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| *Travel Tips>>>Atlanta Travel Tips |
Moving from Chicago to Atlanta Area - All Feedback Welcom? |
Travel Info I am a single Mother of two girls,15 and 11. We are moving to the Atlanta area (Lithonia, Snelleville, Douglasville are possibilities). I would like to hear from people who live in these areas to tell me how they like it...schools, family activities, etc. I will be working in Real Estate...are these good areas for this type of business. I would like to hear from people who have relocated to Atlanta from other cities, especially Chicago. Travel Tips Snellville has better schools. And the real estate market is better. You'll love the weather and most of the people. It's really nice down here (I moved from Michigan). The people are friendly. Things I hate are the traffic (FYI - people here did not have to take driver's ed to get a license and they CANNOT drive well) and sometimes the slower pace drives me nuts. You can't shop quickly here, everyone talks and takes their time while in line (it's the friendliness thing). Be prepared for spring allergies. We have record pollen counts. You will not get white Christmases. You'll miss bagels and good pizza, but will become fond of catfish and country fried steak. Pop is "Coke", as in, "What kind of coke would you like?" Iced tea is sickenly sweet. Lemonade is awesome. Chik-fil-a is great, but closed on Sundays. If you get called into court, you'll swear on the bible. People still pray openly here. Racism is rampant, going both ways. The zoo has panda bears. The cherry blossoms are beautiful. You get to say "y'all" in conversation, which is the best word ever. We finally have a hockey team in the playoffs. Baseball and Nascar are religions. The Varsity is an institution. (It's a restaurant). It's Georgia Bulldogs vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Choose now, you can't be neutral. Welcome to the South, you damn Yankee (Damn Yankees are the ones that stay)! Others remember to stay a bears fan! Smart move... I moved from chicago to atlanta for work years ago.. and dont regret it one bit. Its a huge change. Are you ready for the change of pace, southern bible belt ways, southern politics, southern food, and southern way of life. Now dont get me wrong... Atlanta is better than Chicago in a number of ways 1) weather 2) housing 3) jobs 4) racial integration 5) its cheap compared to chicago 6) people are much, much friendlier here The bad is you probably wont make as much money as you did in chicago and jobs in chicago pay more. The good is you wont have to make as much to survive. You are going to make more money working in a area that has more money. so live in the most expensive neighborhood you can afford, as you can work that area and do more real estate. personally, dont expect to strike it rich.. as real estate as a whole is suffering thruout the country.. Maybe even get a second job at a title company, mortgage office or anything real estate related which will help your real esate career. I found chicago and the people in chicago to be some of the most ignorant and rudest people ive ever met, and Im from New york. Most people from chicago never leave chicago and dont know anything better. You probably want a better life than the southside of chicago.. so your going to the southside of Atlanta. Have a dependable car, because youll drive around a lot, and make sure to you keep your 2 soon to be very active teenagers out of trouble. Either way, you sound like your trying to make a better choice for you and your family. But i suggest you get 2 jobs in an upcoming area so that you can "come up" rather than live cheap. Personally, I live in the most expensive neighborhood in Atlanta because Thats where I make my money. I grew up in Snellville and lived there for 15 years. Gwinnett county has a pretty good school system ( I'm biased toward South Gwinnett high school, Brookwood high school, and Grayson high school). Snellville is really becoming developed (as are the areas around it). Snellville is slowly becoming part of Atlanta. Furthermore the area between Atlanta and Athens (home of University of Georgia) is becoming developed (more so if we actually get a bus/train system connecting the two). Snellville is about half way between Atlanta and Athens. Family activities: Good parks, wide types of recreational sports, high school theaters (Brookwood is one of the best in the state and nation), 40 minutes from 2 awesome malls, an hour from Atlanta (zoo, aquarium, art museum) Coming from Chicago, you will probably consider the summer heat unbearable. Why'd you wan to do that? Chicago is such a lovely place in comparison. Of the cities that you mentioned they are all out there and require about a forty commute into the city. If you are in real estate let me just add Lithonia is a growing area about ten years ago there was nothing there and actually the interstate is just being expanded and a huge mall was built so gives you an idea, the demographic population is namely African American, nice modest houses, schools are just OK, Lithonia is in Deklab County which is one of Atlanta's big metro counties and with that i will not get into facts and figures of crime, politics, school board systems and other big county problems. Deklab is always in the news. Douglasville is rather country,(rural) not much going on out there, its on the way to Alabama, lots of trailers around, development is up and coming but slow, the schools didn't do too much for me, Douglas county overall is also so far from Atlanta. Not a classy place to live and conduct business. Mixed demographics out there. Snellville is in Gwinnet county, you might have better luck here in terms of real estate and school for two young girls, pretty safe, its very beautiful, a big contrast from Lithonia and Douglasville. It's also about forty minutes into Atlanta but worth the commute. Mixed demographics as well. You may also want to consider Cobb County, it great for schools and real estate. communte to these cities alot for work. |
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