Looking to relocate to Georgia from PA (Atlanta, Columbus: chapel, new home)

[Akeno_TSi]

Hey everyone! My family and I think its finally time to move towards the south. My dad basically works outside for a living and with his age his body just can't handle these harsh bitter cold winters of NEPA anymore. Its something we've thought about doing for years, but only now are we seriously thinking of pulling the trigger because now we have a real opportunity coming up to actually pull the trigger.

My sister is finishing up her teaching degree, and her school is helping her find employment, and with that shes getting offers from school districts in other states that will assist in relocating her to the area.

We're looking at a few states, namely Florida and Georgia. What are some good affordable and safe areas to look for homes in? Hows the job market? What areas are more prone than others to hurricanes, flooding, and even tornados? And what are the general things we should look out for?

Any helpful advise is appreciated it, thanks.

[Akeno_TSi]

Dallas, and Grovetown look to be the closest we could probably afford.

Between the 3 of us we make a combined income of an estimated 90k a year. I work at local car dealership in the parts department. My brother also works at local car dealer, and my dad owns a snack route that he would have to sell to make the jump.

As much as I don't want to I'm sure my brother and I could find jobs at a local dealership. My dad would probably be looking to buy another snack route (if thats a thing down there). I'd even look into doing that if I could afford a down payment and money for a route truck.

My sister is the one finishing her teaching degree.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Akeno_TSi

Dallas, and Grovetown look to be the closest we could probably afford.

Between the 3 of us we make a combined income of an estimated 90k a year. I work at local car dealership in the parts department. My brother also works at local car dealer, and my dad owns a snack route that he would have to sell to make the jump.

As much as I don't want to I'm sure my brother and I could find jobs at a local dealership. My dad would probably be looking to buy another snack route (if thats a thing down there). I'd even look into doing that if I could afford a down payment and money for a route truck.

My sister is the one finishing her teaching degree.

Tell us a bit about the snack route. I really am unfamiliar with that.

[Akeno_TSi]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Tell us a bit about the snack route. I really am unfamiliar with that.

Its a Snyders-Lance route, hes a vendor that sells product to grocery stores like, pretzels, chips, crackers, etc. If you have a good route you can make out pretty good.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Akeno_TSi

Hey everyone! My family and I think its finally time to move towards the south. My dad basically works outside for a living and with his age his body just can't handle these harsh bitter cold winters of NEPA anymore. Its something we've thought about doing for years, but only now are we seriously thinking of pulling the trigger because now we have a real opportunity coming up to actually pull the trigger.

My sister is finishing up her teaching degree, and her school is helping her find employment, and with that shes getting offers from school districts in other states that will assist in relocating her to the area.

We're looking at a few states, namely Florida and Georgia. What are some good affordable and safe areas to look for homes in? Hows the job market? What areas are more prone than others to hurricanes, flooding, and even tornados? And what are the general things we should look out for?

Any helpful advise is appreciated it, thanks.

Originally Posted by Akeno_TSi

Dallas, and Grovetown look to be the closest we could probably afford.

Between the 3 of us we make a combined income of an estimated 90k a year. I work at local car dealership in the parts department. My brother also works at local car dealer, and my dad owns a snack route that he would have to sell to make the jump.

As much as I don't want to I'm sure my brother and I could find jobs at a local dealership. My dad would probably be looking to buy another snack route (if thats a thing down there). I'd even look into doing that if I could afford a down payment and money for a route truck.

My sister is the one finishing her teaching degree.

In what states is your sister getting offers from?

Depending on where her teaching offers are coming from, relocating with her to another state seems like it might be a viable option.

Otherwise, the key to finding a good place to consider relocating to is finding and being hired to a job (or jobs) or having a source of income/revenue that each working adult in a household can tap into in a prospective new hometown and/or home state before relocating there.

Having some income/revenue streams up and running and ready to go in a new home city/state before relocating there will be helpful in avoiding being in a situation where you move somewhere and end up depleting whatever savings you might have because you could not find a job.

Do not move to Georgia without having some jobs and income/revenue ready to go that you can tap into after relocating.

Also, do not look for a place to live and/or move into until you have secured employment and know where at least one of you (if not all three or four working adults in the household) knows where you will be commuting to and from for work each day.

