Town suggestions near Young Harris (N. Ga.) (Atlanta, Gainesville: rentals, low crime)

[res26]

My husband is considering a job in/near Young Harris. We are a 26/27 year old couple with 2 young children. We are not sure if this will be a permanant move, so we want to rent for the first year to see how we like it.

Are there any towns you can suggest within an hour of Young Harris? Here are the things that are important to us:

* Safety (low crime)
* within 10-15 minutes of a grocery store
* good schools
* My husband likes to run/bike/kayak (anything athletic, really). Somewhere he could do this safely.
* a few local restaurants would be nice

Any suggestions? Our ideal situation would be to live halfway between Young Harris and a university with Masters/Ph.D programs, since we are both in the middle of grad school. But, anything within an hour of Young Harris is fine.

[saharaga]

I'm not sure you're going to be able to get what you want. Young Harris is in the mountains right near the GA/TN border and there isn't much around there in the way of major cities. Atlanta, Chattanooga and Knoxville are at least 2 hours away. Dawsonville, Gainesville and Cumming are about 1 1/2 hours south of there. Dahlonega is a little closer at about 1 hour south. Halfway between these cities will leave you with options like Helen, Cleveland, and not much else. You also have to consider how easy these cities are to get to because there are no major interstates in this part of Georgia. If you want to be able to get to Atlanta more easily, I would stick to the cities around Hwy 400.

Your choice of colleges is also very limited. Dahlonega has N. GA College & State Univeristy, Cleveland has Truett-McConnell College, Young Harris has Young Harris College, Gainesville has a few options like Gainesville State College, Lanier Tech, and Brenau University.

You should really get a map of Georgia so you can map out what your options are. Once you've done that, pay a visit to the area. I would not recommend moving to Young Harris, or anywhere for that matter, site unseen.

Georgia Public Elementary School Rankings

[res26]

I should clarify, we don't necessarily have to be near a major city. That would just be a bonus.

Basically, we're looking for something within an hour of Young Harris that has low crime, good schools, and isn't far from a grocery store and restaurants.

[go falcons]

Have you looked into Young Harris itself ? It is an absolutely beautiful place . It also on the crime scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst, it rates a 1.
It is an outdoor enthusiast dream for running, biking , hiking - it has it all.
Though it doesn't have a grocery store ,Blairsville and Hiawasee both do and they are just a few miles in either dirrection of Young Harris.

[saharaga]

I agree with the gofalcons...stick with Young Harris and if necessary, start looking outward. The only cities that I can see are within an hour of Young Harris are Hiawassee, Helen, Cleveland, Dahlonega, Clermont, Blairsville, Morganton, Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Tiger, Clayton, Mountain City, Dillard.

We spent a few days at a state park in Mountain City a few years ago. They have a Super-Walmart there. That's about it. I'm not even sure we were still in Mountain City when we found that Walmart. We were driving down the highway trying to get a cell phone signal when we happened to see the Walmart. We've also visited Helen, Blairsville, Dahlonega. The mountains are the mountains are the mountains. I don't think any of the other cities mentioned would be much different from Young Harris. Dahlonega is probably the largest city of the bunch so you'll likely find more there if you just don't want to live in Young Harris and it's slightly more than halfway between Atlanta and Young Harris.

[res26]

Thanks for the suggestions! We are looking in to Young Harris next weekend and will hopefully be able to drive around to see the surrounding areas.

If anyone has any experiences living in the surrounding towns, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you!

Also, does anyone know of any realtors who deal with rentals in that area? Like I mentioned earlier, we don't want to buy anything until we are sure that we are there to stay. Do most people rent out their properities on their own ("for rent by owner")? If so, what is the local newspaper that people would advertise in?

[go falcons]

I'm not sure what newspaper is up there. I have moved a lot in my married life and I have had some success in finding rentals when we have moved just by talking to people like the local postal workers, phamacist etc and letting them know what I was looking for.

Since Young Harris is a college town, I would deffently check with the college business office to see if they know of any rental properties.
Some friends of mine had success finding a rental in an area that didn't have many by running an add in the local paper stating what they wanted.

Young Harris has a lot of vacation rental property in the area and it might be a good idea because of the economy to contact some of the owners of those to see if they would consider a long term rental instead.

[zapata1818]

My goodness what is wrong with Young Harris itself. Many people would like to live there! If you need a specific recommendation I suggest you contact Zell Miller directly. He would be happy to provide detailed information on the special flavor of Young Harris.

[res26]

I just wanted to update that we visited Young Harris and it is every bit as lovely as promised. The people were all very friendly. I've never been in mountains like that, though. Holy cow. When some of these houses say 'mountain views' they're not joking around!

[COUNTRYFRIED]

Originally Posted by res26

I just wanted to update that we visited Young Harris and it is every bit as lovely as promised. The people were all very friendly. I've never been in mountains like that, though. Holy cow. When some of these houses say 'mountain views' they're not joking around!

Yeah Its a shame whats happening to the mountains of North Georgia and Carolina. People from the city are buying up the sides of Mountains for some view when alls there actually doing is looking at a another person with a second house on the side of a Mountain. Its too bad that the mountains are being destroyed I agree.