Quiet/smallish towns in middle/southern GA? (Atlanta, Savannah: crime, home)

[Ponyspots]

Hi there,

Contemplating a move to the middle/southern-middle area of Georgia. Probably won't happen until next year. We'll be coming from a tiny, rural mountain town in TN. We want to find something a wee bit more populated and growing.. more industry and growth.
My husband works in construction/contracting. ATM he's self employed but we're getting ready to sell out and start over. Land developing/rock quarries/ excavation/ carpentry/concrete plant etc. would be the fields of interest. He can operate any type of machinery and has been managing a concrete and construction business for 8+ years.
We would like to find a place that's fairly rural. We don't mind living in a small neighborhood- zoning laws would have to be in our favor though. We own 3 horses and have several large pieces of machinery, trailers and trucks so we would need at least 5 acres (no more than 8 or 10).
We do have a daughter so a good school district is important.

I was thinking something 45- hour below or beside Altanta.. Below Athens or an hour outside of of Savannah? I don't want to be too close to florida or the coast of Ga. though.
A place big on High school football, county fairs and little local horse shows.. 4-H and fleamarkets. Lakes and state/county parks would be a plus. We like camping and have ATV's. A little horse friendly community would be nice. I don't want to be surrounded by cornfields with rednecks and puppymills.. A place with a functional middle class population.. not overrun by stray dogs, meth and welfare like where we're at now

We would be looking for a smallish 1000-1500 sqft home on 5-10 acres. We can handle a fixer-upper. I would like to spend less than $100,000 on whatever we buy.. a $60,000, semi-fixer upper, bank repo on 7 acres would be lovely.

If you read all of this, Cookies for you!

[GRS86]

Based on your criteria, there are several towns in Central/Southern GA, outside of the Atlanta Metro and the GA coast that meet your criteria of having growth and industry, not to mention having an active scene in HS sports, and the other things you mentioned.

In no particular order:

1. Milledgeville
2. Dublin
3. Americus
4. Tifton
5. Moultrie

Cities that are just a tad smaller that could also fit your criteria in no particular order:

1. Fitzgerald
2. Douglas
3. Cordele (Especially out towards Lake Blackshear)

In all eight of these cities, you need to do your due diligence and go visit them and get a feel for their vibe. While they all have some good things going for them, at the end of the day, they are all the typical small town South, where people, while friendly, can be a little distrustful of outsiders until they feel comfortable with you. A lot of these communities can be overly cliquish, and there's no guarantee that you may fit the clique. Milledgeville, Americus, Tifton, and Douglas all have colleges located in them, so they are going to have a slightly more liberal vibe than the others.

All of them have some neighborhoods that are less than desirable. Some of them have more issues with crime than others. As long as you stay away from the less desirable areas, you should be OK.

I'm omitting Thomasville, Brunswick/(Golden Isles), Bainbridge, Vidalia, and Waycross since you stated that you didn't want to be too close to either the coast, or to the Florida line. Those cities, in many ways are similar to the eight that I mentioned, and would also be worthy of consideration if being close to Florida or the coast no longer matter to you.

Hope that helps you!!

[mccarley]

I would recommended Waynesboro in Burke county. The two new nuclear units at Plant Vogtle are starting construction and I would expect there to be plenty of craft jobs.

[King_X]

Perry, GA