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We are looking after a possibly move to US in coming year and have some background search to be done before final decision. I have visited eight different states in US and already have quite good background information. I'm working in company which have offices in different parts of the country and so far these two cities have been selected to our list. So which one we should select?
I have previously visited in both. In Dallas I stayed in Irving, where our office is located at. In Atlanta I have stayed in Buckhead and Kennesaw. We are family of four: two daughters, two and five years old. I'm working in IT middle management and would expect around 110-130000US$ yearly income. My wife would stay at home at least for now. She is a teacher of disabled children. Religion is not that big part of our life, but would like to still interact with our neighbours and be really part of the community. I think that most would consider us quite liberal in southern states. We are looking for single family house from safe neighborhood with good preschools/schools. Most probably we would rent for a first year, but go for a 300-400000 US$ house in a short future.
We do not fancy much about culture and arts. Major league sports, things to do with family and possibilities for easy travel (big international airport) are in top of our list. I also ride dirt bikes and prefer easy access to training spots. As a transplant from Scandinavia, warm weather would be nice
So what I know so far:
Atlanta:
+ I really like the architecture and atmosphere, old culture, vibes
+ Proximity of Florida attractions, east coast, Smoky Mountains
+ Lush, hilly environment. Big trees
+ Four seasons, warm but still seasonable
+ MARTA
- Traffic, it's really bad and I have some experience from driving in LA.
- Scruffy environment, you should spent more of your tax dollars for this.
Our office is in Glenridge connector, so would look around Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and Roswell.
Dallas:
+ Newer establishment, more clean image overall
+ Bigger office, more career opportunities
+ More MX tracks in proximity area
+ Less bugs
+ Good communities close by the office without that much traffic.
+ Cheaper???
- Maybe too hot???
- Flat
- Longer distances everywhere
Office in Irving, Coppell, Lewisville and Southlake comes into my mind.
I have friends living in both metroplexes. Rain is not an issue, since both of them would be a huge improvement what we have now. Living indexes are giving approximately the same costs for both.
Both of the cities should be affordable and offer a lot of things for us. What I'm looking for are those small differences, what kind of taxation differences for example? Other expenses, which differs between cities? Hows the propertys taxes? Any difference in schooling? Energy bills? Let me know more?
Hmmmmmm, quite a personal choice. For Atlanta, family, safety, schools, it's probably Roswell. Besides, real-estate is "softer" there and deals are to be had pretty much everywhere.
Regardless of ultimate choice, probably not much sense in renting when short sales and foreclosures abound? Crabapple is nice. Commute time (Assuming rush hour..leaving house at say, 7:30-8:00 AM) is about 40 mins, give or take, to the Glenridge connector to include parking, and huffing through the building to the office......
Dunwoody might work as well. Sandy Springs is rejeuvenating itself but spotty in many places. You could also consider Alpharetta, Duluth, and perhaps a sliver of Norcross.
All trips to the airport are arduous. Even on Marta. Assuming you aren't going to be jet setting every weekend, it's moot. Spend the extra 15 minutes and arrive home alive.
Personally, I would distance myself from any inner-city developments unless you thrive on "adventure" Adventure of course being a mix of things in Atlanta but, like most major urban areas, that equates to being dangerous. Concealed Carry permits are on the rise and with good reason.
Being a family guy though, I'm not sure you want to come home and park your weapon before you hug the kids. Something just not quite right about that. If you have to do that, you probably made a major fup regarding home choices.
Trendy is quaint but, leave it for the weekends. During the week, opt for a safe suburb. While not perfect, I don't hear a lot of complaints about the break-ins, shootings, robbings, or violent assaults out there all that much and as luck would have it, that's a "good thing".
Stick the norm, find a nice predatory deal on the current real-estate, hope you live there long enough for the economy to turn around and make a profit.
After that? The city's wide open with all it's sights, sounds, smells, and traffic to enjoy. Shopping abounds and between that, strip malls, and chain restaurants, you should do just fine.....enjoy the North Georgia mountains. Nice place. Visit often.
Dallas?
Nice, clean, modern. Gets a bit warm in the summer with temps hitting the low 100's for a bit. Dry though. Not really humid. If you are big on landscape you might find this a bit boring. A nuclear bomb's dream. Flat and spreeeeeaadddddd out......if you find a hill, let us all know.
Housing is cheap, NO state income tax (your property taxes will offset that a bit though) and relatively inexpensive to live. More exciting restaurants and bars though and doesn't seem as cold in the winter.
And as always, should you find yourself looking to trade your wife in on a "newer model" choices abound. There's as many credit-card-eating-bimbos in Dallas as there are here. Unfortunately, there as many divorce attorneys as well. Shop carefully.
Other than that, Dallas and Atlanta both are probably a "8" on a scale of 1-10.
