Another Relocating to GA (Columbus, Monroe: insurance, crime, home)

[Amy84LYnn]

I'm planning on moving to GA next year in the summer/fall. I'm moving to be closer to family and to get away from the horribly cold winters up north.

I'm a 23 year old single female. I work in the insurance industry and would be interested in continuing that. My brother and sister-in-law will be relocating with me. They are a few years older and my sister-in-law is currently pregnant.

I'm looking for suggestions of places to live. My sister-in-law would like to home school her child, so schools aren't the biggest concern. We would like a smaller town, about an hour away from Monroe (where our parents are), preferably south. When I say smaller town, I've lived in towns here in Vermont with anywhere from 1500 to 8000 people. Something in that range.

I don't mind a town with not much around, as long as I don't have to drive more than 15 - 30 mintues to get to a decent job and decent shopping.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Amy

[NJ Vike]

Amy,

Schools should always be a concern for two reasons that I can think of. First and foremost is your child's education. Even though you stated that your sister-in-law wants to home-school her child, what happens if conditions change and she no longer wants to or can't?

The seconds reason is for resale on your investment. Do you really want to purchase in an area that has schools that don't perform?

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by Amy84LYnn

I'm planning on moving to GA next year in the summer/fall. I'm moving to be closer to family and to get away from the horribly cold winters up north.

I'm a 23 year old single female. I work in the insurance industry and would be interested in continuing that. My brother and sister-in-law will be relocating with me. They are a few years older and my sister-in-law is currently pregnant.

I'm looking for suggestions of places to live. My sister-in-law would like to home school her child, so schools aren't the biggest concern. We would like a smaller town, about an hour away from Monroe (where our parents are), preferably south. When I say smaller town, I've lived in towns here in Vermont with anywhere from 1500 to 8000 people. Something in that range.

I don't mind a town with not much around, as long as I don't have to drive more than 15 - 30 mintues to get to a decent job and decent shopping.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Amy

If you work in insurance, you need to go to Columbus. It is home to Aflac and has a large Blue Cross Blue Shield office there. It is large city though with 200,000 people and a metro of 500,000.

[Amy84LYnn]

Originally Posted by NJ Vike

Amy,

Schools should always be a concern for two reasons that I can think of. First and foremost is your child's education. Even though you stated that your sister-in-law wants to home-school her child, what happens if conditions change and she no longer wants to or can't?

The seconds reason is for resale on your investment. Do you really want to purchase in an area that has schools that don't perform?

I noticed a lot of people with children on here say that they want top notch schools because they have children in school. I thought that when people saw I was relocating with a child they would assume that I felt that way. I was only saying that I don't. Obviously I don't want to be in an area with a horrible school system. I do hope to have children myself someday.

[Amy84LYnn]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

If you work in insurance, you need to go to Columbus. It is home to Aflac and has a large Blue Cross Blue Shield office there. It is large city though with 200,000 people and a metro of 500,000.

Are there any smaller towns about 30 to 45 mintues outside of Columbus? I don't mind driving a little ways to work. I prefer a 15 - 30 minute commute but could live with 45.

[JLA]

There are several small towns in the area: Hamilton; Waverly Hall; Pine Mountain; Smith Station, AL; Cusseta; Buena Vista; Warms Spring; Geneva; West Point; Valley, AL and there several more. All of these towns are within a 30 minutes drive of Columbus.

[jenymac207]

Phenix City, AL is also right there at the Columbus area. Lived at Ft. Benning for almost 5 yrs. Yes AFLAC and BCBS both have big offices in Columbus. The shopping is good at the mall and there are several "mini" malls 2. I worked at Peroe Systems in Columbus myself. They also are in the insurance field mostly medicare though. Starting pay there in 03 was $10/hr. Not sure bout the rate at the other two. Hope this helps.

[Amy84LYnn]

Originally Posted by jenymac207

Phenix City, AL is also right there at the Columbus area. Lived at Ft. Benning for almost 5 yrs. Yes AFLAC and BCBS both have big offices in Columbus. The shopping is good at the mall and there are several "mini" malls 2. I worked at Peroe Systems in Columbus myself. They also are in the insurance field mostly medicare though. Starting pay there in 03 was $10/hr. Not sure bout the rate at the other two. Hope this helps.

It does - thanks!

I work in transportation insurance (mack trucks!) and make around $14 an hour. I have my license so I hope that helps. Although, I don't expect to make as much as the cost of living is SO much cheaper in GA than VT!

[johndoeboy]

You should check out the metro augusta area. They have suburbs, and towns within 30 mins of augusta where you mostly likely will have to work

[hblue]

If your considering moving to Columbus, GA you should consider Harris County to the North or Pheonix City, AL to the West. Columbus has a property tax freeze which means any who has been living there before the year you moved in will pay significantly less property tax than you will. As to Population, the 200,000 that is touted is because the city and county incorporated into one, meaning the 200,000 is for the entire county not just the city. Although it is not that big of a city you get the feeling that is from the traffic being congested. As noted in a previous post a big plus in Columbus, GA is the racial deversity although the majority of town remains racial divided between it's north and south side. The Columbus Park Crossing Stirp Mall on the North Side is the largest Mall and has the largest variety of restaurants. There is very little in way of shops and restaurants on the South Side of town and there is more crime on the South Side. The Historic Springer Regional Theater downtown Columbus always puts on outstounding shows and offers acting classes for kids. There are also several great restaurants <local not chain> in the Downtown area.