Relocation

Welcome South, Brother! Between the years 2000 and 2009, more than 1.1 million people moved to Atlanta and it is expected that another 3 million will be added by 2040. The 20 percent population increase meant metro Atlanta was the fastest growing metro region in the United States.

While many people move or are relocated here for work-related reasons, others move here for the high quality of life that the Capital of the New South has to offer. Atlanta is situated in the high Piedmont region of northwestern Georgia, at an average altitude of about 1,000 feet above sea level, which helps to moderate the typical sweltering Southern summers. At the same time, however, it is located in the Deep South, which means the area receives something less than 2 inches of snow, on average, each winter. It is within an easy driving distance of the Appalachian and Great Smoky Mountains to the north, the major caving and river sports areas to the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south (the most frequently seen car tags along the “Redneck Riviera” around Panama City Beach, Florida, belong to those from the Atlanta metro area). Within metro Atlanta itself are 57 public golf courses, 54 public parks, 4 major regional museums, 2 large lakes, every major (and most minor) professional sports activity, and, according to one source, “more shopping center space per capita than any other U.S. city except Chicago.”

While other chapters in this book detail services and resources that are useful to both tourists and those relocating, in this chapter we want to highlight the area in terms of the housing market in and around Atlanta. One word of caution, however: Atlanta has a habit of remaking and changing itself, sometimes seemingly overnight, to the point that even lifelong residents of the city have a very hard time keeping up with it all. For example, portions of outlying areas in Alpharetta that were horse farms are now entirely new communities, complete with their own shopping. New growth means new roads, new intersections, and even new bridges. Before you know it, you’re having to download new maps to try and find old haunts. It is best to consider our comments and recommendations as “rule of thumb” suggestions, and visit several areas in person before making any hard and fast decisions to move to one.