Relocating to GA (Alpharetta) from North NJ.... what to expect???

[yaya74]

as title suggested, my family might be relocating to GA from North NJ. We are looking to live near Alpharetta/Johns Creek for better schools. DH will be working in downtown Atlanta....

What to expect? How bad will the commute be?

NJ is getting more expensive to live especially with the recent tax reform and the recent freezing cold winter wants us to go south bound. But Atlanta is new to us and we don’t know what to expect. Or should we stay in NJ???

TIA

 

[L&Lfan]

All I can say is I wish I were you. I'm stuck in south NJ for the time being.

 

[amberpi]

Alpharetta to downtown would be far too brutal for me. It will depend a lot on your husband tolerance for traffic...that would easily be an hour drive each way id think.

 

[amberpi]

That said, Atlanta is a wonderful city! Welcome to the South!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

The translation of y'all is youze guys.

 

[Mizzoufan]

Your much closer to Disney!!!

 

[yaya74]

All I can say is I wish I were you. I'm stuck in south NJ for the time being.

Maybe that's a good thing for you.. you never know.

Alpharetta to downtown would be far too brutal for me. It will depend a lot on your husband tolerance for traffic...that would easily be an hour drive each way id think.

DH and I have read online about the traffic in Atlanta. DH has been working from home during the past couple years... He sz he is up for the commuting challenge. Is there any mass transit available from Alpharetta to downtown Atlanta?

Your much closer to Disney!!!

That's one of the reasons that I will use to convince my children to move.

The translation of y'all is youze guys.

Noted...


thank you all very much!

 

[L&Lfan]

My parents lived in Conyers and they absolutely loved it. They were New Yorkers who never looked back after moving south. They adored the whole Southern lifestyle, the food, the weather, the low cost of living but mostly the good hearted people.

 

[morgan98]

From Alpharetta, you can take MARTA into downtown by parking at the North Springs MARTA station.

I commute downtown almost everyday from Kennesaw (which is up I-75, not GA 400) but traffic to the northern suburbs is what it is. What are his hours like? Leaving the house at 7 or 7:15 am will be a disaster. Is he a morning person and can he maybe start early.

I am in public accounting which is known for long hours. I am at my desk by 7:15 and generally leave at 6:30pm. If I leave at 6:30, I can be home in less than 35 minutes (28 minutes no traffic for reference). If I were to leave at 5pm, the drive is often an hour and five to an hour and ten minutes.

ETA: I spent the first 35 years of my life in Chicago/NW Indiana/SW Michigan and have been down here for almost 13 years. I lived in the Decatur/Tucker area for the first 10 years.

Have you visited yet? There are also good schools in East Cobb as well as other places. He may want to try the commute in real time too.

 

[cvjw]

We are in west Cobb, and my sister is in Alpharetta. The cost of living is much less in Cobb county vs Fulton county. My sister pays much more in property taxes and water fees in Fulton county than I do in Cobb.

My son lived with her this past summer and commuted to midtown every day to work at pwc. It took him at least an hour each way, leaving before 7:00 every morning. That was in summer, when school is out, which is a much better commute. It was brutal.

Maybe look at east Cobb if you like the Alpharetta area. All the schools in east Cobb are great. The schools around my sisters house (30004 zip code) are also really good.

We have been in Atlanta for many, many years. We love living in Cobb county. It is really well run with low taxes and low crime where we live. My boys got a great education in public schools here.

I have three sets of neighbors who are all family who relocated here from New Jersey. They all seem to love living here

 

[kdonnel]

They closed our NJ office and moved 5 people to the Gwinnett County Georgia office. Gwinnett is also in the Northern Metro Atlanta area and is up I-85 instead of up I-75.

The 5 people who moved said the biggest adjustment was not getting angry at a store when asked if they needed help. They all said their first thought was: What does this person want from me? It took them several months to realize the people working at the store genuinely wanted to help them.

Having said that, traffic sucks! There are lots of tech jobs in the Alpharetta area. I am worried that one day I will be commuting from Gwinnett to North Fulton or Cobb.

