We are thinking about moving to the Atlanta area. We currently live in New England and hate the cold weather. Any advice from anyone living/having lived there? We're looking at Cobb county.

Cobb County is a good place to look for housing. My son, 44, has lived in 3 houses in Cobb. One area I suggest you look at is Chimney Springs in East Cobb off of Post Oak Tritt Road, near the intersection with Johnson Ferry.

Houses in that neighborhood run in the 2,500 to 3,500 square foot range and the neighborhood itself is quite nice.

The area along the northern part of
Sandy Plains road is quite nice as well. Many big houses out that way in the $350,000 to $500,000 range.

The area around Running Fox Drive has some large houses, in the range of 4,000 square feet, but the prices are often under $300,000.

I am not sure what you are looking for, but you can find a good school system in Cobb, good shopping areas, and nice houses. The drawback is the commute to downtown Atlanta.

I don't know if the school system is a draw or not. But several of the high schools in that area are outstanding.
I do not know them all, but Lassiter is where my grandson will go in 2 years. It has a well known music program and a good academic reputation.

I don't have a stastical survey to cite, but I know from experience that many excellent students at the University of Georgia came from Cobb County. (And if anyone from the Letterman show wants to sample a real college test, I will be glad to send you a copy of my last test in relational data base theory. How are you are at relational calculus? And I think I could dig up one in Operations Research and Multiple Criteria Analysis as well. How about you answer one of the questions on the air??)

I love Atlanta and wish I never left! I don't know Cobb that well, but we lived in North Fulton off of Holcomb Bridge rd. My son lives in Sandy Springs and likes it very much. The only negative I have about Hotlanta is the traffic....it is a major pain. Nevertheless, I wish could go back!

I've lived in both Atlanta(Cobb County) and New England (Massachusetts). Not knowing where you live in NE, and I'll assume it isn't Boston, Atlanta will be a big change for you. While the winters are very temperate, the summers are quite warm, hazy and pollution has become an issue. Commute is no worse than that of a Boston driver, and a fact of life. No Big Dig, though.

With kids, shop for schools. East Cobb had good ones, as did others in farther outlying areas. Fulton County would be a NO.

If you are retiring, there would be other places I would choose. Rome, GA, is within driving distance for cultural outlets in Atlanta.

Museums are not on a par with those in NE. Sherman did his thing and most of the pre-Civil War structures are gone. Ballet is so-so, Symphony was undersupported, art museum was a joke compared to Boston offerings. No aquarium (Chattanooga), zoo is tiny.

ALTA tennis is big. Unless you like swimming, outdoor summer sports are tough.

Medical care is good.

If shopping is your gig, you will have fun.

Southern people are more welcoming than those in NE, and there has been discussion about prejudice being more upfront in the South, but worse in the NE area. Read: Southerners are more honest about their prejudism. I've followed that study since I lived in both places.

HOpe that is helpful. That's a big question with few details.

By the way: we left Atlanta for Kansas City and we are much happier.

Better than Atlanta is Augusta. We are 2 hours from Atlanta and Savannah, 3 hours from Charleston, and 4 hours from Myrtle Beach. I have lived here 18 years and it has grown so much. We have a minor league baseball and hockey team. Many cultural events and festivals. You would want to live in Columbia Co. as that is where the largest growth and new housing is going. Plus we are the golf capital. Come check us out. If you still want to line in the atlanta area, I would suggest Rockdale co. We have friends there and the developement has boomed in the last couple of years but you can still get great housing cheaper than almost all other areas of Atlanta. I am also a transplanted northener and have found the people to be very warm and friendly. Hope this helps some. You will love the weather. Also because of the geography of Georgia our weather is always warmer than Atlanta. They usually get several snowy days each winter we rarely get any.

I live in Cobb County right near the area Bob_Brown was describing. If choosing Cobb, you must decide between East and West Cobb as Cobb encompasses a wide area. I prefer East Cobb because it is more developed and offers easier access to the interstates. However, my closest friends live in West Cobb and prefer it because they get more land and a larger house for less money. It all depends on what you prefer.

Unlike, Bob though, I find travel to downtown easier and quicker than it was when I lived in Sandy Springs (Fulton County). It all depends on what time you head out there but to be quite frank, travel ito downtown during rush hour from anywhere is painful.

