boater from florida (Atlanta, Griffin, Hartwell: leases, insurance, houses)

[lookingtomove]

I moved from NJ to the west coast of florida last year. With all the hurricane problems and the astronomical prices of insurance, I want to look at bringing myself and my boat up to a lake. I am semi retired, in my forties, and I love lake lifestyle. I want to live in a community that is affordable and has amenities of an active outside lifestyle( boating, hiking,biking etc) does anyone know about the towns around lake lanier, and which town is most active with outdoor activities.

[mcj771]

I don't know much about lake lanier, except that it is probably crowded. I would check with Amazon.com - a book called Off the Beaten path, might help you establish where you want to make your home base. URL removed

[artflamingo]

Hi!I also am in FLA and moving to Georgia.I am a beach girl here and dont want to give up my water so we are thinking about woodstock GA.Its so close to Atlanta yet a small lake town.Lake Allatoona is right there and Ive researched it and it has alot of outdoor things going on revolving around the lake.Plus hiking clubs, etc.Check it out.We also looked at the gainesville area but found the woodstock area to have a real charming feel and is really growing too.Plus you cant beat the prices[especially if you are from Fla].Can tell you more..just let me know....Artflamingo

[brentbotes]

I would recommend looking into Lake Allatoona, it's not so over crowded and it's in a wonderful, affordable setting. I live 1 mile from Allatoona and have several clients who have also made the trip up here from Florida; 1 is a wake boarder and the other is a competitve skier...Tom Topolinski. I found them homes in my community and they seem to be very happy with the area.

Take a look at my website, URL removed, and let me know if you have any questions! There is also one of the most reknowned Bike trails in Metro Atlanta less than a mile from where I stay, it's called Blanket Creek.

Take care! Brent

[tjstrain]

Check out Lake Oconee ( Naples like developments going in everywhere) and Lake Sinclair ( older housing, the lake level changes 2 - 3 feet every day, power co. controls that.) or Strom Thurmon Lake. Their only about 9 - 10 hours away from SW Florida. Strom Thurmond is the largest and the one I am concidering. It's VERY LARGE, great for boating from the looks of it. We stopped there a month ago. Strom Thurmond is on the border of GA and SC, lots of parkland around it. I didn't get to see any of it.

[Prichard]

If you want to live on a lake in North Georga, you need two things: lots of money and a lease from Georgia Power. That's right, just about all of the lakes north of Atlanta are man made and the surrounding land is owned by Georgia Power. Leases are for 99 years, I believe. After the 99 years are up, then you are at the whim of Georgia Power. 99 years might sound like a long time, but many of the houses / land has been under lease for quite some time.

Houses on Lake Lanier can go into the multi-millions of dollars. Lake Altoona is the same. Even in rural North Georgia, houses on Lake Burton, Seed Lake, and Lake Rabun start at over One Million and go into the multi-millions of dollars.

Georgia lakes are scarece compared to Florida; and the prices reflect it. All Georgia lakes tend to be crouded and over-fished. All of the major lakes are rivers dammed by Georgia Power.

If you like beaches and boating - stay in Florida. If you like hiking, streams and beautiful mountains, move to North Georgia and you can find some property on beautiful streams for reasonable prices. Anything on water in Atlanta will put you in the millionairs club. If you want the best of both worlds, i.e. living in the mountains on a beautiful lake, get ready to fork out about 2-3 million to buy some leased land and a nice house with a nice two boat boat-house. Georgia beauty ain't for the poor and faint-hearted!

[boudr]

I have lived in Georgia for over 25 years. I've been on Lake Lanier, Lake Oconee,Lake Allatoona,Lake Sinclair and Lake Hartwell. But I moved to a smaller lake, Lake Jackson. Lake Lanier only took a few times to realize over croweded, over polluted and over priced. Lake Hartwell is beautiful, but too far north to commute to work in Atlanta. Lake Oconee was great for about 16 years when it turned into Lake Lanier. Lake Sinclair is smaller with older homes. Lake Allatoona's water level has been very low the last few years. Lake Jackson is the next closest lake to Atlanta. Located approx 50 miles south of Atlanta. With all of the growth in Henry, Griffin and Newton Counties Lake Jackson is growing. It is a narrow lake, but fishing is good,but can get crowded on weekends for watersports. We do our boating and sking during the week which is a luxury other don't have. The older homes are being replaced with newer homes ranging from 300,000 to 800,000. We have a leased lot on Lake Jackson. The 99 year lease is transferable to our family members when pass on. The amount of the lease depends on how many years you have lived on the lake. I pay around $900.00. We love it and the water on the Tussahaw River side is the nicest. If you need more information, let me know.

[specklbug]

My husband is originally from NJ and I am a FL native. We both ended up in GA 20 years ago. We now live on Lake Jackson and love it. It is, unfortunately, getting discovered more and more every year. If you have done your homework, you will see that in the state of GA, and even around the country, this is still one of the most affordable lakes. There are still a lot of the old fish camps that are now being bought up, torn down, and replaced with big, beautiful homes. This has been, for the most part, a part-timers lake, but over the past few years, is becoming full time homes for Atlantans moving southward. We love it here. It is not crowded like Lanier, Allatoona and others. Even on the weekends, the boat traffic is nothing compared with other lakes. Our property is also a GA Power lease lot. Leases are for 15 years, we just renewed ours in 2006. We pay $900/yr, plus property taxes. We live on the very south end of the lake by the dam. It is deep water year round down here off our dock. Up river and in other coves north, a lot of them are not deep water in winter, so be sure you ask when shopping around. You don't want to end up on a mud flat. Hope you join us on the best kept secret around!

[georgia123]

Originally Posted by lookingtomove

I moved from NJ to the west coast of florida last year. With all the hurricane problems and the astronomical prices of insurance, I want to look at bringing myself and my boat up to a lake. I am semi retired, in my forties, and I love lake lifestyle. I want to live in a community that is affordable and has amenities of an active outside lifestyle( boating, hiking,biking etc) does anyone know about the towns around lake lanier, and which town is most active with outdoor activities.

I've had my share of living in florida and you're right about the prices to live there. So, here I am. I now live in Leesburg Georgia. If you're looking for a lake and some outdoor adventure you may want to check out Fort Gaines georgia. Giant Lake....Good family fun around that area. For hiking...Lumpkin has what we georgians call "the little grand canyon", really called the Providence Canyons Oh! theres also Westville. Its the living town of the 1800's..very cool to see. Always remember its not where you live but what you make of it.

[watchmanonthewall]

Sounds like you ought to be looking around Grand Rivers Kentucky.