My daughter is planning to attend Kennesaw State University in the fall. It is a 50 mile trip from my house. I could consistently make it to Clemson, SC (85 miles away) faster then I will be able to make it to Kennesaw.

 

[morgan98]

We are in west Cobb, and my sister is in Alpharetta. The cost of living is much less in Cobb county vs Fulton county. My sister pays much more in property taxes and water fees in Fulton county than I do in Cobb.

My son lived with her this past summer and commuted to midtown every day to work at pwc. It took him at least an hour each way, leaving before 7:00 every morning. That was in summer, when school is out, which is a much better commute. It was brutal.

Maybe look at east Cobb if you like the Alpharetta area. All the schools in east Cobb are great. The schools around my sisters house (30004 zip code) are also really good.

We have been in Atlanta for many, many years. We love living in Cobb county. It is really well run with low taxes and low crime where we live. My boys got a great education in public schools here.

I have three sets of neighbors who are all family who relocated here from New Jersey. They all seem to love living here

I live in West Cobb as well. If I leave by 6:30, I am at my desk downtown in the 191 building by 7:15 regularly.

We love West Cobb as property taxes are lower, there is low crime and the schools are still good (even though we do not have children). OP where you live in relation to the interstate also makes a huge difference. Surface street getting to the interstate can be more frustrating than the interstate itself.

 

[morgan98]

They closed our NJ office and moved 5 people to the Gwinnett County Georgia office. Gwinnett is also in the Northern Metro Atlanta area and is up I-85 instead of up I-75.

The 5 people who moved said the biggest adjustment was not getting angry at a store when asked if they needed help. They all said their first thought was: What does this person want from me? It took them several months to realize the people working at the store genuinely wanted to help them.

Having said that, traffic sucks! There are lots of tech jobs in the Alpharetta area. I am worried that one day I will be commuting from Gwinnett to North Fulton or Cobb.

My daughter is planning to attend Kennesaw State University in the fall. It is a 50 mile trip from my house. I could consistently make it to Clemson, SC (85 miles away) faster then I will be able to make it to Kennesaw.

Yes crossing the top end of the Perimeter is horrible and I agree that the drive from Gwinnett to KSU is super frustrating.

 

[Klayfish]

We moved to the Atlanta area in 2014. Before that, I lived my entire life in the Philly area, and DW is from central Jersey.

Alpharetta to downtown will be a heavy traffic commute if you leave in the heart of rush hour. However, people seriously over-hype Atlanta traffic. It's tough, no doubt, but it's no different than Philly traffic, Boston traffic, Chicago traffic, etc... So if you're in North Jersey, you'll be used to it. My commute is 60 miles each way, from Acworth to Lawrenceville (Google map it). That's the NW suburbs to the NE suburbs. Basically, my commute almost looks like a "V". I go southeast down a very busy highway, right to the northern edge of downtown...then I go east a bit on another major highway, then back north on another highway. In the morning, I can do that 60 mile commute in 55 minutes, because I leave at 5:40am. I then leave the office to go home right around 4pm. That 60 miles takes roughly 80 to 100 minutes, depending on the day.

Research the areas where you want to live. Many areas of Atlanta are insanely cheaper to live than in the mid-Atlantic. In PA, we paid $11k+ per year in property tax. Here we pay $2500/year. Houses are far cheaper too.

College football is a religion here. I don't understand it at all, but each to their own.

Have to say that I noticed that it seems like tattoos and pick up truck ownership are requirements (I have neither).

You'll find that half the people you meet aren't from Atlanta...tons of transplants here.

Weather is far better. I will never go back to 4 months of brutal cold, snow and ice.

Yes, WDW isn't far. It's 7 to 8 hours from my house, depending on traffic. It's why we now buy APs

Lots of open country if you leave the suburban sprawl...it's almost like you drop off the face of civilization. You're in crowded suburbs and next thing you know, you're in the middle of nowhere.

Pace of life is a bit slower than in the Northeast.

I will say that after 3.5 years here, I honestly liked life in PA better than I do here. But I do like the weather much better and we have no plans to return to PA.