As of right now, Cobb has some of the cheapest taxes (property and sales) of any county in Metro Atlanta.

Thank you for all of the replies! We live in central Massachusetts right now, so no big traffic issues. However, not a lot to do unless we drive far. We want to be able to bring our kids to museums and zoos without it being a two hour drive. Not fun spending that much time in the car with young children anxious to get somewhere. Schools are very important, so it really helps to get all of the input in that area.

We live in Cobb County and moved here from Connecticut. We love the weather here, and don't know whether we could stand the long, cold winters again - and we are skiers!

We also live in the area that bob was speaking of - our son will be at Lassiter High School in the fall. We have been very happy with the school system here.

You don't say if you will have a job that you will be commuting to, or children in school, but those two things should be your biggest considerations when deciding on an area in which to live - schools and commute time.

I think you were posting as I was posting, so I can answer some more questions for you. I also think that it is great that there are so many things to do within 30-40 minutes. However, one major drawback is the amount of time it takes to get to the shore. It takes about 5 hours to get to the Georgia coast, and between 5 and 6 hours to get to the Florida panhandle. We are landlocked in Atlanta - it's definitely a con.

For schools, you will either want to look in East Cobb or North Fulton counties. The top three high schools in East Cobb are Walton, Lassiter, and Pope. The elementary schools and middle schools that feed into those high schools are also excellent. There are great schools in many areas of metro Atlanta, but as I said in my earlier post, your commute time also has to play into what area you will need to look at. My husband works off of Windy Hill Rd., not downtown, so even though we could have found beautiful homes and great schools in North Fulton (Roswell or Alpharetta), it wasn't even a consideration to look there, because he didn't want to add an hour or more to his work day.

I have relatives in Atlanta -- East Cobb to be exact and I come with a word of warning- it is VERY VERY congested in that area, and I live in Chicago. The area has grown in leaps and bounds over the 20 years I've visited and the civil planning doesn't seem to have addressed this very well. Also, it's the land of strip malls and chain restaurants, very little culture or anything with much originality. That being said, the weather is warmer than New Eng. or Chicago for that matter. Personnally, Atlanta does nothing for me.

My daughter just moved to Orlando after 12 yrs. in Fulton, Forsythe and Gwinnett
Counties. She moved because she couldn't get to the zoo and attractions, and feel safe, going on her own with 2 small kids.

Traffic is always tied up-bad neighborhoods downtown and too long in the car.

Pick somewhere else-you will be in the car all the time.

I've lived in Atlanta for over 5 years (in Cobb and Fulton county). I prefer living in Fulton County because it's so close to the city. The good thing about living in the city is that you are close to everything - theatre, ballgames, shopping, etc and you can work anywhere in the metro area because you will be going against the flow of traffic. People who live in the city tend to be younger and not have children. If you live in Cobb county or any other 'burb, you have a lot more "cookie-cutter" type homes and a longer commute. However, you will have a better selection of public education. I do think that the traffic out in the suburbs are just as bad as in the city. You have more people living there and less surface streets. I live in the city and NEVER get caught in traffic unless I'm trying to get out of town on a Friday night. You can either have a larger house (Cobb county) or have more time on your hands (in the city).

I lived in Atlanta (fulton) to be exact. We lived in an area called buckhead/brookhaven. It was gorgeous. The weather was nice and we were close to everything. The people were very friendly and the food... well, the food was incredible. Every restaurant has outdoor seating which is wonderful.
I moved back to chicago 2 years ago to be closer to family. I miss it everyday, expecially in the winter.
While I was down there, I did miss the chicago culture. Atlanta didn't seem to have any museums, etc worth visiting. But, that's what vacations are for IMO.

Let me put in a boost for the music scene in Atlanta. The Atlanta Symphony is a good orchestra. Too bad Yoel Levi left because he had built the ASO into a world class group.

There is also some good live theater in the city, too. And some of the other musical groups in surrounding communities are good as well.

The commute is not something I know about daily because I don't live there.
I do know that I have to pick my times to drive, or pay the price!!

And I can spell STATISTICAL. I just cannot type very well!! Too many old fingers that don't always hit the correct keys in the manner prescribed by my nerves.

