Need help deciding where to live in Canton/Holly Springs (Buford: homes, safe area)

[Billdemartini]

Originally Posted by kimindetroit

We are moving from metro Detroit to Cherokee County, GA this fall and need some advice from anyone willing to give it. We just returned from an awesome trip to the Canton/Holly Springs area and found two communities that we love....but they are so different.

Does anyone know anything about Harmony on the Lakes or Governors Preserve? We love the Governor's Preserve community b/c of the large homes and lots of land...but I am an at-home mom with two boys under age 6 and afraid that the GP community might be older.

We know that Harmony on the Lakes is full of kids, but the smaller lots and lower quality of homes has us concerned. Can anyone shed light on this for us? Or perhaps suggest another neighborhood in the $300,000--$400,000 range with good schools in that area....a neighborhood with lot of young kids and other at-home moms, but really great quality homes with some space would be ideal. I may be setting my sights way to hight, but I just want to make the right choice for my family. Thanks!

My wife and I are currently looking in the exact same area and in the exact same price range Kim.

We have looked at HOL, Governor's Preserve, Bridgemill, Creekside Estates, Eagle Watch, Woodmont, Haynes Crossing, Wellesly, and Towne Mille among others.

We are going to see about 10 houses (if we can get them all in) this weekend and we are actually excited the most about Bridgemill. My wife hasn't been there yet, but we have 2 young boys and we want that big, nice community with the tons of tennis courts, pools, playgrounds, and activities.

I really like HOL and Governor's Preserve a lot too. Governor's Preserve has some really beautiful houses in that price range and on some really nice lots.

But we are looking for houses with a finished basement and a pool which I'm seeing more of in Bridgemill.

I'll let you know how our search goes this weekend. PM me if you have any specific questions.

Thanks,

Bill

[nibseysgirl]

Pulte is an awesome builder..Good Luck
Lisa

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by Billdemartini

My wife and I are currently looking in the exact same area and in the exact same price range Kim.

We have looked at HOL, Governor's Preserve, Bridgemill, Creekside Estates, Eagle Watch, Woodmont, Haynes Crossing, Wellesly, and Towne Mille among others.

We are going to see about 10 houses (if we can get them all in) this weekend and we are actually excited the most about Bridgemill. My wife hasn't been there yet, but we have 2 young boys and we want that big, nice community with the tons of tennis courts, pools, playgrounds, and activities.

I really like HOL and Governor's Preserve a lot too. Governor's Preserve has some really beautiful houses in that price range and on some really nice lots.

But we are looking for houses with a finished basement and a pool which I'm seeing more of in Bridgemill.

I'll let you know how our search goes this weekend. PM me if you have any specific questions.

Thanks,

Bill

I just drove through Bridgemill yesterday, as we're looking at a development project nearby. The community pool area there is incredible! They've got a water slide that rivals some amusement parks....lol. The surprising thing was how jam-packed the pool area was on a Thursday at 3pm- I can only imagine how busy it is on the weekends.....

Bob

[Billdemartini]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

I just drove through Bridgemill yesterday, as we're looking at a development project nearby. The community pool area there is incredible! They've got a water slide that rivals some amusement parks....lol. The surprising thing was how jam-packed the pool area was on a Thursday at 3pm- I can only imagine how busy it is on the weekends.....

Bob

Yeah Bob, that is definitely a concern. That's why we want a pool in our back yard as well. We have a 40,000 gallon beautiful pool here at our house in Buford and it's going to be hard to leave that.

But the amenities at Bridgemill look incredible. You are right, it almost looks like White Water there.

[kimindetroit]

Haven't checked this in a couple of days, but let me know how you do, Bill! We looked throught Bridgemill as well...very nice. I still am waiting to hear anything at ALL about Governor's Preserve. Seems like not many people know much about it.

[moving123]

Harmony on the Lakes has a great reputation and appears to have children for your children to play with. The area is clean and well kept. Welcome to Georgia.

[info please]

what do people think of Great Sky ? I think it's pretty nice.

[Billdemartini]

Originally Posted by kimindetroit

Haven't checked this in a couple of days, but let me know how you do, Bill! We looked throught Bridgemill as well...very nice. I still am waiting to hear anything at ALL about Governor's Preserve. Seems like not many people know much about it.

We had quite a busy day yesterday. We dropped off the kids with my parents up at Big Canoe and headed out about 10AM.

We looked at a few houses in Creekside Estates, then headed to Forest Creek, Orange Shoals, Wrights Mill Estates, and Great Sky before we finally made it to Bridgemill.

