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Hello There! We are a retired couple looking to move to Woodmont Golf & Country Club, Canton, GA. We visited this community and it seems very nice indeed. Compared to our California housing prices/taxes, this community looks very appealing. We are trying to get more information on the area, to see if we would feel comfortable spending our retirement years there. In watching what has sold in the Woodmont Golf community, we have noticed that it appears beautiful homes can sit awhile before they sell in Woodmont. We wonder whether there might be a particular reason for this? Though Woodmont may be a distance from some areas where people may need to work, it can look enticing to those who are retired. The homes and community and amenities look very favorable to us, so we wonder why the housing prices have not increased much since the houses were built a decade or more ago. Yes, we usually are experiencing housing bubbles here in CA, where a house can as much as double in price in 10-15 years or less. But we are curious to know whether anyone, who is extremely familiar with Woodmont and Canton, may know if there are reasons for the comparative slow growth in property values there. An added question we would have is how often and how much does it snow there, and what is the frequency of powerful tornadoes? Thank you so much for any information you may have, facts or opinions appreciated, so we can decide whether to relocate to the beautiful state of Georgia!
Maybe I can answer some of your questions. I’m a 5th-generation Cherokee County native (Canton is located in Cherokee County). I’ve lived about 35 of 41 years within 10-15 miles of Canton; the others were spent in Metro Atlanta, which I don’t recommend.
I have friends who live in Woodmont and I don’t know of any particular reasons that some homes sit unsold for long periods of time other than the whole ‘housing bubble’ problem. I worked for a homebuilder (as Accounting Manager and eventually Controller) from 2002-2007. When a lot of the homes in Woodmont were built, the supply of $400k+ homes in upscale neighborhoods FAR exceeded the demand! At the lowest point in the housing market here, 2009-2010, many builders of the $500k-$900k homes in Woodmont and similar neighborhoods went under and banks were selling them for less than half their original price. Ideally, prices shouldn’t be as high as they were 10 years ago for those homes (adjusted for inflation).
So don’t let the fact that a home that sold for $500k in 2007 is now priced at $500k concern you. It is simply a reality in the higher-end real estate market, especially as you travel further away from Atlanta.
If you like the area and like Woodmont, you should also take a look at some other great neighborhoods. The premier community (with neighborhoods ranging from the low $200s to $1mil+) is Bridgemill. It’s located about 10 miles south off of I-575 from where you would exit to go to Woodmont.
I live in a gated Golf/Swim/Tennis community called Lake Arrowhead (not to be confused with the one in California, the website is LakeArrowheadga.com). We have an 18-hole golf course, the 540-acre Lake Arrowhead, multiple swimming, tennis and other recreational areas and parks. We also have two fire departments in our gated, secured community and they just started a new section at the north end of the lake called Sanctuary Cove (32-homes). It’s worth a look. We are in the northwest corner of Cherokee County, less than 20 minutes from downtown Canton and only a few miles from the beautiful college town of Waleska, home of Reinhardt University. It’s a conservative Methodist liberal arts college.
You might also take a look at Longleaf at Laurel Canyon (located about 10 miles west of Woodmont, halfway to Lake Arrowhead).
SNOW- On average, we have one or two small snow/ice storms each winter. We rarely see more than 2” and it only lasts for a few days. But when it does snow, everything shuts down and everyone stays home. It usually turns to ice and the roads are the last place anyone wants to be!
TORNADOES- That’s a more difficult question to answer with a generalization. But I’ve never lived within three or four miles of a home that was destroyed by a tornado. The vast majority of tornado fatalities in North Georgia are people who live in mobile homes. A well-constructed home, especially one with a basement, is all the protection you should ever need from a tornado here.
The biggest weather-related problem we’ve had in the past six years or so have been thunderstorms with high winds and/or large hail. I’m an insurance agent (former, actually, still licensed but I work as a Field Auditor for Workers Comp and other Commercial policies now). The vast majority of weather-related claims we’ve had since 2009 are roof replacements due to wind and hail damage. Asphalt shingles weren’t designed to take that sort of pounding.
Where in California are you currently located? I visit my cousin at least twice per year in the Los Angeles area (Woodland Hills, to be exact). Her house would sell for less than $300k here and it’s a beautiful home. It’s currently valued at $1.43 million in Woodland Hills and most in the surrounding area are closer to$2 million. Property taxes are ridiculous and Homeowners Insurance (without Earthquake Coverage) is astronomical! Even her electricity and water/sewer bill are triple the cost of mine.
