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I'm about to graduate from law school with a specialization in Estate Planning/Private Wealth Management/Tax Law. I will be working in NYC for a bit but really want to get out of the Northeast. What do you think would be a good city for me to practice in? I am married and looking to have kids in the next 3-5 years. I can spend up to about 500K on a house. I'm thinking I need to be near a city for work reasons, but not sure how big the city needs to be.
Thoughts on Atlanta? Charlotte? Jacksonville? Washington DC? McLean, VA?
I know these cities are all very different, so I'd like to hear what everyone thinks. Are there cities where my family will not be accepted for being "yankees"?
Sigh. If you move South of the Mason Dixon line you and yours will be peppered with buckshot. Rednecks in large pickup trucks will pelt you with beer cans and run you and your Subaru Outback off the road. You will be invited to NASCAR events, fundamentalist churches, and lynchings on a weekly basis, and if you decline to come, the cast of Deliverance will come to your house with a noose. You will be laughed at in grocery stores for your accent and you will be ostracized by neighbors. People will avoid you in movie theaters, restaurants, and office functions. You and your wife will be pariahs.
Sorry. We get a million of these threads. Look, here's the deal. It is a different culture. But if you don't pull into Birmingham or Atlanta or Charlotte demanding for them to do everything the way it's done in Worcester or Albany, then you will be just fine. Don't refer to them as a bunch of hillbillies for political opinions that differ from yours. Maintain a truce on the subject of religion by politely declining to visit their church (It's only happened once to us). Offer a logical difference of opinion, and respect theirs while you're at it. Do those things and you'll be just dandy.
[Chicago native living in the South for 16 years. We love it here. Forget the stereotypes. It's nothing like what we expected.]
Sigh. If you move South of the Mason Dixon line you and yours will be peppered with buckshot. Rednecks in large pickup trucks will pelt you with beer cans and run you and your Subaru Outback off the road. You will be invited to NASCAR events, fundamentalist churches, and lynchings on a weekly basis, and if you decline to come, the cast of Deliverance will come to your house with a noose. You will be laughed at in grocery stores for your accent and you will be ostracized by neighbors. People will avoid you in movie theaters, restaurants, and office functions. You and your wife will be pariahs.
Sorry. We get a million of these threads. Look, here's the deal. It is a different culture. But if you don't pull into Birmingham or Atlanta or Charlotte demanding for them to do everything the way it's done in Worcester or Albany, then you will be just fine. Don't refer to them as a bunch of hillbillies for political opinions that differ from yours. Maintain a truce on the subject of religion by politely declining to visit their church (It's only happened once to us). Offer a logical difference of opinion, and respect theirs while you're at it. Do those things and you'll be just dandy.
[Chicago native living in the South for 16 years. We love it here. Forget the stereotypes. It's nothing like what we expected.]
DC sounds like a good fit for you. It'll be a good place for your job, and the majority are yankees anyway.
Just beware that the traffic can be really bad. Taking a train to work could be the better option.
NC could be a good option too. Good schools, and you could probably get more house for your buck than you would in DC or Virginia.
thanks to everyone... great post CPG... that's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure. can't wait to move south... leaning towards Atlanta right now.
thanks to everyone... great post CPG... that's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure. can't wait to move south... leaning towards Atlanta right now.
thanks again!!
With your specialization, look north of Atlanta. That's where the money is going.
In addition, living conditions are much better than in the city (unless you're single and need the bar scene to stay happy).
I don't know if you should worry about ATL. Too many people have moved there so it's not Southern (at least on this board that seems to be the case).
Yeah a lot of people do seem to give the impression that Atlanta is not really a Southern city anymore.
But that's not really the case. While a ton of Northerners have moved to Atlanta in the last 20 years, a lot of Southerners have, too. It's growing by over 100,000 per year, and they're not all coming from Michigan and New Jersey (thank goodness). Southern accents are still dominant in Atlanta.
dc's not really southern. baltimore isn't definitively southern either. dc area is very educated. perhaps the larges t%age of upper middle class of the top 30 metro areas. maybe sf or sj beat it? although there are other complaints so go into the dc forum for that.
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