Decatur, Tucker, Marietta, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, I dislike gwinnett but you can find plenty with that description there, got a friend with a pretty nice house like you described in powder springs but I'd never want to live that far away... I think the most important questions are where do you work, where are your friends, and what's your budget?

 

Alot of people think their going to come to Florida and hang out under a Palm tree with Jimmy Buffet and drink Margaritas all day, amongst other things, and every little thing's goin' to be alright. When it doesn't turn out alright, the place sucks, so they think. Think long and hard on what makes money and a good life. Moving to Florida will not fix everything, although a new start will improve moral. This just sucks cuz, my Buddy lives in Gainesville/Buford area and I thought it was the shiz-nit and thought that's where I'd move if I had to go anywhere. Dammit.

 

There's so much variety that everyone has good and bad stories about where they live. It's what you make of it. I bet you'll like anywhere you move because it'll be new. Personally, I make enough money to live the way I want to live. The only piece of bad luck I have is that I bought a townhome with Chinese drywall and now I'm kind of stuck for the moment. And it's only a one car garage and I have 2 cars. That bothers me the most.

But there are places where you can have the Jimmy Buffett scenario with palm trees. Just don't expect it near the city. Tampa doesn't have any of that. I live much further from the beach than I did when I lived in NYC.

 

This is exactly what i'm afraid of. I'm not a lotto winner, so I can't just move to "paradise" and live like i'm on vacation time for the rest of my life. Wherever I go I have to work for a living, and I'm sure the warm weather and year round green grass would turn into constant lawncare and high energy costs after a few years of putting up with it.

No matter what, everything becomes mundane eventually if you do it long enough, and i suppose that is one thing that sort of holds me back.

I suppose I believed that florida may offer more walk-friendly environments, smaller towns (I seem to almost have a phobia of high rises and inner-city environments.) and maybe a more virbant "local flavor" than the string of fast food restaurants and "guy with a deep fryer" small restaurants like we have here. It'd also be nice to go somewhere.. ANYWHERE in less than an hour. Ya know right now if I want to go anywhere other than groceries it's an hour drive for me round trip. You want to bring fast food back or something. it's gonna be very cold when it gets home.

I think a move is clearly something I need, I have/had my sights set on florida because I've vacationed there many times and enjoyed the area. Ya know when I was staying in Ormond I have a specific neighborhood I like to rent in. The houses are cheap (less than $1000 a week, and a private pool too!) right next to the beach, and the neighborhood is very quiet. Lots of old folks out watering their grass in the mornings, waving hello as you walk to the beach or bike around.. that seems like a nice life to me.. though the houses there SELL in the 300s, and that's far beyond the budget of someone who has to keep his underwater home, heck, even be beyond my budget if I had no debt at all with my current salary.

sandy springs is a bit too urban for my tastes. Smyrna is a dump with million dollar homes mixed into it. Gwinnett... uh.. yea.. I've never been to LA.. but I think gwinnett is probably similar. very bad drivers there. Some of the worst in the city I'd say. Impatient, unplanning, aggressive..

I work in Vinings for the time being. For you folks in FL.. the most common SUV in vinings is the range rover, the most common car, the 335i, m3, or porsche panamera. The smallest single family home runs in the $500k and up range there. The nearest restaurant to my office has a "no cell phones in the dining area" rule. It's a snobbish super-rich area of town, surrounded by weird gentrified neighborhoods (Smyrna is gentrified.. that's why they have $300-400k condos next door to 1950s 2 bed 1 baths..)

I appreciate all the feedback I'm getting on this yall. I know with the way the market is at the moment moving isn't something you can do on a whim, so if I don't like it, I have to stick with it for a while anyway. The situation I'm dealing with here with my neighbors though is like living next to a dragstrip (like 30 feet from one.....) so moving, even if I do wind up staying here, is still a high priority.

 

BTW, I live a little south of Ormond.(near the light house) I'm from Florida and moved here about ten years ago. Wish I had done a little more home work on the money avenue. I love it here but, love won't bring money like I want it to. Tampa area is where the money is in a technical field or really anything. That is where I should have went but, wife/family will keep me here for a while. Unless the unanimous vote comes which it still could. Good luck with your decision.

 

Money isn't always the route to happiness necessarily. I know I plan on leaving FL soon, I'm originally from PA and I just don't like it here. My parents split back in the late 90s and that is how I originally ended up here. Not sure why after getting out of the military I came back here, I can't ever seem to adjust to the heat and I miss having seasons. Ah well to each their own. Give me snow!

 

I moved to panama city from Ohio and havn't looked back once, I'll never move back up north. I also lived in the west palm beach area for a few months while I was going through Flight Training with Palm Beach Helicopters. Great Area to fly in ! wouldn't change it for anything ! although now im back in panama city beach and loving it !

 

money isn't the key to happiness, but it certainly helps.

I don't guess I need a huge mansion, a nice car and some hobby money should set me fine. If I didn't have 2 car payments now I'd have hobby money and would be pretty happy income wise. It's just my environment I don't like.

I admit I do like fall, I like the ~50 degree mornings and 60 degree days, but any cooler than that and I'd rather not deal with it. No more ice storms!

 

You do remember last winter, right?

