If you moved here from a higher cost of living area... (Atlanta: apartment, houses)

[ShenardL]

From the Korean people I know who moved here from up north (New Jersey), it's different. One example is a person who lived in a golf community in Oradell. A 50-year-old 3,000 square foot house and sold it for around $800,000. He moved down here around 5 years ago and lives in a 3 car garage $600,000 4,400 square foot house in Suwanee built in 2009 (with the basement it's over 6,000 square feet).

Another couple had a condo up north they sold for around $600,000. A number of years ago, they bought a more modest but bigger home (i think around 3,200 square feet no basement) than their condo for around $300,000 in Duluth. They used some of the $300,000 leftover from the condo sale to start a business in the Duluth Koreatown area.

I don't know anyone who lived in the city NYC who moved down here but many of the people who lived in the suburban areas around manhattan (Jersey, Long Island, etc) are very happy they moved down here with the less financial burden but access to a lot of ammenities (especially if you're Korean).

[vtecluder617]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

You didn't waste any time breaking in the new master bedroom, eh?

Hahaha

[PTC Dad]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

I could barely afford a starter home where I am from which is a 3/1.5 1300 sq ft ranch built in 1960, just a tad under 1 million. I would be house poor there.
Here I got a 5,000 + sq ft home and use all of it- as a single person. My property taxes for this house here that is 3x the size is also 1/6th what it would be in Ca.

I definitely purchased a bigger home coming from Florida, but my Florida home was more of a starter home I purchased in my mid twenties for 155K and sold for 270k a few years later. I went from a 1600 square foot house to 2,700 before moving again to a 4,440 square foot house.

[Mattie]

Our house is no smaller than our FL home, but it was priced at $250,000 less than what we sold for down there. Honestly, I don't love this house nearly as much as I loved what we left behind, but pickings were very slim in 2005 when we relocated to GA.

[Hokiehaven]

Originally Posted by lorilove

I agree!

When someone tries to replicate the experience they had back home they are miserable. When they embrace what Atlanta has to offer, they are much happier.

Perhaps why after living in NY for a year, we moved here to be in a city, we liked NYC, but it wasn't a reasonable move financially, we can live in the city in ATL affordably and still walk everywhere like we wanted, Midtown and Downtown.

I still upsized to 3 bedroom condo.

[Tonomeis]

I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area, Emeryville, to Atlanta 3 plus years ago. Sold a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom/1365 sq ft condo and bought a 2 bedroom/2 1/2 bathroom/1565 sq ft condo for a lot less. Pocketed the difference, love my place and love Atlanta except for the summer heat at times lol

[NorthAtlanta]

We moved here from San Francisco and lived in St. Marlo for a few years in an 8000 SqFt home. We were living in a 2000 SqFt home in a nice area in San Fran where we could pretty much walk everywhere. After living in St. Marlo for a few years, we started missing the feeling of living in the middle of everything instead of having to drive everywhere. We now moved into a 3000SqFt single family home within walkable distance to Avalon and we are loving it. Funny thing all 3 homes are pretty much in the same price range(+/- 100k) but my favorites are the home in San Fran followed by the home in Avalon followed by the home in St. Marlo.

[bellhead]

Was at a luxury car dealership & talked to the sales manager, this exact topic came up. He told me he has a customer every week come in who moved from the NE to North Atlanta & cannot believe the size of house they are able to get. Estate homes in Milton were mentioned specifically.

[caragitana]

Moved here from California.
Initially we bought a ranch on a basement which was still much bigger (but cheaper) than our California (1350sf) home.
Later upgraded to a nicer/larger 2 story Dutch-colonial style that we absolutely love (especially) because its not a cookie cutter.
In CA we would just be sitting on the equity and here we are mortgage free plus a steady rental income from the original purchase.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by caragitana

Moved here from California.
Initially we bought a ranch on a basement which was still much bigger (but cheaper) than our California (1350sf) home.
Later upgraded to a nicer/larger 2 story Dutch-colonial style that we absolutely love (especially) because its not a cookie cutter.
In CA we would just be sitting on the equity and here we are mortgage free plus a steady rental income from the original purchase.

This puts you in a comfortable financial position. If you tell that to people in the California forums, some reply with a remark like “yeah but you have to live in Georgia “.
Almost none of them have lived here but some think it’s redneckish, backwards, and the weather is intolerable and not worth the tradeoff. If you can afford where you live then it’s totally your choice and California on the coast and mountains is nice. But I was able to retire early with a nice lifestyle here in marietta while most of my friends still work paying the higher costs trying to get where I am at now.

I miss the weather there, but the financial freedom in exchange for 3 to 4 months of heat and humidity is worth the tradeoff. They tell me how they couldn’t stand to live in the heat and not go to the beach. I ask them how bad is that when you are at work all day and not enjoy all that there.