I hope this has been helpful. If I can answer any other questions, please let me know!
Hello IGoZoom! We very much appreciate all your detailed information and input. We have just returned from a cruise and have just now had the pleasure of reading your reply to our inquiry regarding beautiful Georgia. The weather information etc is extremely helpful to our decision making process. It is a big decision to contemplate a move across the United States at this age. But, as you noted also, the prices here in CA can be astronomical - housing costs, insurance, utilities, gasoline, on & on. And earthquake and/or flood insurance, well, just plain prohibitive. We were, however, fortunate enough to have more than adequate fire insurance, which turned out to be wise since where we live is where all the fires were last September just North of Napa, CA. No, fortunately, our home did not burn but about 1300 others' homes did. So, of course, that means that insurance will become even more expensive. We have our California on the golf course home for sale now, and would really like to find a nice, unobstructed view, golf course home in Georgia with easy maintenance, that is also very close to a Kaiser Permanente hospital. Lake Arrowhead looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous but may be somewhat farther away from the amenities we seek. We did travel to Georgia a few months ago and looked at many different golf course communities, such as Bridgemill/Laurel Canyon/Big Canoe/and others in Forsyth County. Woodmont seemed to be the best fit we have come across so far. I am wondering if the weather patterns may differ when comparing Woodmont area to Lake Arrowhead (GA) area? Then, the other question I have for you is about the Atlanta airport. It seems even though we have used many airports across the U.S., including the very congested ones in the Southern California area, we have never experienced the highway craziness leading up to our flight out of Atlanta International Airport. We thought that leaving our downtown Atlanta hotel at 4am the morning of our flight would alleviate any problem getting to our early flight, but it was quite a surprise to experience how rude & erratic other drivers can be on the highways in the middle of the night. Do residents of your area in GA actually avoid ATL and opt to fly out of other surrounding airports? Or is it advisable just to take a cab or shuttle to ATL? Just curious about this issue too, if we moved to GA, because we would like to fly occasionally to perhaps the different cruise ports (FLL, SF, NY...). Thank you, again, and Happy Valentines Day to you!!
The weather patterns for Lake Arrowhead (and Waleska, which is the town a few miles away) are basically identical to Woodmont. It's only 23 miles from Lake Arrowhead to Woodmont. Lake Arrowhead is at a higher elevation, but not substantial enough to impact weather patterns (at most it might be one or two degrees cooler than Canton).
Unfortunately, other than the traffic if you commute, the location and distance of the airport are one of the things you just learn to accept. There are no other major airports with three hours of Atlanta, so there aren't any realistic alternatives. Prior to Southwest coming to Atlanta in 2012, it was sometimes worth driving 2.5-3hrs to Birmingham to fly Southwest. But now that they're in Atlanta and giving Delta a run for their money, the best prices and by far the most flights are out of Atlanta. The consolation is that you can get dirt cheap flights if because Southwest and Delta (as well as Spirit and other discount airlines) run sales all the time. The last time I went to Los Angeles, I paid $188 round-trip on Southwest (direct flights both ways).
I wish we had an alternative airport within a reasonable distance. I go to L.A. frequently and I like having the option of flying into LAX or Burbank for about the same price. When I can get a flight to Burbank with a stop but no plane change (usually in Phoenix or Vegas), I usually go that route. It takes about an hour longer but it's so much closer to my cousin's house and I don't have to deal with the sketchy area around LAX to get a rental car.
There are two ways to reach the Atlanta airport and I use both, depending on time of day and traffic reports. You can either take I-285 from the northside around to the airport or go directly through downtown and go down I-85 at the 75/85 split. I'm very surprised that you had an unpleasant experience at 4am, but honestly, there are crazy people on the roads here at all hours. Sometimes 285 is the 'safer' bet and it tends to be less stressful to navigate.
I'm not sure where any Kaiser Permanente Hospitals are located, but I do know there are numerous Kaiser medical facilities all over the metro area. My aunt is insured with Kaiser and I've taken her to appointments all over town to see specialists and have various tests. They aren't always the most convenient locations, but I am always amazed at the quality of care they offer and they have some exceptional doctors.