Georgia rush hour commutes (most specifically, metropolitan Atlanta/North Georgia rush hour commutes) can be a ghastly beast and even an outright monster on many days, especially when the PK-12 grade schools are in session and especially compared to where you may live now in a much more sparsely populated area in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

You all will want to live as close to work as might be possible if you choose to move to the greater Atlanta metropolitan region of North Georgia, a region which encompasses upwards of nearly 40 counties in the northern third of the state of Georgia.

If your sister chooses to look for employment in a career as a teacher in Georgia, the top school systems that she could (and likely should) look for employment in are:

> Gwinnett County Public Schools, an award-winning large urban-suburban school system that serves about 180,000 children and is the largest school system in the state of Georgia and is the 13th-largest school system in the U.S. GCPS serves a county (Gwinnett County) in Atlanta's very fast-growing northeastern suburbs with a large and increasingly diverse population (over 920,000 residents with a population that is more than 62% minority)...

> Fulton County Schools, a large urban-suburban system which serves the northernmost and southernmost suburban parts of Georgia's most populated county, Fulton County...

> Cobb County School District, a large urban-suburban system which serves Georgia's third-most populated county, Cobb County, in Atlanta's booming northwestern suburbs...

> Forsyth County Schools, a fast-growing system in Atlanta's far northern outer suburbs adjacent to a growing suburban tech hub (Alpharetta in North Fulton and South Forsyth counties)...

> Cherokee County School District, a fast-growing system in Atlanta's scenic northwestern outer suburbs...

The Gwinnett, Fulton, Cobb, Forsyth and Cherokee school systems in particular always seem to be hiring new teachers because of the very high growth in those areas.

Other Georgia school systems that your sister could inquire into include:

> Henry County

> Fayette County

> Coweta County

> Douglas County

> Paulding County

> Walton County

> Hall County

> Rockdale County

> Newton County

> Jackson County

> Oconee County

> Athens-Clarke County

> Carroll County

> City of Carrollton

Your sister could also inquire into employment opportunities in small independent city school systems like Decatur, Buford, Marietta and Gainesville (Decatur and Buford get high marks for excellence as small independent city school systems, while Marietta and Gainesville have extremely diverse populations of families and schoolchildren that appeal to teachers).

If working in a decidedly urban environment appeals to your sister, she could inquire into employment opportunities in school systems like APS (Atlanta Public Schools), DeKalb County and Clayton County.

In addition to Georgia (where most employment and career growth opportunities will, by far, be in the roughly 40-county metro Atlanta/North Georgia area, with more limited opportunities in second-tier Georgia metros like Savannah, Augusta, Columbus and Middle Georgia (Houston and Bibb counties)) and Florida, your sister could also look for teaching career opportunities in other parts of the nation with milder weather like:

> the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (Northern Virginia and Maryland suburbs of D.C.)…

> Nashville, Tennessee (high-growth Southeastern metro)...

> Charlotte, North Carolina (a Financial and Technology hub just scored a third massive bank corporate headquarters in the BB&T/SunTrust bank merger... Banking giants Bank of America (corporate headquarters) and Wells Fargo (East Coast headquarters) already have headquarters in Charlotte)…

> Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina (otherwise known as the "Research Triangle") which is an area (a medical and tech jobs hub) that is anchored by three massive research institutions in Duke University in Durham, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University in Raleigh...

> Texas (in the very high-growth metro area/regions of Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston)

Best wishes with your relocation search.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Akeno_TSi

Its a Snyders-Lance route, hes a vendor that sells product to grocery stores like, pretzels, chips, crackers, etc. If you have a good route you can make out pretty good.

Since your father does that kind of work and apparently has a delivery vehicle (if I am correct?), he could also look into contracting to make deliveries for Amazon's popular Prime delivery service in the affluent suburbs of a prosperous Southern metro region of your family's choice (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, DMV (D.C./Maryland/Virginia)).

He could also check into such contract services as Roadie.com, Instacart, Deliv, Postmates, Dropoff, Shipt, Grubhub, Doordash, Spark and/or a local/regional courier service if he is either looking to get to work quickly and/or he is looking to supplement his income in any of the aforementioned prosperous, high-growth regions of the Southern-tier of the U.S.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Akeno_TSi

Its a Snyders-Lance route, hes a vendor that sells product to grocery stores like, pretzels, chips, crackers, etc. If you have a good route you can make out pretty good.

Well there is certainly a huge potential for employment in that business down here. I see snack food vendors servicing convenience and grocery stores all the time. Lance, Leys and Little Debbie are probably the biggest brands down here: