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Have you considered Greenville, SC? It's cheaper than Asheville with a better job market. SC has lower taxes than Georgia. Greenville has a wonderful downtown and is right at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. YOu are only an hours drive from Asheville, NC, about 2 hours from Atlanta and 2 hours from Charlotte, NC and an hour and half from Athens. Clemson University is also nearby. You have lots of large lakes nearby that provide recreation. Greenville is the core city of The Upstate region.. a combined metro area of over 1 million people. But downtown Greenville is very compact and very quaint and very walkable. I think if you want diversity, a quaint downtown, close to the mountains and affordable realestate, then Greenville might be your best bet.
Have you considered Greenville, SC? It's cheaper than Asheville with a better job market. SC has lower taxes than Georgia. Greenville has a wonderful downtown and is right at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. YOu are only an hours drive from Asheville, NC, about 2 hours from Atlanta and 2 hours from Charlotte, NC and an hour and half from Athens. Clemson University is also nearby. You have lots of large lakes nearby that provide recreation. Greenville is the core city of The Upstate region.. a combined metro area of over 1 million people. But downtown Greenville is very compact and very quaint and very walkable. I think if you want diversity, a quaint downtown, close to the mountains and affordable realestate, then Greenville might be your best bet.
We took a trip out there just about 6 months ago and while we loved the downtown , we’d be priced out. We were a little disappointed with the surrounding towns also. We had heard so much about how travelers rest is up and coming and adorable and while the entrance to the town IS adorable, there’s really not much at all to the downtown. There are some places where you just go and say “yes this is it” and Greenville wasn’t it which sucks bc we had planned to actually move this year is we DID like it.
We didn’t see many black/Hispanic people in the area either. Bc we are interracial, I want a place where that is not totally unheard of. I thought the Atlanta suburbs might be a little more diverse in regards to that kind of thing
I’m afraid you won’t see much diversity YET in the north Georgia mountain towns except maybe places like Athens and Gainesville or closer into Atlanta. But I think it will change slowly and more will move up in time. I’m a minority myself and plan on eventually moving up, help with the diversity.LOL
I would say then Athens might be a good choice. It's one of the more liberal cities in Georgia. It has a wonderful downtown area and a large University which gives it some diversity. You can also find more affordable realestate than you may find in metro Atlanta. You are only a 90 min drive from the mountains and an hour to Atlanta. You are not going to find a lot of racial and ethnic diversity in the North Georgia mountain towns. Most of those areas are over 90% white and ultra conservative. Sure you do have some areas that attract weekend tourists and ppl from Atlanta who have weekend getaway homes there but they are not full time residents.
I’m afraid you won’t see much diversity YET in the north Georgia mountain towns except maybe places like Athens and Gainesville or closer into Atlanta. But I think it will change slowly and more will move up in time. I’m a minority myself and plan on eventually moving up, help with the diversity.LOL
I grew up in a predominantly white area and I’m so glad my mind was opened up to more once in HS. What I really want to see is interracial couples walking down the sidewalk and not be stared at. The town my husband was born and raised in (where I came to go to HS) there are definitely more interracial couples and less white/white black/black couples. Ton of biracial kids. I love that. Unfortunately, the town is very depressed with half the people on welfare so going back is not the choice I want to make if there’s a better one out there. I read on another post that Fayette County was diverse? And Gwinnett somewhat? I just want to be close to mountains. I don’t necessarily have to live in a mountain town.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AUGnative
I would say then Athens might be a good choice. It's one of the more liberal cities in Georgia. It has a wonderful downtown area and a large University which gives it some diversity. You can also find more affordable realestate than you may find in metro Atlanta. You are only a 90 min drive from the mountains and an hour to Atlanta. You are not going to find a lot of racial and ethnic diversity in the North Georgia mountain towns. Most of those areas are over 90% white and ultra conservative. Sure you do have some areas that attract weekend tourists and ppl from Atlanta who have weekend getaway homes there but they are not full time residents.
Forgetting the mountain towns for now, I don’t want predominantly white and ultra conservative. Suburbs of Atlanta tho- only Athens and Gainesville would fit the diversity criteria you think?
Lots of options in metro Atlanta though price may be a factor. My vote would be for Athens but it also depends on what kind of jobs you are looking for.
I grew up in a predominantly white area and I’m so glad my mind was opened up to more once in HS. What I really want to see is interracial couples walking down the sidewalk and not be stared at. The town my husband was born and raised in (where I came to go to HS) there are definitely more interracial couples and less white/white black/black couples. Ton of biracial kids. I love that. Unfortunately, the town is very depressed with half the people on welfare so going back is not the choice I want to make if there’s a better one out there. I read on another post that Fayette County was diverse? And Gwinnett somewhat? I just want to be close to mountains. I don’t necessarily have to live in a mountain town.