 

[North of Mouse]

as title suggested, my family might be relocating to GA from North NJ. We are looking to live near Alpharetta/Johns Creek for better schools. DH will be working in downtown Atlanta....

What to expect? How bad will the commute be?
TIA

Maybe not the answer you'd like, but the commute will be brutal!!! We lived NE in Lawrenceville when dh was transferred there many years ago and the commute then was so bad he had to leave home extra early, and come home later, otherwise he 'sat' in traffic. We were so happy to be transferred out and we would never live there again.

Yes, Atlanta has lots going for it, but the traffic ruined it for us. Even now we will not pass through there unless it's the wee hours of the morning.

You're kinda between a rock and a hard place, I would say. Dh turned down a transfer to NJ at one point because of the cost of living and weather there. I wish you the best in your decision!!

 

[mefordis]

as title suggested, my family might be relocating to GA from North NJ. We are looking to live near Alpharetta/Johns Creek for better schools. DH will be working in downtown Atlanta....

What to expect? How bad will the commute be?

NJ is getting more expensive to live especially with the recent tax reform and the recent freezing cold winter wants us to go south bound. But Atlanta is new to us and we don’t know what to expect. Or should we stay in NJ???

TIA

You should wait and talk to your accountant. I am in NJ with 18k property taxes and I am coming out ahead, with all of the other changes.

 

[dclpluto]

You should wait and talk to your accountant. I am in NJ with 18k property taxes and I am coming out ahead, with all of the other changes.

A lot of people are upset about the 10k limit. Mine is 4600 after my 250 military discount. I only live in a rancher. Like you said a lot of things got better for you. I haven’t looked into it yet to see how I’m going to make out. You win some you lose some.

 

[mefordis]

A lot of people are upset about the 10k limit. Mine is 4600 after my 250 military discount. I only live in a rancher. Like you said a lot of things got better for you. I haven’t looked into it yet to see how I’m going to make out. You win some you lose some.

I was upset about the 10k limit as well, but then there are new deductions we can take that we couldn't before, the child credit has been raised, and I believe everyone is now in a lower tax bracket. That equals a 5-6k savings in taxes for us personally. I believe nearly everyone will come out ahead based on my research.

Not that I wouldn't love to move out of NJ. I was slightly envious to see your post!

 

[NotUrsula]

The translation of y'all is youze guys.

After 27 years married to someone from the Deep South, my DH still has trouble dealing with deciphering the singular and plural forms of "y'all"

"You" is singular proper, meaning a reference to one person.
"Y'all" is plural simple, meaning a reference to multiple persons (will commonly be used to refer to a couple or a nuclear family)
"All y'all" is collective, meaning a reference to an entire group (will commonly be used to refer to an entire extended family, or all of the members of a church congregation, etc.)

Important because it is often encountered in invitations, as in "Are y'all coming over for Christmas Eve drinks?" vs "You know we're expecting all y'all on Christmas Eve; Momma's house has plenty of room."



Seriously, OP; I don't know Atlanta all that well, but before you decide to live in a far-out suburb based on the reputation of an entire school district, investigate individual schools. It is especially common in the South for districts to have certain schools that perform well above the others, and you might find that you can manage a shorter commute situation by targeting a particular school cachement within an otherwise average district.

 

[yaya74]

hi all... the OP here... so my husband got the job offer from Delta. numbers look good. BUT, we don't know if we should pack up and move southbound, for the following reasons:

- children: I have a 9 yo and 6 yo. I don't know how they will adapt.
- schools: my current school has good ranking. within top 300 according to US News. If we move, we need to stay in district that is as good as my current school district.
- housing: the hassle of busying/selling... DH is not looking forward to the housing hassle.
- parents: our parents are not happy about the move though they don't live with us... they don't live in USA. they want us to "settle down". We have moved quite a bit, all for husbands job. He likes new challenges... We have lived in MA, OH, CA, CO and NJ.

We could stay in NJ but, be honest, I feel people in NJ are as cold as the NJ winter. Part of me longing for the warm weather and warm people.

I am praying on my knee for some wise guidance from God... Maybe I will find it here on DIS