So what keeps you here?

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

I stayed in Dunwoody for a month back in the summer of 2001 and my hotel was next door to a Porsche dealership. Based on my memories of that trip I agree with your assessment of the minimal gap between the suburban qualities of the two cities. Those northern suburbs of Atlanta were as nice as Boston's best suburbs.

I've heard that crime is a big issue now, even there.

[newenglandgal123]

Geez....seems like suitable alternatives for folks to consider besides MA are few and far between.

[jackshaw]

We could live anywhere near a hub airport for my work and in principle my wife could live anywhere. For me, there is an advantage living near Harvard and my wife has lots of friends in the Boston area. In preparation for our kids leaving the nest, I tried to convince my wife to move elsewhere after the kids left. All of the places in consideration were high COL places -- Marin County, Boulder CO, potentially Santa Fe. (I was also thinking about a winter house in Florida). But, my wife has made many friends in the Boston area and does not want to move.

Our kids were both in San Francisco. Our son has been there starting in grad school and is a Silicon Valley tech founder. Our daughter went out there for four years but moved back to the Boston area largely to be near us. She wants us to be around and help her when she has kids and then she expects to help us when we get older. [She had originally proposed that after she graduated from school, she would move to Boulder (a place that I love), we would help her buy a two family house, and we would live upstairs when she had kids and then we would move downstairs when we got older. She proposed this when she was 22].

Both our kids have said they want to raise their kids in the suburb where they grew up in and where we still live.

So we're here because my wife has made deep friendships here, our daughter is here and moved back in part for us (she does have lots of friends here), and our son hopes to move back when he has kids.

Also, we have an incredible house.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Geez....seems like suitable alternatives for folks to consider besides MA are few and far between.

I know. Sounds like no one should set foot in Atlanta area after reading some of these posts.

[htfdcolt]

How this thread devolved into debating the merits/debits of specific Atlanta suburbs, is just bizarre.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

How this thread devolved into debating the merits/debits of specific Atlanta suburbs, is just bizarre.

It evolved to that because people were comparing other large city suburbs to Boston suburbs. Not sure what is so bizarre about that..

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by msRB311

It evolved to that because people were comparing other large city suburbs to Boston suburbs. Not sure what is so bizarre about that..

Yeah, but there's hardly anything unique about Atlanta. Every major metro area outside of the Northeast and West Coast, has very livable suburbs which all have a guaranteed lower COL than we do. Maybe folks just haven't lived in enough places elsewhere to know or believe that.