My husband turned down a job offer recently in Dallas. It was a substantial increase in salary. Funny you should mention Coppell...that was the town we were most interested in. I went to check it out and the landscape completely turned me off. It seemed so barren and blah compared to Atlanta. We are committed to living in the suburbs until our kids are out of the house... the close in burbs in Dallas....flat barren and sterile.
We love the lush greenery here, access to the Gulf of Mexico, the mountains. We move fairly often and mostly I enjoy shaking things up every few years....for the first time I don't really want to leave. This area has a lot to offer. If you chose your home wisely you can have access to all the things you are looking for (and a lot of trees, winding roads etc). Dallas does have some fantastic schools which is always a big draw for me. Good schools and more money and we turned it down. I think Atlanta has all the things Dallas has and more.
Hmmmmmm, quite a personal choice. For Atlanta, family, safety, schools, it's probably Roswell. Besides, real-estate is "softer" there and deals are to be had pretty much everywhere.
Regardless of ultimate choice, probably not much sense in renting when short sales and foreclosures abound? Crabapple is nice. Commute time (Assuming rush hour..leaving house at say, 7:30-8:00 AM) is about 40 mins, give or take, to the Glenridge connector to include parking, and huffing through the building to the office......
Dunwoody might work as well. Sandy Springs is rejeuvenating itself but spotty in many places. You could also consider Alpharetta, Duluth, and perhaps a sliver of Norcross.
All trips to the airport are arduous. Even on Marta. Assuming you aren't going to be jet setting every weekend, it's moot. Spend the extra 15 minutes and arrive home alive.
Personally, I would distance myself from any inner-city developments unless you thrive on "adventure" Adventure of course being a mix of things in Atlanta but, like most major urban areas, that equates to being dangerous. Concealed Carry permits are on the rise and with good reason.
Being a family guy though, I'm not sure you want to come home and park your weapon before you hug the kids. Something just not quite right about that. If you have to do that, you probably made a major fup regarding home choices.
Trendy is quaint but, leave it for the weekends. During the week, opt for a safe suburb. While not perfect, I don't hear a lot of complaints about the break-ins, shootings, robbings, or violent assaults out there all that much and as luck would have it, that's a "good thing".
Stick the norm, find a nice predatory deal on the current real-estate, hope you live there long enough for the economy to turn around and make a profit.
After that? The city's wide open with all it's sights, sounds, smells, and traffic to enjoy. Shopping abounds and between that, strip malls, and chain restaurants, you should do just fine.....enjoy the North Georgia mountains. Nice place. Visit often.
Dallas?
Nice, clean, modern. Gets a bit warm in the summer with temps hitting the low 100's for a bit. Dry though. Not really humid. If you are big on landscape you might find this a bit boring. A nuclear bomb's dream. Flat and spreeeeeaadddddd out......if you find a hill, let us all know.
Housing is cheap, NO state income tax (your property taxes will offset that a bit though) and relatively inexpensive to live. More exciting restaurants and bars though and doesn't seem as cold in the winter.
And as always, should you find yourself looking to trade your wife in on a "newer model" choices abound. There's as many credit-card-eating-bimbos in Dallas as there are here. Unfortunately, there as many divorce attorneys as well. Shop carefully.
Other than that, Dallas and Atlanta both are probably a "8" on a scale of 1-10.
Enjoy!
Why renting. We would like to get familiar with the neighborhood, before making long term commitments. And I would like to keep my commute less than 30 minutes, so Roswell is already on the limit. I know it's difficult in Atlanta for reach that commute and that's one of the reasons why Dallas is tempting. Actually I thought that we could consider some places inside the perimeter if our criteria would be fulfilled. I'm just afraid that clean and safe spots are above our budget.
I have also visited both Blue Ridge Mountains and Smoky Mountains. Their both awesome and really a gem for you Atlantans. City is also beautiful, there's no doubt about that.
Could someone post a shot summary about different taxes what you have to pay in Northern suburbs? How much property tax I should expect? What kind of deducts available for this kind of family? How's energy price (gas, electricity) compared to Texas?
Definitely less ghetto in Dallas. More educated also. GA is ranked 48th in nation for education. YES, there are outdoors activities here, IF YOU INCLUDE THE FREAKIN 100+ MILE radius around what we call "Atlanta". SH*T, you might as well just live in Alabama, it's basically the same as Atlanta but without the nice grocery stores and suburbs.
Definitely less ghetto in Dallas. More educated also. GA is ranked 48th in nation for education. YES, there are outdoors activities here, IF YOU INCLUDE THE FREAKIN 100+ MILE radius around what we call "Atlanta". SH*T, you might as well just live in Alabama, it's basically the same as Atlanta but without the nice grocery stores and suburbs.
Dude said Roswell, Alpharetta, Duluth, and Norcross lower crime suburbs not Atlanta proper or south Metro Atlanta. What are you taking about?