I told my wife at the beginning of the day that when I'm working with clients I never really want to show more than 5 houses in a day because people tend to get tired and start forgetting specifics about each house as they begin to meld together.

Well we ended up looking at about 12 houses... We were dead by the end of the day.

Even though we took meticulous notes and pictures, the details did start to become fuzzy as we tried to recount everything we saw in the later parts of the afternoon. We had a 65 item checklist for each house with notes on each one as well.

Creekside Estates is a beautiful community with really big nice houses. Our favorite one was on top of a hill but with a huge, flat backyard that backs up to like 28 acres of green space. I really liked that one. The only problem with Creekside Estates for us is that there is no swim and tennis. We want a swim and tennis neighborhood/community this time. I like playing ALTA and I want my kids to learn how to play tennis and also be on swim team. Those type of communities around here, in my experience also to seem to have the most neighbors who have similar interests and like to hang out with their neighbors. With two young sons that is something that we REALLY want.

After Creekside we made our way to the three other neighborhoods I listed. With the exception of Wrights Mill they were all very nice, but not exactly what we were looking for.

Then we headed to Great Sky. I was really impressed with this community. The layout was incredible. It was HUGE. The entrance was really nice, well landscaped and I believe the houses ranged between 200's and 400's. They had many different areas/phases (I'm not sure yet how many different builders), and the one we visited was called Great Sky Horizon Peaks. The house we saw was a ranch on a finished basement and it was really beautiful. It had one of the most incredible open floor plans I have seen in a while. We liked the house but the only problem was there was no back yard. It was on a steep hill in the back even though the front was flat. Otherwise it was really nice and we really liked the community.

After Great Sky we headed to Bridgemill to preview 6 or so houses in that community. It was pretty much everything we thought it would be. Saying Bridgemill is huge is an understatement. I have heard varying numbers on how many houses are in the community but the very least I have heard is over 3,000. The entrance is huge and beautiful and there are all kinds of different houses. New construction, resales from the 90's, full and finished basements, pools, etc. etc. etc. The funny thing is we loved pretty much every house we looked at ranging from about 320k-410k (list prices). The landscaping in this neighborhood is unreal. Pretty much every single home we saw had incredibly detailed, vivid, and professional looking landscaping in the front yards. Some had the same in the back yards. All of the houses we looked at had finished basements as well and they were all very different from each other. Actually all of the houses themselves were very different from each other which is appealing to both of us.

Then they have the 25 tennis courts, 2 acres of pools/water park, an outdoor pavilion, a huge playground, a huge fitness center, and all kinds of games, parties, and activities for kids and adults.

I think it's going to be the place for us.

Governor's Preserve is very nice too. They have a very nice pool and some tennis courts as well, and the community is surrounded by the Etowah River and miles of walking/nature trails. Very, very nice.

We really liked the houses there as well. There are at least 3 phases and 6 different builders in that community too. I think we liked the Donny Brook houses the best in the "Bluffs" area of Governors Preserve at least for what we looked at in our price range. Some very nice houses, new and beautiful, some with great lots. I have spent quite a bit of time previewing homes in that neighborhood so I'll do my best to answer any other questions you might have.

So it was quite a busy, tiring, and exciting day for us yesterday and a good motivator for us to prepare our current house for listing/sale. After father's day though. It's time to go swimming

[nibseysgirl]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

What area of Harmony are you living in, if I can ask? We're moving into The Glen in August.

Bob

What county is Harmony in if I may ask...
Thanks
Lisa

[nibseysgirl]

Originally Posted by Billdemartini

We had quite a busy day yesterday. We dropped off the kids with my parents up at Big Canoe and headed out about 10AM.

We looked at a few houses in Creekside Estates, then headed to Forest Creek, Orange Shoals, Wrights Mill Estates, and Great Sky before we finally made it to Bridgemill.

Bill,
Could you please tell me what county and towns these development/neighborhoods are in? I like the detail to your message and it gave lots of description that we are looking for while considering our relocation prospect to GA from FL. I hate that everything as far as developments here in FL always looks pretty much the same...Gets very boring ..I like to see different styles of homes and unique as well. I am planning on a trip to GA soon as we are narrowing down our search criteria and would very much like to visit a couple of the places you mention here...Any feedback or advise would be very welcome and appreciated....Happy Fathers Day...Enjoy that swim....Lisa I dont know how to edit and make the Quote smaller sorry....