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I am a country girl from upstate New York. Within the next ten years my family (husband, two kids, and my parents) are thinking of relocating. The area we have been thinking of is Rabun-Towns-Union-White-Habersham-Stephens counities in Georgia or Cherokee-Clay-Macon-Jackson Counties in NC. Currentely, we live about three hours drive form New York City and that is close enough for us! We don't care about golf courses, country clubs, or shopping. I am wondering if this area is still genuinely rural and if all the city folks buying second homes have made it completely unaffordable to live there? I would love to hear about interesting communities/towns we should visit. By the time we move, my parents will be retired, I will be a nurse midwife, and it would be great if my husband could stay home and grow a few acres of organic vegetables for work. We are definately the children of hippies (on both sides), but having grown up in rural areas we are used to being "folksy folk" in conservative lands. Mostly, I am wondering if this area is still accessible to people who have less that $300-400K to spend on a "cabin". Ideally, we would sell our 160 year old farmhouse and 13 acres here and be able to buy something similar in GA/NC. I would love to hear what the natives have to say - Thanks.
Land prices are still "sturdy" in that region. I lived in Towns County for a couple of years. It is the lowest tax county in Georgia, one of the smallest counties in land area and virtually no crime. There are distressed properties in the area as there are in all areas. If you take your time, look, look and then look some more, you might find something you could live with provided you know how to do a lot of fixing up of your own place.
There are a LOT of second homes up there owned by people with money. If you are talking acreage and need some "flat" land, that tends to be premium because it IS flatland. Flat is relative mind you.
I was up there recently and saw some property for sale between Hiawassee and Clayton that looked close to what you are describing. It goes rather quickly. But the time to look is now. A lot of folks are fearful of where this country is headed economically and other ways and areas like Towns County and north Georgia are looking better all the time.
Hiawassee has an annual Mountain Fair in the summer and a Fall Festival in October or so. It is full of vendors with crafts.
Helen, Ga which is has a German folk village motif is drying up hugely. You might find some deals in that area. Tourism is about gone from there for various reasons. One is horrendous traffic during summer and low water in the river which has killed the tubing industry there.
I don't know if midwifery is legal in Georgia. There are nursing homes and assisted living facilities where you might get employment. I would think you would do well to get nurses training even if it isn't RN. Maybe LPN or something. Jobs are scarce in the region, wages are low, gasoline high etc.
It is a wonderful area to be sure if you don't mind some inconveniences and living further off the grid. It is not without people though. They keep coming looking for Oz or Neverland. It just ain't so, but it beats most places.
You can get more production out of 2 or 3 acres of bottomland there than out of 15 acres anything else. Keep that in mind.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that you might want to check out Habersham County and look around Clarkesville, Cornelia and Toccoa areas. Cheaper properties and more open land. Much of Towns County is federal property.
The areas I just mentioned would be my choice.
Don't forget too upstate SC in the Greenville area. If I were relocating I would choose the Greenville vicinity myself.
If you are kind of "hippy-ish," you might want to consider Asheville, NC. They have lots of hippy, new age type people with alternative craft shows, drum circles, and that kind of stuff on the weekends. Not sure about real estate prices, however.
Thank you everyone. We would probably be looking for an old farm fixer-uper. That is exactly how we found the house we live in now and my husband is very good at that kind of work. I would certainly love to find a couple of acres of bottom land (I know exactly how much more productive it would be - my first bachelor's degree is in agronomy, the second which I will graduae with in December in nursing), but wouldn't mind if it was surrounded by hills. Being a nurse midwife (CNM) is legal in GA and maybe we sould check out Toccoa and around Greenville because I found some ob/gyn and midwifery practices around there. I will also take a look at Habersham and White counties. I appreciate the Asheville suggestion, but while I would like the occassional trip to the food co-op (and don't mind if it's a bit of a drive) we are more grow-your-own-food, craft (sew-and-knit) and live simply kind of children of hippies than New Age-y. Having said that, we have a very close friend who lives just outside of Asheville who is definately encouraging us to move more that way, but we definately don't want to live in the suburbs or the place that is going to grow into the suburbs soon. Thanks again to everyone for the information!
Check out the area around Hayesville, NC. It is just across from Towns County. I don't have a map handy, but go thru town square and find a highway that continues east i think. there are places back there that are far off the grid. beautiful. remote. but the road is good. if you are going to have a big family living together, then good on you. it would be just me and my wife and i would not want her stranded in some isolated place alone.
The North Georgia mountain communities have indeed gotten more expensive, but they are still a relative bargain compared to some other mountain communities in this country. Still, many locals up in North Georgia will shake their head in disbelief when you ask them about how expensive the land has gotten. You will hear stories about how there is land that you could buy for $1,000 an acre 15 years ago that now runs over $10,000 an acre or more.
I will say this...if it is land you want and proximity to mountains is a secondary consideration, you can get far cheaper parcels of land in middle and south Georgia. Something to consider if you are looking to buy some serious acreage.
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