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Atlanta drivers will start to see signs on Interstate 285 that will adjust the speed limit according to traffic and weather patterns.

Georgia Department of Transportation crews began taking the black bags off the electronic signs and turned them on yesterday. The signs are currently working in Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb counties.

GDOT says that the new signs will not only increase the speed limit, but also adjust the speed limit when traffic gets heavy, allowing drivers to know when to slow down.  One of the worst spots for traffic in the metro is at the end of I-285 when one Interstate 20 interchanges to another. GDOT’s chief engineer Russell McMurry says that because of this, the number one reason for the new signs is safety.

For the majority of the day, the signs will read 65 miles per hour, but at times of congestion like rush hour, accidents, or bad weather, the speed limit will move in 10 mile-per-hour increments and can reach as low as 35 miles per hour. GDOT says the lower mile-per-hour readings will maybe account for only four hours total each day and remain at 65 mph between 18 and 20 hours each day.

McMurray explains that, “If everyone can comply and try to drive a similar speed limit, and is not having the slamming on brakes, they can actually get there faster.”

Many commuters are not sure whether the changing speed limits will help and say that it could cause confusion on what the actual speed limit is, causing more people to possibly get pulled over and ticketed.

GDOT asks commuters to stay positive and give the new technology a chance. If you are moving to Atlanta, be sure to pay attention to the changing speeds.

Atlanta, Georgia is home to some of the BEST haunted houses and Halloween events in the country! Atlanta celebrates holidays in a big way and during the month of October it is Halloween fever! The big city hosts numerous events throughout the month of October, so choose the one that is right for you!

1)      Atlanta BeltLine Halloween Doggy Parade and Costume Contest: Dine and drink with your pup and register to be a part of the doggy costume contest and parade. On October 26^th at 3:00 p.m. at Park Tavern, Piedmont Park; earn prizes for the large dog and small dog costume contests or the human-dog combo contest. $20 gets you into the contest and donations are requested for the parade. For more information check out their Facebook page.

2)      Swerve Grill is hosting Atlanta’s Biggest Upscale Halloween Costume Party Friday, October 31^st at 10:00 p.m.  Admission is $15 in advance and the event will feature best male, female, and couple costume contests. This particular event is targeted more towards socialites aged 30 and up.

3)      Soul Halloween is a Halloween party that takes it back a couple decades. Located at The Melia Hotel, guests are required to dress up in costumes that reflect the 20s, 70s, 80s, or 90s eras and compete in costume, dance, and singing battles! Guests must be aged 21 and up in order to attend this throw-back party on Halloween night!

4)      #FrightNightATL is Atlanta’s first Halloween Rave. Located at Star Theater on Halloween night, more information and tickets can be found online.

5)      Halloween Globe Lanters is fun for the entire family and takes place on Saturday, October 11^th at 10:30 a.m. Kids and adults make jack-o-lanterns for the Grant Park Conservancy’s Halloween Lantern Parade.

Whether you are an Atlanta local or moving to Atlanta before Halloween, there are so many Halloween events to take part in so you can fill your October with Halloween fun! With events for singles, couples, and families, the great city of Atlanta is sure to have the perfect event for you! For more events and information you can visit: entertainment.accessatlanta.com.  If you are moving to Atlanta this October, let All My Sons Moving Company make it quick and easy so that you can enjoy the holiday season.

October is full of Halloween magic and fun, but take a break from the spooks and enjoy these extra special events the entire family can enjoy!

The two hottest events in Atlanta to check out this October are:

1)      Disney’s Frozen on Ice will be at Atlanta’s Philips Arena October 8^th through the 12^th. Hosted by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, with special guest appearances by your most beloved Disney Princesses and characters, this ice spectacular takes you into a winter wonderland to tell a story of love and friendship. The Academy Award-winning film can now be seen LIVE, with dazzling special effects and a performance of its inspirational hit-song “Let It Go.” Join Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven as they journey to discover that true love is the most magical power of all. Tickets start at $30 and can be found at Ticketmaster, so if you are moving to Atlanta and need a break from unpacking, make an unforgettable family memory and see Disney’s Frozen on Ice.