Anything else you'd like to know....just let me know! =)
You are so kind IGoZoom! Your information, as always, is very helpful to us. Looks like the Canton area is in the 47-53 degree temperature range this week. We'll have 61 to 74 degrees temps this week. Nights are currently very similar there vs here. You get more rain than us, which keeps things nice & green there. Have you had much snow and ice this season? For possible power outages, do most people keep a home generator handy in case the power goes out for long periods of time? I was interested to know when everything does shut down and everyone stays home, how you all stay warm etc.
Over the past year we've had to use Kaiser more, for some health issues, and have always been more than pleased with the excellent level of care. Being grandfathered in from our previous Kaiser plans, we did not have to register on "the website" so we were very happy about that.. And the health coverage issue is one of the important reasons why we began researching properties in GA. Although, during our GA visit, we did browse the large Northside Hospital facility in Cumming. This facility appeared very impressive, and also had Kaiser there in the complex.
The other compelling reason for pursuing Georgia is the apparent political climate there. In the areas we have targeted, the mindset appears to be more to our liking than the majority of California. The candidates are now making their speeches in your neck of the woods, aren't they?.. It will be very interesting to see who the two choices will be, which one will be our new president, and what effect (if any) it may have on Real Estate.
That really is an amazing deal ATL to Los Angeles: "$188 round-trip on Southwest (direct flights both ways)". I had been curious whether there would be any viable alternative airports, but it seems ATL would be the best option. So, perhaps we would look at taking a taxi or shuttle directly to/from ATL to our hotel....or our new Georgia home!
We've been marketing our N. CA home for sale on the golf course for a few weeks now. We still have our eyes on a selection in Woodmont and will see what happens!
You are so kind IGoZoom! Your information, as always, is very helpful to us. Looks like the Canton area is in the 47-53 degree temperature range this week. We'll have 61 to 74 degrees temps this week. Nights are currently very similar there vs here. You get more rain than us, which keeps things nice & green there. Have you had much snow and ice this season? For possible power outages, do most people keep a home generator handy in case the power goes out for long periods of time? I was interested to know when everything does shut down and everyone stays home, how you all stay warm etc.
Over the past year we've had to use Kaiser more, for some health issues, and have always been more than pleased with the excellent level of care. Being grandfathered in from our previous Kaiser plans, we did not have to register on "the website" so we were very happy about that.. And the health coverage issue is one of the important reasons why we began researching properties in GA. Although, during our GA visit, we did browse the large Northside Hospital facility in Cumming. This facility appeared very impressive, and also had Kaiser there in the complex.
The other compelling reason for pursuing Georgia is the apparent political climate there. In the areas we have targeted, the mindset appears to be more to our liking than the majority of California. The candidates are now making their speeches in your neck of the woods, aren't they?.. It will be very interesting to see who the two choices will be, which one will be our new president, and what effect (if any) it may have on Real Estate.
That really is an amazing deal ATL to Los Angeles: "$188 round-trip on Southwest (direct flights both ways)". I had been curious whether there would be any viable alternative airports, but it seems ATL would be the best option. So, perhaps we would look at taking a taxi or shuttle directly to/from ATL to our hotel....or our new Georgia home!
We've been marketing our N. CA home for sale on the golf course for a few weeks now. We still have our eyes on a selection in Woodmont and will see what happens!
It's interesting that you mention the weather. I literally just got back from Pittsburgh about an hour ago (a very long 12-hour drive, road trips aren't as fun as I remember them). I left Georgia on 2/10 and planned to drive all the way to PA. Halfway there, near the VA/WV border, I encountered a "whiteout" and couldn't see anything....so I stopped and got hotel for the night. The first week in Pittsburgh it was constant snow and temps ranged from the low 30s down to single digits! But at noon today (2/21) when I left, it was 52 degrees.
We've only had one small 'snow' and that was about four weeks ago. It was over the weekend of 1/23-1/24. We got about two inches and didn't lose power and ice was only an issue on the first day after the snow. By Monday 1/25, everything was back to normal.
Northside Hospital is a great hospital, or group of hospitals. They have the main location in Atlanta, one in Canton and another in Cumming. My sister actually works for a General Surgeon who is a Northside doctor (so she is a Northside employee) and one of my best friends is over the radiology department at the location in Cumming. I spent many days (and nights) over the last five years there with my grandmother before she passed away last May.
