"Half Back" Retirees Flooding Into Georgia! (moving, states, retired)

[KevK]

It appears that many of the nation's retirees that thought they would see their last days on Earth in Florida are having second thoughts. Sick of high housing, high insurance, year around heat and humidity as well as hurricanes, they are leaving Florida in droves! But they are not going back to the cold and snow of the north either. They have found the perfect compromise right here in Georgia!

Retirees moving to Georgia from Florida | ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/search/content/homefinder/activeadult/stories/2008/07/01/Georgia_Retirees_Halfback.html - broken link)

[texdav]

I hardly thnk georgia is free of hurricane risk. Remember that new orleans only really had one hurricane that really effect them. No coastal sate is safe if you look at history.If a hurrican hit Savannah it would be a mijor disaster as surge could make it loo like boloxi and the inland could be destroyed for a hundred miles with the number of trees.

[Jimrob1]

Im not sure Georgia is really all that low cost any longer. Seems to me there is alot of taxes for everything there including taxes on retirement income, food, high taxes for owning a car there. Im not sure about property taxes vs other states though. I think its a nice state though.

[norm]

No heat or humdity? I think not.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by texdav

I hardly thnk georgia is free of hurricane risk. Remember that new orleans only really had one hurricane that really effect them. No coastal sate is safe if you look at history.If a hurrican hit Savannah it would be a mijor disaster as surge could make it loo like boloxi and the inland could be destroyed for a hundred miles with the number of trees.

Most of the hurricanes that have hit Georgia- such as Ivan- have always lost a significant amount of "punch" by the time they hit. True that both Ivan and Hugo did do damage to the state (I lost a car to Ivan), 70 mph winds are much improved over the 120 mph winds Florida gets hit with. Also keep in mind that Savannah is unlikely to get a hurricane because it is located in a "pocket" that is a very unlikely path for a major storm. I do not think it has ever been hit.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

Im not sure Georgia is really all that low cost any longer. Seems to me there is alot of taxes for everything there including taxes on retirement income, food, high taxes for owning a car there. Im not sure about property taxes vs other states though. I think its a nice state though.

Even with the taxes it cost much less to live here than what is does in Florida. Housing is less than 1/2 of what people in Florida pay.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by norm

No heat or humdity? I think not.

Not year around. We have a very pleasant 4 season climate. Today in Atlanta it was around 89 but it felt nice because of the low humidity- in the 44% range. In Florida it is much more humid and hotter all year.

[staywarm2]

Originally Posted by KevK

Even with the taxes it cost much less to live here than what is does in Florida. Housing is less than 1/2 of what people in Florida pay.

Our automobile insurance here in Atlanta is about 1/2 the cost of what we paid in So. FL.

[Sunshine56]

I live in Florida. Florida is still the most beautiful place to live. Flooding retirees leaving Florida?? Maybe a couple years ago, but we have had in our neighborhood 3 new families move in from out of state. One of those families is retired.

My friend moved here from Georgia, she and her husband didn't like all the taxes, traffic and attitudes in Georgia. Her husbands parents retire in a couple years and plan on moving here. Her parents have already bought a home here just this year and will be moving here in a couple months.

My husband and I were out to diner a few weeks ago to one of those Japanese places that they cook at the table. Four of the couples at our table had just moved here from other states. One of the couples had just retired and was from Buford, Georgia. They said they didn't like the cold winters, taxes, traffic and the state government attitude. They told us that the homes may be cheaper in Georgia, only because they didn't have to be build to strict hurricane standards. They told us that food and clothing though was much higher in Georgia. The wife said we have a larger variety of fruits and vegetables and they seem to be larger for the same price as in Georgia. She also said Florida seems to be right behind California as far as being health conscious. She told us there are soooo many smokers in Georgia, everywhere you go someone is blowing smoke in your face.

Yes our home prices here in Florida have gone way up. One reason was due to after the hurricanes we had a few years ago, workers flooded into our state and needed a place to stay. Not enough hotel rooms. Workers were renting houses and 6 to 8 men would rent a whole house. They were everywhere. Due to the demand and greed, rents went up. Out of state workeres saw how cheap our housing was and started buying up properties, turning around and selling them and making gobs of money. Then turn around and do it again. They told friends and family about this and everyone jumped on the band wagon. With the money they made they started buying up property in other states. People started to get greedy, soon everyone was buying and selling. After all the work was done, workers went home. People were stuck with houses they just bought and could not rent or sell. Now Floridians are stuck with the aftermath.

Retires who cannot afford our price of homes in Florida may be flooding out of here and into Georgia, but right behind them are floods more who can afford Florida. That's just life.

My neighbor's retired sister moved to Georgia, after two years moved back here, she didn't like it there.

Humidity is only bad a couple months out of the year. We live near the ocean and are able to have our windows open 6 months out of the year. Living on the Atlantic side of Florida is the best. The temperature due to the ocean is warmer in the winters and cooler in the summers than the interior of the state. We have a pool heater and are able to swim outside in December. January and February was a little too cold to swim but come March we were back in the pool. You can't do that in Georgia.

Mrs. Sunshine

[texdav]

Originally Posted by KevK

Most of the hurricanes that have hit Georgia- such as Ivan- have always lost a significant amount of "punch" by the time they hit. True that both Ivan and Hugo did do damage to the state (I lost a car to Ivan), 70 mph winds are much improved over the 120 mph winds Florida gets hit with. Also keep in mind that Savannah is unlikely to get a hurricane because it is located in a "pocket" that is a very unlikely path for a major storm. I do not think it has ever been hit.

That is exactly what new orleans and how galveston thought . Look at even the past storms that hit new england and what they have done and Georgia is much higher risk.The last srtorm to do this kind of damage to galveston was in 1900. In many areas of IKE it really depended on now many rivers;boyou and other inlets came to your area and what type of levy protection your area had. Some areas on the coast that had protection did fine but many that were much further from the coast were flooded by waters eight foot in residenal areas.All these areas never really saw anything like waht they did even going back to 1900.In amny araes that haven;t had a storm thye area was much more damage than one that have had storm and the residents and area better prepared like in tree trimming ;utilites and peole having improved their homes with the necessary boarding for windows. They have elarn toi no9t rely o9n thye old 'they alwasy drop strrength before hitting here.