2)      Amaluna by Cirque Du Soleil will be in Atlanta at Atlantic Station until the end of November. Inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the story takes place on an island governed by goddesses. The storyline follows a princess who falls for a young man who has washed up on shore, and is noted for having a 70 percent female cast. Set designer Scott Pask has created a nature-inspired ambiance that is open yet draws viewers into the intimate scenery.  Amaluna premiered in Motreal, Canada in early 2012 and is now showing at Atlantic Station under the Grand Chapiteau. Tickets are on special for a limited time and priced at two for $99. Cirque Du Soleil is known for its over-the-top performances, phenomenal acrobatics, and beautiful, intricate scenery…a show so captivating it will leave you on the edge of your seat.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and Atlanta has some of the largest events in the nation! If you are new to the area or will be moving to Atlanta this month, join your new community in the fight to find a cure and check out one of the many events the city has to offer this year.

1)      Painted Ladies: A Private Affair: Thursday, October 9 at 7:30p, located at Ambient Plus Studio. Fashion, food, art, and wine come together to celebrate the human body at this one-of-a-kind living art and fashion gallery experience. Fashion designer Phoenyx Reign and Events By Saving Grace transform models into life-size sculptures through the works of body painters and world renowned tattoo artists. Proceeds go to support the event’s donor Carrie’s Touch, Inc. and all guests will receive a party favor.

2)      Trek Breast Cancer Awareness Ride (Atlanta Trek-Peachtree City): Saturday, October 11 at 10:00a. General registration ticket price is $40 and is located at Atlanta Trek in Peachtree City, Georgia. 100% of registration fees go directly to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation in order to raise awareness for breast cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and to help find a cure.

3)      Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer: Saturday, October 11 at 4:00p, located at Atlanta Marriott Marquis. This 30-mile, 2-day walk consists of a 20-mile walk on Saturday and a 10-mile walk on Sunday. In 12 years, the program has raised $10 million to fund 210 grants that provide breast cancer awareness, support, and care for Georgians suffering from breast cancer.

4)      MindWorx Cares Breast Cancer Awareness 5k Run/Walk: Saturday, October 18 at 5:00p. Tickets are $20 and the event will be located in Grant Park, meeting at the parking lot at Boulevard and Confederate. Proceeds will be donated to support the Carrie L. Williams Pink Scholarship campaign.

5)      LiviRae Lingerie’s 2^nd Annual Burlesque for Breasts Under the Big Top: Saturday, October 18 from 8:00p until midnight, located at Westside Cultural Arts Center. Ages 18 and up can witness this live lingerie showcase, food and beverage, as well as dance party, all for $40.

Throughout the country, the technology industry is steadily growing and creating more and more jobs for the workforce. In fact, Atlanta ranked 14th among the top 20 metro areas in high-tech job growth, according to real estate firm CBRE Group Inc. As for growing tech employment, the numbers don’t lie. Tech employment in Atlanta rose nearly 11 percent between 2011 and 2013; and nearly 15 percent between 2010 and 2012.

Interested in moving to Atlanta for a career in the technology industry? A software engineer in metro Atlanta earned about $93,000 last year, CBRE noted. A strong industry cluster coupled with tech focused research universities such as Georgia Tech are luring companies seeking lower operating cost locations and a close in proximity potential employee pool. One alluring draw to the Atlanta area (as well as other southern metros like Raleigh) is that it is more affordable for businesses and employees to live and work in these regions when compared to the high taxes, regulations and cost of living in California.

Within CBRE’s Tech-Twenty markets, 10 grew their high-tech job base by more than 10 percent, including Austin (34 percent), San Francisco Peninsula (30 percent) and New York (23 percent), between 2011 and 2013. In 11 of the top 20 markets, high tech jobs accounted for more than 20 percent of the total new office employment from 2012 to 2014. Austin and Salt Lake City ranked well in the study in terms of the most growth in high tech employment offerings during the 2011-2013 period.

While many know of Atlanta as a large metro with Southern Charm, a recent post from the Movoto Real Estate site shares a different opinion. In fact, Atlanta was named among the top ten snobbiest cities in the country, alongside other massive metros like San Francisco, Seattle, and more.

