Thinking of Moving to Gainesville (Atlanta, Dawson: transplants, lawyer, house)

[SantaluzMom]

I'm really nervous about writing this message, as some people have such strong opinions. I've never posted on a blog before...so, here we go! We are strongly considering moving from San Diego, CA to Gainesville, GA. I spent my childhood in Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota. I've always had Southern manners and have been very comfortable in the South when visiting on business. We are looking to move in June, 2008. We will have an 18 yr. old son, 16 yr. old daughter and a 7 yr. old daughter. We have researched Lake Lanier and have found several homes in Marina Bay that look similar to what we would like. We have a boat and are very "outdoors people". On this website, I've not seen much about Gainesville other than it is foreign and has a good deal of chicken plants. We are Christian, so church is very important to us. Education for our little one is paramount, and I have contacted several Christian schools that sound promising. I think our Junior will be going to Chestatee High School as she is very much into the arts, vocal and acting. My husband owns his own software company, so commute is not an issue. He will work remotely from home.

Armed with this information, is Gainesville on Lake Lanier a good fit? Please don't come back with caustic remarks. I'm really looking for sincere, honest advice. Thank you so much for your guidance.

[TakeAhike]

You can use the 'Search' function at the top of the page to locate relevant threads--ie Gainesville Hall County Forsyth County Cumming Lake Lanier.

Here is one>>
http://www.city-data.com/forum/georg...-opinions.html

[grover]

I would stay away from Gainesville. You may think that you stepped across the border and are living in Mexico. There is a small part of it that is in Forsyth county instead of Hall, and I think that the schools are better in Forsyth. We moved here (Forsyth county part of Gainesville) from PA, about 2 years ago. Our house is on the market now, as we plan on moving back to PA. This is a nice place, but the growth and traffic are out of control. Lots of new sub-divisions going in all over. If your husband will be working from home that will be a big plus, as a commute south to the Atlanta area is a nightmare.
I don't want to scare you away, but the area just wasn't for us. Some transplants we talk to love it, and some hate it. The northern part of Forsyth isn't that terrible yet, but they are adding new sub-divisions at a very fast pace, so within another 5 years or so, it will be. Lake Lanier is hug plus. Lots of things to do on it, especially if you are into boating.

[SantaluzMom]

Grover, thank you for your reply. I'm nervous as we live in an extremely homogenized community. I think my children have gone to school with, maybe, five black children in their lives. There are Hispanics, but they usually do the gardening or housekeeping. We are not bigots, it just that there are very few minorities where we live. I don't want to buy a $1,000,000+ home and sell it in a few years. We are looking for a community where we will stay forever. It is so busy in San Diego (Rancho Santa Fe) and is extremely status conscious. I want my children to know that it is all about family, community, and responsibility. We're not finding those values here. We are looking for a slower pace, good manners, and good friends.

[miper70]

I drove through Gainesville on my way home just this past Friday and I loved the look of this little town. We are moving to Dahlonega (about 20 minutes away) and I was glad to know that Gainesville was there to do some shopping in. I was thrilled to see a Publix and I heard it has a Sams also. I love living in the country, but I also like to know there is somewhere to go to get what you need.
Lake Lanier is BEAUTIFUL. I can't even begin to describe how pretty it is up there. I can't wait to get there sometime next month. Sorry I couldn't answer your questions, just wanted to tell you how pretty it is and what a quaint town it seemed to be. It was busy, but not overly so.

[Jsowash]

I actually live in Gainesville (or did). I now live in Clermont, GA (VERY VERY close). I went to school at North Hall High School and spent a year at Chestatee Middle School. I absolutely hate living in Gainesville. As far as job opportunity goes, Mexicans have them all. The banking industry seems to be a lively one here.

We do have several chicken plants and they stink. There is especially nothing to do on Sunday nights...everything is closed after 6, with an exception of bowling. Oakwood is a better bet. The housing in oakwood is far superior. There isn't much to do in oakwood, but then Gainesville is only 15-20 minutes away. They have a HUGE church right outside of oakwood too!

[small town south]

Before you make a decision about Lake Lanier, you should check out what happens to the water level during summers. Unless it has been somehow corrected, it can drop substantially - leaving docks high and dry. Perhaps someone else can speak to that issue...

[grover]

You might want to check out Dawsonville, or Forsyth county. The lake is also in these counties, and it might be more of what you are looking for. I am in Forsyth county. My address is a Gainesville address, but we are 15 minutes from Gainesville. My children attend Forsyth county schools. They seem to be pretty good, but we found the cheaper taxes meant less services. Up north, the schools all ran late busses for extra school activities. Down here, when my son played soccer, we had to pick him up every night after practice. Also, we had to pay 2 or $300 for him to play. Picking him up became a hard thing to do, as my wife and I both work. Back up north, we didn't have to pay any money for school sports, and he was always able to take the late bus home after practice.
If you are looking for a slow pace, this might not be the place, because of all of the building going on. You might want to visit the area first, and see the traffic on the roads. We live in a $200,000 home, and a lot of my kids friends live in 4 to $700,000 homes. Some of the kids can be a little snobby. This is just coming from my children. Like I said, it was not for us, and some of the things that you are looking for, sounds like what we were looking for, and didn't really find.

[Billdemartini]

A friend of mine lives in Gainesville and he absolutely loves it. He is a lawyer up there. He tries to get us to move up there but we are heading west to Cherokee County. Have you looked there?

Lake Altoona is on that side.

[jhsrichards]

ha ha lake lanier USED to be beautiful, but thanks to one of our wonderful government agencies flushing water out of the lake to support some endangered species of mussels in the face of an awful drought (don't worry about humans, they're not important) the lake is almost GONE!