 

I understand your passion. Being from here, my blood is thin. I can't take the cold on the long term. My Family is all here as well so, that can/will play a part. Believe it or not, I love snow skiing, after a week of it, I'm looking forward to the 60 degrees for a high in Winter. Just all what you're used to and where home is.

 

well at this point I've applied for every job in the state. and I haven't gotten any responses, so.. I guess my idea of moving to FL isn't going to happen.

Part of me wants to, ya know stay with "what's comfortable." But I really can't stay in this house. Even if I stay in ATL I can't continue to live in this house, it's going to drive me insane.

I figure at some point you have to "chase your dreams" but you also have to look before you leap. My company is probably going to need me at LEAST for another 3 months, probably for another year. Hell, they may decide to keep my position in place, but I'm a small IT shop guy that's just been bought out by a huge company that has a multiple layer IT system already set up with a thick set of rules regulations committess boards and policies already in place. What's more, like any merger, a company usually only purchases another one for it's assets, and I really don't think in house IT is part of that.

 

You wouldn't know someone named S. McCanless would you? He's kinda in the same boat as far as IT stuff.

 

Hey guys, I know this thread has been dead for a while..

I had an interview today that went very well near Sarasota, and they want me to come down for another.

Anyone here from the Sarasota area? I know with the heat there my 5th gen (which is already slower than a 4th gen stock to stock, as I udnerstand it) is gonna be a DOG. So performance mods will have to follow. I'm wondering what they havwe in the way of emissions/inspections.. and I suppose.. if it's a good place to live in general? I noticed they have govt trash service and it APPEARS mandatory recycling.. which I don't like either of.

They also have a no burn law.. which HOPEFULLY the next house I wind up living in won't have 100 trees like my current one, so that shouldn't be as big a problem.

no guarantees, but I can tell I'm a good fit for this position and that they're interested. So I figure it's time to start narrowing my research until I hear some more from them.

 

I absolutely love Florida, but the Tampa St. Petersburg Clearwater area is no charm for traffic either.

 

No emissions/inspections, and multiple performance shops/tuning options in the general area you are looking at moving to.

I'm not sure if burn law goes by drought conditions or how the land is zoned or by county to county? I can burn where I live currently, but it is considered "rural" where I am at. Oh please I'm 1/8th of a mile away from suburbia hell.

This has been a while for this thread, as an update on my end I am packing up to leave Jan. 3rd. Honestly though between GA or FL I would chose FL also.

 

no emissions? Well that's an improvement! ATL has em but they're very loose. Still, it's something you have to do/worry about as your car gets older.

Well nothing's set in stone yet. but the ball seems to be rolling. If they make an offer, I'll have to contact a realtor to start looking for houses to rent. (I'd rather not have an apartment, and I need a 2 car garage if my belair is coming with me.. which it kinda has to.)

My house here in ATL is ALMOST ready for renters. I need a good cleaning, and to finish the basement. It's ready for drywall, so as soon as I find a good contractor that won't be long. My parents still live here in GA too so if I have to pack up and move out on short notice, they can oversee the completion of the basement.

In other news, it's VERY obvious I'm not losing my current job any time soon, so.. if I get an offer in FL, they may counter offer. That would be good for income either way.

 

You think its bad in ga. try living in ma. if living what you want to call it.
The wife and I are heading up 1st week of january to look at houses and find a area to move to.
we are looking from hernando to ft myers.
our life is riding our sprot bikes, jet skis, car shows and races,all water activites. all the stuff you can not do in ma. 6 months out of the year, even when we can it still sucks here. no real car shows with driving events and the waters too cold in augest to swim. Its even impossable to find shops or parts stors when I need something..everyone in this state has a **** poor additude and we hate it.
We love fl. and checked out the east coast last year and found mims/titusville to be best but too fast paced to enjoy our bikes and older cars. so we are hoping the west coast is better.
anyone in fl. know of any car events going on between jan 4-9 ? cruise nights,street nights anything..I have not seen or heared a perfomace car in 4 months!

 

I can't recall if it was mentioned but as far as I know, registration fees for cars in Georgia are based on the car value. I heard a few G8 guys say they were paying a few hundred a year. I think it was also based on the area you lived in.

Florida should be about $78 annually for a 3500+ lb car.

 

Yea, I've heard there can be fees associated with transferring your tag? I haven't tried to verify this yet.

The interview went very well, I drove down and back. (1200 miles of driving almost.. next time I fly ) I'm waiting to hear back on them about the position, and what they propose. I've learned more about the position so I'm thinking cost of living changes+ the additional responsibilities, I may have underquoted myself for compensation.

I also think my current company may try to counter offer if I try to leave.

I found the people in sarasota, outside of my hotel and the interview, to be very very rude. I called a realtor to get a feel for average rents after doing some digging myself. She said "why don't you wait until you have a job before you call wasting my time?"

Eventually, she did say that $1200 was the minimum rent without "having to know how to fight" for Sarasota.

I did find some decent looking homes for rent in Parrish FL however on teh intarwebz. I haven't researched any further, as there's no sense in getting the cart before the horses.

 

Hate to say it but, the rude people you're talking about are more than likely not from Fl or anywhere in the south. The population has more than doubled in Fl since 1986 and that's from perpetually pissed off people from the New England area moving here. They're just miserable people for some reason. Before I get flamed, most are 40 and older. I see it all of the time. Sarasota is a cool place, you just came across the wrong people.