The full list (in order) is as follows:

San Francisco, CA
Washington, D.C.
Seattle, WA
Scottsdale, AZ
Oakland, CA
Portland, OR
Irvine, CA
Honolulu, HI
Madison, WI
Atlanta, GA

So how were these cities chosen? According to Movoto’s site, they used a variety of criteria such as median home prices and household income, private schools and art galleries per capita, lowest percentages of fast food restaurants and percentage of people with college degrees, as well as a few other criteria. Atlanta is filled with higher education graduates, and almost 50 percent of the population has a college degree. It had the fourth most art galleries per capita in the country, and in fact, has the most theatres per capita in America. Moving to Atlanta? Be sure to brush up on art, literature, and other fine arts to seamlessly blend in.

Real estate prices for property in the Atlanta area slowed down a bit at the beginning of summer, but now Atlanta home prices are up 11.2 percent from this time in 2013. In fact, Atlanta is among nine cities throughout the United States that posted double-digit gains in home prices, according to the recent Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Despite this growth in value, Atlanta has a different trend that is popular in the area: the amount of homes underwater.

Moving to Atlanta is increasingly competitive because in addition to a slow in new construction, the large amount of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages is directly linked to the amount of homes available for sale. Unfortunately, the underwater mortgage becomes a problem for existing homeowners as well as prospective homeowners.

Atlanta’s average home prices have come a long way since hitting bottom in March of 2012: the average price since then is up 43.6 percent. And in some areas, they may very well be above those previous peaks. On the flip side, some neighborhoods are still slow in gaining momentum and are dragging down the value of the metro as a whole. On average, Atlanta prices are roughly 12.4 percent below their peak, which was reached in August of 2006. The amount of underwater homes is improving, but it is still a large chunk of the local homeowners. In conclusion, higher home prices aren’t enough to detract from the top ranking for homeowners with negative equity.

While it might not be the best market, it’s certainly improving and still shines in comparison to other markets. Recently, the Atlanta Board of Realtors released a report on the area housing data which shared a few key points about the Atlanta real estate market, such as:

-The amount of available homes on the market is about a five-month supply, which is a little lower than is preferred. A healthy market has about a six-month supply of homes for sale.

-Homes are moving very quickly. With constricted inventory, the homes that are available are moving very quickly and are also seeing multiple bidders simultaneously.

-The real surge in popularity is in the core Atlanta metro. People moving to Atlanta want to be in the middle of the action, choosing Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett counties as their ideal places to buy a home.

-Suburban outlying areas are seeing momentum and action, but not as much as the central Atlanta counties.

Aside from the real estate news regarding metro Atlanta, there is some positive news on the employment figures as well. According to reports, employers in the metro Atlanta area are hiring quickly and efficiently, and the fourth quarter of 2014 should only continue to show improvements. Specifically, 22 percent of companies interviewed in the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey shared that they plan to hire more employees, and only 3 percent planned to cut jobs.

Job prospects appear best in manufacturing, transportation/utilities, wholesale/retail trade, financial activities, professional/business services, education/health services, leisure/hospitality and government.

Over the past year, there have been some positive trends in the local real estate industry. The median price for homes in Georgia has risen to $145,000—which may not seem like much for some markets, but in Georgia that is the result of a 30 percent jump in price.

In addition, the amount of homes pending sale and the amount of new listings for available homes was also up. As the credit markets are slightly more lenient with loan-seekers, the amount of people purchasing a home in the state is growing, pushing the need for more supply to move. In Atlanta, the sales numbers are better than in all of the other cities in Georgia.

Interested in buying a home and moving to Atlanta? Act quick, as the demand for living in this southern metropolis is only growing.

S&P/Case Shiller recently reported that home price gains have lowered throughout the US. The annual gains for the 10-city and 20-city composites were 10.8 percent, which was a drop from the previous months. In metro Atlanta, however, the opposite was reported. Thanks to investors looking to purchase homes to rent out, the price gains in Atlanta and the sales growth overall have been trending in the southern city.

Interested in moving to Atlanta? There are a lot of competing sellers and buyers in the area, and it has proven to be a tough task for many looking to purchase property in Atlanta.

It is likely that the market will become increasingly competitive for buyers, which will then slow the market overall. As less inventory is available, less inventory can be moved. This is all normal though, and the more stable the market is, the more likely it is to slow down and hit a balance. The market has been strengthening not only in Atlanta, but in the entire state of Georgia. In fact, the median price for selling a home in Georgia has gone up nearly 40 percent in the past year.