I'm sure there are multiple shuttle services to the airport, but the one I've used (based on the recommendation of a friend) is located in Woodstock. It's about 20 minutes away from Woodmont and they have a secure parking lot where you leave your vehicle and the shuttle is $80 round-trip per person. It's cheaper and easier than parking at the airport.
California is definitely a 'Blue' state and Georgia is a 'Red' state. Personally, I'd fit best in a 'Purple' state (Red+Blue= Purple) as a registered Libertarian. But I'm also a realist and I usually lean toward the 'Red' candidates. But to be honest, this election is going to be interesting, to say the least! It would be amusing to watch it and enjoy it as a freak show if the winner didn't get to run the country!!! =)
Yes, entertainment aside, the winner of the election can have a very large impact on our futures. But, this particular election cycle is proving to be as exciting as a sporting event! I, too, believe that a purple state mentality may be best for all - as it would theoretically more allow for many different ways of thinking
Thanks for addressing the weather & other topics in your posts. We've been thinking of ya' all with the tornadoes going through those parts so recently. If you know the answer to this one, it would be of interest: For possible power outages, do most people keep a home generator handy in case the power goes out for long periods of time? I was interested to know when everything does shut down and everyone stays safely home, how you all stay warm etc.
If possible, maybe we could get a hint as to the recommended shuttle service to ATL.. That arrangement really sounds ideal, and would take the worry out of driving to/from the airport.
Glad you could "see" the hotel. We have no experience driving in snow, let alone whiteout conditions. That would be a skill we would need to develop, that's for sure. And, I would imagine that you need to keep car supplies, warm clothing, etc., just in case you may get stuck? Safe travels to you!
Yes, entertainment aside, the winner of the election can have a very large impact on our futures. But, this particular election cycle is proving to be as exciting as a sporting event! I, too, believe that a purple state mentality may be best for all - as it would theoretically more allow for many different ways of thinking
Thanks for addressing the weather & other topics in your posts. We've been thinking of ya' all with the tornadoes going through those parts so recently. If you know the answer to this one, it would be of interest: For possible power outages, do most people keep a home generator handy in case the power goes out for long periods of time? I was interested to know when everything does shut down and everyone stays safely home, how you all stay warm etc.
Lake Arrowhead and nearby areas get our electricity from Amicolola EMC (Electric Membership Corporation). Because they are a small operation and their coverage area is almost all mountainous, it can take a while for them to restore power during snow and ice. Because of that, most people in this area own some sort of generator. Many just have a smaller one that will run a space heater, a few lights and a television. But thanks to my step-dad being an obsessive-compulsive mechanical engineer, I have a light duty generator (like the one I just mentioned) and a much more powerful one that can be plugged into the circuit breaker box and run about 50% of the house! The big one uses a lot of gas, but it has been well worth it a few times.
In Woodmont, you will be serviced by Georgia Power, which usually has fewer outages and they restore power much faster. If you buy a home with a real, wood-burning fireplace or gas logs, it would serve as a source of heat during a power outage. I don't think it would be a bad idea to have a light-duty generator, just in case....but I'm a worst-case-scenario type when it comes to being prepared. I suppose that's the Eagle Scout in me. =)
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If possible, maybe we could get a hint as to the recommended shuttle service to ATL.. That arrangement really sounds ideal, and would take the worry out of driving to/from the airport.
The best one that I know of is called Econorides (Econorides.com)
They are located right off Exit 7 (Hwy 92) on I-575. I think Woodmont is off of Exit 19, so it's only 12-miles away. They have a secured lot where you can park your vehicle and they charge $40 each way per passenger to/from the airport. They also offer pickup service at your front door and I think that is $75 each way for Woodmont's Zip Code (30115). If you leave you car at their lot, you can have it detailed while you're gone, if you're so inclined.
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Glad you could "see" the hotel. We have no experience driving in snow, let alone whiteout conditions. That would be a skill we would need to develop, that's for sure. And, I would imagine that you need to keep car supplies, warm clothing, etc., just in case you may get stuck? Safe travels to you!
It was really scary because, even though my car is pretty big (Mazda CX-9), it's Pearl White so it totally invisible in the snow! Again, just to be prepared for the worst, I had blankets, flares, a tow rope, flashlights and food/drink with me. I'm just glad that I didn't need any of it. =)
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