Why is all of Macon for sale - cheap?? (Atlanta: section 8, real estate)

[cdula]

I was just on a realtor site and noticed that there are TONS of homes for sale for under $50k. Some of them appear to be homes of an historic nature (100+ years old). What's going on? The homes appear to all be in the downtown area or close proximity. Is there a mass exodus? Is crime bad downtown? Or is there a resurgence in progress.....?

I'm searching for a small town with a moderate climate and a horse culture in it or nearby...yes, I know about the humidity - I lived in the Atlanta area for over 15 years. I just can't do temperature extremes anymore. I live in Texas and it's way too hot out here! So was looking at Macon and noticed pages and pages of homes for sale under $50k. What the heck is going on there?

Would you recommend Macon as a relocation / retirement area?

[midgeorgiaman]

There are many old areas that are not downtown Macon, but are within a few miles that are historic and very old such as Pleasant Hill, Fort Hill, and Unionville. These houses are for sale for so cheap because these neighborhoods are unsafe, full of nothing but Section 8 rentals, slumlords, high poverty residents, etc. These neighborhoods once were grand, but the exodus out of there happened decades ago. It is not recent. Look on those same realtor sites and historic 100+ year old homes with a price tag over 150000 (very small homes) to 250000 and up are in the intown safe historic beautiful areas.

In my opinion, you can get a house under 100,000 in Macon, but many (not all, just many) of them are in unsafe locations. If you go less than 75,000, I would SERIOUSLY check out the neighborhood at all hours of the day and check with the police because below that price point I can almost guarantee you are in an unsafe area (foreclosures excepted of course).

Based on your post, you might want to consider smaller areas such as Forsyth, Hawkinsville, and Perry, GA as lower crime areas, more horse culture available, and generally thought of as more retirement friendly. Plus you can find cheaper houses in these towns that are safe.

Hawkinsville is known as the Harness Horse Capital of Georgia as the town hosts many horse breeders, trainers, etc during the winter months. Google hawkinsville ga chamber for details.

[King_X]

Dont forget Byron

[caution]

I grew up in Macon and lived in Houston.

I suggest you look at Eastern TN or Eastern KY. It is just as cheap, much cooler and the horse scene is big.

Macon is far too hot and is only slightly less humid than Houston.

[stormylipstick]

The main reasoning for Macon being so "Cheap" is the fact that many people are moving out of the area and closer to Atlanta not only that but, it was hit pretty hard when the housing market crashed and the generation of home owners were older and are starting to pass away leaving the homes vacant for long periods of time... My Grandmother grew up in Macon and then moved on to even further South Ga. to Dublin which is very close to Wrightsville. If you are looking for Horse Country have you considered North Ga. there is a TON of space and it is perfect for Horse Farms, while it is still humid it is not as bad as South Ga. with extreme heat and it's reputation for droughts. For retirement many people are starting to flock to North Ga rather than South Ga so the data tells me from my Real Estate research.

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[Bob Marley]

Part of it is the mayor ellis robbed us blind. IDIOT. IDIOTS on the board now are still not doing anything about it because they are part of the problem. There is no industry and crime is crazy here. TOO BAD. I love the place.