Forgetting the mountain towns for now, I don’t want predominantly white and ultra conservative. Suburbs of Atlanta tho- only Athens and Gainesville would fit the diversity criteria you think?
You would see diversity in Atlanta suburbs but the further you get from city the less you will see. Athens and Gainesville are further out from city but are pockets of more diversity with Athens being the more liberal one. Gainesville is growing fast and has a health industry that’s driving its growth
Canton might also interest you is closer to mountains right on highway to Atlanta and somewhat diverse.
Last edited by Beach Sportsfan; 04-10-2018 at 07:38 PM..
I’ve been scouring the Georgia and TN forums for sometime now. This will be my first time posting here. Back story, family of 4 from NY. We always thought NY was not where we’d find our “forever” home. We started looking elsewhere. Last year we took a trip to the Greenville area of SC and we were actually a little disappointed. We thought we’d really like it but it didn’t turn out that way so it was back to the drawing board.
I want a DIVERSE place to live. I don’t want to live in a town that’s 98% white, or my kids go to a school where there’s no other mixed children. It’s hard to get a good gist of a town without being there that I know but I’d like our trips to not be a complete waste.
I am not trying to escape the snow like many others (though my husband is) but we want to be in a place where we will be able to NOT have to move to be able to afford retirement. It seems as if GA and TN are right in line with affordability. Taxes (property and school) will be a big factor and I know TN wins there but GA is still nothing compared to NY taxes.
The only area we’d be looking at in TN is probably the Chattanooga area.
Looking for affordable housing - seems like GA wins slightly with house prices. It’s so surprising to see houses that are affordable right outside of major cities - again, used to NY prices.
My husband does factory maintenance- like fixing machines when they stop working.
I want a quaint, cute downtown area. That’s very important to me because I don’t want to travel elsewhere to find things we like to do. We love to take walks so walking through an adorable downtown is up there on my list. I have read that Augusta is revitalizing their downtown. Revitalization is great. Are other areas going through revitalizations?
I like mountains- not a water person. Places like blue ridge appeal to me of course. However, I feel that living in somewhat of a resort town might eventually take the appeal out of why we moved to begin with. Helen appeals to me because of the European feel but again, worried about not appreciating it after awhile if we move there. Has this happened to anyone?
I want a better quality of life basically. We are planning on saving a good amount of money to hopefully put down half on a house purchase so our mortgage would be a lot less than what it is in NY. The way I figured it- is if we have a very affordable mortgage, we wouldn’t HAVE to try to find jobs making what we
Would make in ny. And we could hopefully still live comfortably. We’d be looking at an area where houses are around $100 per square foot , or less.
Anyone have any insight/ opinions/ suggestions?
I’d like to narrow down our searches so we’re literally not driving aimlessly when we go visit.
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Originally Posted by kristenleex
Thank you so much for writing an in depth reply. From what I see , GA and TN is kind of a toss up between which is cheaper because both have different cheaper and more expensive aspects. Like TN and it’s tax on groceries. But no personal tax. It definitely seems like they’re on somewhat of a level playing field.
I was looking at Dahlonega last night actually. I saw it mentioned a lot in the forum here as recommendationsI love mountains and want to be close to them. For the past few years I’ve lived in 2 areas in NY where I either had a great view of then mountain, or lived in it (currently live in the Catskills)
WE thought we’d really like travelers rest in SC but while it’s cute, it definitely doesn’t make up for the fact it didn’t feel like that area was “the” area we’d want to live
Quote:
Originally Posted by kristenleex
Of course we’re going to visit beforehand. I definitely don’t like city life. I’d live in lower NY if I did. I want a cute, quaint downtown, diversity, and reasonable house prices, and parks
Asheville and Marietta seem to be expensive for the respective states. I’ve heard people rave about downtown Marietta though. Is there another town that offers something like that but real estate is cheaper?
Covington seems to have a cute downtown too. It’s on many of the lists of cute downtowns for the state.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kristenleex
We took a trip out there just about 6 months ago and while we loved the downtown , we’d be priced out. We were a little disappointed with the surrounding towns also. We had heard so much about how travelers rest is up and coming and adorable and while the entrance to the town IS adorable, there’s really not much at all to the downtown. There are some places where you just go and say “yes this is it” and Greenville wasn’t it which sucks bc we had planned to actually move this year is we DID like it.