If schools are important, there are good high schools in the northern suburban area. The University of Georgia is a very tough admit these days, and the demographics of the situation have shifted enrollment at UGA dramatically if one looks at a cross section of backgrounds from 1990 and compares it with 2004.

By the way, I know Letterman had his fun with the basketball test. But just recently Kinsey Rowe, an all American gymnast, was not only accepted to medical school, but she also made Phi Beta Kappa as well. So come on down Mr. Letterman, we will let you go to class with Kinsey and see how you compare!!
Let's see, organic chemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and physical chemistry should be good places for your first battery of tests.
Then we can move you over to more medically related courses in infectious diseases and parasites. Then to cap it off, how about the 3rd course in calculus? And then we can check you out in computer science and at least one biochemistry course. So come on down.

The weather should not be the only reason to leave your current home. Having moved to ATL over 4 years ago I can tell you that this is a city that is corrupt beyond words, extremely racist (white vs black and black vs white), the public schools are a disgrace, the summers are unbearable, generally the population is ignorant, etc. I think you get the picture. Please don;t think you are coming to the charming south--you are not-there are far more inviting cities you can move to if you are looking for better weather---

I have a feeling that if I posted a question about Massachusetts I would also get a lot of positive and negative responses. We have vacationed in Atlanta a few times and have always found a lot to do and had a great time. The Botanical Gardens and Atlanta History Museum are two of my favorites. I read that they just opened a children's museum and are planning to open an aquarium in 2005. I used the MARTA system a couple of times by myself and had no concerns about my safety. People white and black were very friendly to me. I happen to be white. We are looking to be someplace with a lot of job opportunities (I work from home and will be doing the same job when we get there). Housing costs are much less there than up North. My children are 13 and 9. I have heard great things about the school system. Where in the south is there no prejudice? Where in the north is there none? My dealings with people in Georgia have been nothing but very pleasant. Spend some time here and see how charming people are, especially after several days of below freezing temperature. I have family in Florida and South Carolina, so we want to remain close to them. Any other areas that might be of consideration?

Last I heard-GA. was 49th statewide on school test scores.

I live in Atlanta and love it. We live in town, near Emory University (watch the movie "Driving Miss Daisy"---it was filmed in this neighborhood, Druid Hills). We walk to work, so no traffic problems whatsoever. Kids attend public school (though we can afford private) and are doing well. Summers are hot, but spring and fall are beautiful and long. Winter will bring maybe one snowfall (we don't own a snow shovel). Great restaurants, shopping, etc. Great sports scene. Arts could be a lot better, but unless you're really into the arts you'll find enough to keep you busy. Fantastic airport, so business and leisure travel very easy.

Racism is an issue here the way it is everywhere in the U.S., and the farther outside the perimeter (I285) the more pronounced the divide will feel. But then why is it a preferred destination for young black professionals who could live anywhere? Hmm... Maybe racism here's not so bad as one might be led to believe...

A trend in Georgia is for all high school students to take the SAT's and not just those headed for college. It skewes the academic national standings. South Carolina does the same thing.

Georgia Tech has one of the best engineering schools in the country and NASA recruits heavily out of GT.

Because of the Hope Scholarship and Georgia State Lottery, your kids are pretty much guarenteed a free ride at the state schools.

There is a lot to be said for a free college education and UGA and GT aren't slumming.

Well, the Hope does not pay 100% of college expenses by a long shot. I think it is misleading to say that it gives a student a free ride. The Hope covers tuition, some fees, and a book allowance, that usually does not cover the cost of all text books for a school year.

Somebody still has to pay quite a few thousand dollars per year so keep a student at UGA or Tech for a full year. Room rent and food are too major college expenses not covered by the Hope grant.

So it is not an all expenses paid grant in aid. It does, however, in many cases make a critical difference in whether or not a qualified student can afford to attend a college in Georgia.

Even though these are state supported schools, fees and other college related costs have escalated far faster than the national rate of inflation. As a result the total cost for one student can easily run more than $9,300 per year.

I am not up on the latest highly detailed cost estimates at the University of Georgia; someone in the Office of Student Affairs would have to supply the details, but suffice it to say, higher education is not cheap and the Hope does not pay it all.