Relocating to Atlanta and Surrounding Areas : Everything You Need to Know Before You Move and After You Get There!

Rating:
Summary: I hate to give bad ratings, but...
Review: Don't waste your money on this book. "Everything you need to know?" I don't think so! The info this book contains is extremely limited -- most of the general advice (how to buy a house, etc.) is blidingly obvious, and the chapters that are specific to Atlanta are unhelpful at best, misleading at worst. (One town my husband and I drove forty five minutes out of the city to check out because it was described appraisingly as a "quaint antebellum town" with "historic districts" ended up being a broken down shanty town: think peeling paint, rotting cars, surrounding a single main street with that scary hollow, deserted feeling. Heck, maybe she didn't want to be insulting to the residents, but that's no reason to be so misleading.) Even the sections that should be simple and straightforward (like the listing of area restaurants) are useless and poorly organized -- they list street addresses but very little else -- and in a city where streets can span over twenty miles long and run through several towns, that's not exactly helpful. Don't buy!

Rating:
Summary: Relocating to Atlanta and Surrounding Areas
Review: I found this book to be enormously helpful in getting settled in Atlanta. I thought the information about the neighborhoods was very accurate and helped me choose an area to live. Including the information about day-to-day details (like where the drugstores and dry cleaners are) in each neighborhood was a great time saver. Since this was my first big move, I found the moving tips very helpful!

Rating:
Summary: What a Lifesaver
Review: I had recently accepted a new position in Atlanta and purchased Ms. Cauley's book. In no uncertain terms I found the book to be a life saver in terms of its volume and quality of information on relocating to Atlanta. I would strongly recommend that anyone considering a move to Atlanta or recently transferred there buy this book. It will pay for itself many many times over.

Rating:
Summary: "Peachtree what???"
Review: Wholeheartedly agree with the above reviewer from MA. I purchased this book before relocating to Atlanta from Australia & found that a significant amount of this book (around 70%) describes "how to" move, as opposed to actually providing detail on the city of Atlanta, GA. The book begins with a relatively basic description, on average about 2-3 paragraphs, of each of the more popular counties' demographics (age, race, income) and allude to what you may expect living in each county. Don't rely on this book to inform you of where to consider or what to expect living in Atlanta. You will come away very disappointed. A basic & brief section lists restaurants & things to do and see in Atlanta. But you can easily find information on these things once you're here. Atlanta is an unique city - you'll either love it or hate it. There is no inbetween. It is not the most friendly city for newcommers, mainly due to the worst traffic in the country and, as other reviewers noted, streets span for long lengths with several names for the same stretch of road. Get used to the word "Peachtree" - nearly every street/ road has "Peachtree" in it's name in some way, shape or form. Very frustrating.

My advice is save your money, look at the local Atlanta community magazines, like "Creative Loafing" & spend time in the city before making a decision on where to permanately live in Atlanta. Personally, I arrived in Atlanta & signed a short 3 month lease, which gave me some time to look around, ask opinions of new friends/ colleagues & find out the kind of areas where I'd enjoy living. (By the way, I understand that this book line publishes a series of similar titles regarding other US cities: They add exactly the same value as this "Atlanta guide", i.e. around 2%).

Rating:
Summary: "Peachtree what???"
Review: Wholeheartedly agree with the above reviewer from MA. I purchased this book before relocating to Atlanta from Australia & found that a significant amount of this book (around 70%) describes "how to" move, as opposed to actually providing detail on the city of Atlanta, GA. The book begins with a relatively basic description, on average about 2-3 paragraphs, of each of the more popular counties' demographics (age, race, income) and allude to what you may expect living in each county. Don't rely on this book to inform you of where to consider or what to expect living in Atlanta. You will come away very disappointed. A basic & brief section lists restaurants & things to do and see in Atlanta. But you can easily find information on these things once you're here. Atlanta is an unique city - you'll either love it or hate it. There is no inbetween. It is not the most friendly city for newcommers, mainly due to the worst traffic in the country and, as other reviewers noted, streets span for long lengths with several names for the same stretch of road. Get used to the word "Peachtree" - nearly every street/ road has "Peachtree" in it's name in some way, shape or form. Very frustrating.

My advice is save your money, look at the local Atlanta community magazines, like "Creative Loafing" & spend time in the city before making a decision on where to permanately live in Atlanta. Personally, I arrived in Atlanta & signed a short 3 month lease, which gave me some time to look around, ask opinions of new friends/ colleagues & find out the kind of areas where I'd enjoy living. (By the way, I understand that this book line publishes a series of similar titles regarding other US cities: They add exactly the same value as this "Atlanta guide", i.e. around 2%).