Downsizing our lives at 30 to be closer to the heart of Atlanta.
{Original post from my Word Press site on March 8th, 2014}
Looking through my Instagram account, I come to the realization that most of our “life” takes place outside of our domain. New places to eat, festivals, travel, meeting up with friends and touring Atlanta via bike are the majority of my photo submissions. Still, after a full Saturday of exciting in-town real estate hunting, I am left with so many realistic questions.
Right now, my boyfriend and I are roommates in a 2,000 square foot mid-century ranch house in the highly sought after Northcrest neighborhood near spaghetti junction. We have decided we are in-town people, despite being fairly close to the Doraville Marta station and a 20 minute ride into town on the weekend. Were close – but we’d like to be able to get coffee and walk to the Beltline without starting a car engine. There is a lot to be said for living in Atlanta. There is a lot to be said for living in the ‘burbs too. But for a couple with no children (not even in the near future) that wants to spend every free minute in town being active, cleaning the gutters instead, doesn’t seem in our favor.
We spent the day looking at lofts, condos, high-rises and hybrids in Inman Park, Candler Park, Oakland Cemetery and the Boulevard area. Our budget stands around $200,000 (a little above but a little below would be better) and a hope that our utilities and general expenses like yard maintenance or trips to Home Depot would decrease. We had already mentally prepared ourselves for the space shock. I mean – this is about not being tied to a big house project every weekend and being able to walk to all things cool. Still, there is a difference in a slight downsize to living like a college student with no furniture.
We are both 30 and come with things. We also come with some strange habits and discomforts. Most units we saw were shockingly small. Like 800 sq. ft. small (and with a price of 200k still). There were also an unrealistic amount of closets or storage of any kind in every place (there are still things like Windex you need to put somewhere out of sight). How does one live like they are in one of those Ikea sample rooms? Were most of these people single? It actually looked like that in most homes judging by stuff and pictures. My boyfriend was a little less pessimistic about them. Looking around and nodding in each. I kept little things in mind like a liter box (actually that’s a big one), not having two assigned parking spots (which was common), or no balcony of any kind to step out on for a second (more common in the Stacks or factory lofts). I kept seeing both of us living on top of one another. Not being able to sneak into another room to do work or watch a movie if I couldn’t sleep. As I write this, my boyfriend sleeps at the other end of the house, soundly.
The other part of in-town living that’s hard to swallow – are the HOA fees. Some properties the realtor pulled out of the batch were over $400 a month. I can understand if it’s an historic building like the Stacks (good example) or if the property has a 24 hour door man for security. But some of these places have either no pools, tiny pools, a gym with two pieces of equipment in it, no doorman or security other than a key pad and automatic gates. If the unit has individual roof and exterior areas or hard core landscaping – like La France or Freedom lofts (very impressive) than I get it. Some lofts were better taken care of than others but with the same HOA price tag. Studioplex was an absolute disappointment in a few ways. Other than an amazing location in the bottom of O4W, it seemed like a hippie commune had taken over and management left a long time ago. One of our favorite buildings was Oakland Park over looking downtown and Oakland cemetery in Grant Park. The building is LEED certified, which you can see proof of in any unit. Also hard to get into even with a realtor having an access code and a contact number. You can’t take the elevator up unless you have another code. The views in each unit are unbeatable and will never be blocked because – well, there is a historic cemetery across the street going no where. But for a 240k unit on the 3rd floor (which was already pushing our price range) the HOA fee was $370 a month. There is just a rooftop deck with no pool. Writing that check every month would make me sick.
We went home and I thought about my sister living in NY. Her and her boyfriend live in an 600 sq. ft. high rise in Queens (with a $2,000 per month price tag). We have stayed with them comfortably – sleeping on their big sectional couch. They don’t seem to be tripping over one another. Life revolves around the kitchen and living area which is all together. They even have a little bar stand right outside the kitchen where they keep all their fancy bourbon. At night, they retire to their small bedroom and sleep. They have managed with organizational feats like shoe racks on the back of doors, bins in closets that stack and a giant under the bed drawer for out of season clothing. Everything in their apartment is efficient and there for a reason. In New York, you don’t have much of a choice. Most places are small but expensive. However, here in Atlanta, you can buy a huge house as a single person, collecting crap you don’t need and using a garage as a catch all. One of the reasons why we are deciding to move is to downsize. Less to have means less to take care of.
After all, your place is where you hang your hat. Our life seems to happen outside anyway and I would imagine more so being surrounded by the culture and activity of Atlanta. I have always said “there is always something to do” here. When I say that I am talking about ITP. Not OTP. I think the pros of moving in-town outweigh the pros of staying in old Doraville.