We didn’t see many black/Hispanic people in the area either. Bc we are interracial, I want a place where that is not totally unheard of. I thought the Atlanta suburbs might be a little more diverse in regards to that kind of thing
Quote:
Originally Posted by kristenleex
I grew up in a predominantly white area and I’m so glad my mind was opened up to more once in HS. What I really want to see is interracial couples walking down the sidewalk and not be stared at. The town my husband was born and raised in (where I came to go to HS) there are definitely more interracial couples and less white/white black/black couples. Ton of biracial kids. I love that. Unfortunately, the town is very depressed with half the people on welfare so going back is not the choice I want to make if there’s a better one out there. I read on another post that Fayette County was diverse? And Gwinnett somewhat? I just want to be close to mountains. I don’t necessarily have to live in a mountain town.
Forgetting the mountain towns for now, I don’t want predominantly white and ultra conservative. Suburbs of Atlanta tho- only Athens and Gainesville would fit the diversity criteria you think?
If you are thinking of moving to Georgia, the thing that you most need to be focused on is finding employment that will allow your family to support itself financially.
Since you are looking to live in or near an area with a "quaint, cute downtown" in or near the mountains with lots of diversity where interracial couples are common, you and your husband should begin a search for employment on the north side of the greater Atlanta metropolitan region in an area like Gwinnett County which is the one of the most diverse counties in the entire Southeastern U.S.
Gwinnett County (which over 30 years ago was over 90% white) has a population that currently is only about 38% white (and 21% Hispanic, 12% Asian, over 28% Black and 3% Bi/Multiracial).
Gwinnett County also is home to a large cluster of industrial development that is anchored by the I-85 corridor and stretches northeast into neighboring Hall, Barrow and Jackson counties.
Gwinnett County also includes multiple cities with "quaint, cute downtown" areas like Norcross, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Suwanee and Buford.
Use Gwinnett County as the base of your employment search and extend your employment search into nearby Northeastern metro Atlanta/Northeast Georgia areas like North Fulton, Forsyth, Hall, Jackson and Barrow counties.
With few exceptions, in North Georgia, you are not likely going to find much of the good or decent-paying industrial employment in which your husband works outside of the greater Atlanta metropolitan region (which includes the Gainesville/Hall County area which is a base of industrial employment in North and Northeastern Georgia northeast of Atlanta), so any searches for robust employment opportunities in North Georgia are going to have to include the greater Atlanta metropolitan region.
Northeast metro Atlanta/Northeast Georgia areas (like Gwinnett, Hall, Barrow, Jackson, North Fulton, Forsyth counties) are relatively close to the popular and beloved foothills and ridges of the Blue Ridge/Southern Appalachian mountain ranges of extreme North Georgia, Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee by way of the I-985/GA 365 and GA 400 roadways... So Gwinnett County and Northeast metro Atlanta/Northeast Georgia will provide you with the close proximity and direct access to the mountains that you desire.
If you happen to not be able to find robust employment opportunities in Gwinnett, Hall, Barrow, Jackson, North Fulton or Forsyth counties in Northeast greater metro Atlanta, then extend your search for robust industrial employment opportunities to the I-20 East corridor (in DeKalb, Rockdale and Newton counties) and West and Northwest metro Atlanta areas like West Fulton, Cobb, Douglas, Cherokee, Paulding and Bartow counties where you would still have generally relatively good access to the Blue Ridge/Southern Appalachian Mountains of extreme North Georgia, Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.
Look for and find employment and then look for housing in a diverse area that will provide good access to and from your place of work, which is the most important thing first and foremost... Finding good employment opportunities that will provide your family with a good or decent source of income.
I grew up in a predominantly white area and I’m so glad my mind was opened up to more once in HS. What I really want to see is interracial couples walking down the sidewalk and not be stared at. The town my husband was born and raised in (where I came to go to HS) there are definitely more interracial couples and less white/white black/black couples. Ton of biracial kids. I love that. Unfortunately, the town is very depressed with half the people on welfare so going back is not the choice I want to make if there’s a better one out there. I read on another post that Fayette County was diverse? And Gwinnett somewhat? I just want to be close to mountains. I don’t necessarily have to live in a mountain town.
Forgetting the mountain towns for now, I don’t want predominantly white and ultra conservative. Suburbs of Atlanta tho- only Athens and Gainesville would fit the diversity criteria you think?
You might have to make some trade-offs between proximity to a city/more traffic and open-mindedness. In the south, the further you get from the city, the more racist and unaccepting things become. The cities have made progress, but much of the south has a long way to go. I’m from NY as well, and I understand your plight. If you don’t mind traffic and development (more like LI), then Marietta fits the bill. There is also Peachtree City/Newnan, which has a lot of transplants and growth, but still has that small-town feel with a great downtown. PTC has a booming filming industry, so you would not have a problem with feeling welcome.
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