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Old 08-30-2010, 12:42 PM
 
Location: North Atlantic
358 posts, read 847,010 times
Reputation: 177

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Home is where the heart is. Sounds like your heart never moved to Atlanta. Life is about happiness, not a good, stable job or cheaper house payments. I don't have a lot of money, but I'm loaded with happiness and life experience. I love my wife and I love my life, that's all that matters. Maybe it's time for you go to "home". Good luck.

I once gave a homeless man $50. He used it to buy liquor. Was your first thought that he wasted the money? It wasn't mine.
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Old 08-30-2010, 12:59 PM
 
72,971 posts, read 62,554,457 times
Reputation: 21872
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubssoxfan View Post
I get what you're saying but would you suggest to someone wanting to be closer to Atalanta to move to Orlando,or Louisville, or Jackson MS. or Raleigh Durham because it's "only" 5-6 hours away? Minneapolis-Chciago is 408 according to Rand Mc Nally and towns I listed are 380-440 miles away. If you had suggested Indy or Milwaukee or Madison I wouldn't be as critical because you can truly visit over a 2 day weekend from these cities. Good economy or not, stay in Atlanta with an existing job. If you are going to move, wait until a job in Chicago or the Metro area is found.
Maybe Madison would be the better move. I thought that Mpls would be better because it is a major metro.
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Old 08-30-2010, 01:06 PM
 
72,971 posts, read 62,554,457 times
Reputation: 21872
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chummy Waters View Post
Home is where the heart is. Sounds like your heart never moved to Atlanta. Life is about happiness, not a good, stable job or cheaper house payments. I don't have a lot of money, but I'm loaded with happiness and life experience. I love my wife and I love my life, that's all that matters. Maybe it's time for you go to "home". Good luck.

I once gave a homeless man $50. He used it to buy liquor. Was your first thought that he wasted the money? It wasn't mine.
Sounds similar to my father. He moved to the metro Atlanta area in the 90's for job reasons. He eventually got a home for a low price. Pretty soon he started dealing with getting laid off. Today he isn't happy to live in the metro Atlanta area. The job market here is no good for him, but he has a house no one wants. With the crash of the real estate market, alot of people have houses, not because they can afford them, but because alot of people aren't buying houses anymore. Persons who could move away and find work elsewhere could find themselves stuck with a house that is hard to sell.
He is a Midwesterner, born and raised. He would like to leave. I am seeing that happiness isn't always about getting that "house, picket fence, and a dog". It is about the quality of life. Right now, I am in the Atlanta area along with the rest of my family. I feel like we don't have that great of a quality of life anymore. I want to leave and my father wouldn't miss metro Atlanta either. I am still here because I can't afford to live anywhere else. My father has his own stuff to worry about. Sometimes, quality of life can't be measured in everything material.
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Old 08-30-2010, 03:38 PM
 
2,059 posts, read 5,746,678 times
Reputation: 1685
OP you seem to be looking for ways to justify a move, rather than looking for people's thoughts. If it's what you want then it's the right thing to do, but at least wait until you have a job to go to.

Happiness might not be all about money and things but when you have kids and bills you can't just up and move as you please.
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Old 08-31-2010, 01:53 PM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
22 posts, read 62,191 times
Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by chicagojlo View Post
OP you seem to be looking for ways to justify a move, rather than looking for people's thoughts. If it's what you want then it's the right thing to do, but at least wait until you have a job to go to.

Happiness might not be all about money and things but when you have kids and bills you can't just up and move as you please.

You are absolutely right! But I appreciate everyone's thoughts...It does help me make a smarter choice when the time comes.
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Old 09-01-2010, 05:51 PM
 
15 posts, read 55,620 times
Reputation: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coming_from_Hotlanta View Post
Good recommendation but that still puts too far away from my parent's lakehouse in lower Michigan where we'd be going a lot. I used to drive 5 hours to and from college on a weekend so that length of a drive is nothing for us. It's just anything greater than 7 or 8...Minneapolis would be almost 12 hours from the lake.
It's interesting that despite leaving Michigan for a non-Chicago area, you're drawn back to the Midwest with Chicago as the first choice.

Part of why Michigan is in bad shape is because of brain drain. It seems the first thing on the minds of nearly every college grad from UM, MSU, WMU, etc is MOVE TO CHICAGO.

Michigan is a pretty state. Unless you're actually living within the city limits of Chicago (or Mpls) in a hip, urban, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood you're going to be in bland suburbia. Suburbs are suburbs are suburbs- might as well pick a town in MI near family. Grand Rapids is pretty thriving area if you want a city. St Joe, K-zoo, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor are all good choices.
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Old 09-02-2010, 03:35 PM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 12,257,268 times
Reputation: 2848
Default It the jobs.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by SantaRousseau View Post
It's interesting that despite leaving Michigan for a non-Chicago area, you're drawn back to the Midwest with Chicago as the first choice.

Part of why Michigan is in bad shape is because of brain drain. It seems the first thing on the minds of nearly every college grad from UM, MSU, WMU, etc is MOVE TO CHICAGO.

Michigan is a pretty state. Unless you're actually living within the city limits of Chicago (or Mpls) in a hip, urban, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood you're going to be in bland suburbia. Suburbs are suburbs are suburbs- might as well pick a town in MI near family. Grand Rapids is pretty thriving area if you want a city. St Joe, K-zoo, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor are all good choices.
Perhaps, but Chicago's are tied into our areas stronger economy. Job prospects in Chicago suburbs or Chicago proper statistically are better than the MI towns you mention.
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Old 09-02-2010, 03:48 PM
 
Location: South Carolina
14,785 posts, read 24,071,257 times
Reputation: 27092
I would wait until the economy bounces back before I made a major move like that . My husband will never move back to florida because we could not afford anything down there . The jobs are stinky and they pay low wages and I dont want to be on welfare just to move closer to family . I would stay where I was at until the economy bounces back .
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Old 09-03-2010, 08:27 PM
 
Location: Chicagoland
81 posts, read 327,469 times
Reputation: 31
I moved to Southern IL (for 1 yr) then the St. Louis area (for 1 more year). Now I'm back home in the NW burbs of Chicago. I was able to keep my job the whole time so that wasn't an issue but being close to my family is what made me come back to the horrible winters and higher cost of living. Not to mention the conveniences we were used to! Good Luck! I know that is a very hard decision! Oh and on a side note, my hubby was able to attain a job much quicker (and higher paying) where we are now as opposed to Southern IL and the St. Louis area.
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