Every time someone says ghetto I ask what is there definition of “ghetto” because a Ghetto is a Ethnic enclave. In African American culture ghetto is a adjective broadly for anything of African American culture it doesn’t even have to be anything connected to poverty or crime. Examples would be hair braiding and African American names may be things refer to as “ghetto” just because it come from an African American background. With saying that both Atlanta and Dallas have high crime rates, Dallas has the highest crime rate for any city over a million, so the only way you can say Atlanta is more ghetto than Dallas is if you were referring to African American culture itself as if that something to fear.
Oh yeah Georgia is not going to beat Texas in anything because of a too large population gap but Metro Atlanta beats Dallas in secondary education and student enrollment. Atlanta is 7th in college students enrolled, 3rd in African American students enrolled, 7th in degrees earned and 5th in university research, so your educational statement is also false.
We are looking after a possibly move to US in coming year and have some background search to be done before final decision. I have visited eight different states in US and already have quite good background information. I'm working in company which have offices in different parts of the country and so far these two cities have been selected to our list. So which one we should select?
I have previously visited in both. In Dallas I stayed in Irving, where our office is located at. In Atlanta I have stayed in Buckhead and Kennesaw. We are family of four: two daughters, two and five years old. I'm working in IT middle management and would expect around 110-130000US$ yearly income. My wife would stay at home at least for now. She is a teacher of disabled children. Religion is not that big part of our life, but would like to still interact with our neighbours and be really part of the community. I think that most would consider us quite liberal in southern states. We are looking for single family house from safe neighborhood with good preschools/schools. Most probably we would rent for a first year, but go for a 300-400000 US$ house in a short future.
We do not fancy much about culture and arts. Major league sports, things to do with family and possibilities for easy travel (big international airport) are in top of our list. I also ride dirt bikes and prefer easy access to training spots. As a transplant from Scandinavia, warm weather would be nice
So what I know so far:
Atlanta:
+ I really like the architecture and atmosphere, old culture, vibes
+ Proximity of Florida attractions, east coast, Smoky Mountains
+ Lush, hilly environment. Big trees
+ Four seasons, warm but still seasonable
+ MARTA
- Traffic, it's really bad and I have some experience from driving in LA.
- Scruffy environment, you should spent more of your tax dollars for this.
Our office is in Glenridge connector, so would look around Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and Roswell.
Dallas:
+ Newer establishment, more clean image overall
+ Bigger office, more career opportunities
+ More MX tracks in proximity area
+ Less bugs
+ Good communities close by the office without that much traffic.
+ Cheaper???
- Maybe too hot???
- Flat
- Longer distances everywhere
Office in Irving, Coppell, Lewisville and Southlake comes into my mind.
I have friends living in both metroplexes. Rain is not an issue, since both of them would be a huge improvement what we have now. Living indexes are giving approximately the same costs for both.
Both of the cities should be affordable and offer a lot of things for us. What I'm looking for are those small differences, what kind of taxation differences for example? Other expenses, which differs between cities? Hows the propertys taxes? Any difference in schooling? Energy bills? Let me know more?
Considering all of your criteria, I recommend the following areas--
1. East Roswell: Look in the River Eves, Hillside, and Esther Jackson elementary school districts.
2. South-Central Roswell: Look in the Roswell North elementary school district (yes, Roswell North Elementary serves the South-Central Roswell and the Roswell Square areas!).
3. Dunwoody: Look in the Chestnut, Kingsley, Austin, and Vanderlyn elementary school districts. In Dunwoody, I'd focus your search in the Chestnut and Kingsley elementary school areas.
4. North Atlanta/Brookhaven/Chamblee/Ashford: Look in the Ashford Park, Huntley Hills, and Montgomery elementary school districts.
*all of the aformentioned elementary schools feed into excellent middle and high schools.
The poster "rackensack" will be a great resource for you--especially on East Roswell.
Definitely less ghetto in Dallas. More educated also. GA is ranked 48th in nation for education. YES, there are outdoors activities here, IF YOU INCLUDE THE FREAKIN 100+ MILE radius around what we call "Atlanta". SH*T, you might as well just live in Alabama, it's basically the same as Atlanta but without the nice grocery stores and suburbs.
DO you need a loan to move out of Atlanta? If so ill let you borrow some. Your posts are always ridiculous and you always provided such stupid and false information
Could someone post a shot summary about different taxes what you have to pay in Northern suburbs? How much property tax I should expect? What kind of deducts available for this kind of family? How's energy price (gas, electricity) compared to Texas?
Texas property taxes are high. Expect 3% of the purchase price per year. Energy costs are far higher than GA. 200-300 dollars in summer is not uncommon.
Dallas does have a lot of job opps, but Atlanta is much nicer. Most of Texas is just ugly. DFW's nicest areas are only average ones here.
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Atlanta or Dallas
