Guys,

Is it true that utilities such as electric, cable, water, and gas are higher than IL? I can see electric bill being higher due to the extreme heat from the South. How about waste management? What does it cost per month for a household to have a 96 gallon bin for Waste, Recycling and Yardwaste? I pay $84 every 3 months.

As far as basement, is it true that basement isn't as popular in GA compare to IL?
Has any IL do some serious number crunch and find out that living in northern GA will cost about the same as Chicago suburbs? Keep in mind that IL state Income tax is 3.75% vs 6% GA. IL has lower state income tax, Auto and home insurance and GA has higher Auto/home, and state income tax.

Water is higher in GA. This is primarily due to Atlanta not having the huge source of fresh water that Chicago has. We paid, on average, about $100 a month for water in the City of Atlanta. Also electric is also higher due to there being less reliance on gas, a lot of places are all electric and due to higher AC usage in GA as well.

When I lived in the city of Atlanta my trash service was through the city and we pay about $400 a year for trash service.

Basements also are not as popular in GA. That is true. A lot of places just have crawl spaces in GA which are not usually usable or able to be converted into a true basement without costing tens of thousands of dollars.

IMO, I also thought that food was more expensive in GA compared to the Midwest in general. I think though that with the taxes everything equals out a bit. You also don't have a local/city tax in Atlanta on your income but many times wages are lower than they are in Chicago depending on your industry.